La epístola De rebus in Oriente mirabilibus: un falso tardoantiguo

Abstract

This article studies the so-called epistle De rebus in Oriente mirabilibus as a Late Antique rhetoric exercise, based on the historical and literary tradition about the diplomatic relationship between Hadrian and Pharasmanes, king of Iberia. The text is a pseudepigraphical product written with plausibility, but throughout the several phases of copying – with enlargements and reductions –, the letter has lost the epistolary elements and only remains a disjointed mass of marvels excerpts.