Philostratus (Routledge Revivals): Biography and Belles Lettres in the Third Century A.D.

by Graham Anderson

Overview

This study of Philostratus , first published in 1986, presents the Greek biographer’s treatment of both sophists and holy men in the social and intellectual life of the early Roman Empire, which also displays his own distinctive literary personality as a superficial dilettante and an engrossing snob. Through him we gain a glimpse of the rhetorical schools and their rivalries, as well as a bizarre portrayal of the celebrated first-century holy man Apollonius of Tyana, long loathed by his later Christian press as a Pagan Christ.

Rarely does a biographer’s reputation revolve round the charge that he forged his principal source. Graham Anderson’s account produces new evidence which supports Philostratus’ credibility, but it also extends the charges of ignorance and bias in his handling of fellow-sophists.

Philostratus is intended for any reader interested in the social, cultural and literary history of the Roman Empire as well as the professional classicist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138013278
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/15/2014
Series:	Routledge Revivals
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Abbreviations 1. Sophist and Biographer 2. The Lives and their Subjects 3. Pedantry and Paideia: Some Typical Encounters 4. The Sophists: Gossip, Scandal, Diversion 5. The Sophist on Sophists: The Lives and their Outlook 6. Brief Lives: Some Philostratean Portraits 7. Apollonius of Tyana: A Holy Man in a Sophist’s World 8. Apopllonius: Philosopher and Miracle-monger 9. Damis: The Dubious Disciple Discovered? 10. Towards the Historical Apopllonius? 11. Apopllonius in Wonderland: Some Exotic Travels 12. ‘In Honour of Apollonius’: A Cyropaedia for a Superman? 13. Hero-Cults and Homer: The Heroicus 14. Pictures, Wrestling-Schools, Tyrants, Love-Letters: The Philostratean Opuscula 15. The Scope of a Sophist; Appendix 1: The Philostrati; Appendix 2: Herodes and Gordian; Appendix 3: Moeragenes Appendix 4: The Pythagorean Doxai attributed to Apollonius; Select Bibliography; Index of Persons and Places