This book presents a revised version of some of the most important and innovative articles published by Alan Cameron in the field of late antique Greek poetry and philosophy. New material has been added to the account of the “Wandering Poets” from early Byzantine Egypt, and earlier judgment on their paganism is nuanced. The story of Cyrus of Panopolis and the empress Eudocia takes into account important recent work on the poetry of Eudocia. Several chapters discuss the date and identity of the influential poet Nonnus; another describes the remarkable revival of classicizing poetry in late anti ... More

This book presents a revised version of some of the most important and innovative articles published by Alan Cameron in the field of late antique Greek poetry and philosophy. New material has been added to the account of the “Wandering Poets” from early Byzantine Egypt, and earlier judgment on their paganism is nuanced. The story of Cyrus of Panopolis and the empress Eudocia takes into account important recent work on the poetry of Eudocia. Several chapters discuss the date and identity of the influential poet Nonnus; another describes the remarkable revival of classicizing poetry in late antiquity; and another offers a new perspective on the life, work, and death of the philosopher Hypatia. The longest chapter reviews the celebrated story of the so-called closing of the Academy of Athens and the trip of its seven remaining philosophers to the court of the Persian king Chosroes, rejecting the fashionable current idea that they set up a new school at Harrân on the Persian border. A new chapter discusses a recently published papyrus containing poems of the Alexandrian epigrammatist Palladas, rejecting the editor's claim that Palladas wrote almost a century earlier than hitherto believed. In conclusion, another new chapter discusses the claim that paganism represented a deep and continuing current of belief in the world of Justinian.