Ancient Historiography Research Articles

Those Infinite, Multiform Stories without Fixity: Myth and History, a Very Long Engagement

This paper deals with the problematic relationship between ancient historiography and mythology, or mythological stories as historical sources for historical research. Although Greek historiography had, in a sense, already been confronted with the problem of mythological intrusions into the substance of methodologically well-developed historical procedures (as early as the 5th century BC), Roman historiography continued for a long time to critically investigate and purify the stories of the foundation myths. This paper presents a detailed analysis of some methodologically relevant passages that reveal the attitudes of individual Greek and Roman historiographers towards myth as a (non-)source. At the same time, it questions the attitude of (early) Roman historiography towards myth by examining the philosophical treatise of the 2nd/3rd century philosopher Sextus Empiricus.

Polemik und Geschichtsschreibung bei Thomas Abbt

Abstract The article examines the historiographical concepts of Thomas Abbt (1738–1766) in their polemical references, especially in the Berliner Literaturbriefe. By means of polemics, Abbt outlines his idea of ‘pragmatic history’ in contrast to contemporary historical attempts, namely J.C. Harenberg’s History of the Jesuits, C.F. Pauli’s Heroic Tales, a historical novel by J.G.H. v. Justi and P.E. Bertram’s Spanish History. Therefore, history must unite three claims: a pragmatic one with regard to its political utility, an epistemic one concerning an unconditional claim to objectivity and non-fictionality, and an aesthetic-stylistic one, according to which only a style schooled in classical rhetoric and ancient historiography can guarantee the utility and truth of history. Hence, Abbt’s polemic against misguided historiography is essentially articulated as a critique of style.

Terentia and the Bona Dea: Women's Public Power in the Late Roman Republic

Abstract: This paper challenges older views that women's political power in the late Roman Republic was exercised mainly behind the scenes and had to be, because women could not have publicly acknowledged power. First, ancient historiography is used to recover a model of politics, according to which women's interventions gained urgency when made in public. Then, case studies explore how high-ranking women ( matronae ) used the annual rites for the Bona Dea to contribute to public life and intervene in politics. Later accounts of the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 b.c.e. positively recalled actions of Cicero's wife Terentia and her peers.

John J. Peters. Luke among the Ancient Historians: Ancient Historiography and the Attempt to Remedy the Inadequate “Many”

John J. Peters. <i>Luke among the Ancient Historians: Ancient Historiography and the Attempt to Remedy the Inadequate “Many”</i>

GROUP MINDS IN ANCIENT GREEK HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE ANCIENT GREEK NOVEL: HERODIAN'S HISTORY AND CHARITON'S CALLIRHOE

AbstractThis article explores Herodian's History of the Roman Empire alongside Chariton's novel Callirhoe with an eye to how the minds of collective entities are represented and function in the two narratives. It argues that Chariton, unlike Herodian, elaborates on the diversity of emotions that characterizes a specific collective experience and has groups use direct speech throughout. These choices add vividness to the narrative and intensify the fictional sensationalism and dramatic character of the novel. It also shows that, whereas collectives in Chariton's narrative are primarily designed to highlight a specific characteristic of a hero, dramatize an event and enhance suspense, in Herodian's historiography they are an integral part of the plot and central to his historical analysis of contemporary political and social world. This article offers a new analytical tool geared towards the development of a poetics of the collective in ancient narrative as well as a poetics of fictional and factual narration in antiquity, and advances our understanding of the complex relationship between ancient historiography and novelistic writing.

Polemic in Ancient Historiography, Literature, and Culture ed. by T. Stevenson (review)

Polemic in Ancient Historiography, Literature, and Culture ed. by T. Stevenson (review)

