Hearing at the Boundaries of Vision

This study considers how a significant variable namely level of literary education (enkuklios paideia) might affect an ancient hearer's interpretation of Revelation 9. This volume focuses on how two hypothetical ancient hearer-constructs with very different mental libraries may interpret the rich cosmological imagery of Revelation 9.<br/><br/>The first ancient hearer-construct (HC1) the recipient of a minimal literary education retains a Homeric cosmological model. The second ancient hearer-construct (HC2) by contrast utilises a tertiary-level knowledge of Aratus and Plato to allegorically reinterpret the cosmological imagery of Rev 9 (cf. 'Hippolytus' Refutatio IV.46-50). The volume concludes by critically comparing the hypothetical responses of HC1 and HC2 with the early reception of Revelation 9 by Victorinus Tyconius and Oecumenius (3rd-6th century CE) attentive to the educational attainment of each commentator.