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By Christopher Pelling
Our wisdom of Greek historical past rests principally on literary texts—not purely historians (especially Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon), but in addition tragedies, comedies, speeches, biographies and philosophical works. those texts are one of the so much expert and hugely wrought productions of a super rhetorical tradition. How is the historian to take advantage of them?
This booklet takes a chain of prolonged test-cases, and discusses how we must always and shouldn't attempt to make the most the texts. In a few circumstances, we will examine ‘what quite happened’, and the ways that the texts manage, remould, or color it based on their very own rhetorical suggestions. In others, the main illuminating element will be these suggestions themselves, and what they let us know in regards to the tradition — the way it figured questions of intercourse and gender, politics, citizenship and the town, the legislation and the courts, how wars occur. Literary Texts and the Greek Historianconcentrates on Athens within the moment 1/2 the 5th century, while a number of the significant genres got here jointly, however it contains a few examples from previous (Aeschylus’ Oresteia) and later sessions (including Aristotle’s Politics).
Literary Texts and the Greek Historianexamines attainable responses to those texts and indicates new ways that literary feedback can remove darkness from the society from which those texts sprang.
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Extra info for Literary Texts and the Greek Historian (Approaching the Ancient World)
Example text
Other ‘Poirots’ abound: the suggestion for instance that the unmutilated Herm reflected an agreement of Euphiletus to let Andocides off with just one to mutilate, a gesture to establish solidarity, but that Andocides was too sick even to do that (MacDowell 1962:174), or that Andocides agreed but backed out at the last minute, remembering his own claimed descent from Hermes (Furley 1996:64). But no incident is so productive of questionable reconstructions as the story of Diocleides, especially the claim that he identified the culprits by moonlight.
15 Thucydides had elaborated his analysis of the way Alcibiades’ transgressiveness provoked others into resentment and opposition. Pericles’ Athens had been an exquisite blend of democracy and tyranny. 2). But a Pericles was needed to preserve so uneasy a balance. 10); now, with Alcibiades, it was suspicion of tyrannical ambitions which dominated. Acquiescence in any elements of one-man rule had died with Pericles. 15. 1): in each case the demos is being manipulated by Alcibiades’ enemies. Nor that the demos emerges as so irresponsible; irresponsible people need strong leadership, and this is what is now lacking.
This chapter will take Plutarch, especially his Nicias and Alcibiades, as a test-case. There are dangers too in this working back. 2 Equally, we cannot be sure that they would not, and we may make fewer errors if we at least start by assuming that Thucydides’ narrative mindset and techniques were closer to those of Plutarch than to those of a modern historian. Nor is this useful simply as an approach to the classical writers. Very often we are dependent on Plutarch for important material, and we need some guidelines on how far he can be trusted.