Resumen de Cyril of Alexandria Reading Porphyry
Porphyry is the pagan author most often quoted by Cyril of Alexandria in his Contra Julianum; moreover, many of these excerpts are known to us only from Cyril himself. Comparison with Eusebius of Caesarea and Theodoret of Cyrrhus shows that in most instances Cyril does not owe them his quotations and that the hypothesis of a direct reading of Porphyry’s work on Cyril’s part can be established. The present study sets out to examine the intention governing the use of these quotations, Cyril’s judgment on this philosopher, his method of selection of the excerpts, and the manner in which he incorporates them into his own argumentation. Reciprocally, the analysis of the contexts into which these extracts are inserted may serve to delimit the extension of quotations for which we do not possess an attestation in a direct tradition. This question of delimitation will be discussed for some excerpts from Book 4 of the Philosophic History.
