Aelius Aristides
Encyclopedia
Aelius Aristides was a popular Greek
orator , who lived during the Roman Empire
. He is considered to be a prime example of the Second Sophistic
, a group of showpiece orators who flourished from the reign of Nero
until ca. 230 AD. His surname was Theodorus. He showed extraordinary talents even in his early youth, and devoted himself with remarkable zeal to the study of rhetoric, which appeared to him the worthiest occupation of a man, and along with it he cultivated poetry as an amusement. Besides the rhetorician Herodes Atticus
, whom he heard at Athens
, he also received instructions from Aristocles
at Pergamum, from Polemon
at Smyrna
, and from the grammarian Alexander of Cotiaeum
.
, Aristides studied under Alexander of Cotiaeum
, the tutor of Marcus Aurelius. A career as an orator ended at the age of 26 when he was afflicted during a visit to Rome
with the first of a long series of illnesses, possibly of psychosomatic origin. His health problem drove him to the sanctuary of Pergamon
(present-day Bergama
) where Asclepius
, the god of healing, would often advise people certain remedies in their dreams.
After being sufficiently prepared for his profession, he traveled for some time throughout Asia
and Africa
, particularly Egypt
, Greece
, and Italy
. The fame of his talents and acquirements, which preceded him everywhere, was so great that monuments were erected in his honor in several towns he visited. Shortly before his return, in Italy, he contracted an illness that lasted for thirteen years.
He had from his childhood been of weak constitution, but neither this nor his protracted illness prevented his prosecuting his studies, for he was well at intervals; and in his Sacred Tales (Hieroi Logoi), a sort of diary of his illness and recovery, he relates that he was frequently encouraged by visions in his dreams to cultivate rhetoric to the exclusion of all other studies. During this period and afterwards, he resided at Smyrna, whither he had gone on account of its baths, but he made occasional excursions into the country, to Pergamus, Phocaea
, and other towns. He had great influence with Emperor Marcus Aurelius, whose acquaintance he had made in Ionia
, and when in 178, Smyrna was to a great extent destroyed by an earthquake, Aristides represented the deplorable condition of the city and its inhabitants in such vivid colors to the emperor that he was moved to tears, and generously assisted the Smyrnaeans in rebuilding their town.
The Smyrnaeans showed their gratitude to Aristides by erecting to him a brazen statue in their agora
, and by calling him the founder of their town. Various other honors and distinctions were offered to him at Smyrna, but he refused them, and accepted only the office of priest of Asclepius
, which he held until his death, about 180 according to some, at the age of 60, and according to others of 70. The circumstance of his living for so many years at Smyrna, and enjoying such great honors there, is probably the reason that in an epigram still extant he is regarded as a native of Smyrna.
, Cyzicus
, Rome
; one among them is a Panathenaicus, and an imitation of that of Isocrates
. Others again treat on subjects connected with rhetoric and eloquence. The six orations mentioned above, have attracted considerable attention in the mid-19th century, on account of the various stories they contain respecting the cures of the sick in temples, and on account of the apparent resemblance between these cures and those said to be effected by Mesmerism. The first edition of his works is that of Eufrosino Bonino (Florence, 1517). A list of the orations extant, as well as of the lost works of Aristides, is given in Fabricius (Bibliotheca Graeca vi p. 15, &c.), and more completely by Westermann (Geschichte der Griechischen Beredsamkeit, p. 321, &c.). Aristides as an orator is much superior to the majority of rhetoricians in his time, whose great and only ambition was to shine and make a momentary impression by extempore speeches, and a brilliant and dazzling style. Aristides, with whom thought was of far greater importance than the form in which it appeared, expressed that difference between himself and the other rhetoricians, at his first interview with the emperor, M. Aurelius.
He despised the silly puns, the shallow witticisms and insignificant ornaments of his contemporaries, and sought nourishment for his mind in the study of the ancients. In his panegyric orations, however, he often endeavored to display as much brilliancy of style as he could. On the whole his style is brief and concise, but too frequently deficient in ease and clearness. His sentiments are often trivial and spun out to an intolerable length, which leaves the reader nothing to think upon for himself. His orations remind one of a man who is fond of hearing himself talk. Notwithstanding these defects, however, Aristides is still unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries. His admirers compared him to Demosthenes
, and even Aristides did not think himself much inferior. This vanity and self-sufficiency made him enemies and opponents, among whom are mentioned Palladius
, Sergius
, and Porphyrius. But the number of his admirers was far greater, and several learned grammarians wrote commentaries on his orations. Besides Athanasius, Menander
, and others, whose works are lost, we must mention especially Sopater of Apamea
, who is probably the author of the Greek Prolegomena to the orations of Aristides, and also of some among the Scholia on Aristides, which contain a great many things of importance for mythology, history, and antiquities. They also contain numerous fragments of works now lost. The greater part of these Scholia are probably compilations from the commentaries of Arethas
, Metrophanes, and other grammarians.
