Adrianus of Tyre (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: , c. 113 – 193 AD), also written as Hadrian and Hadrianos, was a sophist of ancient

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who flourished under the emperors

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...

and Commodus. Adrianus was the pupil of Herodes Atticus, and obtained the chair of philosophy at

during the lifetime of his master, which does not seem to have impaired their mutual regard; Herodes declared that the unfinished speeches of his scholar were "the fragments of a colossus," and Adrianus showed his gratitude by a funeral oration which he pronounced over the ashes of his master. Philostratus recounts a story of Adrianus' trial and acquittal for the murder of a begging sophist who had insulted him: Adrianus had retorted by styling such insults , but his pupils were not content with weapons of ridicule.

met Adrianus on a visit to Athens, invited him to Rome, and honored with his friendship: the emperor even condescended to set the thesis of a declamation for him. After the death of Aurelius he became the private secretary of Commodus. His died at

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at the age of 80, not later than 192 AD, if Philostratus' account is true that Commodus (who was assassinated at the end of that year) sent him a letter on his death-bed. Suda ''s.v.'' The '' Suda'' lists Adrianus' works as ''Declamations'', ''Metamorphoses'' (7 books), ''On Types of Style'' (5 books), ''On Distinctive Features in the Issues'' (3 books), letters, epideictic speeches, ''Phalaris'', and ''Consolation to Celer''. Of these works only three declamations are extant.

Footnotes

Other sources

* Philostratus, ''Lives of the Sophists'' * S. Rothe, ''Kommentar zu ausgewahlten Sophistenviten des Philostratos'' (Heidelberg 1988) 87–126. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adrianus 2nd-century Greek philosophers 110s births 193 deaths Roman-era Athenian philosophers Roman-era Athenian rhetoricians Roman-era philosophers in Rome Roman-era Sophists People from Tyre, Lebanon