Introduction : Biography as Arena of Philosophical Competition -- The Roots That Remain -- Moses and Pythagoras : Reading the Bios as Philosophical History -- Plotinus and Origen : Biography and the Renewal of Philosophy -- Constantine and Julian : The Politics of Philosophy -- The Cell and the School : Geographical and Social Distance in the Competition for Philosophy -- Macrina and Sosipatra : Beyond Their Nature -- Syrian Monks and Proclus : Athens at the Periphery and Center of Philosophy in the Fifth Century -- Epilogue
Summary
Ancient biographies were more than accounts of the deeds of past heroes and guides for moral living. They were also arenas for debating pressing philosophical questions and establishing intellectual credentials, as the author argues in this study of biographies composed in Late Antiquity
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-343) and index
