El vegetarianismo en el mundo grecorromanoclasicismo y cristianismo

Abstract

The present doctoral thesis studies vegetarianism in the Greco-Roman world, analysing the philosophical-religious and ethical reasons given to justify it and the transfer of those values from the classical world to Christianity. These concepts are first studied in the Greek world, paying particular attention to Orphism and Pythagoreanism, and then followed in the Roman age, especially as regards Stoicism, and in the post-Classical period, with Neo-Pythagoreanism and Neo-Platonism. In the second part it studies the acceptance of those principles by Christianity, especially in ascetic and monastic settings. The reasons given by Greco-Latin philosophers supporting vegetarianism are studied (the search for purity and ‘no-contamination’; effects in the transmigration of souls, and ethical values) and the similarities and differences in the Christian conception of vegetarianism (self-control, domination of passions and an ascetic exercise) are established in order to determine how far values were transferred andclassical traditions survived in the Christian world.