ABSTRACT
The contribution examines the dynamics of interactions between sophists and rulers in Philostratus’ Lives of Sophists, and argues that such encounters have a dynamic markedly different from depictions of meetings between wise men or philosophers and rulers. The paper is organized around three categories of sophist-ruler interactions: first, where a sophist acts as an entertainer and provider of pleasurable pastime for a ruler; second, where a sophist is a persuader of and, more rarely, an adviser to a ruler; and third, where a sophist becomes an adversary of a ruler or gets into a confrontation with him. For Philostratus, the first two categories represent sophists’ important social roles and are associated with two ways a sophist can exert influence on a ruler: by delighting him and by persuading him. Although Philostratus' sophists occasionally display disdain for political power and emphasize their independence – and sometimes even become adversaries of rulers and get involved in confrontations with them – fearless frankness is not perceived by Philostratus as behaviour typical or commendable to a sophist.
