At the Limits of Art : A Literary Study of Aelius Aristides' Hieroi Logoi

The Hieroi Logoi (or "Sacred Tales") of Aelius Aristides presents a unique first-person narrative from the ancient world-one that seems at once public and private, artful and naive. A prominent rhetor among the educated elite of second-century Asia Minor, Aristides produced a substantial body of polished discourses, declamations, and hymns. Within his oeuvre, however, the unparalleled Logoi stand out , and while scholars have embraced it as a rich source for Imperial-era religion, politics, and elite culture, the style of the text has presented a persistent stumbling block to literary analysis. Setting this dream-memoir of illness and divine healing in the context of Aristides' professional concerns as an orator, this book investigates the text's rhetorical aims and literary aspirations. At the Limits of Art argues that the Hieroi Logoi is an experimental work. Incorporating numerous dream accounts and narratives of divine cure in a multi-layered and open text, Aristides works at the limits of rhetorical convention to fashion an authorial voice that is transparent to the divine. Reading the Logoi in the context of contemporary oratorical practices, and in tandem with Aristides' polemical orations and prose hymns, the book uncovers the professional agendas motivating this unusual self-portrait. Aristides' sober view of oratory as a sacred pursuit was in tension with a widespread contemporary preference for spectacular public performance. In the Hieroi Logoi , he claims a place in the world of the Second Sophistic on his own terms, offering a vision of his professional inspiration in a style that pushes the limits of literary convention. This book presents a reassessment of Aelius Aristides’ Hieroi Logoi , a unique first-person narrative from the ancient world. While scholars have embraced the Logoi as a rich source for Imperial-era religion, politics and elite culture, the style of the text has presented a persistent stumbling block to literary analysis. Setting this dream-memoir of illness and divine healing in the context of Aristides’ professional concerns as an orator, this book investigates the text’s rhetorical aims and literary aspirations. The book begins from the proposition that understanding the Hieroi Logoi requires grappling with Aristides’ deliberate conjunction of rhetoric and the sacred, and five chapters offer new perspectives on unresolved questions, including the problem of the text’s artistic unity, the unique texture of Aristides’ dream descriptions, the professional claims of his curative performances, and the place of the Hieroi Logoi amid his literary concerns. Reading the Logoi in the context of contemporary oratorical practices, in dialogue with contemporary technical writings on the interpretation of dreams, and in tandem with Aristides’ own polemical orations and prose hymns makes it possible to discern his professional agenda in this unusual, experimental self-portrait. In this multi-layered and open text, the book argues, Aristides works at the limits of rhetorical convention to fashion an authorial voice that is transparent to the divine. In the HL , Aristides claims a place in the world of the Second Sophistic on his own terms, offering a vision of his professional inspiration in a style that pushes the limits of literary convention Aelius Aristides' Hieroi Logoi present a unique first-person narrative from the ancient world - a narrative that seems at once public and private, artful and naive. While scholars have embraced the Logoi as a rich source for Imperial-era religion, politics, and elite culture, the style of the text has presented a persistent stumbling block to literary analysis. Setting this dream-memoir of illness and divine healing in the context of Aristides' professional concerns as an orator, this book investigates the text's rhetorical aims and literary aspirations. At the Limits of Art argues that the Hieroi Logoi are an experimental work. Incorporating numerous dream accounts and narratives of divine cure in a multi-layered and open text, Aristides works at the limits of rhetorical convention to fashion an authorial voice that is transparent to the divine. Reading the Logoi in the context of contemporary oratorical practices, and in tandem with Aristides' polemical orations and prose hymns, the book uncovers the professional agendas motivating this unusual self-portrait. Aristides' sober view of oratory as a sacred pursuit was in conflict with a widespread contemporary preference for spectacular public performance. In the Hieroi Logoi, Aristides claims a place in the world of the Second Sophistic on his own terms, offering a vision of his professional inspiration in a style that pushes the limits of literary convention MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Contents 6 Preface and Acknowledgments 8 Introduction: An Author in Search of a Character 14 1. Hieroi Logoi : The God in the Text 48 2. Dream Description and Dream Hermeneutics 68 3. Salvum Lotum! A Rhetor’s Improvised Baths 98 4. A Prose Hymn for Asclepius? 138 5. “Immunity” and Aristides’ Literary Afterlife 166 Conclusion 194 Bibliography 200 General Index 220 A 220 B 221 C 222 D 222 E 223 F 224 G 224 H 224 I 225 J 225 K 225 L 225 M 225 N 226 O 226 P 226 Q 227 R 227 S 228 T 228 U 229 V 229 W 229 Z 229 Index Locorum 230 A 230 D 233 G 233 H 233 I 233 J 233 L 233 M 233 P 234 Q 234 R 234 S 234 T 234 'At the Limits of Art' investigates the literary aspirations of Aelius Aristides' puzzling dream-memoir of illness and divine healing, the 'Hieroi logoi'