Table Of ContentIvan Matijašić
Shaping the Canons of Ancient Greek Historiography
Beiträge zur Altertumskunde
Herausgegeben von Susanne Daub, Michael Erler,
Dorothee Gall, Ludwig Koenen und Clemens Zintzen
Band 359
Ivan Matijašić
Shaping the Canons
of Ancient Greek
Historiography
Imitation, Classicism, and Literary Criticism
ISBN 978-3-11-047512-8
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-047627-9
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-047543-2
ISSN 1616-0452
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Matijašić, Ivan, author.
Title: Shaping the canons of ancient Greek historiography : imitation, classicism, and literary
criticism / Ivan Matijašić.
Other titles: Beiträge zur Altertumskunde ; Bd. 359.
Description: Berlin ; Boston : Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2018. | Series: Beiträge zur
Altertumskunde ; Band 359 | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018014907| ISBN 9783110475128 (print) | ISBN 9783110475432
(e-book (epub) | ISBN 9783110476279 (e-book (pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Greece--Historiography. | Historians--Greece.
Classification: LCC DF211 .M38 2018 | DDC 938.0072--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018014907
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© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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A nono Mano (1928‒2013)
Acknowledgements
ThisbookstemsfromaPhDthesiswritteninItaliananddefendedattheScuola
NormaleSuperiorediPisainJuly2015.CarmineAmpolo,LuigiBattezzato,Didier
Marcotte,AstridMöller,LeonePorciani,MariaSerenaFunghi,andAnnaSantoni
werethemembersofthecommitteethatawardedmyPhD:mygratitudeisdueto
them all for the invaluable insights and suggestions that emerged during and
after the discussion.
My supervisor, Carmine Ampolo, kindly and steadily encouraged my re-
search during my years in Pisa, where I also enjoyed the friendly and helpful
supportofAnnaMagnettoandDonatellaErdas.DuringmyPhD,Ispenttheaca-
demic year 2012‒2013 at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau,
where I benefitted from Astrid Möller’s hospitality and Hans-Joachim Gehrke’s
renowned humanitas: I wish to thank them both for their help and encourage-
ment during those two semesters in the Schwarzwald. I also benefitted greatly
from the seminars they organised (“International Network Historiai”), which
wereheldbothinFreiburgandMunich.IamlikewisegratefultoDidierMarcotte
(Paris, formerly Reims) who gave me the opportunity to participate in research
seminars in Reims and Madrid, where I also presented some of the results of
myresearchonthecanonsofGreekhistoriography.Finally,Iwasinvitedtopres-
entsomeofthechaptersofthisbookinPerugia:IwarmlythankFrancescoPron-
tera for the invitation and hospitality.
ThepublicationofabookisrarelyasolitaryandisolatedeffortandIamfor-
tunate enough to have many friends and colleagues who read and commented
onthebook(orportionsofthebook)andhelpedatdifferentstagesofthework.
AudeCohen-Skalli(Aix/Marseille)andCarloFranco(Venice)readthewhole
manuscript and offered extremely useful suggestions on both single points and
generaldispositio:IdonotthinkIwillbeabletorepaythisdebt,andtheleastI
can do is to use these lines to thank them warmly.
ThephilologicalacumenofFilippomariaPontani(Venice)hasalwaysrepre-
sentedavaluablebenchmarkformyownwork:thisbookisnoexception.Many
ofthetopicsthatappearinthefollowingpageswerediscussedinalowvoicein
the library of the Scuola Normale in Pisa: there I often met Leone Porciani
(Pavia),whoseinsightfulobservationsguidedmethroughsomedebatedancient
passages.AldoCorcella(Potenza)kindlyreadmyPhDthesisandofferedhisval-
uable advice. I had the opportunity to discuss my work with Roberto Nicolai
(Rome),FaustoMontana(Pavia),andIrenePajónLeyra(Seville)whoseremarks
were extremely helpful. Franco Montanari (Genoa), Pietro Liuzzo (Hamburg),
VIII Acknowledgements
Claudio Biagetti (Rome), and Vera Grossi (Verona) generosly shared their pub-
lishedandunpublishedwork.Itakethetimeherepubliclytothankallofthese.
In Venice, I have the privilege to number among my friends Stefania De
Vido,LucaMondin,OlgaTribulato,andFrancescoValerio.Theyhaveallencour-
aged me throughout these years and offered their unconditional support.
