Socratic, Academic, and Peripatetic Theologies in Philodemus’ On Piety (PHerc. 1428, cols. 334–341 = frs. 20–24 Schober)

This paper provides a new reconstruction, with a philosophical commentary, of the section of Philodemus’ De pietate (P.Herc. 1428, cols. 334-341 = fers. 20-24 Schober) devoted to the critique of the views on the nature of god(s) held by Socratics, Academics, and Peripatetics. Placed between the Presocratic and the Stoic sections of P.Herc. 1428, this noteworthy part of the Philodemean treatise has generally been neglected by scholars, especially owing to the very poor condition of the papyrus columns by which it is transmitted. The paper attempts to demonstrate that an analysis of these difficult Herculanean passages and a comparison with the parallel report from Cicero’s De natura deorum and the subsequent doxographical tradition can shed new light on important issues in the history of ancient theologies.