Reading the authorial strategies in the Derveni Papyrus

Abstract

The present article attempts to explore some literary aspects of the Derveni papyrus (usually interpreted within a religious, allegorical or exegetical framework), by focusing on the authorial persona dominating the text. If the Derveni document is viewed as a unified whole, it is natural to suppose that its creator assumes the role of the ‘author’ in that he develops an overall strategy for controlling his text and manipulating his audience. The article addresses the question of which devices are employed for this purpose. Labelled ‘authorial strategies’, these devices include: the staging of the theology, the various voices of the author, the devising of the addressees and the relation between the quoter and the quotee.

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