Introduction

Abstract

AbstractThe Introduction discusses the model of the history of ancient dialogue prevailing in modern scholarship, according to which the dialogue after its extraordinary bloom in the fourth century bce went into disuse in the Hellenistic period, and resurfaced only much later: in Latin literature in the mid-first century bce (Cicero); in Greek in the second half of the first century ce (Plutarch). It points out that due to the exceedingly fragmentary character of the sources it would be difficult to produce strong evidence for a conspicuous break in dialogue-writing in Hellenistic times, and argues for the need to re-evaluate the remains of the post-Platonic dialogue, the last comprehensive study of which was carried out in 1895 by Rudolf Hirzel. The Introduction also discusses the notion of the dialogue as a genre and emphasizes its fluidity and a Protean character which has characterized dialogic literature from its beginnings.