ABSTRACT
Whichever Philostratus was its author, the Heroicus is closely bound to the major biographies. No less so are the varied productions in the Corpus Philostrateum that reflect a sophist’s cultural interests. The study of each of these works will show how sophistic mannerisms and tendencies can be applied, so that a description, a treatise or an epigram provides yet another medium for the preoccupations of a pepaideumenos. Each different kind of work will call into question once more the balance between literary illusion and reality. And in some cases authorship is still a problem in itself: here I am concerned only with the light each can throw on the milieu of the Athenian Philostratus.
