Andreas Osiander
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198294511
- eISBN:
- 9780191717048
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198294511.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Following an analysis of the economic and ecological bases of society in the pre-Christian Mediterranean world, this chapter studies how and why the pre-Persian Greek pólis-world evolved — charting ...
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Following an analysis of the economic and ecological bases of society in the pre-Christian Mediterranean world, this chapter studies how and why the pre-Persian Greek pólis-world evolved — charting the rise of Athens, the rise of Persian Greek kingship, then the rise of Rome and the gradual absorption of the entire Mediterranean region into the Roman empire. It discusses what pre-Christian Greek and Roman authors — such as Plátôn (Plato), Aristotle, Isokrátês (Isocrates), Polýbios (Polybius), Sallust, Seneca, and Tacitus — had to say on the mutual relations of autonomous actors in the Mediterranean world. A special section is dedicated to an analysis of Thukydídês (Thucydides), showing that contrary to received wisdom he was far from an ancestor of Realist International Relations thought. In particular, he did not believe and never said that the ‘Peloponnesian War’ broke out because of a shift in the ‘balance of power’.Less
Following an analysis of the economic and ecological bases of society in the pre-Christian Mediterranean world, this chapter studies how and why the pre-Persian Greek pólis-world evolved — charting the rise of Athens, the rise of Persian Greek kingship, then the rise of Rome and the gradual absorption of the entire Mediterranean region into the Roman empire. It discusses what pre-Christian Greek and Roman authors — such as Plátôn (Plato), Aristotle, Isokrátês (Isocrates), Polýbios (Polybius), Sallust, Seneca, and Tacitus — had to say on the mutual relations of autonomous actors in the Mediterranean world. A special section is dedicated to an analysis of Thukydídês (Thucydides), showing that contrary to received wisdom he was far from an ancestor of Realist International Relations thought. In particular, he did not believe and never said that the ‘Peloponnesian War’ broke out because of a shift in the ‘balance of power’.
William A. Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195176407
- eISBN:
- 9780199775545
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176407.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Readers and Reading Culture in the High Empire examines the system and culture of reading among the elite in second-century Rome. The focus is on deep sociocultural contextualization for ...
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Readers and Reading Culture in the High Empire examines the system and culture of reading among the elite in second-century Rome. The focus is on deep sociocultural contextualization for reading events within specific communities, and thus the investigation proceeds in case-study fashion using the principal surviving witnesses. Explored are the communities of Pliny and Tacitus (with a look at Pliny’s teacher, Quintilian) from the time of the emperor Trajan; and from the time of the Antonines, the medical community around Galen, the philological community around Gellius and Fronto (with a look at the curious reading habits of Fronto’s pupil Marcus Aurelius), and the intellectual communities lampooned by the satirist Lucian. Along the way, evidence from the papyri is deployed to help to understand better and more concretely both the mechanics of reading, and the social interactions that surrounded the ancient book. The result is cultural history deeply written, of individual reading communities that differentiate themselves in interesting ways even while in aggregate showing a coherent reading culture with fascinating similarities and contrasts to the reading culture of today.Less
Readers and Reading Culture in the High Empire examines the system and culture of reading among the elite in second-century Rome. The focus is on deep sociocultural contextualization for reading events within specific communities, and thus the investigation proceeds in case-study fashion using the principal surviving witnesses. Explored are the communities of Pliny and Tacitus (with a look at Pliny’s teacher, Quintilian) from the time of the emperor Trajan; and from the time of the Antonines, the medical community around Galen, the philological community around Gellius and Fronto (with a look at the curious reading habits of Fronto’s pupil Marcus Aurelius), and the intellectual communities lampooned by the satirist Lucian. Along the way, evidence from the papyri is deployed to help to understand better and more concretely both the mechanics of reading, and the social interactions that surrounded the ancient book. The result is cultural history deeply written, of individual reading communities that differentiate themselves in interesting ways even while in aggregate showing a coherent reading culture with fascinating similarities and contrasts to the reading culture of today.
William A. Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195176407
- eISBN:
- 9780199775545
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176407.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Tacitus and Pliny were fellow orators of distinction with apparently close connections between their communities. Tacitus’s Dialogus purports to show us the inner workings and debates of a tight ...
