Hindsight in Greek and Roman History

Buch | Hardcover

300 Seiten

2013
Classical Press of Wales (Verlag)
978-1-905125-58-6 (ISBN)

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One of the most fertile and fast-developing themes of recent historiography is treated by the 10 new papers in this volume. The history of the ancient world has traditionally been studied with a view to tracing the origins of those grand developments which eventually occurred. The writing of history is often simplified, by modern scholars as by some ancient sources, so as to read almost teleologically. 'Who', it may have been asked, 'wants to understand what did not happen?' But the most respected of our ancient sources, Herodotos, Thucydides, Tacitus and others, frequently describe the actors in their narratives as guided by fears and hopes concerning developments which did not happen, or by reflection on events which had happened but which subsequently did not play out as anticipated. As Tacitus wrote of Boudicca's revolt, the Britons were motivated by past Roman offences 'and the fear of worse'. Such - superficially - sterile, even vague, expectations tend to be neglected in scholarly discourse. But not only were unfulfilled expectations facts in themselves; they generated real actions.
Further, even real and quite grand events - such as a battle won in a campaign eventually unsuccessful - are likely to be neglected if they do not seem to have led to larger developments still: in short, if they are inconvenient for a grand narrative or a syllabus. Yet, history cannot be understood without such things. Restoring them to their due prominence offers scope for a wide-ranging scholarly activity which is not only legitimate but necessary.

Anton Powell has published extensively on the history of Sparta, Athens – and the literature of the Roman Revolution. He was the author of an introduction to source-criticism in Greek history, Athens and Sparta (3rd edition 2016), the editor of Companion to Sparta (2 volumes, 2018), and co-editor (with Nicolas Richer) of Xenophon and Sparta (2020). His monograph Virgil the Partisan (2008) was awarded the prize of the American Vergilian Society for ‘the book that makes the greatest contribution toward our understanding and appreciation of Vergil’. He has twice been Invited Professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, in 2006 for Greek history and in 2008 for Latin literature.

Introduction Anton Powell 1 Historical explanation and what didn't happen: the virtues of virtual history Christopher Pelling 2 Herodotos and the avoidance of hindsight Emily Baragwanath 3 Athens' Sicilian expedition: contemporary scenarios of its outcome Roger Brock 4 The shadow of what might have been: sideshadowing in Thucydides and Xenophon Lisa Irene Hau 5 Spartan supremacy: a 'possession for ever'? Early-fourth-century expectations of enduring ascendancy Helen Roche 6 Confusing aim and result? Hindsight and the disintegration of Alexander the Great's empire Alexander Meeus 7 How to avoid being a backward-looking prophet - counterfactuals in Polybius Felix K. Maier 8 Anticipating Octavian's failure: from Tauromenium to the death of Cleopatra Anton Powell 9 Memoriae eximere: AD 41 and the survival of republicanism under the Principate Katherine Low

Verlagsort	Swansea
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Gewicht	579 g
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Altertum / Antike
ISBN-10	1-905125-58-5 / 1905125585
ISBN-13	978-1-905125-58-6 / 9781905125586
Zustand	Neuware