Graham Anderson provides a comprehensive view of the Second Sophistic, the single most important movement in second century literature. Texts from this period, unlike most contemporaneous prose, came to be written as entertainment literature rather than being confined to historical subjects.

Anderson describes the cultural aspirations sought by Greek sophists in the Roman Empire as well as their skills in public speaking which enabled them to broaden their areas of artistic activity. He presents the sophists' multiple roles as civic celebrities, transmitters of Hellenic culture and literary artists. Although he confirms the image of sophists as vain, contentious, and sometimes superficial, he shows that they were no less fascinating for it. Anderson also emphasizes the integrity of their attempts to preserve the idea of an independent Greek past.

"Those having some acquaintance with the literature of antiquity will profit greatly from the keen insights provided by [The Second Sophistic]."--Religious Studies Review

"This is an important book. ... Any connoisseur of sophistic will savour his (Anderson's) verbal wit and gladly trade epigram for explanation."--The Times Literary Supplement

"The book fills a niche in a discipline that often ignores them."--Donald Lateiner, Bryn Mawr Classical review

Table of Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction: Roman Empire and Greek Renaissance

1. Sophists in Society

2. Preparation, Prologue, Performance

3. Communing with the Classics

4. Atticism and Antagonism

5. Hellenic Past, Graeco-Roman Present

6. Cookery and Confection: Sophistic Philosophy, Philosophic Sophistry

7. Some Sophistic Scene-painting

8. Logos Erotikos: The Sophist as Storyteller

9. Adoxa paradoxa: The Papaideumenos at play

10. Piety and Paideia: The Sophist and his Gods

11. Sophistic Self-Presentation: Some Studies

12. Conclusion: Values and Valuations Select Bibliography Index