The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch BLACK SEA Hadrianopolis THRACE Thessalonica Constantinople PAPHLAGONIA Nicomedia Cyzicus Nicaea Neocaesarea PONTUS Aegean BITHYNIA Athens Sea Ancyra Tavium LYDIA GALATIA Sardis ARMENIA Smyrna PHRYGIA Nyssa Caesarea CAPPADOCIA Aphrodisias Iconium Nazianzus CARIA LYCAONIA Tyana Samosata PISIDIA ISAURIA PAMPHYLIA LYCIA Tarsus CILICIA CRETE Antioch Seleucia Pieria Chalcis ad Belum Laodicea Apamea MEDIT CYPRUS SAYRIEAmesa ERR CI ANE Berytus NI AN SEA STiydroen HOE Damascus P Caesarea PALAESTINA Jerusalem Alexandria 0 km 200 Gaza EGYPT 0 miles 200 ARABIA The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch Raffaella Cribiore PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD Copyright(cid:148)2007byPrincetonUniversityPress PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WilliamStreet,Princeton,NewJersey08540 IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,3MarketPlace, Woodstock,OxfordshireOX201SY AllRightsReserved LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Cribiore,Raffaella TheschoolofLibaniusinlateantiqueAntioch/RaffaellaCribiore. v. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. Contents:LibaniusandrhetoricinAntioch—SchoolsandSophistsintheRomanEast— Thenetwork—Admissionandevaluation—teachingthelogoi—Thelongandtheshortpath torhetoric—Afterrhetoric—Conclusion:wordsandsilence—Appendix1:thedossiersof students—Appendix2:lengthofstudents’attendence. ISBN-13:978-0-691-12824-5(hardcover:alk.paper) ISBN-10:0-691-12824-3(hardcover:alk.paper) 1.Libanius.2.Philosophy—Studyandteaching—Turkey—Antioch—History.I.Title. B577.L44C752007 808.0071(cid:99)03943—dc22 2006013514 BritishLibraryCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailable ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon Printedonacid-freepaper.(cid:102) pup.princeton.edu PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Ai miei genitori tanto amati This page intentionally left blank Contents PREFACE ix ANOTEONREFERENCESANDABBREVIATIONS xi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTERONE LibaniusandRhetoricinAntioch 13 CHAPTERTWO SchoolsandSophistsintheRomanEast 42 CHAPTERTHREE TheNetwork 83 CHAPTERFOUR AdmissionandEvaluation 111 CHAPTERFIVE TeachingtheLogoi 137 CHAPTERSIX TheLongandShortPathstoRhetoric 174 CHAPTERSEVEN AfterRhetoric 197 CONCLUSION WordsandSilence 229 APPENDIXONE DossiersofStudents 233 APPENDIXTWO LengthofStudents’Attendance 323 APPENDIXTHREE ConcordanceofLettersinAppendixOneTranslatedintoEnglish 329 SELECTBIBLIOGRAPHY 331 INDEXLOCORUM 347 GENERALINDEX 355 This page intentionally left blank Preface WHEN I WAS writing about Greek education in Egypt in Gymnastics of theMind,IlookedforanancientwriteragainstwhomIcouldtestsome oftheideasthatthepapyrisuggested.ItsoonbecameapparentthatLiba- niuswasideal.Thesheerquantityofhiswritingwasdauntingatthestart, but also tantalizing and promising. When my project reached its end, I was well aware that I had left much behind and that Libanius was still waitingforme.Hisspeecheswereextremelyusefulinhelpingtotracethe storyofhisfamousschoolinAntiochandofthefluctuatingstateofrheto- ric in the fourth century. His letters captivated me entirely as he truly becamepartofmylife. IhadalreadywrittensomepartsofthisbookandtranslatedLibanius’s letters (many more than this appendix includes) when I was given the opportunity to spend the fall semester of 2004 at the Institute for Ad- vancedStudyinPrinceton.Ispentablissfulandconstructiveperiodthere, communicatingdailywithsuperbscholarsinthecompanyofsomegreat mosaicsfromAntioch.AttheInstitute,Iwasfinallyabletoputintoper- spective some of the issues that still troubled me. I am very grateful to GlenBowersockforsogenerously“lettingmedrinkathisspringofexcel- lenceinthegardenoftheMuses”(asLibaniuswouldsay).Ialsowarmly thank Heinrich von Staden for being there when I needed help. Several people contributed to this book in various ways, by reading the whole manuscript orparts ofit, providingvaluable criticism,discussing points in the translations, and helping me check the text. Thus I am grateful to Peter Brown, Alan Cameron, Eleanor Dickey, William Frosh, Iannis Papadoyannakis,Robert Penella,Giovanni Ruffini,and MariaWenglin- sky.Tomyfamily,loveasalways. This page intentionally left blank