Shaping a Literary India: Philostratus and his Indographic Sources in the Life of Apollonius
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2026-02-02
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en
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This bachelor’s thesis examines the description of India (books 2 and 3) in Philostratus’ Life of Apollonius. It analyses how Philostratus uses the Indographic source material at his disposal to set-up two major themes: Apollonius’ journey to India as a kind of imitatio Alexandri and his meeting with the Brahmins of the Ganges plain. It also challenges the idea put forth by some scholars that Philostratus’ depiction of India is a mere rehashing of Megasthenes, unworthy of the Indologist’s attention. Instead, this thesis shows that Philostratus attempts to do justice to contemporary reports of the presence of Indians in the port towns of the eastern Roman empire, as reflected in the Egyptian-Ethiopian Naked Ones of book 6, making it of considerable historical interest. The resulting picture is that of a complex beast, not unlike the martichoras, a synthesis of nearly seven centuries of Graeco-Roman literature on India.
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Faculteit der Letteren