CLAS 600 Resources for Research in Greek History and Ancillary Disciplines

CLAS 600 Resources for Research in Greek History and Ancillary Disciplines A comment on early Greek history: “[T]he scantiness of evidence sets a special challenge to the disciplined mind. It is a game with very few pieces, where the skill of the player lies in complicating the rules. The isolated and uneloquent fact must be exhibited within a tissue of hypothesis subtle enough to make it speak….” - Iris Murdoch, The Nice and the Good, Viking Press NY 1968: 176. Literary Sources: The Ancient Texts Selection of Greek (and Roman) Historians Following is a list of the most important historians for the study of Greek history. The list is by no means complete; in general it represents authors whose works survive in whole or in large part, and who are our chief source of evidence for significant periods of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic history. Herodotos (Halikarnassos). Chief literary source for history of the 6th and early 5th centuries BCE, in particular the Persian Wars; also a significant source of connected narrative of the development of the Persian Empire. Thucydides (Athens). Unfinished. Chief literary source for history of 5th century BCE, from the period immediately after the Persian Wars until 411; specific focus the conflict between Athens and Sparta and their respective spheres of influence (the Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE). Xenophon (Athens). Various works, including treatises on hunting and economics, Socratic dialogues, and a largely fictional biography of Cyrus, the first king of Persia. Among his most significant historical writings are the Hellenica, a continuation of Thucydides (Greek history from 411 to 362 BCE), and the Anabasis, an account of a military expedition into the Persian interior at the end of the 5th century, an expedition in which Xenophon himself participated. Polybios (Megalopolis in the territory of the Achaian League). Incomplete survival. Important literary source for Greek and Roman history in the middle Hellenistic period (late 3rd and early 2nd centuries BCE). Livy (Roman historian). Ab urbe condita libri. 142 books; incomplete survival (extant: 1-10; 21- 45; Periochae [book summaries] except for 136 and 137; fragments). Important literary source for several centuries of Roman history, including much of the Hellenistic period (for which Livy drew on Polybios, both the extant and the vanished material). Diodoros (Agyrium in Sicily). 1st century BC author of Bibliothēkē: a “universal history”. 40 books; incomplete survival (1-5; 11-20; fragments). Especially important for early Hellenistic period (late 4th century). Plutarch (Chaironeia in Boiotia). Early 2nd century AD author of numerous biographies of Greek and Roman figures (Lives) and essays on a variety of topics (Moralia). Arrian (c. AD 86-160). Author of works on the campaigns of Alexander the Great (Anabasis) and the Successors (Affairs After Alexander), the latter surviving only in fragments. Q. Curtius Rufus. 1st or early 2nd century AD author of partially preserved history of Alexander the Great. Appian. 2nd century AD author of a Roman history, arranged ethnographically (the various peoples conquered by the Romans); includes Roman civil wars. Partially preserved. Justin. Roman writer of (perhaps) 3rd century AD, responsible for “epitomizing” (abbreviating) the Philippic Histories of Augustan period author Pompeius Trogus. Universal history particularly valuable for Hellenistic age. (Cassius) Dio (c. AD 164-after 229). Roman history (late Hellenistic/Republican into imperial period). Partially extant. Other Literary Sources Much historical evidence (direct and indirect) is embedded in literary texts which are in genres other than what we might define as “history”. The writings of philosophers, orators, and others make significant contributions to our understanding of Greek history. Examples include: Plato Aristotle Demosthenes and other orators Strabo Pausanias Authors Surviving in Fragmentary Form The term “fragmentary” can mean one of two things. Our only record of an author’s works might be whatever portions of it remain on a fragmentary papyrus. This is the case with the so-called “Oxyrhynchus historian”, the unnamed author of a work of history covering the late 5th and early 4th centuries BCE, portions of which survive on papyrus fragments unearthed at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Conversely, an author’s works might have disappeared completely beyond the “fragments” which survive as quotations or citations in another ancient author. The late 2nd century CE author Athenaios, who wrote a lengthy work entitled Deipnosophistai (sometimes translated as “Doctors at Dinner”), is a particularly rich source of such quotations. The massive task of collating such fragmentary survivals of otherwise vanished works and writers was carried out by the German scholar