Greek Literature and the Roman Empire The Politics of Imitation

by Whitmarsh, Tim

• ISBN13: 9780199240357
• ISBN10: 0199240353
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-21
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Greek Literature and the Roman Empire uses up-to-date literary and cultural theory to make a major and original contribution to the appreciation of Greek literature written under the Roman Empire during the second century CE (the so-called 'Second Sophistic'). This literature should not bedismissed as unoriginal and mediocre. Rather, its central preoccupations, especially mimesis and paideia, provide significant insights into the definition of Greek identity during the period. Focusing upon a series of key texts by important authors (including Dio Chrysostom, Plutarch, Philostratus,Lucian, Favorinus, and the novelists), Whitmarsh argues that narratives telling of educated Greeks' philosophical advice to empowered Romans (including emperors) offer a crucial point of entry into the complex and often ambivalent relationships between Roman conquerors and Greek subjects. Theirauthors' rich and complex engagement with the literary past articulates an ingenious and sophisticated response to their present socio-political circumstances.

Author Biography

Tim Whitmarsh is Reader in Greek Literature, Exeter University.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction	1	(1)
Greek Literature and the Roman Empire	1	(16)
Literature, Power, and Culture	17	(3)
A Geography of the Imagination	20	(6)
Imitation and Identity	26	(3)
The Politics of Imitation	29	(12)
PART ONE: THE POLITICS OF IMITATION
Repetition: The Crisis of Posterity	41	(49)
A Secondary Society	41	(5)
Repetition and Mimesis	46	(1)
Rescuing Mimesis	47	(10)
Sublime Mimesis	57	(14)
Art and Artifice	71	(17)
Conclusion: From `Past and Present' to `Prior and Posterior'	88	(2)
Education: Strategies of Self-Making	90	(43)
Strategies of Self-Making	91	(5)
Paideia and Social Status	96	(13)
Paideia and Gender	109	(7)
Paideia and Hellenism	116	(13)
Pedagogy, Identity, Power	129	(4)
PART TWO: GREECE AND ROME
Rome Uncivilized: Exile and the Kingdom	133	(48)
Exile and the Kingdom	134	(7)
Musonius Rufus, the `Roman' `Socrates'	141	(15)
Dio Chrysostom: Exile and Sophistry	156	(11)
Favorinus: Exile and Literary Alienation	167	(11)
Conclusion	178	(3)
Civilizing Rome: Greek Pedagogy and the Roman Emperor	181	(66)
Staging Philosophy: The Dionic Man	183	(3)
The Kingship orations: Performance and/of Power	186	(4)
Staging the Self: Sophistry in Motion	190	(10)
G reek Pedagogy and Roman Rule	200	(16)
Marcus Aurelius: Internalized Pedagogy	216	(9)
Dio and Philostratus	225	(19)
Conclusion: On Kingship	244	(3)
Satirizing Rome: Lucian	247	(48)
Satire and Satirical Identity	248	(6)
Rome, City of Spectacles	254	(3)
The Satirical Show	257	(8)
Nigrinus: Yearning for Philosophy	265	(14)
The Wrongs of Passage: On salaried posts	279	(14)
Conclusion	293	(2)
Conclusion	295	(33)
Appendices
1. Translation of Favorinus, On Exile (P.Vat. 11)	302	(23)
2. The Performative Context of Dio's Kingship orations	325	(3)
References	328	(37)
Index Locorum	365	(5)
Index of Greek Words	370	(1)
General Index	371