Sophists and emperors

A reconnaissance of sophistic attitudes

Bibliographic Data

ID23710652
AuthorsJaap-Jan Flinterman (corresponding author)
Year2004
Pages359-376
Publication date2004-11-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenuePaideia (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherDe Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/9783110204711.359
OpenAlexW2501207337
ISBN9783110204711
LanguageEN
Citations received7

In a still influential study of the opinions on Rome and its empire to be found in Greek imperial literature, Jonas Palm observed that Greek orators tended to assume an attitude of superiority vis--vis Roman emperors. He discovered this attitude in Dio's fourth oration On Kingship as well as in Plutarch's To an Uneducated Ruler. For the most forceful expression of the ideas underlying it he referred to Dio's Or. 49. Here Dio explains to his audience, the council of his native city of Prusa, that kings ... ... ask men of cultivation (pepaideumenoi) to become their counsellors (sumbouloi) in their most important affairs, and, while giving orders to everybody else, they themselves accept orders from those counsellors about what to do and what not to do. 2 The speaker goes on to illustrate the inverted hierarchical relationship between rulers and their sumbouloi from the alleged position of the magoi among the Persians, the priests among the Egyptians, the Brahmans among the Indians and the druids among the Celts: ... in truth it was they who ruled, while the kings became their servants and the ministers of their will, though they sat on golden thrones, dwelt in great houses and dined sumptuously. 3

Ancient history · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy

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