Table of Contents

Part I. Introductory: 1. A protean corpus Jaś Elsner; 2. Philostratus: the life of a Sophist Ewen Bowie; 3. Culture and nature in Philostratus Simon Swain; Part II. 'Lives of the Sophists': 4. Narrator and audience in Philostratus's 'Lives of the Sophists' Thomas Schmitz; 5. Philostratus and the symbolic roles of the Sophist and philosopher Harry Sidebottom; 6. The deaths of the Sophists: Philostratean biography and elite funerary customs Joseph Rife; Part III. 'Life of Apollonius': 7. Virtual visions: 'phantasia' and the perception of the divine in 'The Life of Apollonius of Tyana' Verity Platt; 8. The ancestor of my wisdom: Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism in the 'Life of Apollonius' Jaap-Jan Flinterman; 9. The odyssey of Apollonius: an intertextual paradigm Gert-Jan van Dijk; Part IV. 'Heroicus': 10. Performing heroics: language, landscape and identity in Philostratus's 'Heroicus' Tim Whitmarsh; 11. Black sails to Achilles: the Thessalian pilgrimage in Philostratus's 'Heroicus' Ian Rutherford; Part V. 'Gymnasticus': 12. Training athletes and interpreting the past in Philostratus's 'Gymnasticus' Jason König; Part VI. Letters: 13. Constructing identity in the 'Love Letters' of Philostratus Simon Goldhill; Part VII. Imagines: 14. Colour in the 'Imagines' of Philostratus Sandrine Dubel; 15. Absorption and erudition in Philostratus's 'Imagines' Zahra Newby; 16. Philostratus and the Narcissus of Caravaggio Stephen Bann; Appendix: Dialexis.

Promotional Information

This book covers the many varied works of Philostratus, the great essayist, biographer and historian of Greek culture in the Roman world.

About the Author

Ewen Bowie was E. P. Warren Praelector in Classics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1965 - 2007 and has written extensively on the Greek culture of the Roman empire. Jas' Elsner teaches classical art at Oxford University and the University of Chicago.

Reviews

'… [has] sections dedicated to each of Philostratus' writings. These are preceded by three introductory pieces, starting with Jaś Elsner's 'A Protean Corpus'. Elsner … takes a close look at how Philostratus works from within each genre he chooses to appropriate and whose conventions he subtly subverts by turning them 'into the theme of the text'. … In its emphasis on unity in diversity, this is much more than just another summarising introduction; rather, we are invited to adopt a new, holistic perspective on Philostratus.' Listy Filologické