Second Sophistic

This article examines the performance context of Synesius of Cyrene’s
(ca. 370–415 CE) On Kingship. Synesius draws heavily on the classical tradition, and also incorporates many elements of Themistius’ philosophical style into his speech. But the work was not delivered before the emperor, as it purports, and hints at the fictionality of its own dramatic situation. These hints are not mere play but fit very closely the rhetorical needs of the circumstances. The performance appears to have been a success.

What does Philostratus' Gymnasticus have to offer modern students and scholars of sport?  To find out, we need a reading that considers historical context, Hellenic paideia, and the relationship between nature and culture.  To understand Philostratus’ Gymnasticus, we must get beyond surface appearances and attune ourselves to the symbols and meanings that underpin Greek athletics.  If we do this, we will learn that gymnastics is not just a form of healthy recreation, but a meaningful activity that demands education and develops a kind of ethical aesthetic.  We will discover that, beyond technical expertise, wisdom is needed to make the most of our experience with sport.  And, most of all, we will come to understand that those who practice and appreciate athletics constitute a community with a particular identity informed by a glorious history.

Dione di Prusa, Boristenitico (Or. XXXVI), Introduzione, traduzione e commento di MICHELE DI FEBO, con un saggio introduttivo di GIULIO A. LUCCHETTA, Carabba (“Biblioteca del Leonardo. Testi e contesti” 1), Lanciano 2017, pp. 194, ISBN 978-88-634-4506-0.

Gives an overview of the Greek-language literature of the Flavian period (AD 69-96) and considers (1) to what extent the dynastic changes of the period make themselves felt in that literature (mainly Plutarch and Dio Chrysostom) and (2) whether the emergence at this time of the so-called "Second Sophistic" can be connected with specifically Flavian cultural-political phenomena. Also includes contrasts between the resonance of "Flavian" themes in Plutarch and Dio and in Josephus.

Over Thierry Baudets potjeslatijn hebben al veel classici zich druk en vrolijk gemaakt. Interessanter en belangrijker is het om de aandacht te vestigen op de retorische strategie erachter – op de rol die ‘de Westerse cultuurgeschiedenis’, zoals begrepen door Baudet, daarin werkelijk speelt. Diederik Burgersdijk rapporteert.

The Second Sophistic (c.AD 60-250) was a time of intense competition for honour and status. Like today, this often caused mental as well as physical stress for the elite of the Roman Empire. This book, which transcends the boundaries between literature, social history, and philosophy, studies Plutarch's practical ethics, a group of twenty-odd texts within the Moralia designed to help powerful Greeks and Romans manage their ambitions and society's expectations successfully. Lieve Van Hoof combines a systematic analysis of the general principles underlying Plutarch's practical ethics, including the author's target readership, therapeutical practices, and self-presentation, with five innovative case studies. A picture emerges of philosophy under the Roman Empire not as a set of abstract, theoretical doctrines, but as a kind of symbolic capital engendering power and prestige for author and reader alike.

This monograph is a comparative study of three prominent ethical Guides in the Roman East during the Julio-Claudian and Flavian period: Epictetus the Stoic (c. AD 50-60 - c. 135), Philo the Alexandrian Jew (20-15 BC - AD 50), and Peter the Christian Apostle (died c. AD 64). Each Guide drew from his differing philosophical or ideological perspectives to teach about God, life, and death. After providing an introduction to the Guides, Burge examines their teachings on these topics.

Luc. DMar. 14: Perseus and Andromeda between iconography and theater (with an Appendix on DMar. 2)

This paper analyses Lucian’s DMar. 14, on Perseus and Andromeda, under a double perspective: intertextual and intervisual. On the one hand, it clarifies Lucian’s debts towards Euripides’ Andromeda – apparently, its main literary model. On the other hand, also through comparison with a passage from de domo (22-23), it shows how Lucian, in constructing his (as usually ironic and critical) version of the story, appeals to the visual memory of his audience almost in the same way in which he urges their literary memory, according to a technique often exploited by the rhetor. The analysis is concluded by some remarks on DMar. 12, the ‘prequel’ of this dialogue (it concerns Danae, abandoned at sea by her father with infant Perseus), in order to show that it is analogously influenced by the theatrical tradition and that it also has strong visual connotations.

The aim of this book is to make the Dialogues of the Dead by Lucian of Samosata (c. 120 CE –190) accessible to intermediate students of Ancient Greek. The running vocabulary and grammatical commentary are meant to provide everything necessary to read each page, so that readers can progress through the text, improving their knowledge of Greek while enjoying one of the most entertaining authors of antiquity.
Lucian’s Dialogues of the Dead is a great text for intermediate readers. The dialogues are breezy and fun to read with relatively simple sentence structure. Typical for Lucian, classical literature is the source for most of the material, with amusing takes on traditional stories and scenarios. Since the underworld is the place of final judgment, it is the perfect location to have various figures from history and legend meet and reflect on the choices they made in life. Wealthy men, famous kings, heroes of old, and the gods themselves are all subjected to Lucian’s satirical gaze, but always with a combination of learned wit and cleverness.

