The politics of culture in crisis? Negotiating power through culture in the fourth century A.D.

Traditionally, Greek culture was a crucial component of the social identity of the elite of the Roman Empire. In the fourth century, however, major social, political, and religious changes increasingly complicated the relationship between traditional Greek culture and social position. In this paper, I examine how Libanius and other authors exploits Greek culture in order to enhance his prestige at a time when the relationship between culture and status has become problematic. To what extent was he conscious of the fact that traditional Greek culture was losing influence? How did he implement that culture creatively in order to revitalise its power? And what strategies did he adopt in order to convince his audiences, who had their own stakes in these issues? To answer these questions, I present a dynamic and contextualised reading of three of Libanius' speeches.

Keywords:Late Antiquity, Greek literature, Greek culture

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies