Literature and ideology in Roman times

The Second Sophistic is defined as the period of letters "rebirth" and the "rewriting" of the Greek past. The emperors of the time, mainly the Flavians, contributed to this development by highlighting the art of rhetoric through the writing of works and the establishment of schools. The Romans were aware of Greek tradition and Greek models, which they promoted, wishing to promote their political ideology and propaganda. The rhetoricians of the time, the sophists, engaged with and imitated the earlier classical authors. The historical past was a topic of interest. The reworking of familiar historical and mythological themes was a preoccupation in the schools of rhetoric, the result of which were "declamations", i.e. discourses of embellished presentation of the past. One of the rewriting subjects of the Greeks' history was the Persian Wars. Greco-Persian battles were extremely popular, as Spawforth (1994) and Swain (1996) note, ideologically serving both the Greeks and the Romans. The encouragement of this practice was accompanied by the provision of privileges and facilities, as literature was placed at the service and constituted a form of legitimization of the emperor's and the imperial state's role in protecting both halves of the civilized world.