This article addresses how the sophistic-style analysis in Philostratus’ Gymnasticus gives expression to the physical and social complexities involved in ancient athletic training. As a case in point, the article provides a close reading of Philostratus’ description and criticism of the Tetrad, a four-day sequence of training, which resulted in the death of an Olympic athlete. To make physiological sense of the Tetrad, this method of training is compared to the role of periodization in ancient medicine and modern kinesiology. At the same time, Philostratus’ own critique of the Tetrad is compared to Foucauldian models of discipline and bodily attention. Ultimately, it is argued that the Tetrad fails because it does not incorporate καιρός, a theme common to athletics, medicine, and rhetoric. Overall, therefore, Philostratus’ critique of the Tetrad helps us to appreciate the underrepresented role that γυμναστική occupied in the larger debates on bodily knowledge in antiquity.

O trabalho propõe uma tradução em versos livres e brancos da epopeia οἱ μεθ᾿ ῞Ομηρον λόγοι de Quinto de Esmirna (“As Narrativas depois de Homero”), datada do século III d.C. Será acompanhada de estudo que visa situar esta obra como um possível marco relevante para compreender o desenvolvimento do gênero épico no mundo antigo, tendo em vista que seu poeta buscava resgatar o substrato arcaico da poesia de Homero (VII a.C.) ao mesmo tempo em que lidava com uma tradição poética que se desenvolvera a partir dele, desde a era arcaica, mas que tomara rumos diversos.

The aim of this book is to make The Dialogues of the Courtesans by Lucian of Samosata (c. 120 CE –190) accessible to intermediate students of Ancient Greek. The running vocabulary and grammatical commentary are meant to provide everything necessary to read each page, so that readers can progress through the text, improving their knowledge of Greek while enjoying one of the most entertaining authors of antiquity. These dialogues are another example of Lucian presenting unusual perspectives on Greek culture and literature, this time by creating amusing dialogues that occur mostly among the professional companions, hetairai, who formed a special form of upscale entertainment for elite men in the classical period. The women in these dialogues sometimes interact with male clients, but in most of them we find only women, as they speak of their hopes and fears and the business of love.

Leonidas and the Three Hundred were still in Imperial times the perfect embodiment of the Spartan virtues of courage and honour, just as Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, remained above all the victor of Plataia. During the reign of Trajan, an athletic contest dedicated to the memory of Pausanias, Leonidas and the Three Hundred makes an appearance in our documentation. My purpose in this paper is to study afresh the evidence relating to these contests, essentially known from Pausanias the Periegete and various inscriptions, and to place it in the broader context of the Spartan renaissance of the second century AD.

La elaboración de material didáctico es una parte fundamental de la innovación docente y de la metodología en el aula. En este caso presento una antología de textos para la asignatura de Griego II basada en la obra de Luciano de Samósata. Su utilidad es trabajar con ella la traducción así como los contenidos lingüísticos de la asignatura. El propósito es introducir en el aula textos que en secundaria han sido olvidados o relegados a un segundo plano pero que pueden tener mucho atractivo para el alumno y ser de utilidad para el profesor a la hora de impartir los contenidos.

Across the eastern Mediterranean, only a limited number of inscriptions, coins and papyri attest the term ἐπιν(ε)ίκια bestowed on local festivities. My paper studies for the first time the genesis and evolution of a particular title that could be presented as a sign of loyalty and friendship towards Roman rule. Through an analysis of mostly direct evidence, I aim to provide the perspective of certain local communities which, while subjected to Rome, remarkably strove to celebrate its victories. This bottom-up approach also seeks to show the importance of reciprocity in the constant diplomatic exchange between emperors, administrators and eastern provincials.

L’article présente la « Lettre de Mara fils de Sérapion » comme une exhortation à suivre la paideia hellénistique, donnée dans des conditions très particulières. Mara est emprisonné par les Romains et séparé de son fils. Mobilisant ses propres connaissances de la philosophie grecque, il essaye d’expliquer au jeune garçon ce qui est la sagesse et la vertu, et comment l’éducation aide à supporter les retournements mystérieux du destin. La « Lettre » atteste d’une rencontre entre les langues, les cultures et les croyances. Mara connait les héros d’Homère et le roi Darius, ainsi que Pythagore, Platon et le « sage roi des Juifs ». Il témoigne de ce qui était la vie des habitants de la Syrie romaine, à l’époque des multiples campagnes militaires. L’article est accompagné du texte syriaque et de la traduction française de la « Lettre de Mara ».

The article presents the "Letter of Mara son of Serapion", which is an exhortation to follow the Hellenistic paideia. This exhortation is given in very particular conditions. Mara is imprisoned by the Romans and separated from his son. Mobilizing his own knowledge of Greek philosophy, he tries to explain to the boy what is wisdom and virtue, and how the education helps to support the mysterious reversals of fate. The "Letter" testifies to a confluence between languages, cultures and beliefs. Mara knows the heroes of Homer and a persian king Darius, as well as Pythagoras, Plato and the "wise king of the Jews". It is a witness about the life of the inhabitants of Roman Syria, at the time of the multiple military campaigns. The article is accompanied by the Syriac text and the French translation of the "Letter of Mara".

