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Wiener Studien Band 133/2020Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition
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Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
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DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
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Wiener Studien 133/2020, pp. 107-118, 2020/07/23
Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie, Patristik und lateinische Tradition
In his Vita Antonii, Athanasius narrates a hostile encounter that his protagonist Antony has with a half-human, half-asinine creature which intrudes upon his solitude in the desert and dies a violent death after Antony banishes it. Many scholars have suggested that this humanoid’s strange appearance is meant to evoke one or other Egyptian deity. In this article I propose that it represents instead a species of centaur from Greco-Roman mythology, the onocentaur. I then argue that Athanasius deploys the story about this creature’s demise as part of a larger narrative strategy in his idealized construction of Antony as a Christian holy man.