van Riel, Gerd
The Saitic Athena in Proclus’ In Timaeum
- 2020.
10
In his discussion of the Atlantis narrative, recounted by a Saitic priest in Plato’s Timaeus, Proclus turns his attention to the relationship between the goddess Athena and the city of Sais in Northern Egypt. One of the astrological connections Proclus mentions is that Athena was one of the arctic stars. In this context, the received text of Proclus’ Commentary on the Timaeus refers to people who connect Athena with “the moon that is there”. In this article we discuss the various explanations and emendations. We investigate their value in the light of underlying Egyptian and Greek astronomical speculations, and take into account recent discoveries on the textual transmission of Proclus’ commentary. On the basis of this examination, we propose to correct the manuscripts’ text.