| Description |
Course explores the reanimation of the Greek heroic tradition in the Imperial era from three intertwined perspectives: literary, ritual and social. Selections from Dio Chrysostom, Lucian, Plutarch, Aelius Aristides and Philostratus, are studied. Attention is paid to the spirit of arch and learned play for which the Second Sophistic is famous, and with an eye to how the heroic legacy was tailored to the needs of Graeco-Roman culture in the spheres of athletics, performance oratory, civic deportment and spiritual experience. Coure also delves into the growing body of scholarship on Imperial-era literature in its cultural context. |