Felix Jacoby. His multi-volume work on the fragments of the Greek historians (Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker) is an indispensable tool. UW: PA3490.J3 (Stacks); the UW Classics lounge also has a copy. It is available in an online version, though at this point the TUG libraries do not have a license. Pseudo-Authors “Antiquity has left us a number of writings which evidence, internal or external, proves not to be the work of the authors whose names are traditionally attached to them” (OED3, “Pseudepigraphic literature”). For example, the Alexander Romance, a late and exceedingly romanticizing (fantasizing) work about Alexander the Great, was traditionally ascribed to Callisthenes, an individual who accompanied Alexander on his campaigns; the author of this work is often referred to as “Pseudo- Callisthenes”. Similarly, a work on the Classical Athenian constitution, preserved among the works of Xenophon, is in fact the work of an unknown author referred to as “The Old Oligarch” or as “Pseudo- Xenophon” (or abbreviated as “Ps-Xenophon”). Another mode of referring to the unknown “authors” of such works is by employing square brackets: thus the author of the Athenaion Politeia traditionally ascribed to Aristotle can be designated as [Aristotle] (by those who do not believe Aristotle himself was the author of the AP). Texts and Commentaries An invaluable aid to research on a particular ancient historian is the scholarly commentary on his work. Most of the significant historians have attracted a single authoritative commentary (in addition to the plethora of articles and monographs featuring critical analysis). Following are a few English- language examples: Herodotos: W.W. How & J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus (Oxford 1912; paperback re- issue 1989); A.B. Lloyd, Herodotus, Book II (Leiden 1975-1988); L. Scott, Historical commentary on Herodotus, Book 6 (Leiden 2005); D. Asheri/A.B. Lloyd/A. Corcella, A Commentary on Herodotus I-IV (Oxford 2007). See also J.E. Powell, A Lexicon to Herodotus (2nd edition, Hildesheim 1960); R.B. Strassler (ed.), The Landmark Herodotus (New York 2007). Thucydides: A.W. Gomme/A. Andrewes/K.J. Dover, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides (Oxford 1945-1981); S. Hornblower, A Commentary on Thucydides (Oxford 1991-2008). See also R.B. Strassler (ed.), The Landmark Thucydides (New York 1996); D. Cartwright, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: a Companion to Rex Warner’s Penguin Translation (Ann Arbor 1997). Xenophon: G.E. Underhill, A Commentary with Introduction and Appendix on the Hellenica of Xenophon (Oxford 1906); P. Krentz, Xenophon: Hellenika I-II.3.10, II.3.11-IV.2.8 (Warminster 1989-1995). Aristotle: P.J. Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia (Oxford 1993). Polybios: F.W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius. 3 volumes, published between 1957 and 1979 (Oxford, Clarendon Press). Livy: R.M. Ogilvie, A Commentary on Livy, Books 1-5 (Oxford 1965); J. Briscoe, A Commentary on Livy, XXXI-XL (Oxford 1973-2008); S.P. Oakley, A Commentary on Livy, Books VI-X (Oxford 1997-2005). Arrian: A.B. Bosworth, A Historical Commentary on Arrian’s History of Alexander (Oxford 1980-). Curtius Rufus: J.S. Atkinson, A Commentary on Q. Curtius Rufus, Books 3 and 4 (1980). Cassius Dio: M. Reinhold, From Republic to Principate: An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio’s Roman History, Books 49-52 (Atlanta 1988); J. Edmondson, Dio, the Julio-Claudians: Selections from Books 58-63 of the Roman History of Cassius Dio (London 1992). Source Collections (a Selection) Translated Documents of Greece and Rome. 6 vols. Cambridge UK 1977-1988. Selected significant inscriptions (and a few literary and papyrological texts), arranged chronologically (from the Greek Archaic Age to the Roman Empire). G.F. Hill/R. Meiggs/A. Andrewes, Sources for Greek History between the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars. Oxford 1951; 1966. M. Austin, The Hellenistic World from Alexander to the Roman Conquest: a Selection of Ancient Sources in Translation. Second edition; Cambridge 2006. R.S. Bagnall/P. Derow, The Hellenistic Period: Historical Sources in Translation. Second edition; Malden 2004. See further below under “Epigraphic collections”. Epigraphic Collections Regional Corpora (a Selection) Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum (CIG). The first attempt at a comprehensive collection of inscriptions from all over the Greek world. Edited by A. Böckh. Berlin 1828-1877. Inscriptiones Graecae (IG). Older but still core series, published originally through the Prussian Academy (Berlin); subsequently through the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy. List of volumes is appended below. Inschriften griechischer Städte aud Kleinasien (IK). Series of volumes dedicated to the publications

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