Philostratus

Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (/fɪˈlɒstrətəs/; Greek: Φλάβιος Φιλόστρατος; c. 170/172 – 247/250), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He was born probably around 172, and is said by the Suda to have been living in the reign of emperor Philip the Arab (244–249). His death possibly occurred in Tyre c. 250 AD.

Name and identity

Some ambiguity surrounds his name. The praenom Flavius is given in The Lives of the Sophists and Tzetzes. Eunapius and Synesius call him a Lemnian; Photius a Tyrian; his letters refer to him as an Athenian.

It is probable that he was born in Lemnos, studied and taught at Athens, and then settled in Rome (where he would naturally be called Atheniensis) as a member of the learned circle with which empress Julia Domna surrounded herself.

Works attributed to Philostratus

Historians agree that Philostratus authored at least five works: Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Τὰ ἐς τὸν Τυανέα Ἀπολλώνιον; Latin: Vita Apollonii), Lives of the Sophists (Βίοι Σοφιστῶν), Gymnasticus (Γυμναστικός), Heroicus (Ἡρωικός) and Epistolae (Ἐπιστολαί). Another work, Imagines (Εἰκόνες), is usually assigned to his son-in-law Philostratus of Lemnos.

Heroicus (On Heroes, 213–214 AD) is in the form of a dialogue between a Phoenician traveler and a vine-tender or groundskeeper (ἀμπελουργός ampelourgos), regarding Protesilaus (or "Protosilaos"), the first Achaean warrior to be killed at the siege of Troy, as described in The Iliad. The dialogue extends into a discussion and critique of Homer's presentation of heroes and gods, based on the greater authority of the dead Protosileus, who lives after death and communicates with the ampelourgos. Heroicus includes Achilles' "Ode to Echo".

Life of Apollonius of Tyana, written between 217 and 238 AD, tells the story of Apollonius of Tyana (c. 40 – c. 120 AD), a Pythagorean philosopher and teacher. Philostratus wrote the book for Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Caracalla. The book was completed after her death.

Lives of the Sophists, written between 231 and 237 AD, is a semi-biographical history of the Greek sophists. The book is dedicated to a consul Antonius Gordianus, perhaps one of the two Gordians who were killed in 238. The work is divided into two parts: the first dealing with the ancient Sophists, e.g. Gorgias, the second with the later school, e.g. Herodes Atticus. The Lives are not in the true sense biographical, but rather picturesque impressions of leading representatives of an attitude of mind full of curiosity, alert and versatile, but lacking scientific method, preferring the external excellence of style and manner to the solid achievements of serious writing. The philosopher, as he says, investigates truth; the sophist embellishes it, and takes it for granted.

Gymnasticus, written after 220 AD, contains accounts concerning the Olympic games and athletic contests in general.

Epistolae, or Love Letters, breathe the spirit of the New Comedy and the Alexandrine poets; portions of Letter 33 are almost literally translated in Ben Jonson's Song to Celia, "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes." The letters are mainly of an erotic character. Their publication date is unknown.

Internal evidence confirms that the authors of Life of Apollonius and Lives of the Sophists are one and the same. The Lives of the Sophists was to have an enormous impact upon later writers, particularly Neoplatonists.