Il cosmo di Senocrate e lo scudo di Agamennone: una rivalutazione del frammento 55 Heinze/160 Isnardi Parente

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed commentary on fragment 55 Heinze (160 Isnardi Parente), in which an allegorical interpretation – more precisely, a cosmological reading – of Agamemnon’s shield as described in the Iliad (11.32-40) is attributed to Xenocrates. Contrarily to the emendation according to which the fragment refers not to Xenocrates but only to Crates of Mallus, I will try to show how the characteristics of the shield consistently reflect the tripartition of the sensible cosmos according to Xenocrates’ doctrines: the division of the sensible cosmos in the celestial, lunar, and sublunar worlds is echoed, respectively, by the ten bronze circles, the twenty and white umbo, and the dark and central sphere of Agamemnon’s shield.