Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, AD 50-250 - Hardcover

Swain, Simon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198147724 ISBN 13: 9780198147725

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1996

Synopsis

Hellenism and Empire explores identity, politics, and culture in the Greek world of the first three centuries AD, the period known as the second sophistic. The sources of this identity were the words and deeds of classical Greece, and the emphasis placed on Greekness and Greek heritage was far greater now than at any other time. Yet this period is often seen as a time of happy consensualism between the Greek and Roman halves of the Roman Empire. The first part of the book shows that Greek identity came before any loyalty to Rome (and was indeed partly a reaction to Rome), while the views of the major authors of the period, which are studies in the second part, confirm and restate the prior claims of Hellenism.

About this title

Review

"This book is a must for anyone interested in the evolution of Greek culture..."--History "A learned social analysis that will interest both specialists and informed readers generally."--Choice ..".this book presents thought-provoking treatments of many of the major Greek authors of the second sophistic... [and] is certainly important reading for anyone working on any of the sophists, rhetors, philosophers, intellecturals, novelists or litterati of the first centuries, or more generally on Greek culture under Roman domination. It should also be required reading for anyone who still indulges in that problematic hypenization, "Graeco-Roman."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review "This book is a must for anyone interested in the evolution of Greek culture..."--History "A learned social analysis that will interest both specialists and informed readers generally."--Choice .,."this book presents thought-provoking treatments of many of the major Greek authors of the second sophistic... [and] is certainly important reading for anyone working on any of the sophists, rhetors, philosophers, intellecturals, novelists or litterati of the first centuries, or more generally on Greek culture under Roman domination. It should also be required reading for anyone who still indulges in that problematic hypenization, "Graeco-Roman."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review "This book is a must for anyone interested in the evolution of Greek culture..."--History "A learned social analysis that will interest both specialists and informed readers generally."--Choice , .."this book presents thought-provoking treatments of many of the major Greek authors of the second sophistic... [and] is certainly important reading for anyone working on any of the sophists, rhetors, philosophers, intellecturals, novelists or litterati of the first centuries, or more generally on Greek culture under Roman domination. It should also be required reading for anyone who still indulges in that problematic hypenization, "Graeco-Roman."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review "This book is a must for anyone interested in the evolution of Greek culture..."--History "A learned social analysis that will interest both specialists and informed readers generally."--Choice .,."this book presents thought-provoking treatments of many of the major Greek authors of the second sophistic... [and] is certainly important reading for anyone working on any of the sophists, rhetors, philosophers, intellecturals, novelists or litterati of the first centuries, or more generally on Greek culture under Roman domination. It should also be required reading for anyone who still indulges in that problematic hypenization, "Graeco-Roman."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review

About the Author

Simon Swain is at All Souls College, Oxford.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198147724
• ISBN 13: 9780198147725
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512