The Book of Acts as Story: A Narrative-Critical Study by David R. Bauer

Reviewed by: The Book of Acts as Story: A Narrative-Critical Study by David R. Bauer Christine H. Aarflot david r. bauer, The Book of Acts as Story: A Narrative-Critical Study (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021). Pp. xii + 284. Paper $32.99. In The Book of Acts as Story, David R. Bauer offers a narrative-critical reading of the Acts of the Apostles. In chap. 1, B. explores some of the foundational questions related to treating Acts as story and, in chap. 2, discusses central aspects of narrative criticism and their uses in reading Acts. Chapter 3 proposes a literary structure for reading Acts, and chaps. 4–7 offer a narrative-critical reading of Acts based on the literary structure and understanding of the plot presented in the previous two chapters. In chap. 1, B. discusses the relationship between Acts and the Gospel of Luke and raises the question of genre. He concludes, and rightly so in my opinion, that Acts "has its own message to convey, but on the other hand cannot be fully or even adequately understood without reference to the Gospel" (p. 7). B. brings this insight to his reading of Acts in chaps. 4–7. In terms of genre, B. follows the larger consensus of scholarship on Acts and treats the book as ancient historiography. Chapter 2 introduces narrative criticism as B.'s method for reading Acts, spending time particularly on the plot of Acts. This he considers to be made up of the way the events of the narrative are organized to form a story, and the conflicts the story revolves around (p. 15). Accordingly, B. does not follow contemporary literary research; he concentrates more on plot as the story's effect on the readers and their encounter with the questions raised by the story. Hence, I was left with the question, What would the plot have looked like according to B. if the questions Acts raises through its narrative had been in focus? In chap. 3, B. looks at the literary structure of Acts as reflected by the programmatic statement by Jesus in Acts 1:8: the movement of witness from Jerusalem to Samaria to the end of the earth. B. also discusses the roles of the ascended Jesus and the Holy Spirit in guiding and empowering the apostles' witness, the repetition of important events and themes, summary statements, and role of the speeches. In chaps. 4–7, B. takes us through Acts read as story. He pays due attention to the importance of Acts' beginning for the development of the rest of the story (chap. 4: Acts 1:1–26), spends some time with the apostles in Jerusalem (chap. 5: Acts 2:1–8:1a), traces the witness through Judea and Samaria to Antioch (chap. 6: Acts 8:1b–12:25), and finally follows Paul on his travels, through his arrest and on his way to trial in Rome (chap. 7: Acts 13:1–28:31). Throughout, B. remains true to his narrative-critical aim and espouses a clear understanding of how the different events are connected to bring forth Acts' witness to Christ. To read Acts as a story is a rewarding venture, but it is not without its dangers. In chap. 2, B. presents one of the central issues of Acts as a conflict "between the Church and [End Page 494] its Jewish opponents" (p. 23; cf. p. 18). It is certainly true that the apostles face opposition from Jews throughout Acts and that they often appear as an antagonistic character group. However, both historical and literary elements remind us that it is not unproblematic to distinguish between "the Church" and "the Jews" in this way. Because B.'s target audience consists of undergraduates, seminary students, pastors, and laypersons (p. 3), the history of anti-Semitism in the church warrants a particular reminder that Jesus's apostles were Jews. To be fair, B. does use the term "Jewish Christians" at times and therefore shows awareness of this, but this nuance is missing in his treatment of the plot. Moreover, on literary grounds, presenting "the Jews" as an antagonistic character group risks downplaying the fact that the apostles throughout their speeches...

Genealogy in the development of ancient historiography: Genealogy and history in Herodotus

In this article, I suggest that genealogy was a rhetorical strategy to build authority in the ancient history writing. In this way, I divide my argument into four parts. Firstly, I present my understanding of genealogy and authority, as these concepts orient my selection and analysis of the evidence. Secondly, I turn to the genealogical evidence, trying to demonstrate its relation with controversial debates and its role as a rhetorical tool. For this, I compare Herodotus’ and Isocrates’ use of genealogy, and suggest that genealogy was a form of tekmerion. Thirdly, I try to substantiate this hypothesis by looking at both Aristotle’s definition of tekmerion and to what extent Herodotus and Isocrates share his understanding of this word. Finally, I present considerations about why genealogy was such a powerful rhetorical resource in discourses of various nature, history included.

Polemic in Tacitus

ABSTRACT: In contrast with his predecessors in ancient historiography such as Polybius or Livy, Tacitus avoids attacks on named predecessors. He does claim superiority for his own writings in his prefaces, but on the grounds that he was free from the influences that distorted earlier efforts, such as concern about political disfavour or apparent flattery in a contemporary context. The desire for vengeful self-justification after an emperor, now seen as a tyrant, had died also called into question authors’ impartiality. While the critique of imperial activities has often been taken as the basis of Tacitus’ writing, this paper argues that the most important feature of his histories is the emphasis on the behaviour of the ruling class, the historian’s senatorial peers. The social etiquette of this group is a strong influence on the nature of Tacitus’ criticism and reflects the continuing difficulties in writing about the past even under ‘good’ emperors.

Predstava o Panoncima u narativnim izvorima od 1. do 4. veka

The Pannonians (as well as other ethnic groups from Illyricum) were depicted as primitive barbarians in ancient historiography. Ancient writers emphasize their bodily strength and military prowess, but also attribute boorishness and cruelty to them. A particularly unfavorable image of Pannonians can be found in testimonies from the 4th century. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Pannonian dignitaries in imperial service under Valentinian I were people of "the most despicable kind". They are bloodthirsty and often compared to wild beasts in Ammianus' work. In this paper we will show the general representation of barbarians in Greco-Roman world, and then we will go through some important testimonies about the Pannonians from 1st to 4th century. In the end, we will try to shed more light on 4th-century events that made an impact on, without any doubt, exaggeratedly negative image of the Pannonians in the historiography of the Late Antiquity.

