Greek and Roman Imperial Literature

The ancient novel has long been recognised as a key example of fiction in the ancient world, but the implications of this identification have not yet been fully explored. Although in the modern world fiction is widely accepted as neutral and intrinsic to the novel, the lack of equivalent terminology for either ‘fiction’ or ‘novel’ in antiquity challenges any automatic assumption that fiction was a generically conventional and unproblematic part of the ancient novelistic reading experience. By situating the ancient novel within traditions of ancient fiction in theory and practice, as this thesis does, it becomes clear not only that ancient novelistic texts actively explore their own fictional potential, but also that this fictional awareness invites their audiences to consciously consider the effect of fiction upon their reading experience. Consequently, this thesis argues that ancient novelistic fiction acts as a vehicle for the novels’ and their audiences’ engagement with and situation of themselves within imperial culture.

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.

This chapter focuses on the therapeutic qualities of literature and literary production in Aelius Aristides’Hieroi Logoi. By offering a comparison between writing and narrating as a basic modality of therapy in medical treatises and in some of the most well-known healing temples and of the Graeco-Roman world, I demonstrate that Aristides is in fact far more mainstream in using rhetoric, literature and music to cure his bodily ailments than we have previously thought. Having said that, the
reader is simultaneously encouraged to notice how exceptional Aristides really is precisely because, although he works with previously well-attested healing practices and commemorative discourses, he elevates them to a whole new level of sophistication and effectiveness.

Ce chapitre s’intéresse aux vertus thérapeutiques de la littérature et de la production littéraire dans les Hieroi logoi d’Aelius Aristide. Écrits et récits constituent des modalités du processus thérapeutique. En comparant les récits des traités médicaux et ceux qu’on trouve dans quelques-uns des plus célèbres temples guérisseurs du monde gréco-romain, je montre qu’Aristide n’est pas si singulier qu’on a voulu le dire quand il utilise la rhétorique, la littérature ou la musique pour soigner les
maladies de son corps. Ceci étant, la lecture d’Aristide invite aussi à constater le caractère exceptionnel de son cas. En effet, bien qu’il s’inscrive dans des traditions antérieures bien attestées de pratiques guérisseuses et de discours commémoratifs, il élève ces deux genres à un tout autre niveau de sophistication et d’efficacité.

The postcolonial theory opens the way for a reappraisal of the relation between the Roman and the Greek authors in the Imperial Age. This book aims to develop research around the influence of the Augustan political propaganda on the works of Strabo and Virgil, by means of the analysis of some passages of the XIIIth Book of the Geography.

Plutarch's Mulierum virtutes, aims to demonstrate the unity and identity of male and female virtue, by providing examples of 'virtuous' women and groups of women from the past. This volume is a critical edition of Mulierum virtutes, accompanied by an introduction, an Italian translation and commentary. In addition, some introductory chapters provide an overview of the work's literary models, textual transmission, reception, style and gender thematics throughout Plutarch's Moralia. The volume represents an important contribution to the philological, literary, historical and philosophical analysis of Plutarch's Mulierum virtutes and its textual transmission and reception throughout the centuries.

Nel Mulierum virtutes Plutarco intende dimostrare unità ed identità della virtù maschile e femminile e, per sostenere l'assunto, adduce esempi storici di atti 'virtuosi' femminili compiuti collettivamente ed individualmente da donne del mondo antico. Questo volume contiene edizione critica, traduzione italiana e note di commento al Mulierum virtutes. Il testo tradotto e commentato è preceduto da un'introduzione generale sull'opuscolo e da alcuni capitoli dedicati alla tradizione testuale, alla fortuna, allo stile e al rapporto con i modelli letterari, i Moralia e la tematica femminile dell'opera. Il volume ofre un signicativo contributo scientico di natura lologica, letteraria, storica e losoca allo studio del Mulierum virtutes di Plutarco e della sua tradizione testuale e fortuna nel corso dei secoli.

