Philostratus of Athens(300 — ?)
Philostratos of Athens
8 min read
Greek writer and sophist of the 2nd–3rd century AD, Philostratus of Athens is celebrated for his Life of Apollonius of Tyana and his Lives of the Sophists. He moved in the literary circle of Empress Julia Domna in Rome.
Key Facts
- Born around 170 AD in Athens or on Lemnos
- Member of the intellectual circle of Empress Julia Domna in Rome
- Author of the Life of Apollonius of Tyana, a novelistic biography of a Neopythagorean philosopher
- Wrote the Lives of the Sophists, a major source on the Second Sophistic movement
- Died around 244–249 AD
Works & Achievements
A novelistic biography of the Neo-Pythagorean philosopher Apollonius, portrayed as a wise miracle-worker travelling from Greece to India. This work in eight books is Philostratus's most celebrated and an essential source on religion and philosophy in the 3rd century AD.
A biographical collection of the greatest Greek orators and rhetoricians from the 5th century BC to the 3rd century AD. In it, Philostratus coins the term "Second Sophistic," still used by modern historians.
A dialogue in which a vinedresser recounts his conversations with the shade of the hero Protesilaus, offering an alternative vision of the heroes of Troy. A foundational text for understanding the hero cult and popular religion under the Roman Empire.
Descriptions of sixty-four paintings seen in a villa near Naples, a masterpiece of ancient *ekphrasis*. This work influenced generations of artists and writers from the Renaissance onwards.
Seventy-three letters, many of them love epistles in the sophistic tradition, showcasing Philostratus's command of every register of Greek prose.
A treatise on athletic training and the Games, blending history, medicine, and philosophy. A valuable record of the place of sport in Greek culture under the Roman Empire.
Anecdotes
The empress Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus and great patron of letters, entrusted Philostratus with a singular mission: to write the biography of the philosopher Apollonius of Tyana from secret memoirs composed by a disciple named Damis of Nineveh. Philostratus spent many years compiling these notes, traveling to verify the places where Apollonius had lived, before delivering a work in eight books that would captivate Late Antiquity.
The Life of Apollonius of Tyana portrays a Pythagorean philosopher capable of miracles, prophecies, and journeys as far as India and Ethiopia. Some historians have seen in this work a deliberate response to the Gospels: the Roman Empire may have been seeking a Greek sage with powers comparable to those attributed to Jesus, to counterbalance the rising tide of Christianity.
Philostratus belonged to a true literary dynasty: his uncle had already written descriptions of works of art, and his son-in-law Callistratus carried on this tradition of ekphrasis. In his own Imagines, Philostratus describes with astonishing precision sixty-four paintings glimpsed in a villa in Naples, almost single-handedly inventing a literary genre.
In his Lives of the Sophists, Philostratus coined the phrase 'Second Sophistic' to describe the great renewal of Greek rhetoric under the Roman Empire. This term, which he invented, is still used today by all historians of ancient literature to designate an entire cultural era — a remarkable terminological legacy.
Some sophists of the era drew crowds like modern celebrities: Philostratus recounts that Polemon of Smyrna declaimed before thousands of listeners, and ships were held in port so that people could hear him. Philostratus himself, moving in these imperial circles, was at the heart of an unprecedented Greco-Roman intellectual ferment.
Primary Sources
Julia Domna handed me the memoirs of Damis of Nineveh, who had followed Apollonius everywhere as his disciple... She asked me to revise these notes with care, for Damis wrote plainly, without art.
Ancient philosophy debated the gods, nature, and the origin of all things in the form of philosophical disputations. The ancient sophistic addressed these same subjects, but through declamatory improvisation... The new sophistic, for its part, discusses the poor, the rich, the noble, and tyrants.
A vine-dresser of the Chersonese claims to have spoken with the shade of Protesilaus, the first Greek to fall at Troy, who revealed to him secrets about the heroes of the Iliad that differed from what Homer had written.
I was in Naples when an art lover showed me his collection of paintings. I spoke to the young men gathered around me, and it was for their sake that I described these paintings, so as to initiate them into the interpretation of works of art.
Key Places
The intellectual hub of the Roman Empire, Athens was the cultural reference city where Philostratus received his training as a sophist. He returned there regularly and celebrated it in his works as the eternal cradle of philosophy and rhetoric.
It was in Rome, within the literary circle of Empress Julia Domna, that Philostratus spent the most fruitful years of his life. This imperial salon brought together philosophers, rhetoricians, jurists, and scholars from across the Empire.
The ancestral home of the Philostratus family, Lemnos maintained an ancient literary and philosophical tradition. Several members of the Philostratus family practiced their art as sophists there, making the island a center of Greek *paideia*.
The birthplace of Apollonius, the central figure in Philostratus's biography. Tyana became a place of pilgrimage after the publication of the *Vita Apollonii*, and Empress Julia Mamaea had a temple erected there in honor of the sage.
It was in a Neapolitan villa that Philostratus claims to have discovered the collection of paintings he describes in his *Imagines*. Naples was at the time a thriving center of Greek culture, a refuge for many Hellenizing intellectuals.