Historical Agency and the 'Great Man' in Classical Greece

426 Pages·2014·2.48 MB·English

by  Professor Sarah Brown Ferrario

HistoricalAgencyandthe‘GreatMan’inClassicalGreece
The‘greatman’oflaterGreekhistoricalthoughtisthelongproductof
traceablechangesinancientideasaboutthemeaningandimpactofan
individuallife.AtleastasearlyasthebirthoftheAtheniandemocracy,
questions about the ownership of the motion of history were being
publiclyposedandpubliclychallenged.Theresponsestotheseques-
tions, however, gradually shifted over time, in reaction to historical
andpoliticaldevelopmentsduringthefifthandfourthcenturiesBC.
These ideological changes are illuminated by portrayals of the roles
played by individuals and groups in significant historical events, as
depicted in historiography, funerary monuments, and inscriptions.
The emergence in these media of the individual as an indispensable
agentofhistoryprovidesanadditionalexplanationforthereception
ofAlexander‘theGreat’:theGreekworldhadlongsincebeenprepared
tounderstandhimasitdid.
sarah brown ferrario is Associate Professor of Greek and
LatinatTheCatholicUniversityofAmerica.SheisaspecialistinGreek
historyandliterature,particularlyofthefifthandfourthcenturiesBC.

Historical Agency and the ‘Great Man’
in Classical Greece
sarah brown ferrario
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Historicalagencyandthe‘greatman’inclassicalGreece/SarahBrownFerrario.
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Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-03734-2
1.Greece–History–To146B.C.–Historiography. I.Title.
DF211.F47 2014
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ForOllie,thegreatestlittlemanIknow.

Contents
Listoftables [pageix]
Acknowledgements [x]
Notesontranslations,abbreviations,andtransliterations [xiii]
1 Thesearchforthe‘greatman’ [1]
1.1 Who‘owns’history? [1]
1.2 ThealchemyofAlexander [5]
1.3 ‘Greatmen’andthemotionofhistory [11]
1.4 Structureandsummary [14]
2 Man,myth,andmemoryundertheearlyAthenian
democracy [18]
2.1 TheTyrannicidesandthesymbolicvocabularyof‘greatness’ [18]
2.2 Marathonandthepatriosnomos [25]
2.3 Historicalagencyandthedead:MemoryandthepolisintheAthenian
cemeteries [44]
2.4 Historicalagencyandtheliving:Ostracismandpublicdecrees [52]
2.5 Conclusion:Ancientandmodernascriptionsofagency [56]
3 Cultureclash?IndividualsandgroupsintheHistories
ofHerodotus [57]
3.1 Creatinghistory [57]
3.2 HistoricalagentsfromSolontoCyrus [62]
3.3 ThePersian‘ConstitutionalDebate’andthekingshipofDarius [72]
3.4 Xerxes’war [78]
3.5 Greeksand“theGreeks”inHerodotus [84]
3.6 Conclusion:CollaborativeagencyinHerodotus:Leonidas
andSolon [101]
4 Claimstoimmortality:MemoriesofthePeloponnesian
War [104]
4.1 Theindispensableindividual [104]
4.2 IndividualandgroupagencyinThucydides [106]
4.3 Individualsandgroupsinthecommemorativevocabularyoflate
fifth-centuryAthens(c.440–396) [144]
4.4 Conclusion:ThePericleancitizenshiplawof451/50andthe
tombstonesofAthens [176]
vii
viii Contents
5 Intothefourthcentury:Learningone’slimits,knowing
one’splace [179]
5.1 Individualcommemorationinapostwarworld [179]
5.2 LookingbackonthePeloponnesianWar:Xenophon’sAlcibiades [184]
5.3 Anewwayofreadingthehistoricalworld:Leadersandledin
theAnabasis [190]
5.4 Memoryandthepolis:Atheniancommemorativepracticesintheearlier
fourthcentury [201]
5.5 Conclusion:Agencyanditslimits [229]
6 OutbeyondAthens:HistoricalagencyinSparta
andThebes [230]
6.1 History’sheroes:ExpandingtheAthenianparadigm [230]
6.2 TheSpartans [234]
6.3 TheThebans [259]
6.4 Conclusion:Self-conscioushistory [280]
7 A‘newworldorder’?PhilipIIofMacedon [284]
7.1 “Europehasneverbeforeproducedsuchaman...” [284]
7.2 ‘Speaking’Greek:Philip’spublicimageinthematerialevidence [290]
7.3 ‘Reading’Greek:Philipashistoricalagentinliterature [312]
7.4 Conclusion:Philip’sscriptforanewGreekworld [318]
8 Alexander‘theGreat’ [320]
8.1 Alexanderincontext [320]
8.2 Alexander’spersonae [322]
8.3 Conclusion:Alexander’saudiences [344]
9 Conclusion [346]
9.1 The‘Themistoclesdecree’ [346]
9.2 Conclusion:Agencyand‘greatness’ [349]
Bibliography [355]
Indexlocorum [392]
Subjectindex [395]