La Città dei Sofisti. Luoghi della Seconda Sofistica a Roma

From the 2nd century AD Rome could claim to be the Sophistopolis of the Imperium Romanum. Whereas in research history the phenomenon of the so-called Second Sophistic has almost entirely concentrated on the famous cities of the Greek East, new archaeological findings and their connection with the classical sources have clearly highlighted the function of Rome as the centre of the Neo-Sophists and their activities. Two central examples of this symbolic entanglement of power and paideia in Rome’s cityscape will be presented here: the recently discovered remains of the Hadrianic Athenaeum in the northern part of the Forum of Trajan and the Temple of Peace, which has been re-examined in the last years, the rooms of which were used for the much visited »performances« of the famous doctor and medicinal theorist Galen. A concluding comparison of Athens and Rome as places of the Neo-Sophists will clearly demonstrate the capital’s exemplary role in the entire Roman Empire.