According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary
, the remainder of his surviving writings, although praised by his contemporaries, is of primary interest for the incidental light they cast on the social history
of Asia Minor
in the second century AD. His Sacred Tales may also be of interest for researchers of ancient medicine or ancient religion. A complete English translation was published by C.A. Behr in between 1981 and 1986.
Roman Greece
Roman Greece is the period of Greek history following the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC until the reestablishment of the city of Byzantium and the naming of the city by the Emperor Constantine as the capital of the Roman Empire...
orator , who lived during the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. He is considered to be a prime example of the Second Sophistic
Second Sophistic
The Second Sophistic is a literary-historical term referring to the Greek writers who flourished from the reign of Nero until c. 230 AD and who were catalogued and celebrated by Philostratus in his Lives of the Sophists...
, a group of showpiece orators who flourished from the reign of Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
until ca. 230 AD. His surname was Theodorus. He showed extraordinary talents even in his early youth, and devoted himself with remarkable zeal to the study of rhetoric, which appeared to him the worthiest occupation of a man, and along with it he cultivated poetry as an amusement. Besides the rhetorician Herodes Atticus
Herodes Atticus
Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes, otherwise known as Herodes Atticus was a very distinguished, rich Greek aristocrat who served as a Roman Senator and a Sophist. He is notable as a proponent in the Second Sophistic by Philostratus.-Ancestry and Family:Herodes Atticus...
, whom he heard at Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, he also received instructions from Aristocles
Aristocles
Aristocles may refer to:*Plato, the Greek philosopher*Aristocles of Messene , philosopher*Aristocles...
at Pergamum, from Polemon
Polemon
-Philosophers:*Polemon , the head of the Platonic Academy from 314-269 BC*Polemon of Athens, a 2nd century BC Stoic philosopher, also referred to as Polemon of Ilium*Polemon of Laodiceia, a 2nd century sophist-Kings:...
at Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
, and from the grammarian Alexander of Cotiaeum
Alexander of Cotiaeum
Alexander of Cotiaeum was a Greek grammarian, who is mentioned among the instructors of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. We still possess an epitaph pronounced upon him by the rhetorician Aelius Aristides, who had studied under Alexander....
.
Life
The son of a wealthy landowner from Adriani, MysiaMysia
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north...
, Aristides studied under Alexander of Cotiaeum
Alexander of Cotiaeum
Alexander of Cotiaeum was a Greek grammarian, who is mentioned among the instructors of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. We still possess an epitaph pronounced upon him by the rhetorician Aelius Aristides, who had studied under Alexander....
, the tutor of Marcus Aurelius. A career as an orator ended at the age of 26 when he was afflicted during a visit to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
with the first of a long series of illnesses, possibly of psychosomatic origin. His health problem drove him to the sanctuary of Pergamon
Pergamon
Pergamon , or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city in modern-day Turkey, in Mysia, today located from the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus , that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC...
(present-day Bergama
Bergama
Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is largely urbanized at the rate of 53,6 per cent...
) where Asclepius
Asclepius
Asclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
, the god of healing, would often advise people certain remedies in their dreams.
After being sufficiently prepared for his profession, he traveled for some time throughout Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, particularly Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The fame of his talents and acquirements, which preceded him everywhere, was so great that monuments were erected in his honor in several towns he visited. Shortly before his return, in Italy, he contracted an illness that lasted for thirteen years.
He had from his childhood been of weak constitution, but neither this nor his protracted illness prevented his prosecuting his studies, for he was well at intervals; and in his Sacred Tales (Hieroi Logoi), a sort of diary of his illness and recovery, he relates that he was frequently encouraged by visions in his dreams to cultivate rhetoric to the exclusion of all other studies. During this period and afterwards, he resided at Smyrna, whither he had gone on account of its baths, but he made occasional excursions into the country, to Pergamus, Phocaea
Phocaea
Phocaea, or Phokaia, was an ancient Ionian Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia. Greek colonists from Phocaea founded the colony of Massalia in 600 BC, Emporion in 575 BC and Elea in 540 BC.-Geography:Phocaea was the northernmost...
, and other towns. He had great influence with Emperor Marcus Aurelius, whose acquaintance he had made in Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...
, and when in 178, Smyrna was to a great extent destroyed by an earthquake, Aristides represented the deplorable condition of the city and its inhabitants in such vivid colors to the emperor that he was moved to tears, and generously assisted the Smyrnaeans in rebuilding their town.
The Smyrnaeans showed their gratitude to Aristides by erecting to him a brazen statue in their agora
Agora
The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the Agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the Agora also served as a marketplace where...
