A bibliography of Jerzy Mańkowski, which includes his scholarly writings, translations and edited works, arranged in chronological order.

The motif of the so-called “critique of writing” in the Phaedrus has received much attention from contemporary commentators of Plato. Less attention has been paid to the explicit praise of writing and the project of making all citizens literate presented in the Laws. Because in the Phaedrus there is talk of writing of every sort (including legal documents), the question arises whether Plato changed his attitude to writing in the Laws. The present discussion places the Platonic reflection on writing and speech in the broader context of the ambivalent attitude of fourth-century BC Athenians to writing and written laws. It is demonstrated, first, that Plato criticizes writing to the same extent to which he praises it; second, that if his criticism includes writing, it also includes verbal teachings and all oral compositions.

An obituary of Cecylia Zofia Gałczyńska, an archaeologist and librarian, who wrote among other things about the collection of ancient art in the Jagiellonian University’s Museum and the history of Szczecin, in particular prominent scholars from this city, Erwin Ackerknecht and Walther Amelung.

The obscure gloss Phix, which is attested in Hesiod’s Theogony, is thought to denote the same Theban monster that bears the name Sphinx in later sources and appears in the Oedipus saga. The present paper argues, however, that the word Phix cannot be convincingly shown to be cognate with the word Sphinx, since the origin of the latter seems to be a Greek word for a strangling monster – as linked with the verb σφίγγω – whereas the former is probably of non-Greek and possibly even non-Indo-European origin. Subsequently, the article proceeds to discuss a number of ancient Near Eastern sources, in particular those featuring infant-killing spirits, in order to demonstrate the emergence of the sphinxes in Greece from the Levant.