Open Collections

UBC Community, Partners, and Alumni Publications

The Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists Schmidt, Ethan

Description

The Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists is a compendium of biographies relating to pagan philosophers of late antiquity, perhaps composed in an effort to create an alternative to Christian hagiography. It is characterized throughout by an attitude of traditionalist antiquarianism and hostility towards Christianity, and informed by previous experiments in the genre such as the comparable work of Philostratos. It contains the biographies of Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichos, Alypios, Sosipatra, Aedesios of Cappadocia, Sopater, Ablabios, Eustathios, Maximos, Priskos, Ioulianos of Cappadocia, Prohaeresios, Epiphanios, Diophantos the Arab, Sopolis, Himerios, Parnakios, Libanios, Akakios, Nymphidianos, Zeno of Cyprus, Magnos, Oribasios, Ionikos and Chrysanthios, and, likewise, represents one of the latest biographical sources for Neoplatonic intellectuals before the persecutions carried out under the auspices of the Theodosians. It also contains evidence for the practices of Greco-Roman religion in the fourth century, as well as the reactions of its educated practitioners to marginalization and persecution in a Christianized Roman Empire.

Item Metadata

Title
The Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists
Creator
Schmidt, Ethan
Contributor
Database of Religious History (DRH)
Publisher
Database of Religious History (DRH)
Date Issued
2023-03-13
Description
The Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists is a compendium of biographies relating to pagan philosophers of late antiquity, perhaps composed in an effort to create an alternative to Christian hagiography. It is characterized throughout by an attitude of traditionalist antiquarianism and hostility towards Christianity, and informed by previous experiments in the genre such as the comparable work of Philostratos. It contains the biographies of Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichos, Alypios, Sosipatra, Aedesios of Cappadocia, Sopater, Ablabios, Eustathios, Maximos, Priskos, Ioulianos of Cappadocia, Prohaeresios, Epiphanios, Diophantos the Arab, Sopolis, Himerios, Parnakios, Libanios, Akakios, Nymphidianos, Zeno of Cyprus, Magnos, Oribasios, Ionikos and Chrysanthios, and, likewise, represents one of the latest biographical sources for Neoplatonic intellectuals before the persecutions carried out under the auspices of the Theodosians. It also contains evidence for the practices of Greco-Roman religion in the fourth century, as well as the reactions of its educated practitioners to marginalization and persecution in a Christianized Roman Empire.
Subject
Hellenistic Religions; Neoplatonism; Religious Group; Greek Philosophical Traditions; Text; Hagiography; Ancient Greek text; Greek Religions; Hellenistic Neo-Paganism
Genre
Other
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2023-12-08
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0438235
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/86913
Affiliation
Non UBC
Citation
Ethan Schmidt. (2023). The Lives of the Philosophers and Sophists. Database of Religious History, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia.
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

Item Media

Item Citations and Data

Rights

Attribution 4.0 International