Callistratus (sophist)
A single short treatise is all that survives of Callistratus, a Greek sophist and rhetorician of the 3rd century CE. Some scholars place him as late as the 4th century. No letters, no speeches, and no biography of him have come down to the present.
He titled this collection the Ekphraseis in Greek, the Statuarum descriptiones in Latin. Both names describe the same practice: putting visual objects into extended prose. Each of the fourteen descriptions focuses on a sculpture in stone or brass. The artists behind these works Callistratus calls distinguished.
Arthur Fairbanks produced an English translation for the Loeb Classical Library in 1931, pairing the Ekphraseis with the Eikones of Philostratus.
Philostratus composed the Eikones. Callistratus built his Ekphraseis by imitating that earlier work's formal method.
F. Jacobs published critical notes specifically on the Callistratus descriptions in 1797, under the title Animadversiones criticae in Callistrati statuas. C. G. Heyne added a commentary in his Opuscula Academica, spanning pages 196 to 221 of the fifth volume. C. Schenkl and E. Reisch produced both collections in the Teubner series in 1902.
In 2006, Balbina Bäbler and Heinz-Günther Nesselrath published Ars et verba with K. G. Saur in Munich and Leipzig. The volume pairs the Greek text with an introduction and an archaeological commentary in German. That same year, Michel Costantini, Françoise Graziani, and Stéphane Rolet published Le défi de l'art through the Presses Universitaires de Rennes. Costantini, Graziani, and Rolet's subtitle names the shared tradition l'image sophistique.
Common questions
Who was Callistratus the sophist?
Callistratus was a Greek sophist and rhetorician who probably lived in the 3rd or 4th century CE. He is known entirely through his one surviving work, the Ekphraseis.
What is the Ekphraseis by Callistratus?
The Ekphraseis, also known in Latin as the Statuarum descriptiones, is a collection of fourteen written descriptions of sculptures in stone and brass. Callistratus calls the artists behind these works distinguished.
When did Callistratus write the Ekphraseis?
Callistratus probably flourished in the 3rd century CE, though the exact date is uncertain and some scholars place him in the 4th century. No biographical dates from his life are known.
How does Callistratus relate to Philostratus and the Eikones?
Callistratus built his Ekphraseis by imitating the formal method of Philostratus's Eikones. Editors have consistently published the two collections together in standard critical editions.
What are the major scholarly editions of the Ekphraseis by Callistratus?
Major editions include C. Schenkl and E. Reisch's 1902 Teubner edition and Arthur Fairbanks's 1931 Loeb Classical Library translation with English text. Balbina Bäbler and Heinz-Günther Nesselrath published Ars et verba in 2006 with K. G. Saur in Munich and Leipzig. That volume includes a German introduction and an archaeological commentary on the text.
What does the 2006 volume Le défi de l'art say about Callistratus?
Le défi de l'art was published by Michel Costantini, Françoise Graziani, and Stéphane Rolet at the Presses Universitaires de Rennes in 2006. Its subtitle, Philostrate, Callistrate et l'image sophistique, groups Callistratus with Philostratus in the sophistic image tradition.