Theopompus of Chios: History and Rhetoric in the Fourth Century BC

264 Pages·1997·3.689 MB·English

by  Michael Attyah Flower

Theopompus of Chios

Theopompus of Chios
History and Rhetoric in the
Fourth Century
BC
MICHAEL A TTY AH FLOWER
CLARENDON PRESS · OXFORD
1994
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford ox2 6DP
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Michael Flower 1994
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Theopompus of Chios: history and rhetoric in
the fourth century B.C./Michael Attyah Flower.
Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral).
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Theopompus, of Chios. 2. Historians-Greece-Biography.
3. Greece-History-To 146 B.C.-Historiography.
4. Historiography-Greece. I. Title.
. DE9. T54F56 1994 938'.o</092-dc20 [BJ
94-13786 C/P
ISBN 0-19-814079-7
I 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Typeset by Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong
Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by
Biddies Ltd., Guildford and King's Lynn
In memory of my grandmother
Sarah Abousleman Nassour

PREFACE
Theopompus of Chios wrote a very large book. In this I have
tried not to imitate him. Rather, I have attempted to make this
study as accessible as possible to those who are interested in the
history and literature of Classical Greece, but who may not have
a specialist knowledge of fragmentary historians. In order to
make this book both intelligible and convenient to consult, I have
taken several steps. Quotation of ancient Greek has been kept to
a minimum and all Greek is translated. Disagreements with other
scholars have been relegated for the most part to the footnotes,
where they are less likely to interrupt the flow of the argument. I
have attempted to free the reader from the necessity of having a
copy of Jacoby (Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker) at
hand. In general, when a fragment is discussed, both its number
in Jacoby and the reference in the source are given. Important
fragments are translated either in the text or in Appendix 2. The
translations are of Jacoby's text, unless otherwise noted. All
translations are my own; in places they differ significantly from
those found elsewhere. I have not cited anything published after
1992, except for Badian (1993) and Brunt (1993), which are
revisions of earlier articles.
This book has its origin in my 1986 doctoral dissertation
'Theopompus of Chios'. In the following years, I rewrote and
revised the whole, to the extent that the present volume is an
entirely new work. My debts are many to those who helped
improve the manuscript at various times. In particular, I would
like to thank Alan Boegehold, George Cawkwell, Charles W.
Fomara, who was my thesis adviser, Ludwig Koenen, John
Marincola, Martin Ostwald, Robert Palmer, Kurt Raaftaub, and
Zeph Stewart. On points of detail I profited from the assistance
of my colleagues Joel Farber and Christopher Hildebrandt, and
of C. B. R. Pelling and Peter Parsons. Much of the rewriting and
rethinking took place at the Center for Hellenic Studies, in
Washington DC, where I was a Junior Fellow during the 1990-1
academic year. Subsequently, many useful comments were
Preface
Vlll
offered by the readers of Oxford University Press; one of them
gave advice on methodology which has led to a much better
book. Hilary O' Shea, the Classics editor, encouraged me to take
those comments to heart. Lastly, I owe the greatest debt of all to
Harriet Flower, who read the manuscript at each stage of its
development. The errors that remain are, of course, my own.
For assistance of another kind, I would like to thank Franklin
and Marshall College for a junior-faculty leave, and the National
Endowment for the Humanities for a summer stipend in 1990.
The last revisions took place at Wolfson College, Oxford, where
I was a Visiting Scholar.
M.A.F.
CONTENTS
Abbreviations x
Introduction
1
The Life of Theopompus
1. 1 1
2. The Works of Theopompus 26
3. Theopompus, lsocrates, and the Myth of Rhetorical
History
42
4. The Moral and Political Outlook of Theopompus 63
5. Theopompus on Philip 98
6. Philip's Conquest of Europe 116
7. Theopompus on Demosthenes 136
8. Theopompus' Place in the Development of Greek
Historiography
148
9. Moral Criteria and the Psychological Method 16g
Theopompus' Historical Accuracy
10. 184
Conclusion
211
Appendix A Theopompan Utopia?
1: 214
Appendix Translation of Selected Fragments
2: 218
Bibliography
221
Index of Passages Cited 237
General Index 247
ABB RE VIA TI ONS
Aeschin. Aeschines
AHB Ancient History Bulletin
AJP American Journal of Philology
Arist. Aristotle
Ath. Pol. Athenai6n Politeia
Mag. Mor. Magna Moralia
Pol. Politics
Arr. Arrian, Anabasis
Athen. Athenaeus
Caizzi Caizzi, F. D. (1966), Antisthenis Frag
menta (Milan)
Cic. Cicero
Att. Epistulae ad Atticum
De Or. De Oratore
CP Classical Philology
CQ Classical Quarterly
Dern. Demosthenes
Did. Didymus
In Dem. In Demosthenem Commenta
Diels- Kranz Diels, H. (1952), Die Fragmente der Vor-
sokratiker, 6th edn., ed. Kranz (Berlin)
Diod. Diodorus Siculus
Diog. Laert. Diogenes Laertius
Dion. Hal. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
To Pomp. Letter to Pompeius
Ant. Rom. Antiquitates Romanae
lsoc. lsocrates
Lys. Lysias
Euseb. Eusebius
Praep. Evang. Praeparatio Evangelica
F When otherwise unqualified, refers to a
fragment of Theopompus
FGrH Jacoby, F. (1923-58), Die Fragmente der
griechischen Historiker (Berlin)