The book itself was conceived and written between Italy,Germany, and the
UK. I had the opportunity to workas Postdoctoral Fellow first in Venice,under
the supervision of Claudia Antonetti and Giovanella Cresci Marrone, then in
Münster with Peter Funke, and in Berlin with Klaus Geus: to all of them I
send my warmest gratitude. I also wish to thank the Gerda Henkel Foundation
and the Center for International Cooperation of the Freie Universität Berlin for
supporting my research. The School of History, Classics and Archaeology of
theNewcastleUniversitygenerouslyfundedthepublicationofthisbook.Feder-
icoSantangelo(Newcastle),whowasextremelysupportiveduringashortbutdif-
ficult period, enthusiastically read the whole book in one of its latest versions:
hiscommentswereextremelyvaluableandIwishtoexpresstohimmydeepest
gratitude.
MyparentsKlaraandRobert,andmywholefamily,haveneverfailedtoen-
courage me in every possible way, expressing their love through pantagruelian
mealsandexcellentwines.MywifeIrene,withwhomIsharemanycommonin-
terests,except,fortunately,ClassicalStudies,hasalwaysbeenmystrongestsup-
porter.When Itold her Iwasgoing to re-write my thesis in English for publica-
tion, she exclaimed: “Why do you always have to choose the hardest way?”
Despite her reservations, my hope is that native speakers will not get too an-
noyed with any error or infelicities of language that might still linger here and
there, for which I am solely responsible.
ThisbookisdedicatedtothememoryofmygrandfatherHermanBuršić,who
taught me the essence of history and the pleasure of hard work.
Contents
Abbreviations and Translations XIII
Introduction 1
Ancient Literary Canons from Antiquity to the Present Day 7
. The Idea of Literary Canons in Ancient Thought 7
. Canon: A Brief History of the Word 13
. Greek Literature in the Hands of a Latin Grammarian: Quintilian’s
Selection 18
. The Polemic on Ancient Canonical Literature from David Ruhnken
to the First Half of the Twentieth Century 23
. Approaching Literary Canons from Different Perspectives:
Weltliteratur and Distant Reading 31
Cicero, History-Writing, and Canonical Greek Historians 39
. Hellenistic Treatises on Greek Historiography 39
. What was Cicero’s Knowledge of the Greek Historians? 46
. Cicero’s Worthy Opinion (digna vox) on Greek Canonical
Historians 49
. Minor Greek Historians in Cicero’s Writings 55
. Xenophon princeps philosophorum 58
Shaping the Canons: Dionysius’ Critical Essays 66
. Introduction on Dionysius’ Literary Circle and Critical
Essays 66
. The Letter to Pompeius and the Canon of Greek
Historiography 72
. How isa Historian Supposed to Write? Herodotus vs.
Thucydides 73
. Worthy and Unworthy Historians: Xenophon, Philistus,
Theopompus 78
. ATelling Absence: Ephorus and his Exclusion 86
. Thucydides in the Dock: Dionysius’ Judgement 88
. Dionysius’ Legacy: Challenging his Judgement on
Thucydides 97
X Contents
In the Wake of Classicism: Dionysius, Rome, and Classical
Athens 103
. Classicism and Classical: A Diachronic Overview 103
. Dionysius’ Classicism and the Revival of Rhetoric 106
. The Canons of Greek Historiography Through the Lens of
Classicism 112
. πραγματικὸς τόπος in Dionysius 117
. Dionysius’ Ιdeal Ηistorian: Theopompus 120
Canons Βefore the Canon: From Athens to Alexandria 123
. Thucydides’ Continuators and the Historical Cycle: Its Impact on
Canon-Formation 123
. Isocrates and the Greek Historians 128
. The Peripatetic Tradition and Greek Historiography 135
. A Hellenistic Source for the First Century BCCanons? 142
. The Greek Historians in Alexandria 147
Greek Historians in the Classroom: Literary Critics and
Progymnasmata 161
. Pseudo-Longinus’ On the Sublime and Demetrius’
On Style 161
. Aelius Theon’s Progymnasmata 168
. Late Antique Progymnasmata and Some Rhetorical
Treatises 173
. The Greek Historians in Hermogenes and the Caesura in the
Historiographical Canons 179
.. One Exception to the Rule: Theopompus in Menander
Rhetor 183
. Hecataeus of Miletus’ Appearance in the Rhetorical Tradition and
his Role in Hermogenes’ On the Categories of Style 185
From Dio Chrysostom to Late Antiquity: A Diachronic Analysis of the
Canons of Greek Historiography 189
. The Narrowing Canon and the Effect of the Historical
Cycle 189
. Roman Emperors and Classical Education in the Fourth Century
AD 194
. Ausonius, Jerome, and the Greek Historians in a Latin
Environment 200
