The ''Misopogon'' ('Beard-Hater') is a satirical essay on philosophers by the
Roman Emperor Julian. It was written in
Classical Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archa ...
. The satire was written in
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...
in February or March 363, not long before Julian departed for his fateful
Persian campaign.
Glanville Downey says of the text:
:Julian vented his spleen in the famous satire, the Misopogon or Beard-Hater, in which, by pretending to satirize himself and the philosopher's beard which he wore in a clean-shaven age, he was able to pour forth his bitter anger against, and disappointment with, the people of Antioch.
[Downey, Glanville, "Julian the Apostate at Antioch, ''Church History'', Vol. 8, No. 4 (Dec., 1939), p. 305.]
References
External links
Misopogon – Translated by Wilmer Cave Wright for the Loeb Classical Library (1913)
4th-century books
Works by Julian (emperor)
Philosophy essays
Greek satire
Satirical publications
Texts in Koine Greek
Works by Roman Emperors
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