Il "canto nuovo" di Cristo, tra Davide e Orfeo (Clem., Protr. 1, 2-5; Eus., L. Const. 14, 5)

The aim of this paper is to analyze both sections of Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus (1, 2-5) and Eusebius of Caesarea’s Laus Constantini (14, 5) in which Christian authors allude to the figure of Orpheus, in light of the so-called orphic traditions attested in Greco-Roman culture (including Jewish and Proto-Christian groups). The methodological background from which the analysis starts is the concept of «indigenization», a well-known category debated in contemporary anthropological research. In this article, the author compares the Christian texts under analysis with other Greco-Roman treatments of the figure of Orpheus, as well as with archaeological remains representing a male figure (identified with Orpheus by scholars, often with no decisive arguments) in the meanwhile he is tranquilizing beasts with his music. The comparison with such elements appears as really central in this essay: the musical imagery employed by Clement and Eusebius emerges as a specific discursive practice in order to carry out a program of indigenization as regards the Christian ideological proprium. As an alternative to the traditional interpretation of such texts in light of the so-called Orphic representations attested in Greco-Roman contexts (including Jewish and Proto-Christian remains), scholastic debates concerning music appear as a sort of ‘natural background’ in light of which it is possible to contextualize Clement and Eusebius’ discursive practices.