The idea of education and learning (paideia) was central to ancient Greek thought. With the incorporation of the Greek East into the Roman Empire, the concept of paideia underwent profound changes and by the second century CE, the so-called age of the Second Sophistic, paideia embodied Greek civilization and culture. The Latin orator and author Apuleius of Madauros adapted the Greek concept of paideia and conveyed it to a Latin audience in his main works, the only extant Latin court speech of the Roman Empire (the Apology) and the only Latin novel that is completely preserved, the Metamorphoses. The contributors to this volume have undertaken the task of discerning the specific forms of paideia and its varying functions in both works. Interpreting these literary masterpieces from a literary and historical perspective as well as in close correlation to each other, the authors argue that a significant unifying factor characterizes both speech and nov el: the playful nature of Apuleius' paideia. The traditional literary technique of blending serious with comic elements reached new heights during the second century CE, since for authors of the Second Sophistic learning and wit were often intertwined. In Apuleius' writings in particular, reflexivity and entertainment go hand in hand, with paideia almost always bound up with wit and humor. This programmatic combination serving specifically Apuleian ends testifies to Apuleius' highly self-conscious and innovative treatment of Greek paideia.

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Contents

Acknowledgements VII

Introduction IX

I THE APOLOGY 1

STEPHEN J. HARRISON
The Sophist at Play in Court: Apuleius' Apology and His Literary Career 3

JAMES B. RIVES
Legal Strategy and Learned Display in Apuleius' Apology 17

WERNER RIESS
Apuleius Socrates Africanus? Apuleius' Defensive Play 51

VINCENT HUNINK
Homer in Apuleius' Apology 75

THOMAS D. MCCREIGHT
The "Riches" of Poverty: Literary Games with Poetry in Apuleius' Laus Paupertatis (Apology 18) 89

STEFAN TILG
Eloquentia ludens - Apuleius' Apology and the Cheerful Side of Standing Trial 105

II THE METAMORPHOSES 133

MAAIKE ZIMMERMAN
Cenatus solis fabulis: A Symposiastic Reading of Apuleius' Novel 135

ROBERT E. VANDER POPPEN
A Festival of Laughter: Lucius, Milo, and Isis Playing the Game of Hospitium 157

ELIZABETH M. GREENE
Social Commentary in the Metamorphoses: Apuleius' Play with Satire 175

AMANDA G. MATHIS
Playing with Elegy: Tales of Lovers in Books 1 and 2 of Apuleius' Metamorphoses 195

DAVID P. C. CARLISLE
Vigilans somniabar: Some Narrative Uses of Dreams in Apuleius' Metamorphoses 215

NIALL W. SLATER
Apuleian Ecphraseis: Depiction at Play 235

Abstracts 251

List of Contributors 259

Bibliography 263

Indices 281
Index locorum 281
General Index 293

Reviews

- Beate Beer in Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft, LXVI. Band, Juli/Oktober 2013, 3./4. Heft
- Bruno Rochette, l'Antiquité Classique (2010) 79, 463-465. 
- John Hilton, Scholia (2009), 18, 19; http://www.classics.ukzn.ac.za/reviews/
- Paula James, Ancient Narrative Volume 8; http://www.ancientnarrative.com/.
- Lara Nicolini in BMCR 2008.12.18. The full review is found at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2008/2008-12-18.html.