Alexandria Istok: Subverting Fatalism in the Second Century: Bardaisan’s Use of the Stars

Only in recent scholarship have attempts been made to embrace a literary correspondence between Greeks, Romans, and early Christians and reconsider the previously segregated intellectual landscape of the so-called “Second Sophistic.” In my paper, I consider Bardaisan’s Book of the Laws of the Countries as part of an ongoing literary and cultural discussion in the second century about proper philosophy, ethics, and self-identification. By comparing sections of theBook of the Laws of Countries to the works of other contemporaneous authors, I argue that Bardaisan frames his discussion of fate in terms of astrology and ethnography to situate Christianity as an intellectually appealing alternative to Greek and Roman attempts to support or subvert fatalism.After giving a brief overview of astrology’s rise in popular interest among Greeks and Romans in the second century, I compare Bardaisan’s presentation of the stars with those of Lucian and Aulus Gellius. Next I consider his astrological arguments about fate in dialogue with Tatian, another Aramaic speaker. Finally, I consider the influence of astrology on the ethnic argumentation at the end of his work and suggest that his dialogue does not combat fatalistic ideas within local Marcionism but within Greek and Roman culture more broadly.