In Praise of Constantius

Greek Panegyric in Late Antiquity

Alan J. Ross (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

360 Seiten

2026
Oxford University Press Inc (Verlag)
9780197827543 (ISBN)

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In Praise of Constantius offers historical and literary analysis of eight Greek panegyrics composed by Libanius, Themistius, and Julian in the 340s and 350s CE, and addressed to Constantius II and his wife, the empress Eusebia. Its central concerns are the role that the composition, performance, and dissemination of imperial panegyric played in establishing the careers of the three most prominent Greek pagans of the fourth century; and their development of Greek epideictic literature in an era beyond the Second Sophistic.

The book deftly exposes the rich intertextual dynamics between these eight speeches, other contemporary works, and canonical works of Greek political literature. It revises standard interpretations of panegyric's communicative function, and treats the orator less as a vector for others' messaging and instead as an active agent in political discourse in pursuit of his own ends. The volume substantially re-writes the early careers of each of its subjects, emphasizing their precarity and the utilization of performed paideia in managing moments of personal and political upheaval.

Alan J. Ross is Associate Professor of Classics at The Ohio State University.

Introduction
Provincial Teachers and Imperial Patronage
1: Dyarchy, Dynasty, and Discord (Libanius Oration 59)
2: Career Change in Constantinople (Themistius Orations 1, 2, and 20)
Transition 1:: Speech and Letter: Themistius and Julian's Responses to Power in 355-6
Emperor as Author
3: Eusebia: A Conventional Empress (Julian Oration 2)
4: The Neo-Flavians' Return to the West (Julian Oration 1)
Transition 2:: A Constantinopolitan Moment (Themistius Oration 33)
Neo-Flavian Triumph and Epideictic Deconstruction
5: City Panegyric Between East and West (Themistius Orations 4&3)
6: Apologia and Invective (Julian Oration 3)
Epilogue

Erscheinungsdatum	19.10.2025
Reihe/Serie	Oxford Studies in Late Antiquity
Zusatzinfo	2 black and white halftones
Verlagsort	New York
Sprache	englisch
Maße	165 x 237 mm
Gewicht	621 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Beruf / Finanzen / Recht / Wirtschaft ► Briefe / Präsentation / Rhetorik
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-13	9780197827543 / 9780197827543
Zustand	Neuware