Anacharsis in a Letter of Apollonius of Tyana

Philostratus remarks on the terseness of the letters of Apollonius of Tyana , and letter 61 is a good example of that stylistic feature. Addressed to a Lesbonax, it says: ᾽Agr;νχαπσις ó Σκθης ν σπφóς εí δ Σκθης, τι καì ϳκθης . In my commentary to the letters, I observed that Apollonius is drawing here on the tradition of the Scythians as an idealized race, unspoiled by the cultivations of Greek city life, and is implicitly criticizing his contemporaries in the Greek world for not living up to the high ideals of Hellenism. I compared a critical remark in letter 34 that alludes to Euripides, Orestes 485: “βαπβαπθ” ο “χπóνιος ὢν φ’ ‘Ελλδι. More can now be said