Narratives of healing: a new approach to the past?

Abstract

Aelius Aristides (117–180 AD) was a successful orator from Asia Minor at the height of the Roman Empire; he travelled widely and visited Rome itself. His job was highly competitive, and included public performance of the lengthy and complex speeches he wrote. These would be delivered before very large audiences; the events have been described by modern scholars as the equivalent of football matches. Many of these speeches honoured particular cities, marking occasions such as the visit of an emperor or a special anniversary, and displayed a thorough knowledge of much earlier Greek literature and language—part of a wider admiration for the Greek past in second-century AD Roman culture.