CHORICIUS, of Gaza, Greek sophist and rhetorician, flour ished in the time of Anastasius I. (A.D. 491-518). He was the pupil of Procopius of Gaza, who must be distinguished from Pro copius of Caesarea, the historian. His declamations, often accom panied by commentaries, include, besides panegyrics, funeral ora tions, and stock themes, Epithalamioi, or wedding speeches. Choricius was also the author of so-called Ekphraseis, descriptions of works of art after the manner of Philostratus. His moral maxims were largely drawn upon by Macarius Chrysocephalas, metropolitan of Philadelphia (middle of the i4th century), in his Rodonia (rose-garden). A special feature of Choricius' style is the avoidance of hiatus, peculiar to what is called the school of Gaza.
Editions by J. F. Boissonade (1846, supplemented by C. Graux in Revue de philologie, 1877), and R. Forster (1882-94) ; see also C. Kirsten, "Quaestiones Choricianae" in Breslauer philologische Abhand lungen, vii. (1894) ; G. Pietsch, "De Choricio Patrocli declamationis auctore" in same publication (Iwo), and article by W. Schmid in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyklopadie, iii. 2 0899). On the Gaza school see K. Seitz, Die Schule von Gaza (Heidelberg, 1892).