Seeking out the Remote and the Divine: Story Paradigms Shaping Second Sophistic 'Lives'

Abstract

This thesis arose from the observation that two sorts of journeys commonly described in Second Sophistic literature – to religious and, in particular, oracular sites, and to the 'end of the earth' – are rarely considered together, although they have in common the liminal nature of their destinations. Like oracular sites, the boundaries of the earth were numinous, closer to the gods than the places we know, their inhabitants superior or in touch with the divine. The thesis proposes that, and explores the ways in which, tales of journeys of both kinds were regularly used by Second Sophistic writers to assert – or deny – the superior or even divine nature of their protagonists. Here, 'Second Sophistic writers' are identified simply as writers active in the period c. 60-230 CE.