Second Sophistic

• 1. The Second Sophistic

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  It was the Second Sophistic that led Emperor Hadrian to send his adoptive son Antoninus to study under the orator Polemo in Smyrna. Greek rhetoric and learning flourished inside the Roman Empire under this banner, from Nero's reign until around 230 AD. Greek speakers who might otherwise have been subjects of a conquering power found themselves advising its rulers, educating its elites, and shaping its cultural life. What gave rhetoric such extraordinary prestige in this era? Which styles of oratory divided its practitioners? And which cities became the capitals of this intellectual world?

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• 2. A Conquered Culture

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  In 146 BC, Rome completed its conquest of Greece. The Romans did not discard Greek culture in the process. They mirrored Greek architectural styles, adapted its religious traditions, and incorporated Greek people into their imperial society. By the first and second centuries AD, this reverence had generated a genuine renaissance of Hellenic learning inside the empire. One source from the period describes the ambition at the heart of this revival. 'The sophist was to revive the antique purer form of religion and to encourage the cults of the heroes and Homeric gods.' The movement took its name from the writer Philostratus, who celebrated its practitioners in his Lives of the Sophists. Philostratus traced the movement's heritage back to the orator Aeschines in the fourth century BC. In practice, however, its earliest recognized representative was Nicetes of Smyrna, who worked in the late first century AD. Unlike the original Sophistic of the fifth century BC, this revival was not primarily political. Imperial authority constrained what could be said about governance, so sophists directed their energies toward education, religion, and the performance of Hellenic culture. The province of Asia embraced the movement more than any other part of the empire. Some recent research has suggested the movement's roots actually reach back into the early first century, predating its previously assumed starting point. The fifth century would later produce a successor tradition: what scholars sometimes call the Third Sophistic, grounded in Byzantine rhetoric.

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• 3. Sophists as Public Figures

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  The influence of Plato and Aristotle had drawn a clear line between philosophy and sophistry by the time of the Roman Empire. Philosophy was regarded as rigorous inquiry; sophistry was seen as rhetorical and practical. A sophist, by this era, was simply a teacher of rhetoric and a popular public speaker. Libanius, Himerius, Aelius Aristides, and Fronto were all sophists in this sense. Their positions in society went far beyond the lecture hall. Sophists served as ambassadors, Imperial Secretaries, and high priests. They functioned as educational and social leaders across the eastern provinces. The approval of a well-regarded sophist was something Roman elites actively sought. Emperors such as Trajan and Hadrian held these intellectuals in high esteem, paying patronage to Athens and other Greek cities in the empire. This movement opened unexpected doors for the Greeks themselves. It allowed them to prosper within the empire on their own terms, and to retain their cultural identity while becoming part of Roman life. For the Romans, association with these Greek teachers offered a way to claim the prestige of a venerable intellectual tradition. Sophism itself was also undergoing a decisive stylistic debate, one that would eventually split its practitioners into two distinct camps.

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• 4. Asianism and Atticism

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  Philostratus identified two competing styles of oratory that divided the Second Sophistic. Sophists began their careers addressing groups of students and moved on to public audiences as their reputations grew. The first style, Asianism, was described by Philostratus as a form that 'aims at but never achieves the grand style.' Its qualities, in his account, were 'flowery, bombastic, full of startling metaphors, too metrical, too dependent on the tricks of rhetoric, too emotional.' Because Asianism came from outside Athens, it was also known as 'Ionian' or 'Ephesian.' The competing approach, Atticism, looked to the classical literary tradition of Athens. A practitioner of Atticism studied ancient texts closely and avoided any word or expression not found in classical-period Greek writing. Philostratus held Aelius Aristides up as the exemplar of this mode. Atticism demanded careful preparation. Lectures and declamations were grounded in deep study before the sophist ever addressed a crowd. Lucian strongly favored this style, embracing what was known as an artificial purist movement favoring archaic expressions. Plutarch took a different path, preferring Koine, the Greek of his own day. Multiple historians have judged Plutarch somewhat aloof from the Second Sophistic's emphasis on rhetoric, particularly in his later work.

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• 5. Three Cities

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  Ephesus, Smyrna, and Athens served as the primary centers of sophist activity across the empire. Practitioners who settled in these cities brought wealth, acclaim, and visitors from across the Roman world. Smyrna attracted two of the most eminent figures of the second century: Polemon of Laodicea and Aelius Aristides. Neither man was originally from Smyrna, yet both spent significant time there, studying rhetoric and advocating for its people. Polemon was born around 85 AD and came from a family with strong political connections in the region. That background gave him the means and standing to travel widely and earn recognition far beyond his home city. He was also the only Asianic orator associated with Smyrna, a notable distinction in a center that also produced one of Atticism's greatest practitioners. Marcus Aurelius came to Smyrna and waited three days for the chance to meet Aristides. He was then required to wait one more day before being permitted to hear him speak. Herodes Atticus anchored the movement in Athens, paving the way for the Atticist tradition in that city's schools. Marcus Aurelius valued Herodes so highly that he sent him up to three letters a day. One source records their standing plainly. 'No other type of intellectual could compete with them in popularity, no creative artists existed to challenge their prestige at the courts of philhellenic Emperors.' The same account concludes: 'though the sophists often show jealousy of the philosophers, philosophy without eloquence was nowhere.'

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