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Paul Johstono, Rumor, Rage, and Reversal: Tragic Patterns in Polybius’ Account of Agathocles at Alexandria

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Paul Johstono, Rumor, Rage, and Reversal: Tragic Patterns in Polybius’ Account of Agathocles at Alexandria The Ancient History Bulletin VOLUME THIRTY-ONE: 2017 NUMBERS 1-2 Edited by: Edward Anson ò Michael Fronda òDavid Hollander Timothy Howe òJoseph Roisman ò John Vanderspoel Pat Wheatley ò Sabine Müller ISSN 0835-3638 ANCIENT HISTORY BULLETIN Volume 31 (2017) Numbers 1-2 Edited by: Edward Anson, Michael Fronda, David Hollander, Sabine Müller, Joseph Roisman, John Vanderspoel, Pat Wheatley Senior Editor: Timothy Howe Assistant Editor: Charlotte Dunn Editorial correspondents Elizabeth Baynham, Hugh Bowden, Franca Landucci Gattinoni, Alexander Meeus, Kurt Raaflaub, P.J. Rhodes, Robert Rollinger, Victor Alonso Troncoso Contents of volume thirty-one Numbers 1-2 1 Paul Johstono, Rumor, Rage, and Reversal: Tragic Patterns in Polybius’ Account of Agathocles at Alexandria 21 Frances Pownall, Dionysius I and the Creation of a New-Style Macedonian Monarchy 39 Christopher Kegerreis, Setting a Royal Pace: Achaemenid Kingship and the Origin of Alexander the Great’s Bematistai 65 Waldemar Heckel, Dareios III’s Military Reforms Before Gaugamela and the Alexander Mosaic: A Note NOTES TO CONTRIBUTORS AND SUBSCRIBERS The Ancient History Bulletin was founded in 1987 by Waldemar Heckel, Brian Lavelle, and John Vanderspoel. The board of editorial correspondents consists of Elizabeth Baynham (University of Newcastle), Hugh Bowden (Kings College, London), Franca Landucci Gattinoni (Università Cattolica, Milan), Alexander Meeus (University of Leuven), Kurt Raaflaub (Brown University), P.J. Rhodes (Durham University), Robert Rollinger (Universität Innsbruck), Victor Alonso Troncoso (Universidade da Coruña) AHB is currently edited by: Timothy Howe (Senior Editor: [email protected]), Edward Anson, Michael Fronda, David Hollander, Sabine Müller, Joseph Roisman, John Vanderspoel and Pat Wheatley. AHB promotes scholarly discussion in Ancient History and ancillary fields (such as epigraphy, papyrology, and numismatics) by publishing articles and notes on any aspect of the ancient world from the Near East to Late Antiquity. Submitted articles should normally be in English, but the journal will consider contributions in French, German, Italian or Spanish. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AHB adheres to the usual North American editorial policies in the submission and acceptance of articles but imposes no House Style. Authors are, however, asked to use the abbreviations of L’Année philologique (APh) for journals, and of the Thesaurus linguae latinae (TLL) for Latin authors. Please send submissions to the editor most closely identified with your field of enquiry or, in case of doubt, to Timothy Howe ([email protected]). Articles must be submitted in electronic format, preferably generated by MS Word. Greek font or other special characters must convert such to Unicode and should be accompanied by a PDF version. Authors will receive PDF offprints of their contributions. Copyright is retained by the author. Books for reviews and enquiries concerning book reviews should be directed to Joseph Roisman ([email protected]). SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION The subscription rate for individual and institutional subscribers is USD 25.00. Detailed instructions about subscriptions and access to digital content can be found on the AHB website: http://ancienthistorybulletin.org PAYMENT Payment may be made via the subscription portal on the AHB website: http://www.ancienthistorybulletin.org/subscribed-users-area/membership-levels/ Cover image courtesy of The Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary Rumor, Rage, and Reversal: Tragic Patterns in Polybius’ Account of Agathocles at Alexandria1 Paul Johstono Polybius repeatedly, in his statements on his approach to historiography, insisted that good history (and by implication, his history) should hold didactic value for future leaders, and polemicized the work of tragic historians as bad history.2 Tragic history led the reader to “experience incidents rather than understand them.”3 It incorporated fiction alongside fact, and packaged the embellished whole in an imagery-heavy, twisting narrative calculated to excite and enthrall the audience.4 Nevertheless, in his fairly lengthy coverage of affairs in Alexandria from the death of Ptolemy IV Philopator to the death of regent-turned-usurper Agathocles (15.24-36), Polybius first employed techniques of tragic historiography in his narrative, then stridently disavowed both tragic history and the didactic value of the Agathocles narrative. So why accord considerable space to an empty story, and tell it in such a manner? Polybius even remarked on his treatment of the narrative, saying that, in the case of a reprobate like Agathocles, it would be “hardly appropriate” οὐδαμῶς ἁρμόζει (15.35.7) to use the narrative for entertaining or educating his readers or otherwise “embellishing the account” τὸν μετ᾽ αὐξήσεως λόγον (15.36.1), and thus appropriate only to stay within the bounds of the bare narrative, τὰ πράγματα καὶ κυρίου (15.34.1).5 Could Polybius have been