Apollonius in India: The Vita Apollonii and the Indo-Graphic Tradition

Abstract

In this article I examine Philostratus’ engagement with the Indographic tradition in books 2 and 3 of the Vita Apollonii. A number of interconnected arguments are presented here. The main argument is that Philostratus carefully adapted details from the Indographic and paradoxographical traditions, allowing him to make witty allusions, both explicit and oblique, to them. This also allowed him to parody the critical doxographic habit of later commentators. Similarly, he sought to invert expectations when it came to the presentation of Alexander and the mythic heroes Dionysus and Heracles, as well as India more broadly. In doing so, Philostratus was able to present a utopian land of the Sophoi (within India) grounded in time and space that could ironically act as source of true Hellenism which Apollonius spread to the West (rather than Alexander spreading it to the East).