UNA PHARMAKIS A SOFISTOPOLI (SECONDO ADRIANO DI TIRO E CON UNO SGUARDO AI PARALLELI DI ETÀ CLASSICA E IMPERIALE)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the motifs concerning the trial for pharmakeia in Hadrian of Tyre's first declamation in the light of the treatment of this motif in imperial Greek rhetorical texts (declamations, progymnasmata, rhetorical treatises), Greek and Roman laws concerning the use of pharmaka and venena, and Plato's nomos on pharmakeia (Leg. 932e-933a). According to this analysis, Hadrian's declamation does indeed show a series of peculiarities which can be explained by reference to changes in the implementation of the Roman Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficiis and to an understanding of Sophistopolis as a culturally central scenario.