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Tacitus and Pliny were fellow orators of distinction with apparently close connections between their communities. Tacitus’s Dialogus purports to show us the inner workings and debates of a tight literary community, set dramatically in AD 75 but reflecting at least in part the community in which Pliny and Tacitus engaged. This chapter explores the ways in which, in the Dialogus, Tacitus explores the question of the connection between literary culture, elite society, and politics, particularly as it relates to the traditional Roman pursuit of gloria.Less
Tacitus and Pliny were fellow orators of distinction with apparently close connections between their communities. Tacitus’s Dialogus purports to show us the inner workings and debates of a tight literary community, set dramatically in AD 75 but reflecting at least in part the community in which Pliny and Tacitus engaged. This chapter explores the ways in which, in the Dialogus, Tacitus explores the question of the connection between literary culture, elite society, and politics, particularly as it relates to the traditional Roman pursuit of gloria.
Edward Courtney
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0016
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter offers corrections of Tacitus, Annals 11.14, 11.23, 12.5, 12.65, 14.61, 15.63, 15.65, and, incidentally, of Manilius 2.898; places in which the transmitted text appears to be corrupt.
This chapter offers corrections of Tacitus, Annals 11.14, 11.23, 12.5, 12.65, 14.61, 15.63, 15.65, and, incidentally, of Manilius 2.898; places in which the transmitted text appears to be corrupt.
Rhiannon Ash
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0017
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter considers an extraordinary passage from Tacitus's Agricola, his excursus on the mutinous adventures of a disaffected auxiliary cohort of Usipi. While accidentally circumnavigating ...
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This chapter considers an extraordinary passage from Tacitus's Agricola, his excursus on the mutinous adventures of a disaffected auxiliary cohort of Usipi. While accidentally circumnavigating Britain, they are reduced to cannibalism and the survivors are captured and sold as slaves (Agricola 28). The episode forms a lively hiatus between Agricola's sixth season of campaigning (Agricola 25-7) and the climactic campaign of Mons Graupius (Agricola 29-38), but there is more at stake here than entertainment: Tacitus makes some telling points about imperial power and establishes some suggestive interconnections between this incident of cannibalism on the margins and the violent, self-destructive activities happening in Rome under the bloodthirsty Domitian. On the margins, these one-time auxiliaries are driven to cannibalism, but still retain some degree of integrity. Yet the Roman princeps at the centre seems to relish the taste of aristocratic blood (even if this serves as a prelude to his own assassination).Less
This chapter considers an extraordinary passage from Tacitus's Agricola, his excursus on the mutinous adventures of a disaffected auxiliary cohort of Usipi. While accidentally circumnavigating Britain, they are reduced to cannibalism and the survivors are captured and sold as slaves (Agricola 28). The episode forms a lively hiatus between Agricola's sixth season of campaigning (Agricola 25-7) and the climactic campaign of Mons Graupius (Agricola 29-38), but there is more at stake here than entertainment: Tacitus makes some telling points about imperial power and establishes some suggestive interconnections between this incident of cannibalism on the margins and the violent, self-destructive activities happening in Rome under the bloodthirsty Domitian. On the margins, these one-time auxiliaries are driven to cannibalism, but still retain some degree of integrity. Yet the Roman princeps at the centre seems to relish the taste of aristocratic blood (even if this serves as a prelude to his own assassination).
David Levene
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0018
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
There is a long-standing controversy over how far Tacitus's Annals drew on the work of the Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus. Various parallels in language have been observed, but this may be the ...
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There is a long-standing controversy over how far Tacitus's Annals drew on the work of the Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus. Various parallels in language have been observed, but this may be the result of Trogus's epitomator Justin imitating Tacitus rather than of Tacitus imitating Trogus. This chapter argues that where there is a congruence of theme, especially when allied to linguistic parallels, there are strong reasons for seeing allusions to Trogus by Tacitus. It argues further that Tacitus, while drawing on Trogus, also reworks his ideas in an ironic and critical way, seeing (for example) Augustus as a perverted recreation of Trogus' idealized primitive monarchs, or Tiberius as the embodiment of Trogus' suggestion that the true threat to the Roman empire is from within itself.Less
There is a long-standing controversy over how far Tacitus's Annals drew on the work of the Augustan historian Pompeius Trogus. Various parallels in language have been observed, but this may be the result of Trogus's epitomator Justin imitating Tacitus rather than of Tacitus imitating Trogus. This chapter argues that where there is a congruence of theme, especially when allied to linguistic parallels, there are strong reasons for seeing allusions to Trogus by Tacitus. It argues further that Tacitus, while drawing on Trogus, also reworks his ideas in an ironic and critical way, seeing (for example) Augustus as a perverted recreation of Trogus' idealized primitive monarchs, or Tiberius as the embodiment of Trogus' suggestion that the true threat to the Roman empire is from within itself.
