Re: VMs: Nymphology

[<elillie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all.

John wrote:
>
> On what basis are students of nymphology distinguishing the sex of the
> nymphs?  I don't think we can count on visible genitalia.  I think this
> issue would be relevant to the possibility of dating the ms. through the
> hairstyle and limited acoutrement of the nymphs.  But to some extent the
> process might be adaptive, as the date might clarify the sex implied by
> the treatment of the hair.  It occurred to me that while apparently all
> nymphs have "breasts" and hair longer than, say, Bruce Willis, they have
> significantly varying lengths of hair (or patterns of dressing it).  To
> what extent might the period depiction of the> pectoral region of a rotund male falsely suggest breasts to a modern?
>
I've been looking for additional information about something Robert
Brumbaugh said in reguard to the nymphs. In one of his various articles
about the manuscript, he identified the nymphs as "souls" and said they
were all depicted as female because according to Plato's teachings, all
souls were female. He gives no source to base this comment on and I have
been unable to find anything in Plato where he would have gotton this.
Does anyone on the list have any idea where he may have gotton this?

Thanks.

Erni



______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, send mail to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxx with a body saying:
unsubscribe vms-list