Philostratus Athenian Philostratus, known as Philostratus the Athenian or the Elder, was a Greek sophist and author of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries CE, operating within the Roman Empire’s cultural movement known as the Second Sophistic [1][2]. Born into a family of sophists on Lemnos, he studied rhetoric in Athens and later joined the literary circle of Empress Julia Domna in Rome. It was at her request that he began his famed Life of Apollonius of Tyana [1][2][3]. His career flourished under the Severan emperors, and he is distinguished from his nephew, Philostratus the Younger, a writer on art [1][2][4].

Works His major works include the Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Τὰ ἐς τὸν Τυανέα Ἀπολλώνιον), a lengthy, novelistic biography of the Neopythagorean sage [1][2][3][4]; the Lives of the Sophists (Βίοι Σοφιστῶν), a key source on Greek orators [1][2][4]; the dialogue Heroicus (Ἡρωικός) on Trojan War heroes [1][4]; the treatise Gymnasticus (Γυμναστικός) on athletic training [1][4]; and the Love Letters (Ἐπιστολαὶ Ἐρωτικαί) [1][4]. The Imagines (Εἰκόνες), descriptions of paintings, is traditionally attributed to him, though sometimes assigned to his son-in-law [1][4].

Significance Philostratus is a central literary figure of the Second Sophistic. His Life of Apollonius became a key text in pagan-Christian polemics, while his Lives of the Sophists is an invaluable historical source for Greek intellectual life under Rome [1][2][3][4]. His corpus collectively helped shape the posterity of Greek paideia [1][4].

Sources 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Philostratus): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philostratus/ 2. Encyclopædia Britannica (Philostratus): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philostratus-the-Athenian 3. World History Encyclopedia (Philostratus): https://www.worldhistory.org/Philostratus/ 4. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics (Philostratus): https://oxfordre.com/classics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-5032