ABSTRACT
From the preceding two chapters it is clear that Flavian history cannot easily be interwoven with Hellenistic ethnography. But whatever one's viewpoint on the Life of Apolfonius, the spectacle will be bizarre, and it will be tempting to blame Philostratus.' Yet it is important to place the ensemble of the Life in the context of a whole range of literary and sub-literary forms available in Imperial writers. We should ask in particular whether it is intended as a biography or as a novel - or whether it simply 'evolved' as a work in which such distinctions are irrelevant. Whatever the conclusions, Philostratus' integrity, both historical and artistic, will still be at stake.
