Historia and Fabula: Myths and Legends in Historical Thought from Antiquity to the Modern Age

463 Pages·1994·11.117 MB·English

by  P.G. Bietenholz

HISTORIA AND FABULA
BRILL’S STUDIES
IN
INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
General Editor
AJ. Vanderjagt, University of Groningen
Editorial Board
M. Colish, Oberlin College
J.I. Israel, University College, London
J.D. North, University of Groningen
H.A. Oberman, University of Arizona, Tucson
R.H. Popkin, Washington University, St. Louis-UCLA
VOLUME 59
HISTORIA AND FABULA
Myths and Legends in Historical Thought
from Antiquity to the Modem Age
BY
PETER G. BIETENHOLZ
' ' 6 8 V
EJ. BRILL
LEIDEN • NEW YORK • KÖLN
1994
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bietenholz, Peter G.
Historia and fabula : myths and legends in historical thought from
antiquity to the modem age / by Peter G. Bietenholz.
p. cm. — (Brill’s studies in intellectual history, ISSN
0920-8607 ; v. 59)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 9004100636
1. History—Philosophy. 2. Historicism. 3. Historiography.
4. Belief and doubt. 5. Knowledge, Theory of. I. Title.
II. Title: Myths and legends in historical thought from antiquity to
the modem age. III. Series.
D16.9.B43 1994
901—dc20 94-33178
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP Einheitsaufhahme
Bietenholz, Peter G.:
Historia and fabula : myths and legends in historical thought
from antiquity to the modem age / by Peter G. Bietenholz. -
Leiden ; New York ; Köln : Brill, 1994
(Brill’s studies in intellectual history : Vol. 59)
ISBN 90-04—10063-6
NE: GT
ISSN 0920-8607
ISBN 90 04 10063 6
© Copyright 1994 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
Es chunnt e chüeli Obeluft,
und an de Halme hangt der Duft.
Denkwohl, mer göhn jez au alsgmach
im stille Frieden unters Dach!
Gang, Liseli, zünd ’s Ämpli a!
Mach kei so grosse Dochte dra!
Johann Peter Hebel
Der Abendstem
TO MY SONS
MICHAEL
BALTHASAR
SAMUEL

CONTENTS
PREFACE ...............................................................................................................xi
SIGLA.....................................................................................................................xii
INTRODUCTION
The problem to be studied. Definition of key terms.
The beginnings of historical thinking: Egypt,
Mesopotamia, the Hittites, ancient Israel...................................................... 1
CHAPTER ONE
The Graeco-Roman Period
I. Greece: Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides and invented
speeches, Euhemerus and Palaephatus, the Amazons...................21
II. Rome: Livy, Romulus and some emperors proclaimed
to be gods, Cicero and the historian's craft,
Sextus Empiricus.....................................................................................46
CHAPTER TWO
Fabula and Historia. The Consciousness of the Past in
the Middle Ages
I. Jacobus a Voragine's Legenda aurea:
gospel figures...........................................................................................62
II. The Legenda aurea: emperors...................................................................73
III. Legends of the popes ................................................................................85
IV. The Popess Joan.........................................................................................97
V. Pope Silvester II.........................................................................................108
CHAPTER THREE
Gog, Magog and the Latter-Day Emperor
I. Judaeo-Christian eschatology; Fredegar .................................................118
II. The Mongols and Prester John.................................................................127
III. The Barbarossa myth ...............................................................................137
viii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER FOUR
The Renaissance Period (1300-1600)
1. Terminological refinements; a new sense
of complexity..........................................................................................146
II. Towards an identification of myth: Dante,
Boccaccio and Erasmus........................................................................150
in. Legendary saints and the heroes of Antiquity.........................................157
IV. Joan of Arc..................................................................................................152
V. William Tell.....................................................................................................169
VI. Arminius..........................................................................................................129
CHAPTER FIVE
Ad fontes. Renaissance Genealogy and the Myth of
the Golden Age
I. The descent from Troy................................................................... 189
U. Nascent critique of fabulous genealogies..................................................195
m. The monumental tomb of Maximilian I and
other portrait galleries...........................................................................199
IV. The Golden Age; historia and fabula in balance.....................................207
CHAPTER SIX
Old Testament Scholarship in the Early Modern Age
1. Outline of the age ........................................................................................220
II. The ’neutral’ study of the Old Testament;
Joseph Scaliger and Richard Simon.....................................................222
HI. The progress of fabula; Bochart, Kircher and
La Peyrère................................................................................................232
IV. The birth of the concept of sovereign myth;
Spinoza, Vico, Herder and Eichhorn................................................247
V. Blurring the division line; Bossuet, Reimanis,
Semler and ^accommodation..................................................................258
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Early Modem Age and the Origins of Rome
I. Prehistory defies the chronologers .........................................................270
II. Prehistory defies the antiquarians............................................................275
ID. The discovery of the mythical age;
Fontenelle and Heyne...........................................................................282
IV. The origins of Rome; the sceptics: Du Temps
and Cluverius.............................................................................................288
V. The origins of Rome; defenders of the tradition:
Vossius, Perizonius..................................................................................298
VI. The theory of myth applied to Rome; Heyne.....................................305
ix
CONTENTS
CHAPTER EIGHT
Historia and Fabula in the New Testament
I. Limiting the sway of divine inspiration: Origen,
Richard Simon and J.D. Michaelis..................................................311
II. The English Deists......................................................................................316
HI. New Testament myths and the historical Jesus;
David Friedrich Strauss.........................................................................325
CHAPTER NINE
The Nineteenth Century
I. The Romantics and mythology....................................................................336
II. Hypercriticism: historia denounced as fabula.
Old myths in the service of nationalism............................................339
ID. Bachofen: from the mythical prehistory of
Rome to matriarchy.............................................................................350
IV. The last scholarly defenders of the historicity
of Genesis...............................................................................................369
V. Historical subjects in nineteenth-century art: David,
Gros, Werner.........................................................................................375
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................396
APPENDIX I
Renaissance humanism and the problem of grace
without baptism...................................................................................................407
APPENDIX II
The debate on the origins of Rome in the Académie
des Inscriptions.................................................................................................. 416
INDEX OF PERSONS.......................................................................................423
ILLUSTRATIONS .......................................................................................... 435