Durham E-Theses Philip II of Macedon: a consideration of books VII IX of Justin's epitome of Pompeius Trogus Wade, J. S. How to cite: Wade, J. S. (1977) Philip II of Macedon: a consideration of books VII IX of Justin's epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10215/ 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 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. PHILIP II OF MACEDON: A CONSIDERATION OF BOOKS VII - IX OF JUSTIN* S EPITOME OF POMPEIUS TROGUS THESIS SUBMITTED IN APPLICATION FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS - by - J. S. WADE, B. A. DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM OCTOBER 1977 ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is two-fold: firstly to examine the career and character of Philip II of Macedon as portrayed in Books VII - IX of Justin's epitome of the Historiae Phillppicae .of Pompeius Trqgus, and to consider to what extent Justin-Trogus (a composite name for the author of the views in the text of Justin) furnishes accurate historical fact, and to what extent he paints a one-sided interpretation of the events, and secondly to identify as far as possible Justin's principles of selection and compression as evidenced in Books VII - IX. Apart from this account of Justin-Trogus, there is only one other continuous account of the reign of Philip II, namely that found in Diodorus Siculus XVI. A comparison between Justin-Trogus* material and that of Diodorus, together with evidence from other ancient sources and also modern scholars, has provided a large quantity of historical matter which has been used to compile a historical commentary. From ah examination of some aspects covered by this commentary the following conclusions have been reached: The factual information in Books VII - IX seems to be as reliable as that given by Diodorus, but there is in Justin-Trogus1 account some considerable rhetorical padding which must be treated with extreme caution by modern researchers of the reign of Philip II. JuBt.in1 s principles of selection seem to have been dominated by an interest in the more anecdotal aspects of the Macedonian monarchy, the loss of Greek freedom and a lack of interest in military matters. His methods of compression are closely linked to the latter, and can be identified to some extent by examining the links between different topics. i INTRODUCTION The narrative in the Hiatoriae Philippicae of Justin-Trogus from the start of Chapter 6 of Book VII to the close of Book IX forms one of the two continuous accounts extant for the reign of Philip II of Macedon. The other account is that furnished by Diodorus Siculus in Book XVI of his history. The primary purpose of this dissertation is to establish to what extent the factual historical information provided by Justin-Trogus in Books VII - IX is accurate, and to what extent he has painted a one-sided view An >his own interpretation of the historical facts. This last aspect is especially relevant in the presentation of Philip's character, which contrasts markedly with the portrayal found in the account of Diodorus. Work of this nature is immediately rendered more difficult by the fact that we are examining not the original history of Pompeius Trogus, composed during the reign of Augustus, but an epitome of this work made two or three centuries later, which, as will be shown, does not form a straightforward summary of Trogus' material by M. Iunianus Iustinus, but rather forms an anthology of extracts. This leads to a secondary aim, namely an investigation of Justin's principles of selection and compression as seen in Books VII - IX. Although the account of Philip-B reign does not actually begin until VII. 6. 1., it seems sensible to take VII. 1. 1. as the starting point for a historical commentary, since it is with Book VII that Justin-Trogus commences his history of Macedon. The character of the first five chapters of Book VII differs somewhat The term "Justin-Trogus" will be used exclusively for the author of the text under consideration unless either Justin or Trogus is being mentioned specifically. ii from the rest of the material under consideration, in that they cover a large time span in a very limited space dealing in very brief summary form with Philip'a royal predecessors and anecdotes concerning them, while the remaining chapter of Book VII and the whole of Books VIII and IX contain a relatively detailed account of the events of Philip's reign. On the other hand, the first five chapters of Book VII are typical of other sections of Justin-Trogus1 history which deal with the origines of many other peoples and places in Just a few sentences (see below). Comparisons are to be made wfth the accounts of Herodotus and Thucydides for this early period rather than with Diodorus, although every possible cross reference to other ancient writers has been noted. The Historiae Ehilippicae originally occupied forty-four books, and no doubt its title was inspired by the ^bVirvrticot 1 of ! Theopompus, the fourth century historian who was one of Trogus' main sources (see below). From this it would seem that Trogus set out to relate the origin, rise, progress, decline and extinction of the Macedonian monarchy, with Philip II as the central figure, but in fact the scope of the Historiae Phllipplcae is much wider than this, owing to multitudinous digressions into the origins and progress of many other peoples who came into contact with the Macedonians. The structure of the work can be summarised as follows: 1) Books I - VI deal with the Assyrian, Median and Persian Empires, CambysesV Egyptian expedition, leading to a section on that country and its peoples; Darius in Scythia and a geographical examination of the peoples on the northern and eastern shores of the Black Sea; Darius' conflict with the Ionians and subsequently with the Athenians, culminating in the Battle of Marathon, and leading to a digression into Athenian history from its origins as iii far as involvement with Persias the invasion of Xerxes and its subsequent failure; the origins of conflict between Athens and Sparta, leading to an account of the early history of Sparta and her involvement with Messenia and ultimately leading to the Peloponnesian War; a digression into Sicilian origins occupying most of Book IV arising from mention of the Sicilian Expedition; the continuation of the Peloponnesian War leading to the downfall of Athens; and finally the rise and subsequent decline of Spartan influence succeeded by Theban hegemony and its decline after the Battle of Mantinea/ bringing Greek affairs to the threshold of Macedonian influence in the shape of Philip. 2) Books VII - XXXIII cover the history of Macedonia from its beginnings down to the capture of Perseus by the Romans in 169 B.C. However, throughout these books there are continual digressions involving, for example, the Sacred War in Greece, the origins of Byzantium and Perinthus, further information about the Scythians and Persians, and accounts of the Cypriotes, Paphlagonians, Apulians, Sabines, Samnites, Sicilians and Carthaginians. 3) Books XXXIV - XL treat events in Asia Minor, Pontue, Syria, Egypt and BiitH^nta, following on from the Roman occupation of Macedonia. U) Books XLI - XLII deal with the history of Parthia and Armenia. 5) Book XLIII cover8 the foundations of Rome and Massilia, leading on to information about the Gallic background of Trogus himself. 6) Finally Book XLIV deals with Spain up to its organisation as a Roman province under Augustus. It will be clear from what follows that the epitome of Justin does not simply constitute an abridgement of Trogus1 work: many iv important events covered by Trogus are omitted, some matters given a very cursory glance while others of lesser importance are given detailed treatment, with the result that the whole epitome has an appearance of incoherence and inequality. However, Justin makes it clear in his preface that his intention was to select those passages of Trogus which seemed to him to be most worthy of being known (cognitione quacque dignissima). and to leave out what he considered not to be especially interesting or instructive. One other important piece of evidence remains to be considered. Several of the manuscripts contain a table of prolog!, which form a summary of each book of Trogus, and which bear a resemblance to the epitomes of the lost books of Livy. The author of these prolog! is unknown, and the date of composition cannot precisely be determined. It is clear from many indications, but chiefly from the frequent discrepancies between these and the epitome of Justin, that the compiler of the prolog! did not use Justin's text or vice-versa.