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PHILOSTRATUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 446 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PHILOSTRATUS , the name of several, three (or four), See also:

Greek See also:sophists of the See also:Roman imperial See also:period—(1) Philostratus " the Athenian " (c. 170-245), (2) his See also:nephew (?) Philostratus " of See also:Lemnos " (See also:born c. 19o); (3) a See also:grandson (?) of (2). Of these the most famous is Philostratus " the Athenian," author of the See also:Life of A pollonius Tyana, which he dedicated to Julia Domna, wife of See also:Alexander See also:Severus and See also:mother of See also:Caracalla (see See also:APOLLONIUS OF TYANA).1 He wrote also Bloc ZoOloriav (Lives of the Sophists), Gymnasticus and Epistolae (mainly of an erotic See also:character). Very little is known of his career. Even his name is doubtful. The Lives of the Sophists gives the praenomen Flavius, which, however, is found elsewhere only in See also:Tzetzes. See also:Eunapius and See also:Synesius See also:call him a Lemnian; See also:Photius a Tyrian; his letters refer to him as an Athenian. It is probable that he was born in Lemnos, studied and taught at See also:Athens, and then settled in See also:Rome (where he would naturally be called atheniensis) as a member of the learned circle with which Julia Domna surrounded herself. He was born probably in 172, and is said by Suidas to have been living in the reign of See also:Philip (244–249). The fact that the author of A pollonius is also the author of the Lives of the Sophists is confirmed by See also:internal See also:evidence. The latter is dedicated to a See also:consul See also:Antonius Gordianus, perhaps one of the two Gordians who were killed in 238.

The See also:

work is divided into two parts: the first dealing with the See also:ancient Sophists, e.g. See also:Gorgias, the second with the later school, e.g. Herodes See also:Atticus. The Lives are not in the true sense See also:biographical, but rather picturesque impressions of leading representatives of an attitude of mind full of curiosity, alert and versatile, but lacking scientific method, preferring the See also:external excellence of See also:style and manner to the solid achievements of serious See also:writing. The philosopher, as he says, investigates truth ; the sophist embellishes it, and takes it for granted. The Gymnasticus contains interesting See also:matter concerning the Olympic See also:games and athletic contests generally. The Letters breathe the spirit of the New See also:Comedy and the Alexandrine poets; portions of See also:Letter 33 are almost literally translated in See also:Ben See also:Jonson's See also:Song to Celia, " Drink to me only with thine eyes." The 'Hpwucor, formerly attributed to Philostratus the Athenian, is probably the work of Philostratus the Lemnian. It is a popular disquisition on the heroes of the Trojan See also:War in the See also:form of a conversation between a Thracian See also:vine-See also:dresser on the See also:shore of the See also:Hellespont and a Phoenician See also:merchant who derives his knowledge from the See also:hero See also:Protesilaus, See also:Palamedes is exalted at the expense of See also:Odysseus, and See also:Homer's unfairness to him is attacked. It has been suggested that Philostratus is here de-scribing a See also:series of heroic paintings in the See also:palace of Julia Domna. His other work is the EikOvsc (Imagines), ostensibly a description of 64 pictures in a Neapolitan See also:gallery. See also:Goethe, See also:Welcker, See also:Brunn, E. See also:Bertrand and Helbig, among others, have held that the descriptions are of actually existing See also:works of See also:art, while See also:Heyne and Friederichs deny this.

In any See also:

case they are interesting as showing the way in which ancient artists treated mythological and other subjects, and are written with See also:artistic knowledge and in attractive See also:language. This work is imitated by the third Philostratus (or by some later sophist) of whose descriptions of pictures 17 remain. There is See also:great difficulty, due to a confused statement. of Suidas, in disentangling the works and even the personalities of these Philostrati. Reference is there made to Philostratus as the son of Verus, a rhetorician in See also:Nero's See also:time, who wrote tragedies, comedies and See also:treatises. Suidas thus appears to give to Philostratus the Athenian a life of 200 years! We must be content to assume two Lemnian Philostrati, both sophists, living in Rome. See further a full discussion by K.Mfinscher, in Philologus (1907), suppl. X., pp. 469-557. Of works bearing the name Philostratus there is a collected edition by C. F. See also:Kayser (See also:Zurich, 1844; See also:Leipzig, 187o-1871), and another by Westermann (See also:Paris, 1849), with Latin See also:translation; these supersede those by F.

See also:

Morel (Paris, 1608) and Olearius (Leipzig, 17o9). There are See also:separate See also:editions of the Eikones by Schenk] and Reisch (Leipzig, 1902); of the Gymnasticus by Mynas (1858), who discovered the MS., Daremberg (Paris, 1858), Volckmar (See also:Aurich, 1862), and especially See also:Julius Jiithner (1909), with introd., comments and Ger. I As Lemnos was an Athenian See also:island, anv Lemnian co',ld be wiled an Athenian. See also:Flavian II., who had accepted the decrees of the See also:Council of See also:Chalcedon and was See also:patriarch of See also:Antioch from 498 to 512. The See also:Monophysites had the sympathy of the See also:emperor See also:Anastasius, and were finally successful in ousting Flavian in 512 and replacing him by their See also:partisan Severus. Of See also:Philoxenus's See also:part in the struggle we possess not too trustworthy accounts by hostile writers, such as See also:Theophanes and See also:Theodorus See also:Lector. We know that in 498 he was staying at Edessal; in or about 507, according to Theophanes, he was summoned by the emperor to See also:Constantinople; and he finally presided at a See also:synod at See also:Sidon which was the means of procuring the replacement of Flavian by Severus. But the See also:triumph was See also:short-lived. See also:Justin I., who succeeded Anastasius in 518, was less favourable to the party of Severus and Philoxenus, and in 519 they were both sentenced to banishment. Philoxenus was sent to See also:Philippopolis in See also:Thrace, and afterwards to Gangra in See also:Paphlagonia, where he met his See also:death by foul See also:play in 523. Apart from his redoubtable See also:powers as a controversialist, Philoxenus deserves See also:commemoration as a See also:scholar, an elegant writer, and an exponent of See also:practical See also:Christianity. Of the See also:chief See also:monument of his scholarship—the Philoxenian version of the See also:Bible—only the Gospels and certain portions of See also:Isaiah are known to survive (see See also:Wright, Syr.

Lit. 14). It was an See also:

attempt to provide a more accurate rendering of the Greek Bible than had hitherto existed in See also:Syriac, and obtained recognition among the Monophysites until superseded by the still more literal renderings of the Old Testament by See also:Paul of Tella and of the New Testament by See also:Thomas of Harkel (both in 616-617), of which the latter at least was based on the work of Philoxenus. There are also extant portions of commentaries on the Gospels from his See also:pen. Of the excellence of his style and of his practical religious zeal we are able to See also:judge from the thirteen homilies on the See also:Christian life and character which have been edited and translated by Budge (See also:London, 1894). In these he holds aloof for the most part from theological controversy, and treats in an admirable See also:tone and spirit the themes of faith, simplicity, the fear of See also:God, poverty, greed, See also:abstinence and unchastity. His See also:affinity with his earlier countryman See also:Aphraates is See also:manifest both in his choice of subjects and his manner of treatment. As his quotations from Scripture appear to be made from the Peshilta, he probably wrote the homilies before he embarked upon the Philoxenian version.2 Philoxenus wrote 'also many Controversial works and some liturgical pieces. Many of his letters survive, and at least two have been edited.' Several of his writings were translated into Arabic and Ethiopic. (N.

End of Article: PHILOSTRATUS

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