January 12th, 2012

History and Biography = Greek genres adopted in Rome.

The Greek (h)istoria = “inquiry.” (can be inquiry of any kind).

History proper = Praxeis (Deeds, affairs, events, things that happened).

Latin equivalent of history = Res Gestae (Deeds, things done etc.).

Praxeis/Res Gestae (i.e. History) tends to focus on politics and war.

Note: “All history must contain…some element of biography (T. Deline 2001: 1).

Genealogy (Heroic tradition, legend, mythography) – i.e. Hecataeus of Miletus, Genealogia (ca. 500 BCE)

Ethnography (Accounts of other civilizations; mode of life; history etc.) – Modern term – Greeks used adjectival form a place name, i.e. Lydika, Indika etc. – Hecataeus, Periodos Ges

History (praxeis – men’s deeds) – Herodotus; Thucydides

Horography (Year by year account of a polis from its foundation)

Chronography (Est. of chronological framework for situating events of the past) – Hacataeus; Helanicus of Lesbos

All five genres developed by the end of the fifth century BCE

Note: Biography not considered a genre of history.

1 These are the principal events included in the above-mentioned Olympiad, that is in the space of four years which we term an Olympiad, and I shall attempt to narrate them in two Books. 2 I am not unaware that my work owing to the uniformity of its composition has a certain severity, and will suit the taste and gain the approval of only one class of reader. 3 For nearly all other writers, or at least most of them, by dealing with every branch of history, attract many kinds of people to the perusal of their works. 4 The genealogical side appeals to those who are fond of a story, and the account of colonies, the foundation of cities, and their ties of kindred, such as we find, for instance, in Ephorus, attracts the curious and lovers of recondite longer, 5 while the student of politics is interested in the doings of nations, cities, and monarchs. As I have confined my attention strictly to these last matters and as my whole work treats of nothing else, it is, as I say, adapted only to one sort of reader, and its p5perusal will have no attractions for the larger number. 6 I have stated elsewhere at some length my reason for choosing to exclude other branches of history and chronicle actions alone, but there is no harm in briefly reminding my readers of it here in order to impress it on them.

(Polybius, Roman Histories, 9.1. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/home.html)

The Greek Biographia = The writing of a life (i.e. Biography).

Plutarch of Chaeronea (ca. 46 -120 CE), Parallel Lives.

Latin equivalent = Vita (i.e. A Life).

Although historical in a sense, ancients felt it to be a part of philosophy and psychology (i.e. Character types and formation; Exempla).

Philosophy through historical demonstration.

Concerned with morality, character, fortune etc.

Not bound by chronology.

Distinguished from Encomium or Panegyric (i.e. literature in praise of an individual).

“1 I began the writing of my "Lives" for the sake of others, but I find that I am continuing the work and delighting in it now for my own sake also, using history as a mirror and endeavouring in a manner to fashion and adorn my life in conformity with the virtues therein depicted. 2 For the result is like nothing else than daily living and associating together, when I receive and welcome each subject of my history in turn as my guest, so to speak, and observe carefully "how large he was and of what mien,"and select from his career what is most important and most beautiful to know. 3 "And oh! what greater joy than this canst thou obtain,"and more efficacious for moral improvement? 4 Democritus says we ought to pray that we may be visited by phantoms which are propitious, and that from out the circumambient air such only may encounter us as are agreeable to our natures and good, rather than those which are perverse and bad, thereby intruding into philosophy a doctrine which is not true, and which leads astray into boundless superstitions. 5 But in my own case, the study of history and the familiarity with it which my writing produces, p263enables me, since I always cherish in my soul the records of the noblest and most estimable characters, to repel and put far from me whatever base, malicious, or ignoble suggestion my enforced associations may intrude upon me, calmly and dispassionately turning my thoughts away from them to the fairest of my examples.

(Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus , 1 - http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Aemilius*.html)

“1 It is the life of Alexander the king, and of Caesar, who overthrew Pompey, that I am writing in this book, and the multitude of the deeds to be treated is so great that I shall make no other preface than to entreat my readers, in case I do not tell of all the famous actions of these men, nor even speak exhaustively at all in each particular case, but in epitome for the most part, not to complain. 2 For it is not Histories that I am writing, but Lives; and in the most illustrious deeds there is not always a manifestation of virtue or vice, 665nay, a slight thing like a phrase or a jest often makes a greater revelation of character than battles when thousands fall, or the greatest armaments, or sieges of cities. 3 Accordingly, just as painters get the likenesses in their portraits from the face and the expression of the eyes, wherein the character shows itself, but make very little account of the other parts of the body, so I must be permitted to devote myself rather to the signs of the soul in men, and by means of these to portray the life of each, leaving to others the description of their great contests. “

(Plutarch, Life of Alexander 1 - http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/3.html)

Highly varied.

