Allegoresis and Etymology in the Greco-Latin Scholarly Traditions

The paper will focus on two scholarly activities that can be interrelated but are not necessarily so: the etymological explanation of the alleged meanings of individual words, and the allegorical explanation of the alleged meanings of individual myths, stories, and cult practices. Both these practices need to be examined carefully in their fundamental differences from (and also similarities to) their modern counterparts. And why is it that they are sometimes related closely to one another but can sometimes be found in complete isolation from one another? The basic texts I shall be examining are the Derveni Papyrus, certain passages in Philo, and Cornutus’ Greek Theology.