Gli albori della prosa: Ferecide di Siro

Abstract

Pherecydes of Syros is not a negligible figure in the birth of philosophical writing. Referred to in ancient sources as the first Greek prose writer, his book, dealing mainly with the gods and their nature, represents a decisive step towards what is now believed to be a philosophical and critical attitude. Its fragments indeed show the presence of communicative as well as rhythmical patterns highlighting those passages in which there is a shift in content from mythical to exegetical, a feature prompting Aristotle’s characterisation of Pherecydes as a ‘mixed theologian’. The formal analysis here carried out sheds new light on neglected textual sequences, thereby identifying them as one of the most conspicuous and innovative characteristics of what is considered the first prose book of Western literary tradition.