Richard Rutherford
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0019
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter makes a sustained comparison between the speeches of Calgacus and Agricola in Tacitus's Agricola, and the longer sequence in the narrative of the Batavian revolt in Tacitus, Histories ...
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This chapter makes a sustained comparison between the speeches of Calgacus and Agricola in Tacitus's Agricola, and the longer sequence in the narrative of the Batavian revolt in Tacitus, Histories iv, involving orations by Julius Civilis, Petilius Cerealis, and others. Both works use rhetorical topoi current in the tradition of criticism of Roman imperialism; something is also said by way of defence of empire. These rhetorical arguments are deployed in complicated ways and as always, the speeches must be seen in relation to the narrative. The aim is not to reach facile conclusions about Tacitus's view of empire, but to examine the complexities of conflicting views in the texts, both in the speeches and in the authorial narrative.Less
This chapter makes a sustained comparison between the speeches of Calgacus and Agricola in Tacitus's Agricola, and the longer sequence in the narrative of the Batavian revolt in Tacitus, Histories iv, involving orations by Julius Civilis, Petilius Cerealis, and others. Both works use rhetorical topoi current in the tradition of criticism of Roman imperialism; something is also said by way of defence of empire. These rhetorical arguments are deployed in complicated ways and as always, the speeches must be seen in relation to the narrative. The aim is not to reach facile conclusions about Tacitus's view of empire, but to examine the complexities of conflicting views in the texts, both in the speeches and in the authorial narrative.
Elizabeth Keitel
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0020
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter analyses Tacitus's narratives of natural and man-made disasters, with special emphasis on those perpetrated by the principes against their own people. Tacitus consistently shows ...
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This chapter analyses Tacitus's narratives of natural and man-made disasters, with special emphasis on those perpetrated by the principes against their own people. Tacitus consistently shows compassion towards Romans of all classes and does not stress the breakdown of social order among the masses during such disasters. He repeatedly evokes the sack of cities, the quintessential man-made disaster, when describing the tyrannical behaviour of principes such as Tiberius and Nero. Through allusions to Aeneid 2, Tacitus creates a portable, repeatable sack of Troy during the civil wars of AD 69 to underline the gravity of the situation as Italy and Rome suffer serial abuse from various contenders; the common motives of all leaders and armies in making war on their own country; the vicissitudes of fortune during civil war, and the profanation of Rome itself.Less
This chapter analyses Tacitus's narratives of natural and man-made disasters, with special emphasis on those perpetrated by the principes against their own people. Tacitus consistently shows compassion towards Romans of all classes and does not stress the breakdown of social order among the masses during such disasters. He repeatedly evokes the sack of cities, the quintessential man-made disaster, when describing the tyrannical behaviour of principes such as Tiberius and Nero. Through allusions to Aeneid 2, Tacitus creates a portable, repeatable sack of Troy during the civil wars of AD 69 to underline the gravity of the situation as Italy and Rome suffer serial abuse from various contenders; the common motives of all leaders and armies in making war on their own country; the vicissitudes of fortune during civil war, and the profanation of Rome itself.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0021
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter is an investigation of a Tacitean metaphor for historiography and its implications for the historian's role in history. The metaphor of the historian's physical proximity to his subject ...
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This chapter is an investigation of a Tacitean metaphor for historiography and its implications for the historian's role in history. The metaphor of the historian's physical proximity to his subject matter, which is found in the Annals 4 digression contrasting Tacitus's work with that of historians of earlier periods, is an offshoot of the enargeia that often enlivens a narrative. It is also one of the many connections between this digression and both Tacitus's account of the trial of the historian Cremutius Cordus (4.34-35) and what he suggests about his own work as historian.Less
This chapter is an investigation of a Tacitean metaphor for historiography and its implications for the historian's role in history. The metaphor of the historian's physical proximity to his subject matter, which is found in the Annals 4 digression contrasting Tacitus's work with that of historians of earlier periods, is an offshoot of the enargeia that often enlivens a narrative. It is also one of the many connections between this digression and both Tacitus's account of the trial of the historian Cremutius Cordus (4.34-35) and what he suggests about his own work as historian.
