The Second Sophistic

Explores the various ways in which modern scholarship has approached the oratorical culture of the Early Imperial period.

Timothy Whitmarsh (Author)

9780198568810, Oxford University Press

Paperback, published 1 September 2005

120 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 0.9 cm, 0.185 kg

The 'Second Sophistic' is arguably the fastest-growing area in contemporary classical scholarship. This short, accessible account explores the various ways in which modern scholarship has approached one of the most extraordinary literary phenomena of antiquity, the dazzling oratorical culture of the Early Imperial period. Successive chapters deal with historical and cultural background, sophistic performance, technical treatises (including the issue of Atticism and Asianism), the concept of identity, and the wider impact of sophistic performance on major authors of the time, including Plutarch, Lucian and the Greek novelists.

Introduction
1. The Second Sophistic
2. Sophistic performance
3. The politics of language and style
4. Reading sophistic texts
5. The Second Sophistic and Imperial Greek literature
Bibliography: abbreviations and works cited
About the author
Index.

Subject Areas: Interdisciplinary studies [GT]