Reconstructing the Stoic thought of Chrysippus with Herculaneum papyri: the international study by the University of Turin

An ambitious project to reconstruct the thought of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus of Soli (3rd century B.C.), a central figure in the development of logic, physics and ethics in the philosophical tradition, kicks off at theUniversity of Turin’s Department of Historical Studies. Funded by the European Commission with two million euros through the ERC-Consolidator Grant APATHES, the initiative will involve an international network of scholars, led by Professor Christian Vassallo’s Chair of Papyrology, including Universität Wien, Transylvania University and Université Laval.

The focus of the project will be the first modern edition of the treatise On Providence by Chrysippus, a work in at least five books of which we now possess almost exclusively indirect accounts. The only surviving manuscripts are the Herculaneum Papyri PHerc. 1421 and PHerc. 1038, currently preserved in the Papyrus Workshop of the National Library of Naples “Vittorio Emanuele III”: these will be studied with cutting-edge manuscript deciphering technologies, including scanning X-ray macro-fluorescence, in collaboration with the National Research Council-Institute of Cultural Heritage Sciences (CNR-ISPC) in Naples. This investigation will enable very high-resolution images to be obtained. Experiments will also be promoted to accurately distinguish ’overlaps’ and ’underlays’ present in the preserved pieces, a characteristic difficulty of Herculaneum papyri. In addition, bibliometric and mathematical techniques will be applied to reconstruct the original length of the scrolls and the exact sequence of the surviving fragments. Working permanently in Naples on this project will be Dr. Rosanna Malafronte, a collaborator of the APATHES team in Turin, who will soon discuss her doctoral thesis on PHerc. 1025 (a difficult Epicurean ethics text) at the University of Pisa.

The project intends to have a significant impact not only on papyrology, but also on the history of ancient philosophy. Indeed, the team’s work will make it possible to explore fundamental themes of Stoic thought, including the relationship between fate and necessity, the problem of theodicy and that of human freedom.

In parallel, Christian Vassallo, together with Stoic logic expert Fabian Ruge, is completing the new critical edition of Chrysippus’ Ricerche Logiche, transmitted from PHerc. 307, will also coordinate the hermeneutical and historical-philosophical aspects of the analysis of the Chrysippean papyri of the treatise On Providence. The project also benefits from the collaboration of George Karamanolis, David Kaufman and Bernard Collette, the latter author of a recent monograph on pronoia, the Stoic concept of providence.

Thanks to this interdisciplinary synergy, the work on the treatise On Providence will offer an unprecedented new critical edition of Chrysippus’ physical-theological fragments, opening up a new research perspective on Stoicism and the world order view according to Greek thought of the Hellenistic age.

Pictured, papyrus PHerc. 1038, cr. 1 (detail)

Reconstructing the Stoic thought of Chrysippus with Herculaneum papyri: the international study by the University of Turin

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