Eikones (,
Images or
Imagines) is ostensibly a description of 64 pictures in a
Neapolitan gallery.
Goethe,
Welcker,
Brunn,
E. Bertrand and
Helbig, among others, have held that the descriptions are of actually existing works of art, while
Heyne and
Friederichs deny this. In any case they are interesting as showing the way in which ancient artists treated mythological and other subjects, and are written with artistic knowledge and in attractive language. A second series of
Imagines was produced by his
grandson.
Philostratus the Younger certainly wrote the 2nd series of
Eikones and in the foreword, thanked Philostratus the Elder for the 1st series so eventually attributed to him instead of Philostratus of Athens as previously attributed.
Heroicus, or
On Heroes, is a popular disquisition on the heroes of the
Trojan War. Written in the form of a conversation between a
Thracian vine-dresser on the shore of the
Hellespont and a
Phoenician merchant who derives his knowledge from the hero
Protesilaus,
Palamedes is exalted at the expense of
Odysseus, and
Homer's unfairness to him is attacked. It has been suggested that Philostratus is here describing a series of heroic paintings in the palace of
Julia Domna. The work
Heroicus traditionally attributed to Philostratus of Athens, but is now more commonly attributed to this Philostratus. ==References==