Christopher Pelling
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199558681
- eISBN:
- 9780191720888
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199558681.003.0022
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter gives a close reading of a famous speech in Tacitus, where the emperor Tiberius rejects a request to allow a temple to be built to him in Spain. The reasons he gives seem exemplary, in ...
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This chapter gives a close reading of a famous speech in Tacitus, where the emperor Tiberius rejects a request to allow a temple to be built to him in Spain. The reasons he gives seem exemplary, in particular the priority he gives to genuine respect in the eyes of posterity rather than empty divine honours; and yet, Tacitus goes on to say, he was viciously criticized by contemporary observers. This episode is suggestively juxtaposed with others, with subtle verbal echoing. Just before, the accusation of Cremutius Cordus has highlighted the importance of memory, and the role of the historian in ensuring the permanence of one's fame, whether good or bad. Just after, an exchange between Tiberius and Sejanus emphasizes the difficulty of reading Tiberius's words and intentions. Taken together, the sequence helps the reader both to see the unfairness of the criticisms of Tiberius, and to understand the atmosphere of unease and mistrust in which they were not unnatural. It is too simple to ask whether Tacitus is for or against Tiberius in this passage, but such good-and-bad judgements nevertheless play a part in the reconstruction of contemporary responses, and therefore contribute substantially to the work's historical interpretation.Less
This chapter gives a close reading of a famous speech in Tacitus, where the emperor Tiberius rejects a request to allow a temple to be built to him in Spain. The reasons he gives seem exemplary, in particular the priority he gives to genuine respect in the eyes of posterity rather than empty divine honours; and yet, Tacitus goes on to say, he was viciously criticized by contemporary observers. This episode is suggestively juxtaposed with others, with subtle verbal echoing. Just before, the accusation of Cremutius Cordus has highlighted the importance of memory, and the role of the historian in ensuring the permanence of one's fame, whether good or bad. Just after, an exchange between Tiberius and Sejanus emphasizes the difficulty of reading Tiberius's words and intentions. Taken together, the sequence helps the reader both to see the unfairness of the criticisms of Tiberius, and to understand the atmosphere of unease and mistrust in which they were not unnatural. It is too simple to ask whether Tacitus is for or against Tiberius in this passage, but such good-and-bad judgements nevertheless play a part in the reconstruction of contemporary responses, and therefore contribute substantially to the work's historical interpretation.
KATHERINE CLARKE
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262764
- eISBN:
- 9780191753947
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262764.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
In his Todd Memorial Lecture given in Sydney in 1997, Fergus Millar not only questioned the value of Tacitus as a source for the Principate, but also professed difficulty in discerning ‘what the ...
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In his Todd Memorial Lecture given in Sydney in 1997, Fergus Millar not only questioned the value of Tacitus as a source for the Principate, but also professed difficulty in discerning ‘what the purpose and subject of Tacitus's Annales really is’. This chapter responds to some of the issues raised by Millar both in his undergraduate lectures on Tacitus and in his Todd paper. It argues that one of Tacitus's preoccupations, particularly in the Annales, is a profound concern with the task in hand, a self-referential preoccupation not so much with the history of the Principate as an explicit theme, though that is undeniably one of Tacitus's self-imposed tasks, as with the writing of the history itself, the task of the imperial historian, and the possibilities for and limitations on historiography at this period.Less
In his Todd Memorial Lecture given in Sydney in 1997, Fergus Millar not only questioned the value of Tacitus as a source for the Principate, but also professed difficulty in discerning ‘what the purpose and subject of Tacitus's Annales really is’. This chapter responds to some of the issues raised by Millar both in his undergraduate lectures on Tacitus and in his Todd paper. It argues that one of Tacitus's preoccupations, particularly in the Annales, is a profound concern with the task in hand, a self-referential preoccupation not so much with the history of the Principate as an explicit theme, though that is undeniably one of Tacitus's self-imposed tasks, as with the writing of the history itself, the task of the imperial historian, and the possibilities for and limitations on historiography at this period.
