Basilicus
3rd century Greek rhetorician
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basilicus (Ancient Greek: Βασιλικός) was a rhetorician and sophist of Nicomedeia. Many scholars believe he was one of the teachers of Apsines of Gadara, therefore he must have lived about 200 CE.[1][2]
However, some scholars disagree that he was a teacher of Apsines, as the evidence for this is that Apsines calls him "the divine Basilicus", a convention that could mean he was a teacher of Apsines, but, some argue, also could mean that he had taught one of Apsines's teachers, or was a man simply admired by Apsines.[3] However the general scholarly consensus is that he was, in fact, Apsines's teacher.[4]
He was the author of several rhetorical works:
- On the patterns of words (περὶ τῶν διὰ τῶν λέξεων σχημάτων)
- On rhetorical preparation (περὶ ῥητορικῆς παρασκενῆς)
- On exercise (περὶ ἀσκήσεως)
- On transformation (πεπὶ μεταποιήσεως)
There were several other, more obscure sophists with this name in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
