philhellenism
philhellenism(in Roman republican history) refers to the nexus of two developments in the late 3rd and 2nd cent. bc. One of these is cultural, characterized by the actively favourable reception of Greek language, literature, and philosophy within the Roman ruling class. The other, political, is signalled by the adoption of policy and behaviour actively represented as beneficial to, and respectful of, Greece and Greeks. The phenomenon is associated especially with Flamininus, Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 182), and Scipio Aemilianus and his Scipionic Circle. Instances of approbation of aspects of Greek culture go back a very long way. Advice was taken from Apollo at Delphi and thanks rendered to him (398, 394) long before Delphi was ‘freed’ from Aetolian control (see federal states) in 189. On instruction from Apollo during the...
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