(Middle) Platonic philosophers in Lucian

Abstract

This paper attempts to assess whether we can find Platonic philosophers with more or less distinct Middle Platonist traits depicted in Lucian’s works. After a look at the terminology Lucian employs for denoting philosophers claiming allegiance to Plato, some case studies (on Platonists in Vitarum auctio, Nigrinus, Hermotimus, Piscator, Convivium, and Philopseudeis) address the question formulated above.