Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
A Prolegomena to the Third Sophistic

Introduction
Discussion of the Term “Third Sophistic” in ModernScholarship
“Continuity-and-Change” Model
Periodization of the Third Sophistic
Third Sophistic and the Dynamics of Late Antiquity

Methodology
Christianity under the Third Sophistic Light
The Palimpsestic Nature of Late Antique Culture
Blending of Cultural Traditions, Blurring of Boundaries
Impression Management
Theatricality
Spatial Rhetoric

Conclusion
Bibliography

Introduction to Plato in the Third Sophistic
Section 1: Platonist Philosophers

Reason and Irrationality: The intersection ofphilosophy and magic in later Neoplatonism

1. Plato
2. Demonology, Ghosts, and the Human Soul
3. Iamblichus, De Mysteriis
4. Conclusion

Rhetoric and Platonism in Fifth-CenturyAthens

1. Platonist Scholarchs and Rhetoric
2. Rhetoric and the Curriculum
3. Rhetoric and Philosophy

“Pliable Platonism?” Olympiodorus andthe Profession of Philosophy in Sixth-CenturyAlexandria

1. Olympiodorus and Christianity: Some Examples
2. The Olympiodorean Philosopher: A Case Study

(a) The Philosopher
(b) The Philosopher and the Many (οἱ πολλοί)
(c) The Philosopher, the Grammarian, and the Rhetorician
(d) The Philosopher and the Poet
(f) The Agreement of Philosophers

3. Conclusions
Bibliography
Abbreviations

Section 2: Platonist Rhetors

Sic Traditur a Platone: Plato andthe philosophers in Lactantius
Libanius Versus Plato
Platonic Ethics and Politics in Themistius andJulian

1. Themistius and the philosophers’ kingdom ofPlato’s Republic
2. Julian and the rule of law of the Platonic Laws
3. Julian and the Platonic “laws” of piety andmoderation
4. Conclusion

Plato (and Others) in the Orations of Themistius

1. Plato
2. Plato and Aristotle
3. Plato and Other Philosophers
4. Plato and the Literary Canon
Bibliography
Abbreviation

Section 3: Eusebius and the Cappadocian Fathers

The Platonism of Eusebius of Caesarea

1. Introduction
2. Eusebius on Plato: Praise and Criticism
3. Eusebius’ anti-Aristotelianism
4. Eusebius on Plato’s Theology
5. Conclusion

Plato in the Cappadocian Fathers
Plato in Origen’s and Gregory of Nyssa’sConception of the ᾿Aρχή and the Τέλος

1. Origen
2. Gregory of Nyssa
3. Conclusion
Bibliography

Section 4: Christian Platonism and Rhetoric in Gaza

Choricius on Literature: A study of Platonicvocabulary referring to literary creation inChoricius of Gaza

1. The Dialexeis

Inspiration
“La nostalgie du mythe”
The word and the other arts

2. The bishop and the rhetor: in search of a culturalparadigm (Laudatio Marciani 1–2; Oratio funebrisin Procopium)

Encomium and pictorial representation
Myths and their usefulness
The Muse

“The Academy and the Lyceum are AmongUs”: Plato and the Platonic tradition inthe works of Aeneas, Zacharias andProcopius

Index Locorum
Index Rerum