Life Pseudo-Longinus is the conventional name for the unknown author of the Greek treatise On the Sublime (Peri Hypsous). Once erroneously attributed to the 3rd-century critic Cassius Longinus, the work is now firmly dated to the 1st century CE based on its engagement with the Augustan-era critic Caecilius of Calacte and its address to a Roman contemporary [1][2]. The author was a highly educated Greek rhetorician writing under Roman rule, but no personal details of his life survive.

Works His sole extant work is On the Sublime, an influential but incomplete treatise of literary criticism that analyzes the sources of grandeur and powerful emotion in literature.

Significance The treatise’s significance lies in its shift from rhetorical technique to the psychology of literary effect, defining the "sublime" as that which elevates and transports the reader [1][2]. Largely unknown until its 16th-century rediscovery, it became a foundational text for neoclassical and Romantic aesthetics, influencing critics and philosophers from Boileau to Kant [1][3].

Sources 1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Plato.stanford.edu): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sublime/ 2. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP.utm.edu): https://iep.utm.edu/longinus/ 3. Encyclopædia Britannica (Britannica.com): https://www.britannica.com/biography/Longinus