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The Second Sophistic

A Cultural Phenomenon in the Roman Empire

By Graham Anderson

Published September 16th 1993 by Routledge – 320 pages

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Description

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.

Reviews

`A.s new book will surely become a staple of reading lists, …' - Classical Review