This homily "On Pascha" belongs to the authentic works of St John Chrysostom, and especially to the group of homilies which he addressed on the occasion of the Feasts of Lord and the events of His life. The stylistic features which are noticed highlighted an abundance of Gorgian figures of speech providing a triumphal tone to the homily which is further conformed to by its content; the triumph Christ on the Cross, the abolition of the tyranny of the evil and the gift of the salvation through the resurrection. There is a torrent of isocolon, asyndeton, metaphor, rhetorical questions, rhythmical stress of sentences, rhyme, resonance, antithesis which are used to transmit with a doxological tune the overwhelming message of the feast: there is no more death but sleep and dormition. The exhortative character of the homily is focused on the self-restraint, the moderate diet, and the exercise of the virtue which emphasizes gratitude to the Lord, defense against the traps of evil; and strengthening for the achievement of the eternal goods through the mercy and love of God.

In modo ben argomentato e coerente, all’interno di un itinerario tradizionale, il volume di Bonazzi ripercorre i principali aspetti della riflessione della cosiddetta “antica sofistica”. Peculiarità principali del lavoro sono il metodo e la qualità della pubblicazione, che ha il dichiarato intento di “una ricostruzione attendibile […] del pensiero dei sofisti nel loro contesto storico e filosofico” (p. 12). Il volume si chiude con un’appendice dal titolo ‘I sofisti e i saperi specialistici (technai)’, che ricostruisce i termini della polemica tra i sofisti ed i professionisti dei vari settori, con una rassegna denominata ‘I protagonisti’, che presenta individualmente i profili dei singoli pensatori (nell’ordine, Protagora, Gorgia, Antifonte, Seniade, Prodico, Trasimaco, Ippia, Crizia, Licofrone, Callicle, Eutidemo, Dionisodoro, Alcidamente, e una presentazione del
contenuto dei Dissoi Logoi), una ricca Bibliografia ed un utilissimo Indice dei principali passi citati.

This contribution argues that the principal object of interest in Plutarch's "Greek Questions" is language and its uses, including rare words, curious phrases, local names, dialectal idiosyncrasies, proverbs, etc. The abundance of uncommon terms, frequently unattested elsewhere, and overlap in their use between Plutarch's work and Hesychios' "Synagoge", suggests there is an affinity between "Greek Questions" and the ancient glossographic and lexicographic traditions.

The aim of this article is to demonstrate that the Moon’s all-male society portrayed in one of the first episodes of Lucian's Verae Historiae is humorously 'more real' than the originals that inspire it and the society where the author lived. The lunar hyperreality satirically and parodically plays with traditional misogynist and pederastic motifs and, moreover, with the imperial culture and society.

The aim of this paper is to read the V dialogue of Lucian's of Samosata Dialogues of Hetaerae using the euristic tools offered by Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality. The transformation of Lucian's dialogue in “monument” and the comparison with the Memoirs of Alexina/Herculine Barbin allows us to see through the characters of Lucian's text a “pre-sexual” and “pre-hermeneutic” subject. On the other hand the erotic treatise of Philaenis of Samos, which Lucian used for his comic dialogue, suggests to us the complexity of a “pre-sexual” society like that of ancient Graeco-Roman world.

Scopo di questo lavoro è indagare il V dialogo dei Dialoghi delle Cortigiane di Luciano di Samosata  attraverso gli strumenti euristici forniti dalla Histoire de la sexuatlitè di Michel Foucault. La trasformazione del testo lucianeo in un “monumento” e il suo confronto con le memorie di Alexina/Herculine Barbin permette di individuare nelle protagoniste del dialogo lucianeo un soggetto pre-ermeneutico e pre-sessuale. Allo stesso tempo la presenza in Luciano delle vestigia dell'antico trattato erotico di Filenide di Samo ci permette di leggere la complessità della società pre-sessuale greco-romana.

‘No one knows so little of Homer, so as not to know that the best of the heroes are parasites’ (Par. 44). This bold claim comes from Simon, an interlocutor in a dialogue by the second century CE author Lucian of Samosata, titled De parasito (On the Parasite). Simon’s argument in this piece is that the parasitic art deserves to be considered a technē because the Homeric heroes invented the practice. De parasito is a clear parody of the genre of encomium, but it also takes aim at the efforts of myth rationalizers, from Prodicus (fifth century BCE) to Heraclitus (second century CE), to explain (origin) myths by explaining the origins of origin myths. In this chapter I will argue that De parasito, together with such pieces as De saltatione (On the Dance), De astrologia (On Astrology), Electrum (Amber), and Muscae encomium (Praise of the Fly), represents Lucian’s playful response through parody to rationalizing aetiologies of myth.

Kuin, I.N.I. 2021. ‘Patroclus Was a Parasite: Lucian’s Satirical Aitia,’ in J.J.H. Klooster; A.B. Wessels (eds.), Inventing Origins: The Function of Aetiology in Antiquity. Brill, Leiden, 183—198.

https://brill.com/view/title/61226?rskey=fxopYP&result=1