4 - Early Imperial Cultures of Miscellany-Making

Summary

Why would Clement showcase his participation in the Classical discourse of literary miscellanism when writing a project for the formation of Christians in late second century Alexandria? This chapter sketches Clement’s social context in order to bring light to his and his audience’s relationship to Classical tradition. Then it considers aspects of the Classical culture of miscellany-making and indicates how they were shared or transformed in Clement’s Christian setting. This encourages us to imagine how Clement and his audience could have taken delight in the rhetorical aesthetics of miscellanism and could have been attracted or impressed by the social and intellectual lifestyle within which it was cultivated, such that they sought to inhabit it and make it their own. Miscellanism was neither peripheral nor boring in the lives of imperial literary men, but it took people to the heart of the friendship circles, activities and institutions that framed and supported the culture of the pepaideumenoi, such as the library and the symposium.