Bios Philosophos. Philosophy in Ancient Greek Biography
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Book Series
Philosophie hellénistique et romaine / Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy, vol. 19
Diatribe Reconsidered
Pedagogical Strategies in Graeco-Roman Literature between Rhetoric and Philosophy
Pedro Pablo Fuentes González, Alberto J. Quiroga Puertas (eds)
- Pages: approx. 262 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:1 tables b/w.
- Language(s):English, French, Italian
- Publication Year:2026
- € 90,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-61992-7
- Paperback
- Forthcoming (Feb/26)
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- ISBN: 978-2-503-61993-4
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The volume explores through a diatribe thus redefined the interactions between philosophy, rhetoric and pedagogy in intellectual and religious debates represented by various authors and texts of Greek philosophical literature from the 4th century B. C. to late antiquity.
BIO
Pedro Pablo Fuentes González is Professor of Ancient Greek Philology at the University of Granada (Spain). His main research interests are pedagogical and moral Greek literature related to Hellenistic and imperial philosophy, especially Cynicism and Stoicism. He is the author of Les diatribes de Télès, introduction, texte revu, traduction et commentaire des fragments, avec en appendice une traduction espagnole (Paris, Vrin 1998). Since 2015 he is the editorial director of L’Année philologique.
Alberto Jesús Quiroga Puertas is Lecturer of Ancient Greek Philology at the University of Granada (Spain). His main research interests include Greek imperial literature and the impact of rhetoric in the creation of cultural and religious identities in late antiquity. He is the author of The dynamics of rhetorical performances in late antiquity (London, Routledge 2019). Also, he has edited the volume Rhetorical strategies in late antique literature: images, metatexts, and interpretation (Leiden, Brill 2017).
Summary
In the study of the philosophical literature of Graeco-Roman antiquity, the 19th century scholarship coined an idea of «diatribe» that was problematic because of the highly artificial explanation of its genesis and because of its practical application. Diatribe ended up becoming a very confusing concept, based on the mere presence of certain themes or motifs linked to the so-called «popular Cynic-Stoic philosophy», and of certain stylistic features associated with the obscure figure of Bion of Borysthenes. For this reason, the redefinition of the concept of «diatribe» in ancient literature in a clearer and more substantial manner has become a pressing concern in order to reconfigure it as a truly meaningful and useful exegetical tool.
In line with S. K. Stowers (1981), this volume approaches a «reconsidered diatribe» from the general framework of modern communication theory, which characterises literary genres primarily by means of situational schemas and discursive strategies. The starting point is the clear linkage of the term «diatribe» in antiquity with a pedagogical context, be it real or fictional, marked by the theoretically beneficial relationship between a master and a disciple, both understood in a broad sense. This communicative and pragmatic «diatribe», that explores the interactions between philosophy, rhetoric and pedagogy, can be traced at various levels of analysis, and its exploration is very interesting in the study of intellectual and religious debates throughout antiquity, as represented by various authors and texts of Greek philosophical literature from the 4th century B. C. to late antiquity.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword
Notes on the Contributors
Diatribe in Greco-Roman Antiquity: A controversial Concept Reconsidered from a Pragmatic and Performative Perspective
Pedro Pablo Fuentes González
L’atopie socratique et la pédagogie du modèle chez Isocrate: rupture et continuité
Pierre Chiron
The διατριβαί of Philodemus of Gadara
David M. Douglas
Διατριβή chez Proclus
Luc Brisson
Cynic Epistles and Diatribe, Ancient and Modern
Francisco Javier Campos Daroca & Juan Luis López Cruces
Aelius Aristides, his Teacher Alexander, and the Platonic Heritage of the διατριβὴ περὶ λόγους
Lorenzo Miletti
Diatribe in Galen’s Works on Bloodletting
Mónica Durán Mañas
Beyond Religion: Diatribe and Blood Sacrifice under Scrutiny in the Second Century A. D.
Pilar Gómez Cardó
The Role of Rhetorical Amplification in Diatribic Contexts: The Case of John Chrysostom’s On priesthood
Alberto J. Quiroga Puertas
The Symposium of Methodius of Olympus as Late-Antique Diatribe
Ryan C. Fowler
Interazioni tra diatriba e invettiva nel Misopogon di Giuliano imperatore
Elia Otranto
