Greek Historiography Read online

  Greek Historiography

  Blackwell Introductions to the Classical World

  This series will provide concise introductions to classical culture in the broadest sense. Written by the most distinguished scholars in the field, these books survey key authors, periods and topics for students and

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  Published

  Greek Tragedy

  Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz

  Roman Satire

  Daniel Hooley

  Ancient History

  Charles W. Hedrick, Jr.

  Homer, second edition

  Barry B. Powell

  Classical Literature

  Richard Rutherford

  Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory

  Thomas Habinek

  Ancient Epic

  Katherine Callen King

  Catullus

  Julia Haig Gaisser

  Virgil

  R. Alden Smith

  Ovid

  Katharina Volk

  Roman Historiography

  Andreas Mehl, translated by Hans‐Friedrich Mueller

  Greek Historiography

  Thomas F. Scanlon

  Greek Historiography

  Thomas F. Scanlon

  This edition first published 2015

  © 2015 Thomas F. Scanlon

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  Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

  Scanlon, Thomas Francis, author.

  Greek historiography / Thomas F. Scanlon.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-1-4051-4522-0 (cloth)

  1. Greece–Historiography. I. Title.

  DF211.S33 2015

  938.0072–dc23

  2015006681

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Cover image: Roman statue of Clio, 2nd century, Museo Pio-Clementino, Rome.

  Photo: Marie-Lan Nguyen 2006, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clio_Pio-

  Clementino_Inv291.jpg

  Set in 10.5/13pt Galliard by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India

  1 2015

  Contents

  Preface vi

  Abbreviations ix

  Chapter 1: Origins and Early Forms of Greek Historiography

  1

  Chapter 2: Herodotus and the Limits of Happiness:

  Beyond Epic, Lyric, and Logography

  26

  Chapter 3: Thucydides on the Ends of Power

  69

  Chapter 4: Xenophon on Leadership and Moral Authority

  126

  Chapter 5: History and Rhetoric in Fourth‐Century Historians

  160

  Chapter 6: Diversity and Innovation in the Hellenistic Era

  190

  Chapter 7: Polybius on the Supremacy of a Balanced State

  202

  Chapter 8: Greek Historians in the Roman Era

  237

  Chapter 9: Concluding Observations on Greek Historical Writing 276

  Further Reading

  291

  Index Locorum

  300

  Index 317

  Preface

  This books aims to provide an introduction to Greek historical writing

  across its evolution over about three quarters of a millennium, from about 500 bc to ad 240. The work begins with an overview of the “logographers,” – that is, local “storytellers” prior to Herodotus, such as Hecataeus and others; then it moves to a closer discussion of the major figures of Herodotus and Thucydides, chronicling the major upheavals, internal

  and external, of city-states in the classical era. Next it surveys the perspectives of exiled authors in the much different times of Xenophon and

  Polybius and ends with an overview of later figures who wrote in Greek

  during the Roman era: Fabius Pictor, Posidonius, and Diodorus Siculus

  in the late republic; Nicolaus of Damascus and Dionysius in the Augustan age; Josephus, Appian, and Arrian in the first and second centuries ad; and finally Dio Cassius and Herodian in the early third century ad. Few modern overviews have included the authors of the Roman era after

  Polybius, who constitute a rich illustration of the possibilities realized by the genre. Collectively, all these historians and their works raise questions about the definition of historical writing. These questions are addressed as they arise, and more comparatively in a concluding chapter.

  In line with the whole series, this approach aims to be accessible to students and to interested general readers with little specialist background, and yet to offer, both to that audience and to more advanced students

  and scholars, some useful observations on the field. Greater attention is given to writers whose texts are extensively preserved, are available in good translations, and enjoy modern discussions in English; but the

  important but fragmentarily preserved authors are also discussed (see the bibliography at the end of each chapter and the Further Reading chapter at the end of the book).

  The study of Greek historical writing – what is called “historiography” –

  differs from the direct study of Greek history by focusing on the literary

  Preface

  vii

  aspects of the historical texts, their narratives and themes, and less on the absolute veracity of their accounts. Historiography treats historical writing as a form of literature, and one that furnished a connected narrative of events within the chosen topic. Along the way, we look at the general

  structure of the major narratives, their use of prefaces, digress
ions and speeches, and direct authorial comments. This study moves chronologically through the centuries, seeking to trace lines of continuity and innovation in each author and giving some suggestions as to how each one

  relates to his predecessors. Each chapter aims to situate the works it presents in their time and culture, specifically through a discussion of the life of the each author, the structure of his work, and its debt to other literary and philosophical phenomena.