Strabo and Tacitus on the beginnings of the history of the Czech Basin Some notes on the issues reopened by Vladimír Salač Ivan Prchlík V článku je probráno několik postřehů k interpretaci dvou zpráv antických autorů o poměrech v České kotlině v období přelomu letopočtů. Strabón (Geogr. VII 1,3) neprohlašuje Kvády za jeden ze suébských kmenů, ale staví oba termíny na tutéž úroveň. Búiaimon mohlo ležet na území jedněch i druhých. Pouze z téže pasáže není zcela zřejmé, že jen část Suébů podle Strabóna žije v Hercynském lese a část mimo něj, a teprve v pasáži, která následuje vzápětí, je to řečeno explicite. Búiaimon Strabón velmi pravděpodobně pokládal za královské sídlo, nikoli zemi. Argument uváděný ve prospěch této druhé možnosti není přesvědčivý a jiné, představené zde, nejsou samy o sobě dostačující. Tacitovi (Germ. 42,1) není bezpodmínečně nutné rozumět tak, že podle něho vyhnali Bóje z Boiohaema Markomani. Jeho formulace není jednoznačná, nicméně tento význam mít může a současně Tacitus neměl jinou možnost, jak se přirozeně vyjádřit, pokud to na mysli opravdu měl. Strabón -Kvádové -Suébové -Boiohaemum -Tacitus -Markomani -Bójové In the paper some observations are presented concerning two accounts by ancient authors on the conditions in the Czech Basin during the period at the turn of calendar eras. Strabo (Geogr. VII 1,3) does not claim Quadi to be one of the Suebian tribes: both the terms he juxtaposes at the same level. Bouiaimon could have been situated in the territory of the former as well as of the latter. It is not clear from the same passage that only a part of Suebi was living in the Hercynian Forest, while the other part outside: it is clear only from the passage immediately following the one in question. Concerning Bouiaimon, Strabo very likely considered it a kingly seat and not a territory. The evidence for the latter produced or defended by some Czech scholars is not convincing and the new pieces introduced here are not themselves sufficient. Tacitus (Germ. 42,1) need necessarily not be understood as claiming Marcomanni to have themselves expelled Boii from Boiohaemum. His wording is not unambiguous, but at the same time it definitely could have been meant so, and Tacitus had no other way to naturally express such an idea, had he really this in mind. Strabo -Quadi -Suebi -Boiohaemum -Tacitus -Marcomanni -Boii Tento příspěvek 1 vznikl v návaznosti na konzultace, o něž mě požádal doc. Vladimír Salač při práci na svém článku publikovaném v tomto sešitu (Salač 2016). Diskusi, která nad jeho závěry bude jistě vedena, hodlám v tomto příspěvku obohatit o postřehy, které považuji za relevantní i pro archeologické bádání. V klíčových pasážích u Strabóna a Tacita totiž Archeologické rozhledy LXVIII-2016 532 532-543 1 Odchylně od zvyklostí tohoto periodika je v tomto článku odkazováno na standardní slovník staré řečtiny zavedenou zkratkou LSJ, která je rozvedena v bibliografii. Citovat konkrétní vydání tohoto slovníku je zbytečné, ba kontraproduktivní, protože pomocí odkazů na strukturu daného hesla lze odkazované místo snadno dohledat v kterémkoli konkrétním vydání. Stejně tak na standardní sbírku nápisů, respektive na jediný zde citovaný svazek, bude odkázáno jeho obvyklou zkratkou IG II-III 2 , taktéž rozvedenou v bibliografii. Své vlastní překlady nebo zásahy do citovaných překladů cizích označuji zkratkou IP.

This is the first book to study the impact of invective poetics associated with early Greek iambic poetry on Roman imperial authors and audiences. It demonstrates how authors as varied as Ovid and Gregory Nazianzen wove recognizable elements of the iambic tradition (e.g., meter, motifs, or poetic biographies) into other literary forms (e.g., elegy, oratorical prose, anthologies of fables), and it shows that the humorous, scurrilous, efficacious aggression of Archilochus continued to facilitate negotiations of power and social relations long after Horace's Epodes. The eclectic approach encompasses Greek and Latin, prose and poetry, and exploratory interludes appended to each chapter help to open four centuries of later classical literature to wider debates about the function, propriety, and value of the lowest and most debated poetic form from archaic Greece. Each chapter presents a unique variation on how each of these imperial authors became Archilochus -however briefly and to whatever end.

