Libanius of Antioch was among the best known public figures in the later Roman Empire. When he was 15 he decided to pursue a career in rhetoric. In 336 he went to study in Athens. During the decade of the 340s he taught in Constantinople and Nicaea, and then went to Nicomedia. He developed a reputation of excellence as a public performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 349 Libanius was asked by the emperor in Constantinople to become a chair of rhetoric there. He went to Antioch in 354 where he was appointed the city’s official sophist in 355.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Libanius wrote an autobiography, 63 speeches, and more than 1500 letters, many of which were to his current and past students. He also developed a collection of exercises in prose composition (progymnasmata) to be used in his teaching. His students, young upper class boys, would enroll with a teacher of rhetoric, such as Libanius, to study the works of classical literature and learn to write exercises (progymnasmata). The exercises would offer them a method for determining what was at issue in a given piece of text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Libanius (2008) Libanius’ Progymnasmata: Model Exercises in Greek Prose Composition and Rhetoric, Malcolm Heath (ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n