Libanius the Sophist , livre ebook

272

pages

English

Ebooks

2013

Écrit par
Raffaella Cribiore

Publié par
Cornell University Press

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272

pages

English

Ebook

2013

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 novembre 2013

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801469084

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Libanius of Antioch was a rhetorician of rare skill and eloquence. So renowned was he in the fourth century that his school of rhetoric in Roman Syria became among the most prestigious in the Eastern Empire. In this book, Raffaella Cribiore draws on her unique knowledge of the entire body of Libanius's vast literary output-including 64 orations, 1,544 letters, and exercises for his students-to offer the fullest intellectual portrait yet of this remarkable figure whom John Chrystostom called "the sophist of the city."Libanius (314-ca. 393) lived at a time when Christianity was celebrating its triumph but paganism tried to resist. Although himself a pagan, Libanius cultivated friendships within Antioch's Christian community and taught leaders of the Church including Chrysostom and Basil of Caesarea. Cribiore calls him a "gray pagan" who did not share the fanaticism of the Emperor Julian. Cribiore considers the role that a major intellectual of Libanius's caliber played in this religiously diverse society and culture. When he wrote a letter or delivered an oration, who was he addressing and what did he hope to accomplish? One thing that stands out in Libanius's speeches is the startling amount of invective against his enemies. How common was character assassination of this sort? What was the subtext to these speeches and how would they have been received? Adapted from the Townsend Lectures that Cribiore delivered at Cornell University in 2010, this book brilliantly restores Libanius to his rightful place in the rich and culturally complex world of Late Antiquity.

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Publié par

Cornell University Press

Date de parution

15 novembre 2013

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780801469084

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Ancient Rome

cLIBANIUS THE SOPHIST

a volume in the series

TOWNSEND LECTURES/CORNELL STUDIES IN CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY Edited by Frederick M. Ahl, Theodore R. Brennan, Charles F. Brittain, Gail J. Fine, Michael Fontaine, Kim HainesEitzen, David P. Mankin, Sturt W. Manning, Alan J. Nussbaum, Hayden N. Pelliccia, Verity Platt, Pietro Pucci, Hunter R. Rawlings III, Éric Rebillard, Jeffrey S. Rusten, Barry S. Strauss, Michael Weiss

A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

LIBANIUS THE SOPHIST

R HE TO RIC, R E A L ITY, A N D R E L IG IO N I N T H E F O U RT H CE N T U R Y f

R a f f a e l l a C r i b i o r e

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2013 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Cribiore, Raffaella, author. Libanius the sophist : rhetoric, reality, and religion in the fourth century / Raffaella Cribiore. pages cm. — (Townsend lectures/Cornell studies in classical philology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801452079 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Libanius—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PA4228C75 2013 885'.01—dc23 2013006266

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood ﬁbers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the two Stefania, most important in my life

Tychēof Antioch, Roman, 2nd Century AD, bronze overlaid with gold. Courtesy Worcester Art Mu seum, Worcester, Massachusetts, Stoddard Acquisition Fund.

c Co nte nts

Preface and Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1 1. Rhetoric and the Distortion of Reality 25 2. A Rhetor and His Audience: The Role of Invective 76 3. A Man and His Gods 132 4. God and the Gods 182 Conclusion: Julian’s School Edict Again 229

Selected Bibliography 239 Index 257

cP r e f a c e a n d A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

When A. F. Norman was asked why he had decided to make the study of the works of Libanius a large part of his life’s work, he replied that they occupied a very large portion of a shelf in the library; so much of this writer was preserved that he was intrigued and de cided to devote full attention to him. One of the strands that run through this book is indeed the question of why Libanius was and remained so pop ular in antiquity and afterward but lost much of his appeal in the modern age. Besides the quantity of his extant production, its quality and variety compel one to look at the many faces of a sophist who was a professor of rhetoric, a composer of orations, a public ﬁgure, and a man at the center of a complex epistolary network. Libanius has been my daily companion for several years. In the book I wrote in 2007,The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch, I was primarily attracted by Libanius the teacher and by the eminence of his school, which aimed to rival rhetoric in Athens. Because of my previous interest in educa tion in antiquity, Libanius and his students offered natural and challenging areas of inquiry. But there is so much of Libanius that still waits to be ex plored, so many aspects of his personality and activities that can be of use in gaining a better understanding of the world of the fourth century, that I could not let this call go unanswered. Translating and studying Libanius has become ever more rewarding because it is now clear that he was not dis engaged from reality but was immersed in the life of his society, ﬁghting cor ruption and brutality and communicating with pagans and Christians alike. The offer to deliver the Townsend Lectures in the fall of 2010 gave me the occasion to study new material. When Hayden Pelliccia told me that the lectures had to be entirely new, I felt duly impressed and intimidated and immediately got down to work. The time I spent at Cornell University was blissful, and for that I thank, besides Hayden, Charles Brittain, Pietro and Janine Pucci, Kim HainesEitzen, and the rest of a friendly and stimulat ing faculty. I am grateful to Éric Rebillard (who was then on leave abroad) for coming to one of the lectures, reading the rest of them, and offering

i x

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