Aelius Aristides' Sacred Tales is a complex literary text, and its first book—the diary—puzzles scholars , as it has no parallel in the entire work. This paper offers a justification for this section by arguing for a deliberate contrast between the diary and Books 2–6 of the Sacred Tales, as a result of which the latter section is crafted as a narrative about Asclepius. I will first identify a large series of shifts in the ST: starting with Book 2, change concerns the protagonist, which from Aristides' abdomen turns to Asclepius, the narrator, dream interpretation, genre, and arrangement of the events. Secondly, I discuss the impact of these shifts upon the readers' response: while the diary invites the readers to relive the everyday tension between known past and unknown future, the spatial form of Books 2–6 creates the opposite effect, turning the readers' attention away from the human flow of time towards Asclepius, and leading them to perceive features of his divine time.

This is the third chapter of my dissertation, 'The Invisibility of Juvenal' (2011). This chapter hit the cutting-room floor when I was writing my Juvenal book and has since not been published. Important work has been done on Satire Four since 2011, especially the commentary of Biagio Santorelli (2012) and the relevant section (pages 53-62) of Catherine Keane's monograph 'Juvenal and the Satiric Emotions' (2015). Also important are the stimulating analyses of globalizing food cultures in Tom Geue's essay 'Free-Range, Organic, Locally-Sourced Satire' (2017) and in chapter three of Osman Umurhan's 'Juvenal's Global Awareness' (2017). I would point interested readers to all these scholars' work. My thoughts on the poem have therefore been superseded in important respects, but I upload this dissertation chapter (with original page numbers) on this website in case it is still of use. Cite as 'The Invisibility of Juvenal' (PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 2011).

Wykaz skrótów lykofron (fl. 1. połowa III w. p.n.e.; Lycophron, Λυκόφρων [Lykófron]) Alex.-Alexandra / Cassandra (Aleksandra / Kassandra, Ἀλεξάνδρα / Κασσάνδρα [Aleksándra / Kassándra]) mAkroBiusz, Ambrozjusz Teodozjusz (IV/V w.; Ambrosius Theodosius Macrobius) Sat.-Saturnalia (Saturnalia. Uczty i rozmowy) mAksym z Tyru (fl. koniec II w. n.e.; Cassius Maximus Tyrius; Μάξιμος Τύριος [Máksimos Týrios]) Philosophumena / Dissertationes (Wykłady [o kwestiach filozoficznych i religijnych], Διαλέξεις [Dialékseis]) Mała iliada (VII w. p.n.e.; Ilias parva, Ἰλιάς μικρά [Iliás mikrá]-autor: Lesches z Lesbos/z Pyrry: fl. 660 p.n.e.; Lesches Lesbius/Pyrrhaeus, Λέσχης Λέσβιος/ 20 Wykaz skrótów werGiliusz Maron, Publiusz (70-19 p.n.e.; Publius Vergilius Maro) Aen.-Aeneis (Eneida) zenon z Kition (342/334-270/262 p.n.e.; Zeno Citieus, Ζήνων Κιτιεύς [Zénon Kitieús]); numeracja fragmentu za:

Appian's Illyrian book (Illyrike) was originally intended to be just an appendix to his Macedonian book and today remains the only extant ancient work dealing with the early history of Illyricum which is preserved in its entirety. In this short work Appian puts together different local and regional histories in order to create a unified historical narrative and determines the historical and mythological coordinates of Illyricum inside the ancient world. This paper will discuss Illyrike in the context of the Roman construction of Illyricum as a provincial space, similar to some other regions in continental Europe such as, for example, Gaul or Britain. They were all firstly created through the needs of Roman political geography and later written into literary knowledge through the works of ancient history and ethnography. This paper will argue that Appian's Illyrike represented the final stage of the Roman construction of Illyricum from an imaginary to a provincial space, which was the point of its full coming of age as an integral part of the ancient world and the Roman Empire.

Interest in Alexander the Great witnessed a revival among Greek intellectuals at the beginning of the 2 nd century AD, coinciding with the reign of the Alexander-inspired emperor Trajan. This paper argues that Plutarch's Demetrius and Pyrrhus participate in this contemporary discourse by exploring the phenomenon of Alexander-imitation directly. Plutarch portrays these Hellenistic kings as men whose perceived similarities to Alexander failed, for various reasons, to bring them lasting success. These Lives call into question which of Alexander's traits a ruler should imitate and suggest that an association with Alexander can do as much harm as good to a ruler's reputation.

