Bøker av Philostratus

Philostratus "the Elder" or "the Athenian" (2nd to mid-3rd c.) and Eunapius (ca. 345-415) provide fascinating intellectual and professional biographies of notable sophists that reveal their predominant influence in the educational, social, religious, and political life of the Empire in their times.

In his Life of Apollonius Philostratus (second to third century CE) portrays a first-century CE teacher, religious reformer, and perceived rival to Jesus. Apollonius's letters, ancient reports about him, and a letter by Eusebius (fourth century CE) that is now central to the history of Philostratus's work add to the portrait.

Philostratus's writings embody the height of the renaissance of Greek literature in the second century CE. Heroicus is a vineyard conversation about the beauty, continuing powers, and worship of the Homeric heroes. Gymnasticus is the sole surviving ancient treatise on sports, which reshapes conventional ideas about the athletic body.