The propaganda of power : : the role of panegyric in late antiquity / / edited by Mary Whitby.

• Superior document: Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum, 183
• TeilnehmendeR: Whitby, Mary.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 1998.
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English
• Series: Mnemosyne, Supplements 183.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (x, 378 pages)

The 13 essays presented here shed new light on the role of panegyric in the western and eastern Roman Empire in the late antique world. Introductory chapters give an overview of panegyrical theory and practice, followed by studies of major writers of the early empire and the anonymous Panegyrici latini . The core of the volume deals with prose and verse panegyric under the Christian Roman Empire (4th-7th century): key themes addressed are social and political context, the 'hidden agenda', and the impact of Christianity on the pagan tradition of the panegyric, including the portrayal of patriarchs and holy men.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / Mary Whitby -- Introduction / Mary Whitby -- The Panegyrists and their Teachers / Donald Russell -- Praise and Protreptic in Early Imperial Panegyric: Cicero, Seneca, Pliny / Susanna Morton Braund -- The Private Lives of Public Figures in Latin Prose Panegyric / Roger Rees -- In Praise of an Empress: Julian’s Speech of Thanks to Eusebia / Shaun Tougher -- Themistius: A political philosopher / Peter Heather -- Taceat superata vetustas: Living legends in Claudian’s In Rufinum 1 / Paula James -- Representing the Past, Redefining the Future: Sidonius Apollinaris’ panegyrics of Avitus and Anthemius / Lynette Watson -- Savage Humour: Christian anti-panegyric in Hilary of Poitiers’ Against Constantius / Mark Humphries -- Venantius Fortunatus: Panegyric in Merovingian Gaul / Judith George -- Defender of the Cross: George of Pisidia on the Emperor Heraclius and his deputies / Mary Whitby -- Comparison, Paradigm and the Case of Moses in Panegyric and Hagiography / Claudia Rapp -- Vice and Advice in Socrates and Sozomen / Theresa Urbainczyk -- Evagrius on Patriarchs and Emperors / Michael Whitby -- Index / Mary Whitby -- Supplements to Mnemosyne / J. M. Bremer , L. F. Janssen , H. Pinkster , H. W. Pleket , C. J. Ruijgh and P. H. Schrijvers.