Prognostication, History, and Rhetoric in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries (on Hanaghan, Future Knowledge and Imperial Acceptance)

n late , the Christian sophist Prohaeresius, who taught rhetoric at Athens and weighed whether to align himself with the Emperor Julian, asked the reputedly prophetic hierophant of Eleusis if the emperor's new tax policy, which favoured supporters of traditional cult, would be permanent.In so doing, Prohaeresius discreetly and indirectly enquired into Julian's future, particularly his lifespan.The emperor's tax breaks will not be permanent, predicted the hierophant, and Prohaeresius took heart at this reply. 1Similar instances of an individual seeking or claiming to possess future knowledge were a frequent component of late antique historiography, and they took on greater significance when that individual was the emperor.But passages such as the one above by the historian and rhetorician Eunapius of Sardis present an interpretative problem: how to evaluate and to understand Prohaeresius' request and the hierophant's reply?On an historical or a literary basis, or both?Should we believe that this exchange happened and/or that Eunapius conceived of it as aiding him in advancing his view on Prohaeresius?On its face, Prohaeresius' enquiry seems to cast doubt on his Christian identity, in that he sought out future knowledge from a devotee of traditional cult. 2 Perhaps his enquiry speaks to a religious koin in the fourth-century 1 Eunap.VS .- (Goulet ed.), for Prohaeresius' enquiry to the hierophant after Julian issued his edict on teachers on June (CTh ..); on which, see Marcos (b) -.Cf.Eunap.VS .-, for Julian enquiring into the future with the hierophant in .See also Jul.Ep. ad Prohaer.( Bidez, Wright), for Julian's response in late /early to Prohaeresius' enquiry into the motives behind Julian's return ( ) to Constantinople; cf.McLynn () -; De Vita () nn.-; and Watts ().2 Cf.Goulet (), who argues that Prohaeresius was not a Christian based on this and other testimonies.I

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