Introduction: Polemic in Ancient Historiography

Introduction: Polemic in Ancient Historiography

Sabellius libyen, Libye sabellienne ?

Was Sabellius really a Libyan? Examining contemporary sources and ancient historiography on one of the most enigmatic heretics in the history of dogmas, the article shows that the Libyan origin of Sabellius is unlikely, and that it is an exaggeration to claim that Libya was a Sabellian home in the third century. Eusebius of Caesarea is probably guilty of having identified the adversaries of Dionysius of Alexandria located in Ptolemais as disciples of Sabellius, and the testimony of Origen on the theology of the identification between the Father and Christ is too abstract to deduce that this theology was as widely diffused in the East as it has previously been held.

ЗВ’ЯЗОК ПОНЯТЬ «НАРОД», «НАТОВП», «МАСА» ІЗ ПОСЕРЕДНІСТЮ ЯК СОЦІОКУЛЬТУРНИМ ФЕНОМЕНОМ

The article explores the meaning, content and historiography of the concepts: people, crowd, mass. It was found that the development of these concepts is uneven, and the historiographical dynamics is variable. Emphasis is placed on mediocrity as a socio-cultural phenomenon that is defined as the historical development of the given concepts. The study demonstrates that the undulating historical progress of these concepts found its critical point of bifurcation at the end of the 20th century, when the change took place in the most radical way and the transition to a new technocratic reality occured. Having established this relationship, it can be seen that a wide scope emerges for researching the ontology and phenomenology of mediocrity as a social phenomenon. The purpose of the article is to reveal and analyze the base of sources associated with the concepts of the people, the crowd, and the mass, as well as to rethink it in the context of the study of the concept of mediocrity and to determine their relationship in the historical perspective. The methodological foundations of the research are: linguistics, cultural comparative studies, philosophy of culture, ontology, phenomenology, socio-political philosophy. The research methods are: historical-genetic, hermeneutic, contextual and comparative methods, the cultural approach. The scientific novelty lies in the coverage of the genesis of mediocrity, which begins in ancient historiography, philosophy and literature, and is combined with the source base of the Old and New Testaments. The combination of these ideas makes it possible to take a fresh look at the formation of civil society in the united Europe, the fundamental principle of which is the idea of citizenship, revealing itself not only in the Age of Enlightenment, but also at earlier stages. At the same time, the next stage, which was proposed by the history of philosophical and cultural thought, was the idea of mass and mass culture, which is also contained in these texts. Reaching this level of understanding mediocrity, as an effect of evolution, of ancient Greek and Christian texts is the novelty of this article. That is, the culture of mediocrity is a logical continuation of the evolution of the phenomena "people", "crowd", "mass" which are recorded in the sources as concepts (implicitly or actually). For the cultural scientific discourse, such a deployment gives an idea of the relationship between the phenomenon and the concept, through the analysis and interpretation of the sources, and also opens up the possibility of a systematic study of mediocrity, in a historiographical perspective, as a sociocultural phenomenon. In the conclusions, the author emphasizes that the concept of mediocrity does not try to devalue the meanings of the concepts of the people or the mass, but points to a new strategy for understanding the problems of the development of a plurality of people, which implements the political will in the conditions of the latest scientific and technological revolution. Key words: people, mass, crowd, mediocrity, ochlocracy, democracy, citizenship.

Naucraries and the Cylonian Affair

The problem of Athenian naucraries, their places and roles in the political life of Athens applies to the number of discussion problems in historiography of antiquity. This is due to the sporadic nature of information about them, fragmentary and episodicity of the surviving sources, as well as many difficulties associated with the comprehension of information reflected in them, and with its interpretation in a variety of contexts. The paper discusses the etymology of the term ύ and examines the stories of Herodotus and Thucydides about the suppression of the attempt of the victor of the Olympic games Cylon to establish his tyranny in Athens. Cylon and his supporters were besieged at the Acropolis by the Athenians, who seeing that the siege was dragging on, reassigned the matter, according to Herodotus, to the Prytaneis of the Naucraries, and according to Thucydides to archons. The following questions are discussed: did the Prytaneis of the Naucraries rule Athens during the Cylonian Affair, as Herodotus says? Or was the power in Athens at that time in the hands of the archons as Thucydides says? Is it possible to somehow reconcile the versions of Herodotus and Thucydides. The conclusion is drawn: despite the fact that the majority of scholars tries to reconcile the versions of Herodotus and Thucydides, the contradiction found in them cannot be resolved convincingly.