, and by calling him the founder of their town. Various other honors and distinctions were offered to him at Smyrna, but he refused them, and accepted only the office of priest of Asclepius
Asclepius
Asclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
, which he held until his death, about 180 according to some, at the age of 60, and according to others of 70. The circumstance of his living for so many years at Smyrna, and enjoying such great honors there, is probably the reason that in an epigram still extant he is regarded as a native of Smyrna.
Works
The extant works of Aristides include 55 orations and declamations (including those discovered by Morelli and Mai), and two treatises on rhetorical subjects. Some of his orations are eulogies on the power of certain divinities, others are panegyrics on towns, such as SmyrnaSmyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
, Cyzicus
Cyzicus
Cyzicus was an ancient town of Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peninsula , a tombolo which is said to have originally been an island in the Sea of Marmara only to be connected to the mainland in historic...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
; one among them is a Panathenaicus, and an imitation of that of Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
. Others again treat on subjects connected with rhetoric and eloquence. The six orations mentioned above, have attracted considerable attention in the mid-19th century, on account of the various stories they contain respecting the cures of the sick in temples, and on account of the apparent resemblance between these cures and those said to be effected by Mesmerism. The first edition of his works is that of Eufrosino Bonino (Florence, 1517). A list of the orations extant, as well as of the lost works of Aristides, is given in Fabricius (Bibliotheca Graeca vi p. 15, &c.), and more completely by Westermann (Geschichte der Griechischen Beredsamkeit, p. 321, &c.). Aristides as an orator is much superior to the majority of rhetoricians in his time, whose great and only ambition was to shine and make a momentary impression by extempore speeches, and a brilliant and dazzling style. Aristides, with whom thought was of far greater importance than the form in which it appeared, expressed that difference between himself and the other rhetoricians, at his first interview with the emperor, M. Aurelius.
He despised the silly puns, the shallow witticisms and insignificant ornaments of his contemporaries, and sought nourishment for his mind in the study of the ancients. In his panegyric orations, however, he often endeavored to display as much brilliancy of style as he could. On the whole his style is brief and concise, but too frequently deficient in ease and clearness. His sentiments are often trivial and spun out to an intolerable length, which leaves the reader nothing to think upon for himself. His orations remind one of a man who is fond of hearing himself talk. Notwithstanding these defects, however, Aristides is still unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries. His admirers compared him to Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
, and even Aristides did not think himself much inferior. This vanity and self-sufficiency made him enemies and opponents, among whom are mentioned Palladius
Palladius
Palladius was the first Bishop of the Christians of Ireland, preceding Saint Patrick. The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion consider Palladius a saint.-Armorica:...
, Sergius
Sergius
Sergius was a name of a Roman Patrician Gens originally from Alba Longa and can refer to:- Roman Catholic Popes :*Pope Sergius I , Sicilian-born pope*Pope Sergius II , Italian-born pope...
, and Porphyrius. But the number of his admirers was far greater, and several learned grammarians wrote commentaries on his orations. Besides Athanasius, Menander
Menander
Menander , Greek dramatist, the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy, was the son of well-to-do parents; his father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian general and governor of the Thracian Chersonese known from the speech of Demosthenes De Chersoneso...
, and others, whose works are lost, we must mention especially Sopater of Apamea
Sopater of Apamea
Sopater of Apamea , was a distinguished sophist and Neoplatonist philosopher.He was a disciple of Iamblichus, after whose death Sopater of Apamea (d. before 337), was a distinguished sophist and Neoplatonist philosopher.He was a disciple of Iamblichus, after whose death Sopater of Apamea (d. before...
, who is probably the author of the Greek Prolegomena to the orations of Aristides, and also of some among the Scholia on Aristides, which contain a great many things of importance for mythology, history, and antiquities. They also contain numerous fragments of works now lost. The greater part of these Scholia are probably compilations from the commentaries of Arethas
Arethas
Arethas is the Greek form of the Arab name Al-Harith. It can refer to:* Arethas , Arab Christian martyr in Yemen* Arethas the Kindite , ruler of the Kindite Arabs* Al-Harith ibn Jabalah, Ghassanid king...
, Metrophanes, and other grammarians.
According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary
Oxford Classical Dictionary
-Overview:The Oxford Classical Dictionary is considered to be the standard one-volume encyclopaedia in English of topics relating to the Ancient World and its civilizations. It was first published in 1949, edited by Max Cary with the assistance of H. J. Rose, H. P. Harvey, and A. Souter. A...
, the remainder of his surviving writings, although praised by his contemporaries, is of primary interest for the incidental light they cast on the social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
in the second century AD. His Sacred Tales may also be of interest for researchers of ancient medicine or ancient religion. A complete English translation was published by C.A. Behr in between 1981 and 1986.
Other sources
- William V. Harris, Brooke Holmes (ed.), Aelius Aristides between Greece, Rome, and the Gods (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008) (Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition).