Papirologia ercolanese e storia delle religioni. Carlo Diano interprete della teologia epicurea, in dialogo con i papirologi tedeschi

The paper proposes that the Italian philosopher Carlo Diano’s (1902-1974) early studies on Epicureanism, specifically his interpretation of Epicurus’ belief in some immutable gods as an example of the category of «form», partly inspired the theory of Forma ed evento. More precisely, it will be argued that the exegesis was developed by studying two key passages of the Letter to Menoeceus and the scholium to the Rata Sententia I in the light of Philodemus’ theological papyri (De dis and De pietate). During this investigation, Diano analyzed the work of four German philologists and papyrologists: Theodor Gomperz, Hermann Usener, Hermann Diels, and especially Robert Philippson. This case study can therefore be regarded as a historical example of the dialogue between Italy and Germany with regard to the contents of the Herculaneum papyri.