THE FOURTH GOSPEL AND THE MANUFACTURE OF MINDS IN ANCIENT HISTORIOGRAPHY, BIOGRAPHY, ROMANCE, AND DRAMA. By TylerSmith. Biblical Interpretation Series, 173. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2019. Pp. xiv + 303. Hardback, $140.00.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 47, Issue 2 p. 231-231 Short Reviews Of Recent Publications: Christian Origins THE FOURTH GOSPEL AND THE MANUFACTURE OF MINDS IN ANCIENT HISTORIOGRAPHY, BIOGRAPHY, ROMANCE, AND DRAMA. By Tyler Smith. Biblical Interpretation Series, 173. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2019. Pp. xiv + 303. Hardback, $140.00. First published: 08 August 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.15253Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume47, Issue2June 2021Pages 231-231 RelatedInformation

GIS as a heuristic tool to interpret ancient historiography: A case study to reconstruct what could plausibly have happened according to the accounts in New Testament texts.

This article examines how GIS can be used as a heuristic tool to reconstruct spatial–temporal events from narratives in order to examine whether a scenario is conceivable within the narrative world. The narrative about Paul's escape from Berea (Acts 17:14–15) is used as a case study. Several interpretive issues related to spatial and temporal questions surround these texts. In the case study, three methods are applied: (a) least‐cost path analysis on elevation data to construct journeys and travel times for Roman roads; (b) network analysis to find seafaring routes valid for ancient times; and (c) the integration of spatial and temporal data in a space‐time cube. Our main finding is that the method yields insights into the spatial–temporal dynamics of the narrative. This helps a modern reader to better understand the narrative conceivability of a story in the mind of a first‐century reader.

ANALOGOUS CHARACTERS: TACITUS’ LIVIA AUGUSTA AND AGRIPPINA MINOR

Scholarship has recognised Tacitus’ preoccupation with characterand his use of rhetorical stereotypes even at a time when historiography was examined with the overriding aim of discovering the historical ‘truth’. The search for empirical validity revealed Tacitus’ historical unreliability and his manipulation of material. Historical theory has since evolved toward an acknowledgement of ancient historiography as a form of literary art and belonging to the domain of narratology. This article is based on the premise that the Annals of Tacitus closely corresponds to a modern literary text and that the ‘manipulated material’ requires of the reader to fulfil an active role in the interpretation process. A narratological analysis of Tacitus’ characterisation of Livia Augusta and Agrippina Minor reveals a sophisticated use of the narratological device of ‘analogy between characters’. The analysis is limited to identical nouns and adjectives used in the direct description of both these women and the reinforcement of these characteristics by indirect presentation. Tacitus’ mastery of subtle narratological devices becomes evident and his portrayal of Livia as analogous to Agrippina reiterates his deeply seated hatred of the Julio-Claudian regime.

Memorial from Delphi for Archon of Pella

The Delphic monument dedicated to Archon, general of Alexander, bears three inscriptions. The epigram b (prior to 333 B.C.) celebrates Archon’s victories in the Pythian and Isthmic agons. The decree c (333-332 B.C.) grants Archon and his family a series of privileges. The epigram a, following Archon’s death (321 B.C.), serves as a dedication of the statues of Archon’s family members, now lost. The inscriptions confirm what is already known from ancient historiography (his association with Alexander), and provide otherwise unknown information (family ties, his participation in pan-Hellenic games, relations with the city of Delphi).

Memorial from Delphi for Archon of Pella

The Delphic monument dedicated to Archon, general of Alexander, bears three inscriptions. The epigram b (prior to 333 B.C.) celebrates Archon’s victories in the Pythian and Isthmic agons. The decree c (333-332 B.C.) grants Archon and his family a series of privileges. The epigram a, following Archon’s death (321 B.C.), serves as a dedication of the statues of Archon’s family members, now lost. The inscriptions confirm what is already known from ancient historiography (his association with Alexander), and provide otherwise unknown information (family ties, his participation in pan-Hellenic games, relations with the city of Delphi).

An Instructive Story About How a Byzantine Princess Bravely Looked Deep into the Abyss of Oblivion

An Instructive Story About How a Byzantine Princess Bravely Looked Deep into the Abyss of Oblivion Anna Comnena’s beginning of the Prologue to her Alexiad is a fine literary and rhetorical piece. It is about the problem how destructive the passing of time is, and for which the only obstacle can be to consolidate the achievements of the past in a literary work. Such a line of thought was usually interpreted in the terms of the author’s rhetorical topos. Most frequently, this topos occurs in ancient historiography whose formal features were continued by Greek historians of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium). While not deyning that there is much to recommend in such an approach, the present paper tries also to pay attention to Anna’s life and stress the authenticity of her emotions. In this light the Preface to the Alexiad, while remaining an example of magnificent rhetorical argumentation, can also be seen as an authentic attempt ‘to stop’ time, an attempt made by an aging woman, conscious that this is the only chance to give meaning to her own life by preserving it in the memory of future generations, so, in a sense, to ‘immortalize’ it, given that it will be told in a written story, capable of surviving in time.