The Brahmans’ Lifestyle in the Refutatio omnium haeresium

This research focuses on the analysis of chapter I 24 of the Refutatio omnium haeresium. Here the author presents the lifestyle of the Brahmans. Their habits are very peculiar: for instance, it is their custom to be naked, to eat fruits of the earth and to avoid meat from animals. There are no women nor children with them. They despise death, always celebrate God and raise hymns in his honour. Moreover they also believe that God is Logos. The text raises several questions: first of all, the reason why the Brahmans are presented in a positive light. The information reported by the author is, partly, confirmed by a long tradition in Classical Antiquity that reconstructs their image, attributing to them the stereotypes of a barbaric people. Therefore, the aim of this study is to verify from which perspectives these characters are presented, first by Graeco-Roman authors, and, secondly, in the literature of the Church Fathers, in order to identify the specific connections and the possible divergences.