Laurent Pernot, Giancarlo Abbamonte, Mario Lamagna (ed.), Aelius Aristide écrivain. Recherches sur les rhétoriques religieuses, 19, Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2016.
This book aims at explaining the reasons why the rhetor Ælius Aristides (117-after 180 AD) became a classic in ancient Greek literature. Twenty international specialists have been invited to write a collection of essays, which offers a general overview of Aristides’ activity as a writer and the reception of his work in the historical periods that followed. Contributors analyse Aristides’ speeches one by one and discuss the main interpretative issues, particularly in literary and political matters. They point out emergent fields of inquiry, such as Aristides’ relationship to contemporary writers or the transmission and translation of his speeches during the Renaissance. This volume, which has no equivalent at present, offers an assessment of recent advances in research and outlines new perspectives for the future.
Read review of this book: Bryn Mawr Classical Review (BMCR)