The Second Sophistic

Presenting the sophists' role as civic celebrities side-by-side with their roles as transmitters of Hellenic culture, Anderson produces a valuable and lucid account of the Second Sophistic.

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Sophism was the single most important movement in second century literature: prose of that period came to be written as entertainment rather than confined to historical subjects. Graham Anderson shows how the Greek sophists' skills in public speaking enabled them to perform effectively across a variety of activities. As he presents the sophists' roles as civic celebrities side-by-side with their roles as transmitters of Hellenic culture and literary artists, a co-ordinated view of the Second Sophistic as a complex phenomenon emerges.