  The discussion of each major extant work also offers a sequential

  reading of that narrative. This feature is unlike what one finds in many introductions to historical writing; but it is important here for several reasons. The readings are a guide to the main “story” of the history through the often complex thicket of names and places, a way to trace consecu-tively the chief themes and interests of an author (one inspiration here is Connor 1984). Along the way we pay special attention to the themes of

  “human nature” and “power” – concepts that were, admittedly, quite

  fluid and debatable for the ancients as they are for us today; but these themes appear in virtually every author surveyed, with different meanings and usages. Other major themes such as divine forces, leadership, causation, and the portrayal of the “barbarians” also feature throughout our discussion. Not all are, however, universal across all ancient historians, and we also examine themes that belong to the particular time and social context of each author, for example Greek unity for Herodotus, the dangers of rhetoric for Thucydides, and the relationship between a superpower

  and its dependents for Polybius.

  It is the ancient construction of themes for each narrative that is of

  special interest here, since each historian’s work is an attempt to make sense of the chaotic events of public life, of individual decisions made with reason or emotion, and of collective judgment and actions dictated by the same human faculties. Historians thereby also hope to be didactic and pragmatically useful. Polybius offered one version of the utility of history in his preface:

  The study of History is in the truest sense an education, and a training for political life; and that the most instructive, or rather the only, method of learning to bear with dignity the vicissitudes of fortune is to recall the catastrophes of others. (Plb. 1.1, translated by Shuckburgh)

  viii Preface

  This book hopes to communicate the enthusiasm I felt as a young student of Thucydides, entranced as I was by his stark descriptions of power

  politics, which resonate so disturbingly across the ages. I had already been (and remain) enthralled by Greek and Roman poetry. But the subjective

  and literary aspects of historical writing, as well as their striking, modern relevance, were a revelation concerning how much supposedly objective

  reporting today still requires an ever vigilant, critical analysis.

  Sincere gratitude is owed to the team at Wiley Blackwell for their

  encouragement, patience, and hard work, most especially to Sophie

  Gibson, Haze Humbert, Ben Thatcher, Allison Kostka, and Manuela

  Tecusan. The original reviewers and the development reviewers for the

  press gave excellent suggestions. Ingrid de Haas has done superb work as my research assistant. The University of California, Riverside has been very supportive with sabbatical leave and research funds for this project.

  Input from students in my courses and seminars on historical writing has, over the years, guided me greatly in formulating the needs for this project.

  As always, Wendy Raschke has been a source of great intellectual and

  personal support. To her the work is dedicated with gratitude beyond

  words.

  The translator’s name is always indicated immediately after the citation at the end of a quoted passage, for example “Th. 1.21.1, Lattimore.”

  Passages not marked in this way are my own translations.

  Bibliography

  Connor, W. R. 1984. Thucydides. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

  Abbreviations

  Acus. Acusilaus

  ad l.

  ad locum

  Androt. Androtion

  Antich.

  Antiochus of Syracuse

  Apollod. Apollodorus,

  Bibliotheca ( Library)

  App. Appian

  BC

  Bella civilia ( Civil Wars)

  Praef. Praefatio ( Preface)

  A.R.

  Apollonius of Rhodus

  Arg.

  Argonautica

  Ar. Aristophanes

  Pax

  Pax ( Peace)

  Arist. Aristotle

  EN

  Ethica Nicomachea ( Nicomachean Ethics)

  Po.

  Poetica ( Poetics)

  Rh.

  Rhetorica ( Rhetoric)

  Arr. Arrian

  An.

  Alexandri anabasis

  Ath.

  Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae ( Philosophers at

  Dinner)

  BNJ

  Brill’s New Jacoby, edited by Ian Worthington (2006–13;

  also at http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/brill‐

  s‐new‐jacoby).

  c.

  circa

  cf.

  confer

  Callisth. Callisthenes of Olynthus

  Cic. Cicero

  QFr

  Epistulae ad Quintum fratrem ( Letters to His Brother

  Quintus)

  x AbbreviAtions

  Cleidem. Cleidemus

  D.C.

  Dio Cassius, Historia Romana ( Roman History)

  D.H.

  Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates Romanae

  ( Roman Antiquities) (traditionally cited without title)

  Comp.

  De compositione verborum ( On Literary Composition)

  Pomp.

  Epistula ad Pompeium ( Letter to Pompei)

  Rh.

  Ars rhetorica ( Rhetoric)

  Th.

  De Thucydide ( On Thucydides)

  DK

  Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, edited by H. Diels

  and W. Kranz (6th ed., 1952).

  D.S.

  Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica ( Historical

  Library)

  EK

  Posidonius: The Fragments, edited by L. Edelstein and

  I. G. Kidd (2nd ed., 1988–99).

  Ephor. Ephorus

  fl.

  floruit

  FGrHist

  Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, edited by

  F. Jacoby et al. (1923–).

  Hdn. Herodian

  Hdt. Herodotus,

  Historiae ( Histories)

  Hecat.

  Hecataeus of Miletus

  Hell.Oxy.

  Hellenica Oxyrhynchia

  Heraclit. Heraclitus

  Hes. Hesiod

  Th.

  Theogonia ( Theogony)

  Hom. Homer

  Il.

  Ilias ( Iliad)

  Od.

  Odyssea ( Odyssey)

  Hor. Horace

  Epist.

  Epistulae ( Letters)

  Isoc. Isocrates,

  Orationes ( Discourses)

  J. Josephus

  AJ

  Antiquitates Judaicae ( Jewish Antiquities)

  Ao.

  Contra Apionem ( Against Apio)

  BJ

  Bellum Judaicum ( Jewish War)

  Vit.

  Vita ( Life)

  Jer. Jerome

  Chron.

  Chronica ( Chronicle)

  Der Kleine Pauly

  Der kleine Pauly: Lexikon der Antike, edited by

  K. Ziegler, W. Sontheimer, and H. Gärtner (1979

  [1964–75])

  AbbreviAtions

  xi

  KRS

  The Presocratic Philosophers, edited and translated by

  G. S. Kirk, J. E. R
aven, and M. Schofield (2nd rev. ed.,

  1983).

  [Longin.] Pseudo‐Longinus

  Subl.

  De sublimitate / Peri hupsous ( On the Sublime)

  LSJ

  A Greek–English Lexicon, compiled by H. G. Liddell

  and R. Scott, revised and augmented by H. S. Jones,

  with the assistance of R. McKenzie (9th ed., 1968)

  Luc. Lucian

  Macr.

  Macrobii ( Long Lives)

  Marcellin. Marcellinus

  Vit. Thuc.

  Vita Thucydidis ( Life of Thucydides)

  Der Neue Pauly

  Der Neue Pauly: Enzyklopaedie der Antike, edited by

  H. Cancik and H. Schneider (1996–)

  New Pauly

  Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopedia of the Ancient World,

  edited by H. Cancik and H. Schneider (2002–)

  Nic.Dam.

  Nicolaus of Damascus

  OCD

  The Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by S. Hornblower

  and A. Spawforth (3rd ed., 1996).

  Paus. Pausanias,

  Graeciae descriptio ( Description of Greece)

  Philist.

  Philistus of Syracuse

  Philoch. Philochorus

  Pl. Plato

  Lg.

  Leges ( Laws)

  R.

  Respublica ( Republic)

  Plb. Polybius,

  Historiae ( Histories)

  Plu. Plutarch

  Alex.

  Alexander

  Dio

  Vita Dionis ( Life of Dion)

  Glor. Ath.

  De gloria Athenensium ( On the Athenians’ Fame)

  Mal. Herod. De malignitate Herodoti ( On the Malice of Herodotus) Posidon. Posidonius

  s.v.

  sub verbo

  Sall. Sallust

  Hist.

  Historiae ( Histories)

  sc.

  scilicet

  Sen.

  Seneca the Younger

  Ep.

  Epistulae ( Letters)

  Str. Strabo

  Syll.

  Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum, edited by W.

  Dittenberger (3rd ed., 1915–24)

  xii AbbreviAtions

  Tac. Tacitus

  Hist.

  Historiae ( Histories)

  Th. Thucydides,

  Historiae ( Histories)

  Theopomp. Theopompus

  V. Vergil

  A.

  Aeneis ( Aeneid)

  X. Xenophon

  An.

  Anabasis

  Hell.

  Hellenica

  Mem.

  Memorabilia

  1

  Origins and Early Forms of Greek