Second Sophistic

The Second Sophistic is a literary-historical term referring to the Greek writers who flourished from the reign of Nero until c. 230 AD and who were catalogued and celebrated by Philostratus in his Lives of the Sophists. However, some recent research has indicated that this Second Sophistic, which was previously thought to have very suddenly and abruptly appeared in the late 1st century, actually had its roots in the early 1st century.^[1] It was followed in the 5th century by the philosophy of Byzantine rhetoric, sometimes referred to as the Third Sophistic.^[2]

Writers known as members of the Second Sophistic include Nicetes of Smyrna, Aelius Aristides, Dio Chrysostom, Herodes Atticus, Favorinus, Philostratus, Lucian, and Polemon of Laodicea. Plutarch is also often associated with the Second Sophistic movement as well, although many historians^[who?] consider him to have been somewhat aloof from its emphasis on rhetoric, especially in his later work.^{[citation needed]}

The term Second Sophistic comes from Philostratus. In his Lives of the Sophists, Philostratus traces the beginnings of the movement to the orator Aeschines in the 4th century BC. But its earliest representative was really Nicetes of Smyrna, in the late 1st century AD. Unlike the original Sophistic movement of the 5th century BC, the Second Sophistic was little concerned with politics. But it was, to a large degree, to meet the everyday needs and respond to the practical problems of Greco-Roman society. It came to dominate higher education and left its mark on many forms of literature. The period from around AD 50 to 100 was a period when oratorical elements dealing with the first sophists of Greece were reintroduced to the Roman Empire. The province of Asia embraced the Second Sophistic the most. Diococceianus (or Chrysostomos) and Aelius Aristides were popular sophists of the period. They gave orations upon topics like poetry and public speaking. They did not teach debate or anything that had to do with politics because rhetoric was restrained due to the imperial government's rules.

Owing largely to the influence of Plato and Aristotle, philosophy came to be regarded as distinct from sophistry, the latter being regarded as specious and rhetorical, a practical discipline. Thus, by the time of the Roman Empire, a sophist was simply a teacher of rhetoric and a popular public speaker. For instance, Libanius, Himerius, Aelius Aristides, and Fronto were sophists in this sense.

^ Bruce W. Winter, Philo and Paul Among the Sophists. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002.
^ Nagy, Gregory (2001). Greek Literature. Routledge. p. 179. ISBN 0-415-93771-X.

[1] Bruce W. Winter, Philo and Paul Among the Sophists. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002.

[2] Nagy, Gregory (2001). Greek Literature. Routledge. p. 179. ISBN 0-415-93771-X.

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