Constantine Akropolites’s Letter on Timarion: Religion, Philosophy and Rhetoric in the Komnenos Period

Abstract

The Timarion, a pseudo-Lucian satirical dialogue of the twelfth century, has usually been considered a latent attack on Christianity, based on a private letter written by its first commentator, the Great logothete Constantine Acropolites (fourteenth century). In this article a translation of the letter is published and its content is examined. Besides, the text of the dialogue is reviewed paying attention to the passages in which the arguments of its alleged latent paganism are substantiated.