medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Jim,
This is an interesting question. But I'm not sure that one can get very far with it. If I remember correctly, _Chaos_ as a Greek toponym is paralleled in the vicinity of Agrigento, without there being any particular association there between it and "The Wilderness". It probably just denotes a "topsy-turvy place", e.g. one with a lot of obstacles in the form of great boulders and/or clefts in the ground. But in South Italian and Sicilian contexts, at least, the name seems to be unusual (Diana, is this true elsewhere?) and I have also seen it etymologized (on first blush, less convincingly) as perhaps indicating the presence of a spring (and thus related -- somehow -- to the verb _cheo_).
Best,
John Dillon
On Monday, August 4, 2008, at 5:35 pm, Jim Bugslag wrote:
> > 3) Onuphrius of the Chaos (?). Today's less well known saint of the
> > Regno (also O. of Belforte) is a very poorly attested Italo-Greek
> > hermit of Calabria. He is said, seemingly legendarily, to have been
> > born at today's Belforte (CZ) and to have lived ascetically to a great
> > age in perhaps the tenth century as a recluse at a place called the
> > Chaos (perhaps because of very rough terrain). This was located by
> > early modern scholars in the woods of today's Panaia, now a _frazione_
> > of Spilinga (VV). Others identify it as today's Sant'Onofrio (VV)
>
> Dear John (or anybody else),
> I'm interested in the idea that "the Chaos" seems to be related to
> medieval ideas of "the
> Wilderness" and/or "the Desert" -- essentially places of disorder. I
> wouldn't be a bit
> surprised, for example, if he had lived in a cave or grotto, which
> seems to carry the same
> sorts of connotations. Do you, or does anyone else, know of written
> sources for such ideas
> in the Middle Ages (or earlier)?
> Cheers,
> Jim
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