unaware that he had embellished his own account with tragic elements? I suggest that Polybius objected to other historians’ coverage of the career and overthrow of Agathocles, but not because he actually found it insignificant. The earlier historians styled their accounts as popular entertainment or attempted to derive conventional Hellenistic applications from the story, presumably as meditations on Tychē or leadership studies of 1 I presented an early version of this paper at the Association of Ancient Historians annual meeting held at McGill University in 2014, and received several helpful comments that I attempted to incorporate into this version. I am thankful for the comments of the anonymous reviewers. Remaining faults are my own. 2 Polybius Histories 1.1, 2.56-63, 3.47.6-48.12, 15.34-6. For Polybian historiography and its relation to tragic history, on which a great deal his been written, see in particular Walbank 1955 and 1960=1985:224-241 and HCP I.259-63, Meister 1975: 109-26, Strasburger 1977, Sacks 1981: 144-70, Fornara 1983: 122-34, Schepens 1990, Marincola 1997: 229-33, Van der Stockt 2005, Schepens 2005, McGing 2010: 71-5, Chaniotis 2013, Dreyer 2013a, Eckstein 2013, and Marincola 2013. 3 Walbank 1955: 4. 4 Marincola (2013: 74) asserts that Plb. 2.56-63 demonstrates that falsehood is more important to tragic history than particular historiographic techniques, but tragic history must have done both. 5 In the passage he condemned as well a superfluous narrative, τὸν ἐπιμετροῦντα λόγον (15.34.1, 35.1), the instructive account, τὸν ἐπεκδιδάσκοντα λόγον (15.35.7), or enthralling his readers, εἰς ἐπίστασιν ἄγειν (15.35.7). On the legitimate uses of history, in Polybius’ view, see Walbank 1990 and Eckstein 2013: 335-36. On embellished and sensational narrative in Hellenistic historiography, see in particular Walbank 1972: 39-40, Fornara 1983: 122-26. Polybius’ cognitive dissonance between his narration and his editorial comments has received comparatively little attention; see recently Baron 2012: 68. AHB 31 (2017): 1 - 20 Page 1 Paul Johstono Agathocles.6 The length, intensity, and irregularity of his own treatment affirm he did find the events significant, only not in a conventional way. What struck Polybius was the tale’s illustrative value. What he saw as the main faults in Alexandria—luxury, the urban plēthos, and autocratic court politics—could ruin even the most prosperous states, and perhaps especially the Roman Republic.7 Thus Polybius employed historiographic techniques he otherwise—and even in the same passage—condemned in order to convey with impressionistic, emotional force the dangers that lurked in apparent success. A close reading of the passage reveals how rumor and suspense, rage and emotion, reversals and violence highlight the perils endured when courtiers, sycophants, and the riotous plēthos hold sway over a state. The Revolt of 203 B.C. and Polybius’ Polemic against Tragic History The basic story is as follows: Ptolemy IV Philopator met his end in the year 205/4 B.C., expiring of a surfeit of, if we follow Polybius, dissipation and bad counsel, leaving behind his kingdom, his wife Arsinoë, and their infant son, the future Ptolemy V.8 His partners in revelry and the dispensers of his bad counsel, Sosibius and Agathocles, kept the king’s death secret and conspired in assassinating the queen (15.25.1-7). With the young successor tragically orphaned, the two counselors sought to suppress any rumor of foul play and position themselves as his regents. Rumors of her murder nevertheless abounded. Agathocles soon removed Sosibius from the picture as well. He manipulated his way into sole power, and dispatched many of the top figures at court on missions abroad or in the countryside (15.25.20). He replaced them at Alexandria with favorites of his ilk, like Satyrus, the priest of Alexander in 203/2 B.C., a famous musician.9 In time Agathocles’ insolence and incompetence aroused broad resentment and resistance toward his rule. Groups of citizens met together to rail against Agathocles (15.25.23-5). Soldiers sailed down to the city and encamped among the garrison, squatting outside the palace (15.26.1).10 Further away, one of the most powerful men in Egypt, Tlepolemus, began putting 6 These fit both with Polybius’ particular criticisms in the passage (15.34.2) and what is known of conventional Hellenistic historiography, e.g. the evaluative summary invented by Ephorus; Fornara 1983: 108-09, Marincola 2001: 105-12. 7 In this regard see especially Champion 2004, with Derow 1979, Eckstein 2005: 129-40, 232-34, Walbank 2002: 193-211 and McGing 2010: 147-201. His scorn for the Hellenistic monarchies is well known, see e.g., Dreyer 2013b. 8 On the transition in power and the career of Agathocles, see Walbank 1936=1985: 38-56, Bolansée 2005: 250-253, Miltsios 2009: 495-97. On the date, see Walbank 1936=1985: 47-52 and Samuel 1962: 108-14. Philopator died as early as the end of 205 or as late as about midsummer 204, “four or five days” before Agathocles and Sosibius went public (Plb. 15.25.23, cf. Just. 30.2.6). 9 For Satyrus son of Eumenes the flute player (FD III 3.128, possibly IG XI.4 1078 and IG XII.6 1.176), for Satyrus son of Eumenes as priest of Alexander see BGU VI 1266, and Clarysse 1998: 8.
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