James Ker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387032
- eISBN:
- 9780199866793
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387032.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book traces the cultural history of Seneca's forced suicide at the command of Nero, situating it in the Roman imagination and tracing its interpretations from the first century to the present ...
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This book traces the cultural history of Seneca's forced suicide at the command of Nero, situating it in the Roman imagination and tracing its interpretations from the first century to the present day. The earliest historical narratives of the death scene by Tacitus and others were shaped by conventions of Greco-Roman exitus description and Julio-Claudian dynastic history. Seneca's own prolific writings about death—whether anticipating death in his letters, dramatizing it in the tragedies, or offering therapy for loss in the form of consolations—offered the primary lens through which Seneca's contemporaries would view the author's death. Dozens of later interpreters, working in both literary and visual media, from St. Jerome to Heiner Müller and from medieval illuminations to Peter Paul Rubens and Jacques-Louis David, retold the death scene (and the revival of Seneca's wife Paulina) in ways that forged new and sometimes controversial views on Seneca's legacy and, more broadly, on the experience of mortality and suicide. The book presents a new, historically inclusive, approach to reading this major Roman author.Less
This book traces the cultural history of Seneca's forced suicide at the command of Nero, situating it in the Roman imagination and tracing its interpretations from the first century to the present day. The earliest historical narratives of the death scene by Tacitus and others were shaped by conventions of Greco-Roman exitus description and Julio-Claudian dynastic history. Seneca's own prolific writings about death—whether anticipating death in his letters, dramatizing it in the tragedies, or offering therapy for loss in the form of consolations—offered the primary lens through which Seneca's contemporaries would view the author's death. Dozens of later interpreters, working in both literary and visual media, from St. Jerome to Heiner Müller and from medieval illuminations to Peter Paul Rubens and Jacques-Louis David, retold the death scene (and the revival of Seneca's wife Paulina) in ways that forged new and sometimes controversial views on Seneca's legacy and, more broadly, on the experience of mortality and suicide. The book presents a new, historically inclusive, approach to reading this major Roman author.
Matthew Fox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199211920
- eISBN:
- 9780191705854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199211920.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter places Cicero's use of ironic history within its cultural context. Several different areas of Roman approaches to the past are discussed: the use of historical exempla, the use of ...
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This chapter places Cicero's use of ironic history within its cultural context. Several different areas of Roman approaches to the past are discussed: the use of historical exempla, the use of funeral masks and the veneration of ancestors, and the Annalistic tradition of historical record-keeping. These are brought together in a discussion of Cicero's attitude to memory, and the intersection between memory and identity. The evidence from Cicero suggests an awareness of the symbolic power of history over its factual basis. The Roman interest in historical revival is explored. The chapter concludes that Cicero's use of history to explore rather than reinforce identity was characteristic of his times. His philosophical tendencies prompted him to exploit history's flexibility.Less
This chapter places Cicero's use of ironic history within its cultural context. Several different areas of Roman approaches to the past are discussed: the use of historical exempla, the use of funeral masks and the veneration of ancestors, and the Annalistic tradition of historical record-keeping. These are brought together in a discussion of Cicero's attitude to memory, and the intersection between memory and identity. The evidence from Cicero suggests an awareness of the symbolic power of history over its factual basis. The Roman interest in historical revival is explored. The chapter concludes that Cicero's use of history to explore rather than reinforce identity was characteristic of his times. His philosophical tendencies prompted him to exploit history's flexibility.
Matthew Fox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199211920
- eISBN:
- 9780191705854
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199211920.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter integrates the readings of earlier chapters to consider the place of Cicero's ironic treatment of historical representation in the light of mainstream Latin historiography. First, the ...
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This chapter integrates the readings of earlier chapters to consider the place of Cicero's ironic treatment of historical representation in the light of mainstream Latin historiography. First, the question of how far the past can actually be known is explored from treading texts that illustrate both historiographical and philosophical approaches. For Cicero, history is predominantly a form of representation. Cicero's Letter to Lucceius is explored, in which he asks shamelessly for his own historical glorification. The letter is taken as further evidence for Cicero's ironic approach to the past, and to his own relationship to it. A brief discussion of Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus follows, and the chapter concludes that all these writers shared an awareness of the literary and educational potential of presenting conflicting accounts of Rome's past.Less
This chapter integrates the readings of earlier chapters to consider the place of Cicero's ironic treatment of historical representation in the light of mainstream Latin historiography. First, the question of how far the past can actually be known is explored from treading texts that illustrate both historiographical and philosophical approaches. For Cicero, history is predominantly a form of representation. Cicero's Letter to Lucceius is explored, in which he asks shamelessly for his own historical glorification. The letter is taken as further evidence for Cicero's ironic approach to the past, and to his own relationship to it. A brief discussion of Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus follows, and the chapter concludes that all these writers shared an awareness of the literary and educational potential of presenting conflicting accounts of Rome's past.
