Imperial Greek Prose

How did Greek literature evolve under the Roman Empire? In this course we survey Greek prose literature of the 2nd-4th centuries CE, in particular trends related to what might be called “the Long Second Sophistic.” Authors and topics we study include: figures traditionally associated with the Second Sophistic (Dio Chrysostom, Philostratus, Lucian, Aristides), the Greek novel, rhetorical theory and textbooks, biographical literature, travel-writing (Pausanias), Athenian-trained Christian rhetors such as the Cappadocian Fathers, and the concept of paideia and its relationship to specialized disciplines such as medicine and logic.