Arrian the Historian: Writing the Greek Past in the Roman Empire

192 Pages·2021·15.119 MB·English

by  Daniel W. Leon

Arrian the Historian
LLeeoonn__77114488--ffiinnaall..iinnddbb ii 1122//99//2200 1100::1111 PPMM
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Arrian the Historian
Writing the Greek Past in the Roman Empire
Daniel W. Leon
University of Texas Press
Austin
LLeeoonn__77114488--ffiinnaall..iinnddbb iiiiii 1122//99//2200 1100::1111 PPMM
Copyright © 2021 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 2021
Requests for permission to reproduce material
from this work should be sent to:
Permissions
University of Texas Press
P.O. Box 7819
Austin, TX 78713-7819
utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form
Th is book has been supported by an endowment dedicated to
classics and the ancient world and funded by the Areté Foundation;
the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; the Dougherty Foundation;
the James R. Dougherty, Jr. Foundation; the Rachael and Ben Vaughan
Foundation; and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Th e paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of
ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Leon-Ruiz, Daniel William, author.
Title: Arrian the historian : writing the Greek past in the Roman Empire /
Daniel W. Leon.
Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2020028394
ISBN 978-1-4773-2186-7 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4773-2187-4 (library ebook)
ISBN 978-1-4773-2188-1 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Arrian. Works. | Arrian—Infl uence. | Greece—
Historiography—Case studies. | Rome—Historiography.
Classifi cation: LCC PA3935.Z5 L46 2020 | DDC 938/.07072—dc23
LC record available at htt ps://lccn.loc.gov/2020028394
doi:10.7560/321867
LLeeoonn__77114488--ffiinnaall..iinnddbb iivv 1122//99//2200 1100::1111 PPMM
For Karen
LLeeoonn__77114488--ffiinnaall..iinnddbb vv 1122//99//2200 1100::1111 PPMM
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on Texts and Translations xi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1. Amateurs, Experts, and History 7
Chapter 2. Novelty and Revision in the Works of Arrian 33
Chapter 3. Alexander among the Kings of History 62
Chapter 4. Sickness, Death, and Virtue 85
Conclusion 112
Appendix: The Date of the Anabasis 115
Abbreviations in the Notes and Bibliography 122
Notes 123
Bibliography 153
Index Locorum 170
General Index 176
LLeeoonn__77114488--ffiinnaall..iinnddbb vviiii 1122//99//2200 1100::1111 PPMM
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Acknowledgments
The debts one accrues while writing a book are
innumerable. I will inevitably omit many people who ought to appear here
and if that describes you, know that I hold you in my heart. John Dillery
guided me through the fi rst version of this project and then spared no eff ort
helping me to land in a work environment that would allow me to develop
a dissertation into a book. Ted Lendon gave the sharpest criticism and the
most enthusiastic encouragement I could have asked for while I was writing
the dissertation. Many other teachers off ered intellectual and moral sup-
port along the way, notably Tony Woodman, Greg Hays, Jenny Clay, John
Miller, Margie Miles, Sara Forsdyke, and David Pott er. Colleagues, friends,
and mentors have played a key role in refi ning my ideas and sustaining my
will to carry on. I especially wish to thank Rachel Bruzzone, Zoe Stama-
to pou lou, Chris Caterine, Georgia Sermamoglou-Soulmaidi, Katie Rask,
Sanjaya Th akur, Owen Cramer, Victoria Pagán, Beth Carney, John Marin-
cola, Adam Kemezis, and Kris Fletcher. All my colleagues at Illinois, past
and present, have sustained me in countless ways, but the following have
helped me keep the “human” in “humanities”: Angeliki Tzanetou, Brian
Walters, Kirk Sanders, and Clara Bosak-Schroeder. David Morris, the clas-
sics librarian at Illinois, continues to deal admirably with every arcane re-
quest I make of him (reader, there are a lot). Antony Augoustakis, a fearless
leader and peerless mentor, kept me moving as I wrote and helped me past
numerous obstacles. Th e University of Illinois supported my work in many
ways, not least a much-needed semester of Humanities Release Time in
2017, during which I carried out most of the research for chapter 1. Th e First
Book Writing Group at Illinois and its leaders, Maria Gillombardo, Carol
Symes, and Craig Koslofsky, helped me refi ne the arguments of this book
and make them intelligible to other people. Jim Burr, Paul Psoinos, and the
whole staff at the University of Texas Press have been a joy to work with,
ix
LLeeoonn__77114488--ffiinnaall..iinnddbb iixx 1122//99//2200 1100::1111 PPMM