Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire (Historiography of Rome and Its Empire, 15) - Hardcover

Chrysanthou, Chrysanthos S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9004516891 ISBN 13: 9789004516892

Publisher: Brill, 2022

Synopsis

In the process of recording the history of the Roman Empire, from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the accession of Gordian III, Herodian makes his characters respond to the same situations in similar or different ways. This book shows that each reign in Herodian’s History is creatively mapped onto ever-recurring narrative patterns. It argues that patterning is not simply decorative in Herodian’s work but constitutes a crucial conceptual and methodological tool for writing interpretative history. Herodian deserves credit as an original and independent author. A careful consideration of the formulaic nature of his historiography indicates that there is more artistry in his composition than had previously been discerned.

About this title

About the Author

Chrysanthos S. Chrysanthou, DPhil (2016), University of Oxford, is currently the principal investigator of a project on ancient Greek historiography and the ancient Greek novel, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), at the University of Heidelberg. He is the author of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives: Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (Berlin/Boston, 2018) and a number of articles on ancient Greek literature.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brill
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004516891
• ISBN 13: 9789004516892
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408