Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century A.D. Studies in Eunapius of Sardis

R.J. Penella

ARCA 28. ISBN 978-0-905205-79-3. Cloth, x+165 pp. Publ. 1990.

Eunapius's Lives of Philosophers and Sophists is a work of considerable importance for the cultural history of the eastern Roman Empire in the fourth century A.D. In particular, it opens a window onto two central aspects of late ancient paganism, Iamblichan Neoplatonism and academic rhetorical culture. This volume offers a close study of the Lives, much of it amounting more or less to a commentary in continuous prose.

Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century A.D. will interest classicists, students of the later Roman empire and those interested in the history of ancient philosophy.

ROBERT J. PENELLA is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics, Fordham University, New York.

Contents

I. EUNAPIUS OF SARDIS: THE MAN AND THE WRITER

i. Life and Intellectual Formation.

ii. From the History to the Lives.

iii. Was There a Second Edition of the Lives?.

iv. The Sources of the Lives.

v. The Lives: Preface and Program

II. THE PHILOSOPHERS

i. Plotinus, Porphyry and Iamblichus.

ii. Sopater, Eustathius, Sosipatra and Antoninus.

iii. Aedesius and his Pupils

III. THE SOPHISTS

i. Julianus and Prohaeresius.

ii. Other Sophists in the Lives.

iii. Oribasius and Other Rhetorically Trained Physicians

IV. THE ROMAN ORDER AND HELLENISM IN THE LIVES

i. Emperors.

ii. Roman Officials.

iii. Themistius and Other Missing Persons.

iv. Paganism and Christianity.

v. The Classical Greek Past

Bibliography:

i) Abbreviations

ii) Eunapius's Works

iii) Works cited by abbreviated title

Index Locorum Notabilium

General Index

Reviews

Eirene 29 (1993) 138-9 (Gotthard Strohmaier)

Gnomon 65 (1993) 449-50 (Giuseppe Giangrande)

Phoenix 47 (1993) 90-92 (D.F. Buck)

Athenaeum 81 (1993) 317-19 (Arnaldo Marcone)

L'Antiquité Classique 61 (1992) 464-6 (Omer Ballériaux)

Classical World 85 (1991-92) 257-8 (Catherine Sider Hamilton): "a useful study ... its analysis of textual and historical points is generally solid and persuasive ... valuable, too, as a study of the philosophical world of the Eastern Empire in the fourth century"

Classical Review 42 (1992) 38-9 (Lucas Siorvanes): "an invaluable contribution to the much-needed detailed examination of that crucial epoch"

Religious Studies Review (July 1991) 259 (A.T. Kraabel). "a brief, sure guide to the history of and scholarship on these fascinating, larger-than-life "professors of the liberal arts" of Late Antiquity. Necessary to any good college library."

Greece and Rome (1992) 112-13 (Richard Wallace): "This is a fascinating exploration of the place of learned men in late antique society"

Revue des Etudes Grecques 104 (1991) (P. Nautin)