Libanius the Sophist: Rhetoric, Reality, and Religion in the Fourth Century: 63 (Cornell Studies in Classical Philology) - Hardcover

"The corpus of Libanius' speeches and letters is enormous, and few scholars can rightly claim, as Raffaella Cribiore can, to have an excellent command of the whole. In Libanius the Sophist, Cribiore offers original interpretations of some of these texts and makes stimulating connections between them. Cribiore's reassessment of Libanius' personality, career, and social interactions is splendid."-Craig A. Gibson, University of Iowa, author of Interpreting a Classic: Demosthenes and His Ancient Commentators and translator of Libanius's Progymnasmata "Raffaella Cribiore is the world's great expert on Libanius, the extraordinary rhetor, teacher, pagan, and civic patriot of late fourth-century Antioch. She follows her exemplary study of his pedagogic life with a wide-ranging inquiry into his public oratory and private correspondence, with a special focus on religion. Always sensitive to the literary qualities of Libanius's work, Cribiore reveals the complex ties that bound religion and cultural production in late antiquity. This is a delightful book."-Clifford Ando, David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor, University of Chicago "Raffaella Cribiore rescues Libanius from the charge of ivory-tower sophist and situates his writings in the midst of the debates of his rapidly changing era. Carefully distinguishing Libanius's letters from his orations, she argues that his expression of paganism varies with genre and with anticipated audience. Cribiore convincingly highlights Libanius's association with and defense of Christians and his possible knowledge of Christian writings. This book is a refreshing new analysis of a major late-ancient figure by a scholar whose knowledge of Libanius's vast literary corpus is as impressive as her challenge to traditional interpretations."-Elizabeth A. Clark, John Carlisle Kilgo Professor of Religion, Duke University "No one is better qualified than Raffaella Cribiore, with her profound knowledge of Libanius's immense oeuvre, to show why Christians no less than pagans respected this pagan teacher in Late Antiquity. Drawing on both his speeches and his letters, she shows magnificently how Libanius addressed an increasingly Christian world yet never lost sight of the pagan heritage he embodied."-G. W. Bowersock, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton "The strength of this volume is in the portrait that Cribiore paints of Libanius. Providing an in-depth study of a prominent sophist gives us the opportunity to move beyond macroscopic generalizations about the period and away from sweeping characterizations of pagans and Christians as polar opposites. Cribiore paints a vivid, if not flattering, picture of Libanius."-Richard Leo Enos, Rhetoric Review (July 2014) "The present volume--a revised version of the 2010 Townsend Lectures at Cornell University--extends Cribiore's authoritative reevaluation of this major figure by addressing issues well beyond pedagogy. Most notably, she explores the religious beliefs of this complex character, who was both an associate of Julian the Apostate and a teacher of Saints Basil and John Chrysostom. As usual, Cribiorie offers lucid, nuanced rhetorical analysis of well-selected texts, displaying an unsurpassed familiarity with the sophist's vast (and largely untranslated) body of writings. Whether she is relating Libanius's autobiography to the genre of saints' lives or evaluating the role of sexual slander in sophistic oratory, Cribiore's clear, careful exposition allows a broad range of readers to benefit from her arguments." -D. M. Moore, Choice (April 2014) "The major asset of Cribiore's book, then, lies in her impressive and magisterial command of the primary texts, especially Libanius' correspondence. Time and again she brings letters and speeches to life, yielding important insights into Libanius(1) thinking, actions, and oratory that have gone largely unnoticed by scholars. Further, Cribiore deserves praise for challenging long-held views on publication and audience: the extent of public circulation and, thus, the potential impact of each text has to be examined individually (although some patterns can be discerned)." -Jan R. Stenger,Bryn Mawr Classical Review(July 2014)

Libanius of Antioch was a rhetorician of rare skill and eloquence. So renowned was he in the fourth century that his school of rhetoric in Roman Syria became among the most prestigious in the Eastern Empire. In this book, Raffaella Cribiore draws on her unique knowledge of the entire body of Libanius's vast literary output-including 64 orations, 1,544 letters, and exercises for his students-to offer the fullest intellectual portrait yet of this remarkable figure whom John Chrystostom called "the sophist of the city." Libanius (314-ca. 393) lived at a time when Christianity was celebrating its triumph but paganism tried to resist. Although himself a pagan, Libanius cultivated friendships within Antioch's Christian community and taught leaders of the Church including Chrysostom and Basil of Caesarea. Cribiore calls him a "gray pagan" who did not share the fanaticism of the Emperor Julian. Cribiore considers the role that a major intellectual of Libanius's caliber played in this religiously diverse society and culture. When he wrote a letter or delivered an oration, who was he addressing and what did he hope to accomplish? One thing that stands out in Libanius's speeches is the startling amount of invective against his enemies. How common was character assassination of this sort? What was the subtext to these speeches and how would they have been received? Adapted from the Townsend Lectures that Cribiore delivered at Cornell University in 2010, this book brilliantly restores Libanius to his rightful place in the rich and culturally complex world of Late Antiquity.