Rhiannon Ash
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195389579
- eISBN:
- 9780199866496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195389579.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines three conspicuous instances of historiographical synkrisis in Tacitus' Histories (Histories 1.50.2–3; 2.38; 3.51) in which the republican civil wars are the lens through which ...
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This chapter examines three conspicuous instances of historiographical synkrisis in Tacitus' Histories (Histories 1.50.2–3; 2.38; 3.51) in which the republican civil wars are the lens through which Tacitus invites his readers to respond to the wars of ad 69: the republican past, these digressions suggest, is trumped by the morally bankrupt narrative present. By foregrounding the act of analysis Tacitus also demonstrates the value of the historian's work for his contemporaries and for posterity.Less
This chapter examines three conspicuous instances of historiographical synkrisis in Tacitus' Histories (Histories 1.50.2–3; 2.38; 3.51) in which the republican civil wars are the lens through which Tacitus invites his readers to respond to the wars of ad 69: the republican past, these digressions suggest, is trumped by the morally bankrupt narrative present. By foregrounding the act of analysis Tacitus also demonstrates the value of the historian's work for his contemporaries and for posterity.
Christina Shuttleworth Kraus
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199262120
- eISBN:
- 9780191718533
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199262120.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter focuses on 1st-century CE Roman historical narrative, with a view to understanding to what extent Josephus may have been influenced by such writing. It is argued that works such as ...
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This chapter focuses on 1st-century CE Roman historical narrative, with a view to understanding to what extent Josephus may have been influenced by such writing. It is argued that works such as Valerius Maximus’ Memorable Words and Deeds, Tacitus’ Annales, and Frontinus’ Strategemata all displayed a similar tendency towards the use of exemplarity (exempla) as a principal technique of understanding the past. The increasing emphasis on ‘great figures’ by 1st-century Roman historians, a phenomenon catalyzed by and pulled towards the figure of the Emperor, was a literary tactic which underlined individuals as unique actors in history. It also, however, portrayed individuals’ actions and behaviours as relatively fixed paradigms, to be imitated or eschewed by posterity. This chapter maintains that this technique of exemplarity is to be seen as inextricably linked with the increasing influence of biography on Roman historical writing, sometimes, as in the case of Tertullian’s and Jerome’s references to Tacitus’ work, actually becoming conflated with it.Less
This chapter focuses on 1st-century CE Roman historical narrative, with a view to understanding to what extent Josephus may have been influenced by such writing. It is argued that works such as Valerius Maximus’ Memorable Words and Deeds, Tacitus’ Annales, and Frontinus’ Strategemata all displayed a similar tendency towards the use of exemplarity (exempla) as a principal technique of understanding the past. The increasing emphasis on ‘great figures’ by 1st-century Roman historians, a phenomenon catalyzed by and pulled towards the figure of the Emperor, was a literary tactic which underlined individuals as unique actors in history. It also, however, portrayed individuals’ actions and behaviours as relatively fixed paradigms, to be imitated or eschewed by posterity. This chapter maintains that this technique of exemplarity is to be seen as inextricably linked with the increasing influence of biography on Roman historical writing, sometimes, as in the case of Tertullian’s and Jerome’s references to Tacitus’ work, actually becoming conflated with it.
Cynthia Damon
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195389579
- eISBN:
- 9780199866496
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195389579.003.0017
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines Tacitus' representation of the legacy of civil war in his history of the Julio‐Claudian period, the Annals, arguing that civil war persists during the pax Augusta as a kind of ...
