The sage as a leader and as a holly man in the cynicism of the imperial era: two polemics

Abstract

This book deals with the intersection between religion, philosophy, and politics in the Graeco-Roman world, and especially in Late Antiquity, with special reference to the figure alluded to in ancient sources with the expression "theios aner". Charisma and leadership are basic elements of this notion: its literary, historical, and ideological context and the different interpretations of holiness and sanctity in a sociopolitical or educative community are researched in this collective endeavour. The scholarly contributions are organized along three sections – 'Holiness', 'Charisma and Leadership', and 'Transmission and Reception' – aiming at an overall analysis of the patterns involving charismatic leadership of the intellectual and spiritual figures in the sources and its socio-political context, with the central axis of Late Antiquity. Thus, together with some methodological considerations, this book examines some well-known figures of holiness and attempts to offer a panoramic, transdisciplinary, and comparative view of their cultural and intellectual context, and to determine what socio-political role they had.