A terrible passion and a marvelous love: Greco -Roman *education and elite self-representation in the High Empire.

Abstract

Although the ancient system of education might have been thought to condition the way that highly educated members of the elite thought about their culture in a monolithic way, it in fact opened up diverse avenues though which they could shape their public identities. The link between cultural attainment and status was exploited through three basic modes of self-presentation. First, most elite intellectuals sought to define themselves through their knowledge of ancient literature, to which the grammarian had first introduced them. Although they tried to distance themselves socially from their former teachers, they enjoyed intellectual friendships called <italic>contubernia </italic> that developed from their years in the classroom, and they engaged each other in polite discourse on literature in banquets or <italic>convivia </italic>. In their studies they sought to broaden the scope of their reading beyond the narrow canon controlled by the grammarian, and they tended to create miscellanies or other works collecting excerpts from their wide reading of ancient authors. Second, many other elite intellectuals found the venue of public rhetoric to be a fit means of self-expression, and they performed public declamations on topics taken from Classical history and Greek and Roman mythology. Through <italic> ethopoeia</italic> or speaking in character, they often presented themselves in the guise of Classical authors or as important historical figures, and sometimes they even interacted with them or otherwise used them in a very personal way. These elite intellectuals not only preserved the link between the Classical heritage and their contemporary world by re-performing the past, but they also crafted an identity for themselves as worthy competitors of ancient figures and thus worthy members of that heritage. Third, the physical remains of the Classical past sparked the attention of some elite intellectuals, who, according to their means, tried to catalogue them in their writings or even preserve them through dedications and active rebuilding. In an age that witnessed the disappearance of old cities and tribes, these intellectuals regarded these objects as a vital link with the past and an important element of their ethnic identity. Similarly, Greeks of this period also catalogued, resurrected, and even fabricated old mythical and historical ties between cities. The Panhellenion established by the philhellenic emperor Hadrian represents the institutionalization of the world of elite intellectuals of the High Empire. It not only united many Greek cities in a celebration of their Greek heritage but also clearly shows Roman sponsorship for such a heritage and the community of interests of Greek and Roman intellectuals.