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This chapter examines Tacitus' representation of the legacy of civil war in his history of the Julio‐Claudian period, the Annals, arguing that civil war persists during the pax Augusta as a kind of banalization of state violence against citizens, a political system that consumes its own. It studies Tacitus' multi‐episode account of Nero's paranoid, possibly cynical, and ultimately self‐defeating appropriation of civil war exempla to motivate the suppression of potential dissent.Less
This chapter examines Tacitus' representation of the legacy of civil war in his history of the Julio‐Claudian period, the Annals, arguing that civil war persists during the pax Augusta as a kind of banalization of state violence against citizens, a political system that consumes its own. It studies Tacitus' multi‐episode account of Nero's paranoid, possibly cynical, and ultimately self‐defeating appropriation of civil war exempla to motivate the suppression of potential dissent.
Mark Bradley
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199584727
- eISBN:
- 9780191595301
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584727.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter examines the reception in Victorian and Edwardian Britain of Tacitus' Agricola, an encomiastic biography of the historian's father‐in‐law Agricola, governor, subjugator, and ...
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This chapter examines the reception in Victorian and Edwardian Britain of Tacitus' Agricola, an encomiastic biography of the historian's father‐in‐law Agricola, governor, subjugator, and arch‐Romanizer of Britain. The Agricola set Britain on the receiving end of imperial conquest and scrutinized the moral and ethical ambivalence of empire that also permeated British intellectual and popular debates in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter explores the impact of Tacitus' provocative text on the formation of nationalist attitudes and experiences in the context of contemporary political, social, and educational developments, as well as how imperial culture influenced editions, translations, and interpretations of Tacitus' work.Less
This chapter examines the reception in Victorian and Edwardian Britain of Tacitus' Agricola, an encomiastic biography of the historian's father‐in‐law Agricola, governor, subjugator, and arch‐Romanizer of Britain. The Agricola set Britain on the receiving end of imperial conquest and scrutinized the moral and ethical ambivalence of empire that also permeated British intellectual and popular debates in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter explores the impact of Tacitus' provocative text on the formation of nationalist attitudes and experiences in the context of contemporary political, social, and educational developments, as well as how imperial culture influenced editions, translations, and interpretations of Tacitus' work.
James Ker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387032
- eISBN:
- 9780199866793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387032.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter gives texts and translations of the three earliest versions of Seneca's death narrative. A discursive commentary is given for each, noting distinctive features and signaling interpretive ...
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This chapter gives texts and translations of the three earliest versions of Seneca's death narrative. A discursive commentary is given for each, noting distinctive features and signaling interpretive dilemmas. The goal is to show that these versions together established a basic anatomy of the death narrative, but each also offered ambiguous starting points for future adaptation in more than one interpretive direction.Less
This chapter gives texts and translations of the three earliest versions of Seneca's death narrative. A discursive commentary is given for each, noting distinctive features and signaling interpretive dilemmas. The goal is to show that these versions together established a basic anatomy of the death narrative, but each also offered ambiguous starting points for future adaptation in more than one interpretive direction.
James Ker
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195387032
- eISBN:
- 9780199866793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195387032.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter shows how the earliest accounts of Seneca's death were shaped by the conventions of death writing in the Greco-Roman world, some of which were already in use in Plato's Phaedo and in the ...
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This chapter shows how the earliest accounts of Seneca's death were shaped by the conventions of death writing in the Greco-Roman world, some of which were already in use in Plato's Phaedo and in the accounts of Cato the Younger's suicide. These conventions, when applied to Seneca's death, serve more than one function in the broader representational edifices constructed by the three historians, particularly Tacitus. The telling of Seneca's death plays a pivotal role in three main stories: the arc of Seneca's life and career in Julio-Claudian Rome; the self-consciously literary story of tension between annalistic writing and the Exitus virorum illustrium; and the catalogue of executions and suicides in books 15 and 16 of the Annals.Less
This chapter shows how the earliest accounts of Seneca's death were shaped by the conventions of death writing in the Greco-Roman world, some of which were already in use in Plato's Phaedo and in the accounts of Cato the Younger's suicide. These conventions, when applied to Seneca's death, serve more than one function in the broader representational edifices constructed by the three historians, particularly Tacitus. The telling of Seneca's death plays a pivotal role in three main stories: the arc of Seneca's life and career in Julio-Claudian Rome; the self-consciously literary story of tension between annalistic writing and the Exitus virorum illustrium; and the catalogue of executions and suicides in books 15 and 16 of the Annals.
