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
Greek Historiography Page 1
