Perversa grammaticorum subtilitas: le polemiche contro i grammatici nel II secolo d.C.

Criticisms against grammarians, expressed in various forms and with different objectives, is a recurring topic in ancient literature. It is around the second century A.D. that it reaches a high level of complexity and articulation. For instance Aulus Gellius’ Noctes Atticae relates several events where professors are criticized and ridiculed. The skeptical philosopher Sextus Empiricus also composed a work titled πρὸς τοὺς μαθηματικούς, which includes a book Against the grammarians. In this paper, we will analyze the characteristics of these motifs, in relation to the works where they appear and we will connect them to some other interpretations of the wide theme of criticisms against grammarians.