ABSTRACT

Sophism was the single most important movement in second century literature: prose of that period came to be written as entertainment rather than confined to historical subjects. Graham Anderson shows how the Greek sophists' skills in public speaking enabled them to perform effectively across a variety of activities. As he presents the sophists' roles as civic celebrities side-by-side with their roles as transmitters of Hellenic culture and literary artists, a co-ordinated view of the Second Sophistic as a complex phenomenon emerges.

chapter 1|34 pages

Sophists in society

chapter 2|22 pages

Preparation, prelude, performance

chapter 3|16 pages

Communing with the classics

chapter 4|16 pages

Atticism and antagonism

chapter 5|32 pages

Hellenic past, Graeco-Roman present

chapter 7|12 pages

Some sophistic scene-painting

chapter 9|28 pages

Adoxa paradoxa: the pepaideumenos at play

chapter 11|18 pages

11SOPHISTIC SELF-PRESENTATION: FOUR STUDIES

chapter 12|12 pages

12CONCLUSION: VALUES AND VALUATIONS