
The Children of Athena
Greek Intellectuals in the Age of Rome: 150 BC-400 AD
- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
A brilliant, fascinating portrait of the intellectual tradition of Greek writers and thinkers during the Age of Rome. In 146 BC, Greece yielded to the military might of the Roman Republic; sixty years later, when Athens and other Greek city-states rebelled against Rome, the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla destroyed the city of Socrates and Plato, laying waste to the famous Academy where Aristotle had studied. However, the traditions of Greek cultural life continued to flourish during the centuries of Roman rule that followed—in the lives and work of a distinguished array of philosophers, doctors, scientists, geographers, and theologians. Charles Freeman's accounts of such luminaries as the physician Galen, the geographer Ptolemy, and the philosopher Plotinus are interwoven with contextual "interludes" that showcase a sequence of unjustly neglected and richly influential lives. A cultural history on an epic scale, The Children of Athena presents the story of a rich and vibrant tradition of Greek intellectual inquiry across a period of more than five hundred years, from the second century BC to the start of the fifth century AD.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Prologue: The Banquet
- Chapter 1: Introduction: Greece Becoming Roman
- Chapter 2: Scrolls, Education and Travel
- Chapter 3: Philosophy and its Schools
- Chapter 4: The Historian: Polybius
- Chapter 5: The Polymath: Posidonius
- Chapter 6: The Geographer: Strabo
- Interlude One: The Res Gestae of Augustus and the Sebasteion of Aphrodisias
- Chapter 7: The Botanist: Dioscorides
- Chapter 8: The Philosopher and Biographer: Plutarch
- Interlude Two: Hadrian and the Patronage of Greek Culture
- Chapter 9: The Stoic Philosopher: Epictetus
- Chapter 10: The Politician, Historian and Philosopher: Arrian of Nicomedia
- Chapter 11: The Geographer and Astronomer: Claudius Ptolemy
- Chapter 12: The Satirist: Lucian of Samosata
- Chapter 13: The Medical Man: Galen
- Chapter 14: The Travel Guide: Pausanias
- Interlude Three: City Life in Second-century Asia Minor: Sagalassos
- Chapter 15: The Politician and Orator: Dio Chrysostom
- Chapter 16: The Rhetorician: Aelius Aristides
- Chapter 17: The Politician and Philanthropist: Herodes Atticus
- Interlude Four: The Clouds Darken: The Greek World in an Age of Crisis
- Chapter 18: The Philosopher: Plotinus
- Chapter 19: The Platonic Theologian: Clement of Alexandria
- Chapter 20: The Biblical Scholar: Origen
- Interlude Five: Constantinople and the Promulgation of Christian Orthodoxy
- Chapter 21: The Court Orator: Themistius
- Chapter 22: The Last of the Pagan Orators: Libanius
- Chapter 23: The Neoplatonist Philosopher and Mathematician: Hypatia
- Chapter 24: Afterlives
- Photographs
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Bibliography and Notes on Sources
- Index
- Picture Credits
- Copyright