ABSTRACT
The emperor Julian spent a surprising amount of effort in confronting Cynics of his own time with his view of the early Cynics. Bosman considers the orations Against Heraclius and Against the uneducated Cynics as instances of selective memory of the Cynic tradition. While Julian is aware of early Cynic shamelessness, he prefers to suppress traditions such as the scandalous works attributed to Diogenes of Sinope or the probable origin of the slogan ‘to restamp the currency,’ while inventing Cynic piety. Such realignments of memory suggest that Julian’s orations are not mere ad hoc displays, but that he had a particular role in mind for the sect in his vision of a Hellenised empire.
