Durham E-Theses Beyond the Foreigner: representations of non-roman individuals and communities in latin historiography, from Sallust to Ammianus Marcellinus Chlup, James Thomas How to cite: Chlup, James Thomas (2004) Beyond the Foreigner: representations of non-roman individuals and communities in latin historiography, from Sallust to Ammianus Marcellinus, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3677/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Beyond the Foreigner: Representations of Non-Roman Individuals and Communities in Latin Historiography, from Sallust to Ammianus Marcellinus by James Thomas Chlup, B.A. (Hons), M.A. Thesis submitted for the degree of : Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Classics (Latin) Philosophiae Doctor in Graecis et Latinis Litteris Department of Classics and Ancient History University of Durham St. John's College A copyright of this Unesns rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published! withm.nt hns prior written consent and nnformation dernved from it shm.nBd lbe aclrnowledged. © 2004 J ames T. Chlup ~ 3 JUN 2005 COPYRIGHT DECLARATION I declare that this thesis is my own work. It has not previously been submitted for a degree at the University of Durham or elsewhere. The copyright rests with the author. No quotations from it may be used without written permission of the author or proper acknowledgement. This thesis is approximately 99,500 words. It therefore conforms to the proscribed length of a Ph.D. thesis in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Durham. ABSTRACT From the foundation of the city of Rome in 753 BCE to the capture of the same in 476 CE, the ancient Romans came into contact with a diverse .range of peoples. The Romans did not want only to conquer these peoples and incorporate them into the empire, but also they displayed a genuine interest in learning about foreigners. Roman historical narrative demonstrates clearly this prevailing curiosity. This thesis examines the representations of foreign individuals and communities in five works: Sallust, Beilum Iugurthinum; Livy, Ab Vrbe Condita 21-30; Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Historiae Philippicae 11-12; Tacitus, Germania; Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 23.6. These authors represent a broad range of types of history writing (monograph, AUC history, universal history), and they span most of the history of Rome as an empire (40s BCE to the late 300s CE). Moreover, these works represent a diverse range of geographic locations in that they include the three major parts of the world as understood by the Romans: Africa, Europe and Asia. Finally, they cover-or they exist within the context of-the full range of the Roman-Foreign experience: victory (Numidia, Carthage), defeat (Persia), and non­ result (Germani). This thesis demonstrates that Roman historians employ a diverse range of presentations of non-Roman individuals and communities. Roman historians appear not to have been constrained by a narrow set of rules when it comes to writing non­ Romans; rather, each author can be seen to be engaging in a wider Roman discourse on the foreigner. And this discourse extends beyond the Roman world and Roman historical writing: the historians of Rome can be seen as building upon, and responding to, the so-called father of history, Herodotus, whose own narrative established firmly that exploration of the foreigner is an important part of historical inquiry. Close analysis clearly demonstrates each presentation of a non-Roman character or community to be an intricate and fascinating construction, and understanding how the foreigner is conceptualised in the work is of critical importance. On the one hand, the presentation of foreigners fits into the historian's overarching aims and objectives in his work; on the other hand, the representation of foreigners can dictate the ways in which the Roman history is narrated. Non-Romans ' . both fit into, and they provide direction for, Roman historical narrative. By studying the complexities of the presentation of non-Romans, therefore, this thesis enhances our understanding of the sophistication of Roman historical writing. Despite the continuing acknowledgement of the important role ethnography plays in writings of Herodotus and his Greek and Roman successors and imitators, there has not so far been a genre-wide detailed study of the ethnography in Greek or Roman historiography. This thesis, therefore, seeks to rectify partially this omission on the part of scholarship, and establish a foundation for future study of the non-Roman in Latin literature and Roman culture. .. f/ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has taken too long to complete, and in writing it I have incurred an uncomfortably large number of personal debts. I apologise in advance to any I may have omitted to mention here. First and foremost, I would like to thank most warmly my supervisors, Professor David Levene and Dr. David Hunt. Their advice, criticism and support are very much appreciated. Both went above and beyond the call of duty of a thesis supervisor. It was especially tolerant of David Levene to continue to supervise me when my topic changed from being about Livy only to the five historians it now covers. I also thank my thesis examiners, Dr. C. B. R. Pelling and Dr. C. E. Schultze, for their very useful comments and necessary corrections. Of course the most important person there was the secretary at the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham, Margaret Parry. To her I owe a very special thank you. I also gratefully acknowledge financial support of the University of Durham in the form of a postgraduate studentship. I completed this thesis while working as a sessional instructor in Ancient History at the University of Manitoba. I would like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Classics, the members of the University College Senior Common Room, and the members of the Montcalm Society. I would like to thank Dave Howorth, Glenn Clark, Katy Sweet, Margaret Groome and Neil Pryce. I should also congratulate my students in my Greek History and Roman History classes for listening to me repeated some of the arguments contained in this thesis. Needless to say, I am also extremely grateful for the support I received from my family, both in the UK and Canada. Of course, special mention must go to my parents, Peter and Diana Chlup. While I lived in the great city ofNewcasde-upon-Tyne I had the wonderful friendship of Bennett Hogg and I an Biddle, not to mention the Information Services department of the Robinson library at the University ofNewcasde-upon-Tyne. Earlier portions of various chapters were presented at conferences and research seminars in England and Canada: Sallust (Warwick), Livy (Birmingham), and Tacitus (Dalhousie and Durham). I thank the audiences for their questions and hospitality. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to three people who sadly passed away before I graduated: my grandparents, Ernest Thomas Chlup and Lily Joan Chlup, both of whom were exceptionally supportive of my decision to pursue Classical studies, even though this meant setting aside my original intention of reading law to read for a M.A. and then the Ph.D.; and Edgar Rea, former Professor of Canadian History at the University of Manitoba and a member of the Montcalm Society. AD MAIOREM GLORIAM DEI ili TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright declaration Abstract 11 Acknowledgements ill Introduction 1 Chapter One Non-Romans and Romans in Sallust's Bellum Iugurthinum 8 Chapter Two Omnis aequare unus hostis potest. Hannibal and Others in Livy, Ab Vrbe Condita 21-30 61 Chapter Three Alexander the Great in Jus tin's Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Alexander Narrative (Historiae Philippicae 11-12) 144 Chapter Four Tacitus' 'Noble Savages': Ancient Germans and Germany in the Germania 181 Chapter Five Ammianus Marcellinus' Digression on Persia and the Persians (Res Gestae, 23.6) 212 Conclusion Quo Barbarus 240 Bibliography 247 INTRODUCTION The Cultural Diversity of the Roman Empire and the Roman Historian I am greatly astonished to reflect on the painstaking exactitude and subtle learning with which the Greeks and Romans have surveyed our country, which is, to use their own words, the greatest part of Europe, and though it seems rough and wild, I imagine, in comparison with their own climate, they have expressed our customs, our emotional make-up and our spirits as graphically as a painter might delineate our bodies.1 unde etiam de terrena civitate, quae cum dominari adpetit, etsi populi seroiant, ipsa ei dominandi libido dominatufj non est praetereundum silentio quidquid dicere suscepti huius operis ratio postulat si facultas datur. 2 The world in which we live is increasingly diverse. 3 Cultural diversity is a fact of life in many nations that, as little as fifty years ago, were largely homogenous or, at the very least, perceived themselves as such. Diversity is increasingly seen as a sign of strength. This is not a new thing, but rather it is a return to a state that existed nearly two millennia ago.