The Historian's Craft in the Age of Herodotus

351 Pages·2007·2.85 MB·English

by  Nino Luraghi

THE HISTORIAN’S CRAFT IN
THE AGE OF HERODOTUS
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The Historian’s Craft
in the Age of Herodotus
(cid:1)
Editedby
NINO LURAGHI
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
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Acknowledgements
 of the essays that comprise this book derive from papers
presentedattheworkshop‘TheDawnofHistoriography’,heldin
Turin at the beginningof September 1997,an event enormously
facilitatedbytheorganizationalskillsofSusanneEbbinghaus(Ox-
ford). The workshop itself was made possible by generous finan-
cialsupportfromtheCommitteeforHistorical,Philosophical,and
PhilologicalSciencesoftheConsiglioNazionaledelleRicercheand
by the Regione Piemonte. Both institutions, and in particular Dr
GiampieroLeo,headoftheDepartmentofCultureoftheRegione
Piemonte,deservemywarmest gratitude.Thefundingalsofacili-
tatedacomplexprocessofediting,whoselaststagewassupported
by the Loeb Fund of the Department of the Classics of Harvard
University.
Oswyn Murray’s essay‘Herodotus andOral History’ is repub-
lished by courtesy of the Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije
Oosten.
Althoughmostauthorshavetriedtokeeptheircontributionsup
to date, the reader should bear in mind that the volume was first
submittedtothepublisherforconsiderationinSeptember1998.
InpreparingthisbookforprintIhaveincurredaseriesofdebts.
RosemaryFleck(Rome),MatthiasHaake(Freiburg),JudsonHerr-
man (Harvard), and Philomene Probert and Jason Zerdin (both
Oxford)helpedmeindi·erentwaysandatdi·erentstages.Ihope
they will be as pleased as I am at seeing the fruit of our e·orts
assumingits final shape. The Seminar fu•r Alte Geschichteof the
Albert-Ludwigs-Universita•tFreiburghasbeenmybaseofopera-
tion, and my colleagues there have been helpful in various ways,
evenintheperiodsinceI leftGermanyfortheUnitedStates. On
a di·erent level, the lively academic environmentof Freiburghas
enormouslyinfluencedtheelaborationoftheconceptualframework
oftheworkshop.
SincethetimewhenIfirstdiscussedwithhimthepossibilityof
organizingtheworkshop,inOxfordinMarch1996,OswynMurray
vi Acknowledgements
has been a constant source of inspiration and advice. This whole
volumeisinawayatributetohisscholarship.
N.L.
Cambridge,Mass.,November2000
Five years after the original publication, the decision of Oxford
University Press to reissue this book in paperback has o·ered a
welcome chance to correct a few typos and an occasion to think
back to the project from which the book emerged. It is for the
readertojudgewhetherornottheintentionofo·eringareasonably
cohesivetreatmentofaconsistentsetofissues,centringespecially
ontherelationshipofearlyGreekhistoriographytoorality,literacy,
andoraltradition,hasbeensuccessfullyfulfilled.Oneofthegoals
pursued in the book was to bring together scholars who would
notnormallyallwriteinthesamelanguage,letalonepublishtheir
worksinthesamebook.Inthissenseatleast,thebookhasachieved
itspurpose,andtheavailabilityofapaperbackeditionwillfurther
enhancethisachievement.Otherwise,thesuccessofthis,asofany
otherworkofscholarship,willbemeasuredbytheextenttowhich
other scholars, or the authors themselves, will argue with, build
upon,orsurpasstheideasandthoughtsoftheauthors.
N.L.
FreiburgimBreisgau,October2006
Contents
Abbreviations ix
1. Introduction 1
 
2. HerodotusandOralHistory 16
 
3. AncestorsofHistoriographyinEarlyGreekElegiacand
IambicPoetry? 45
 . 
4. Hecataeus:FromGenealogytoHistoriography 67
 
5. EarlyHistorie» andLiteracy 95
 . 
6. Constructing the Past: Colonial Traditions and the
WritingofHistory.TheCaseofCyrene 116
 
7. LocalKnowledgeinHerodotus’Histories 138
 
8. Kissing Cousins: Some Curious Cases of Adjacent
MaterialinHerodotus 161
 
9. TheHerodoteanPictureofThemistocles:AMirrorof
Fifth-centuryAthens 179
 •
10. Herodotus’HistoriesandtheFloatingGap 198
 
11. Herodotus’ Egyptand the Foundations of Universal
History 211
 
viii Contents
12. TheBeginningsofChronography:Hellanicus’Hiereiai 241
 •
13. Thucydides’ Archaeology: Between Epic and Oral
Traditions 263
 
14. Myth,History,andCollectiveIdentity:UsesofthePast
inAncientGreeceandBeyond 286
- 
15. HerodotusandOralHistoryReconsidered 314
 
NotesonContributors 326
IndexLocorum 329
GeneralIndex 337
Abbreviations
A@A AntikeundAbendland
A@R AteneeRoma
AA Archa•ologischerAnzeiger
AFLP AnnalidellaFacolta› diLetteredell’Universita› diPerugia
AION Annalidell’IstitutoOrientalediNapoli
AIONarchstant Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli: Sezione di Ar-
cheologiaeStoriaAntica
AJA AmericanJournalofArchaeology
AJPh AmericanJournalofPhilology
AncSoc AncientSociety
ANSMusN AmericanNumismaticSocietyMuseumNotes
ASNP Annali della ScuolaNormale Superiore di Pisa—Classe
diScienzeMorali
ATL B.D. Meritt, H. T. Wade-Gery, and M.F. McGregor
(eds.),TheAthenianTributeLists(Princeton,1939– )
BCH Bulletindecorrespondance helle‹nique
CAH CambridgeAncientHistory
CJ ClassicalJournal
ClAnt ClassicalAntiquity
CQ ClassicalQuarterly
CR ClassicalReview
CS Criticastorica
DHA Dialoguesd’histoireancienne
DK H.DielsandW.Kranz,DieFragmentederVorsokratiker,
8thedn.(Hamburg,1957)
FGrHist F.Jacoby,DieFragmentedergriechischenHistoriker(Ber-
lin,1923– )
GP B.GentiliandC.Prato,PoetarumElegiacorumTestimo-
niaetFragmenta,2ndedn.(Leipzig,1988– )
GRBS Greek,RomanandByzantineStudies
HSCPh HarvardStudiesinClassicalPhilology
IG Inscriptiones Graecae Consilio et Auctoritate Academiae
BorussicaeEditae
IM IstanbulerMitteilungen
IvM O.Kern(ed.),DieInschriftenvonMagnesiaamMa•ander
(Berlin,1900)
JHS JournalofHellenicStudies