Greek myth comes to us through many different channels. Our best source for the ways that local communities told and used these stories is a travel guide from the second century AD, the Periegesis of Pausanias. Pausanias gives us the clearest glimpse of ancient Greek myth as a living, local tradition. He shows us that the physical landscape was nothing without the stories of heroes and gods that made sense of it, and reveals what was at stake in claims to possess the past. He also demonstrates how myths guided curious travellers to particular places, the kinds of responses they provoked, and the ways they could be tested or disputed. The Periegesis attests to a form of cultural tourism we would still recognise: it is animated by the desire to see for oneself distant places previously only read about. It shows us how travellers might map the literary landscapes that they imagined on to the reality, and how locals might package their cities to meet the demands of travellers' expectations.

In Pausanias in the World of Greek Myth, Greta Hawes uses Pausanias's text to illuminate the spatial dynamics of myth. She reveals the significance of local stories in an Empire connected by a shared literary repertoire, and the unifying power of a tradition made up paradoxically of narratives that took diverse, conflicting forms on the ground. We learn how storytelling and the physical infrastructures of the Greek mainland were intricately interwoven such that the decline or flourishing of the latter affected the archive of myth that Pausanias transmits.

Oppian's Halieutica is a dazzling five-book Greek didactic poem about the sea and its wily, chaotic inhabitants. This book offers the first sustained reading of the poem as a didactic epic that meditates on the place of human beings within the cosmos at large, and on the lessons we can learn from fish. Using a combination of close reading and wider interpretative lenses, this book examines the literary texture and cultural relevance of the Halieutica by analysing its sophisticated refraction of earlier literary-critical theories and hexameter traditions, its commentary on human-animal relations, and its contribution to imperial Greek literary, political, and cultural debates. The book demonstrates the importance and cultural centrality of this understudied Greek didactic epic; it is written for students and scholars of imperial Greek literature and culture (including the ancient novel), ancient heroic and didactic epics, and those interested in human-animal relations in the ancient world.

Several ancient texts treat Diogenes’ life, or at least central aspects of it. The present article gives a survey of some of the most important passages dealing with the question for which purposes Diogenes was used in these texts: In the Sale of Diogenes and in Epistle 7 he serves as a Cynic role model. Cercidas venerates him in a funeral poem as a celestial dog, and Dion of Prusa uses him for a political statement. Furthermore, for Maximos of Tyre Diogenes symbolizes the Golden Age, while Lucian depicts him as a deterrent philosopher whose teaching has no value for human life. For emperor Julian the Cynic finally is a true representative of the old pagan religion.

Some biographical data are only preserved in the oriental tradition. They originate from Greek sources, i.e. they were part of the introductions to the philosophy of Aristotle which were read in the late antique universities like Athens or Alexandria. From this we may infer that the life and teaching of Diogenes itself was part of the late antique curricula, a fact, for which the Greek tradition gives no evidence.

Messene was unusual among ancient poleis. It was one of the few major settlements on the Greek mainland to be founded in the Hellenistic period. Moreover, on account of this, its claim to a culturally authoritative past rooted in the mythic period could not rest on suppositions about the continuity of knowledge handed down through the continuation of civic, cultic, and communal institutions. This chapter examines how Pausanias' account of Messenia (book four of his Periegesis) approaches this dilemma by making knowledge both an artefact preserved unchanged in texts, and a conceptual possession encountered and attained through travel. It goes on to argue that the interplay between these two forms of knowledge is specifically relevant to this text, since the Periegesis also serves as a fixed, written object, which nonetheless offers opportunities for autonomous exploration and experience to the hodological reader-traveler.

One of the climactic passages of the third Gospel is that in which Jesus probes by his resurrection and bodily presence that his message has been confirmed. Consequently, Luke 24 has been of interest to many researchers, but it seems there remain still some exegetical puzzles such as the literary model of the pericope 24:36-49. This article will deal with some questions regarding the meaning of this issue and will try to formulate a response to some open questions by considering the passage in the context of the stories of apparitions of the Imperial Greek and Roman literatures.

