The paper questions the traditional view which sees a threefold pattern in Clement's literary activity, namely the sequence of Protrepticus, Paedagogus and Stromata (or a different projected but not realized work). A close analysis of Paed. I.1 and a general overview of Clement's remaining writings allow us to individuate two literary domains within his work; on the one hand, rhetorically shaped writings as the Protrepticus, the Paedagogus and the Quis dives salvetur address a large audience, Christian or Heathen, making use of contemporary epideictic style and of mere literal exegesis; on the other hand, writings coming from Clement's teaching activity, as the Stromata, the Eclogae propheticae and the Excerpta ex Theodoto deal with doctrinal issues by means of intellectual speculation and allegorical hermeneutics. In this way it is also possible to contextualize better Clement's literary effort: it aimed to build a complex and multifaceted presentation of Christianity, that could unify the different ways in which Christian tradition was displayed in his days' Alexandria, ranging from radical Jewish Christian communities to elitist and purely intellectual Gnostic teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]