Claudius Rufinus Sophistes was a

sophist A sophist () was a teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics and mathematics. They taught ''arete'', "virtue" or "excellen ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, of the

Second Sophistic The Second Sophistic is a literary-historical term referring to the Greek writers who flourished from the reign of Nero until c. 230 AD and who were catalogued and celebrated by Philostratus in his ''Lives of the Sophists''. However, some recent ...

tradition. He lived in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

during the 2nd century. In his earliest references, he is called simply "Rufinus", then, starting around 200 CE "Claudius Rufinus", and from about 208 onwards, "Claudius Rufinus Sophistes". Rufinus was a respected member of the community, having come from a long line of respected sophists. He had been granted an exemption from all taxes, duties, and service, by the Roman emperor, and was known to be a generous benefactor, donating several public buildings. He was elected ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' of Smyrna during the reign of

Gordian I Gordian I (; 158 – April 238) was Roman emperor for 22 days with his son Gordian II in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Caught up in a rebellion against the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, he was defeated in battle and committed suicide after ...

, and he features prominently on the

coinage Coinage may refer to: * Coins, standardized as currency * Coining (mint), the process of manufacturing coins * '' COINage'', a numismatics magazine * Tin coinage, a tax on refined tin * Coinage, a protologism or neologism In linguistics, a neolo ...

of this city during this period. As a sophist and

rhetor Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse (trivium) along with grammar and logic/dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or writ ...

, he was the teacher of the sophist

Hermocrates of Phocaea Hermocrates () of Phocaea was a philosopher of ancient Greece, who lived in the 2nd century CE. He came from a renowned lineage of philosophers, being the grandson of the sophist Attalus and great-grandson of Polemon of Laodicea. He studied under ...

. He was also possibly the dedicatee of the book ''Sophistic Preparations'' by Phrynichus Arabius. He also features in the story of the martyrdom of Pionius, as one of Pionius's questioners. When he died, he was honored as an extremely prominent citizen, with a public funeral, commemorative games, and a sumptuous tomb.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rufinus, Claudius Roman-era Sophists 2nd-century Romans 2nd-century philosophers Claudii