Amin Benaissa has produced a superb critical edition with translation and commentary of 5 the fragments of Dionysius. An epic poet of uncertain date (post-AD 79 is tentatively 6 suggested), Dionysius authored the Bassarica (the Bassarids were a group of Bacchae 7 who sided with Dionysus in the war against Deriades), and the Gigantias, concerning a 8 gigantomachy and its prehistory, apparently centring on Heracles' role in the war between 9 the Dorian king Aigimios and the Lapiths. 38 Nearly all of the non-papyrus fragments of the Bassarica (1-32) come from Stephanus of 39 Byzantium and feature verses or contextual information from books III, IV and XIV. Most 40 come in fact from Book III, which contained catalogues of the allies of Dionysus from the 41 Sicilian, Cyprian, Lydian, Phrygian, Macedonian and Thracian contingents (frs 1-10), and 42 those of Deriades (12-28*). Several of these are marked as doubtful and are notably absent 43 from previous editions (frs 4, 8, 21, 24, 32). Criteria for their inclusion seem sensible, for 44 example: 'toponyms or ethnics associated with Dionysus' Indian campaign in Stephanus 45 [ ... ] or shared exclusively between Stephanus and Nonnus [ ... ] should be assumed to

This paper can be downloaded for free - Articolo liberamente scaricabile

This paper compares a number of epigrams from the Garland of Philip and their likely models in the Garland of Meleager. By such a comparison, this work aims to stress the common features in the Philippan variations, which in turn would represent stylistic trends of the second Garland, namely: 1) the avoidance of suspense, by revealing the theme of a poem from its beginning; 2) the use of standard expressions, possibly felt as sub-generic hallmarks; 3) the reduction in the number of enjambments and the overall tendency towards a rigorous distribution of the themes in every line or couplet; 4) the relevant role played by the words, which the model and the imitation share; 5) the lexical refinement, a frequent feature but less prominent than commonly believed. By trying to shed light on these stylistic trends of Philippan variations, this paper wants to offer an argument against the view of Philippan poetry as merely imitative.

El análisis de una obra —Menipo o Necromancia de Luciano de Samosata (120-192/197 d.C.), en este caso— siempre se debe complementar con la exposición de su contexto histórico y su ubicación dentro del corpus del autor, lo que a su vez sirve para describir la obra en sí y su género. Claro, no se pretende leer una obra a partir del contexto histórico, como si se considerara el contexto socio-histórico-político-económico-filosófico-mitológico-religioso-cultural como factor determinante para la creación de una obra dada; tampoco se busca reclasificar todo el corpus lucianesco, o descubrir el fallo, el hilo negro, el dato perdido, la solución final ni la clave última para descifrar o decodificar nada, como si estuviera ausente sólo una pieza de puzzle para entender a Luciano. No. Es menester que se expongan contexto, ubicación, estructura, argumento y género, porque a partir de estos elementos se puede empezar a problematizar los derredores e interiores de la obra y, con esto, esbozar propuestas de lecturas y vías de análisis. ¿Se puede lograr un estudio sin presentar estos aspectos? Sí, es posible, hasta es un ejercicio de crítica y análisis harto arduo y loable, pero al menos este trabajo de investigación aspira a otros fines un tanto menos complicados: proponer una lectura de Necromancia, entre tantas otras posibles.

IV. MENIPO O NECROMANCIA: UNA PRESENTACIÓN
1. Contexto histórico
2. Necromancia en la obra de Luciano de Samosata
3. Estructura y argumento
4. Del éthos satírico a la fantasía menipea
__a. Éthos satírico
__b. Fantasía menipea

The contribution examines the presentation of Athens in advisory speeches of Dio Chrysostom. It argues that Dio uses Athens as an important point of reference and provides, for the most part, a negative example of practices and behaviors which should not be followed. At the same time Dio's speeches are filled with concepts, imagery, and vocabulary drawn from Plato, Aristophanes, and Demosthenes, which reveal that Dio’s understanding of proper government, civic virtues and vices was shaped by the political discourse produced by the Athenian democracy.

Lukians Rede De domo (Peri tou oikou) gehört zu den "einführenden Reden" (prolalia) des corpus. 1 Mit Lob (epainos) und Preis (enkomion) eines prächtig geschmückten Saales fügt sich die Rede in die reiche antike Gattungstradition der ekphrasis. 2 Das Werk wird im Allgemeinen zu den frühen declamationes gezählt, die der erfolgreiche junge Redner an den unterschiedlichsten Orten der oikoumene gehalten hat (als einer der "Konzertredner", die zur Zeit der zweiten Sophistik zahlreich auftraten, vielmals gegen eine erhebliche Honorierung). 3

