Sophisten in Hellenismus und Kaiserzeit

Scholarly discussion customarily distinguishes a first (5 th/4th century BCE) from a so-called Second Sophistic (2nd century CE). However, the literature of Hellenistic and Early Imperial times also knew a number of sophists. At the centre of the contributions of this volume, which examines places, methods and protagonists of the transmission of paideia, is the sophist as a (bad) teacher and orator, as an antagonist of philosophers or as an exponent of Greek learning. Sophists operated in the gymnasium, in Alexandria's Museion, in Rome's temples as well as private schools in Egypt and Judea. Alongside these places, the volume discusses the methods of the transmission of paideia, and the social provenance of the teachers. The contributions of the volume show how pagan and Jewish thinkers, Platonists and Stoics alike, view paideia as a path to a true understanding of the world and God.