Personal letters. Poetry. Inscriptions. Epigrams. Rumors and Anecdotes. Memoirs. Antiquarian Materials. Family Histories.

Modeled, in part, on Greek genre.

Largely similar working methods (i.e. similar materials; similar focus on personal habits etc.).

Thought to be an inferior form of writing to history.

Developed its own peculiar characteristics.

Neniae (dirges) and Laudationes Funebres (funeral laudations) sung at the funerals of great men.

Imagines (death masks) and sepulchral inscriptions; family histories.

“Lucius Cornelius Scipio son of Lucius, aedile, consul, censor. This man Lucius Scipio, as most agree, was the very best of all good men at Rome. A son of Barbatus, he was aedile, consul, and censor among you; he it was who captured Corsica, Aleria too, a city. To the goddess of Weather he gave deservedly a temple.”

(CIL, Vol.I, 2nd ed, No. 7. in N. Lewis & M. Reinhold, 1966).

Political competition required advertisement and justification of one’s actions and achievements.

M. Tullius Cicero, In Catilinam (63 BCE).

C. Julius Caesar, Bellum Gallicum (59-52 BCE) and Commentarii (48-45 BCE).

Augustus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti (ca. 14 CE).

Other political memoirs by Tiberius, Hadrian, and Septimius Severus.

Forerunners = autobiography; seeks to glorify, praise, justify, and blame.

M. Terrentius Varro (116-27 BCE), On Poets.

Cornelius Nepos (100-24 BCE), De Viris Illustribus (On famous men), De Vita et Moribus M. Catonis (On the life and death of M. Cato), De Vita M. Tullii Ciceronis (On the Life of M. Tulllius Cicero).

Gaius Fannius, Arulenus Rusticus, and Herennius Senecio (biographies on the deaths of famous men under Nero); Stoic Opposition.

Tacitus, Agricola (98 CE) – Eulogy for Gn. Julius Agricola.

C. Suetonius Tranquillus (ca. 70-130 CE) .

The Historiae Augustae.

De Viris Illustribus (On Famous Men) – Incomplete account of famous literary figures, orators, and philosophers.

De Vita Caesarum (On the Life of the Caesars) – biographies of the first 12 Caesars from Julius Caesar (d. 44 BCE) to Domitian (d. 96 CE).

Lost Biographies include lives of famous kings and courtesans.

Wide-ranging literary interests beyond biography.

B. (ca. 70 CE) to an equestrian father, Suetonius Laetus (military tribune in 69 CE), in either Pisaurum (modern Pesaro) or Hippo Regius (Numidia).

By ca. 97 CE, est. reputation as a scholar and advocate.

Ca. 102 CE offered military tribunate in Britain (declined).

Ca. 110 CE accompanied Pliny the Younger to Bithynia.

Held three major imperial posts under Trajan and Hadrian: 1. A Studiis (Imperial Secretary). 2. A Bibliothecis (Imperial Librarian). 3. Ab Epistulis (In charge of imperial correspondence).

Was dismissed by Hadrian together with the Praetorian Prefect, Gaius Septicius Clarus, to whom De Vita Caesarum is dedicated.

Followed a basic narrative pattern. Chronology not a consideration. Ancestry. Early Life. Early Career. Achievements as Emperor. Personal Qualities. Death. Physical Appearance. Idiosyncrasies.

Purports to be biography of emperors Hadrian (117-138) to Carinus (283-285).

Purports to be the work of 6 separate biographers: 1. Aelius Spartianus. 2.Julius Capitolinus. 3. Vulcacius Gallicanus. 4. Aelius Lampridius. 5. Trebellius Pollio. 6. Flavius Vopiscus.

Probably the work of a single writer (Hermann Dessau, 1889).

Great controversy surrounding the date (ca. 369-ca. 420).

16 of the first 17 biographies considered reliable (except for Macrinus); The remaining 16 thought to be largely fictional.

Confirmation in epigraphy and other historians (i.e. Cassius Dio, Herodian, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor).

Many of the documents mentioned are fake.

Many of the authors cited are fake.

Purpose debated (i.e. Pagan Propaganda; Satirical Poke at Biography).

How is Plutarch’s Life of Antony organized?

What are Plutrach’s main narrative objectives?

Why are physical appearance, dress, and comportment important to Plutarch?

What kind of person is Antony according to Plutarch?

Why does Plutarch feel it important to elucidate Antony’s character and personality?

How does ancient biography differ from historiography?

What advantages does biography present over historiography for the ancient historian?

What do you see as the main methodological difficulties with working with ancient biographies as historical evidence and how can we get around these or mitigate them?