Il concetto di dio nell'Inno a Zeus di Cleante. L’esegesi allegorica e gli echi senecani

The aim of this paper is to investigate the concept of divinity expressed in Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus, presenting the philosophical allegory as the key to reconcile the structural ambiguities and apparent contradictions present in the Stoic theology expressed therein. Cleanthes’ con- ception of divinity is inserted into the broader context of Stoic theology; moreover this text focuses on the echoes of Cleanthes’ thought that can be traced in Seneca. In fact, despite the latter having to live a different moment of Stoicism, the content of the Hymn to Zeus is con- genial to Seneca’s thought both in content (the conception of divinity) and in form (the value of poetry and the effect of the word allegorically intended).