The epic poet Dionysius, who probably flourished in the first century CE, is a key transitional figure in the history of Greek poetry, sharing stylistic and thematic tendencies with both the learned Hellenistic tradition and the monumental epic poetry of the later Roman period. His Bassarica is the earliest known poem on the conquest of India by the god Dionysus and was an important model of Nonnus' Dionysiaca. His Gigantias related the battle of the giants against the Olympian gods and legends surrounding it, with particular focus on the figure of Heracles. This is the most comprehensive edition to date of his poetry, expanding the number of fragments available and providing a more reliable text based on a fresh inspection of the papyri. The volume includes a substantial introduction contextualising the poetry, a facing English translation of the text, and a detailed linguistic and literary commentary. <www.cambridge.org/9781107178977>

This article analyzes boy viewers as internal audiences in Imperial ekphrastic treatises. The first section traces the origins of the boy viewer to Plato’s Republic and examines early examples in the Tabula Cebetis and Rhetorum praeceptor. The second half of the article then investigates how the Philostrati and Callistratus rework this device in their own texts, focusing on themes of childlike wonder and susceptibility to illusion. I conclude that these treatises use the boy viewer to subvert the distinction between expert and inexpert viewing, and thereby contest the ideal of the cultured gaze inherited from the Second Sophistic.

The Lucianic corpus is well stocked with encomia and encomiastic elements. 1 Besides the explicitly titled Praise of Home and Praise of the Fly, a first count would add at least the Demonax, the Nigrinus, On the Lecture Hall, the Parasite, On Dance, the Images and its companion piece, Images Defended. These works include not only first-order encomia but also (in some cases) second-order reflection on the business and proprieties of praising as well. On this latter criterion we can also add the essay How to Write History, which makes a point of the importance of being clear about the difference between encomium and history. On top of that, in his personae as satirist and critic, Lucian has much to say about how praise can be, and often is, wrongly bestowed, and what such mistakes reveal about both the subjects and the objects of the praise, and its audience: think of his anti-encomia of contemporary icons in The Fake Prophet and The Death of Peregrinus, and less directly in the Professor of Oratory.

"The book constitutes a close reading of Philostratus’ dialogue Heroikos, especially its opening, scene-setting chapters, and its central section concerning the myth of Odysseus and Palamedes. It points out a systematic and programmatic intertextuality with Plato’s Phaedrus, especially in that text’s famous scene-setting. Details of the setting and the dialogue are altered in a way that is very similar to the ‘correction’ of Homer found later in the Heroikos and throughout Second Sophistic literature, thus setting out Philostratus’ aim as being both to recall and to challenge Plato’s method of dealing with mythical subjects (especially in the Phaedrus). It argues that Philostratus’ text emulates that of Plato, and that this includes emulation of Plato’s deliberate ambiguities, ironies, and polyvalency—thus the interlocutors and characters in Heroikos each take on characteristics of Socrates at various times, deliberately misleading the reader if he is expecting one character to take on the (more authoritative?) Socratic role. The Heroikos does not end any less aporetically than the Phaedrus with respect to the status of myths or the written word or any of its other themes; however, this monograph argues that the Heroikos does have something more certain to say when it comes to Philostratus’ ‘Second Sophistic’. The emulation of and rivalry with Plato, including ‘capping’ allusions and ‘correcting’ attitudes to myths seen in Phaedrus especially, is part of a strategy of valorising Philostratus’ sophists and their work by favourable comparison with philosophers (attacking the chief representative in the Greek tradition, just as the Homeric criticism parts of the text go for the chief poet). In this respect, the Heroikos can be seen as echoing Philostratus’ other texts in their promotion of his sophistic, especially the Lives of the Sophists, though in a different genre and through more allusive means.

[Table of contents and cover only available to download below.]"

Dal II secolo arriva la voce di Luciano di Samosata, un pepaideumenos che viaggia da un capo all’altro dell’impero denunciando le ipocrisie di pseudo-filosofi e intellettuali. In questa chiave, gli archetipi comico e socratico sono rivissuti all'interno dei dialoghi in funzione della fisionomia dei personaggi, costruiti sulla tradizione, eppure estremamente attuali. Le caratteristiche ciniche, comiche e socratiche sono così calate nei meccanismi della satira in una continua ricerca di originalità, espressione di poikilia e incarnazione di mixis.

http://hdl.handle.net/11572/186797