The Idea of Universal History in Greece: From Herodotus to the Age of Augustus

152 Pages·2002·1.465 MB·English

by  José Miguel Alonso-Núñez

AMSTERDAM CLASSICAL MONOGRAPHS
VOLUME 4
JOSE MIGUEL ALONSO-NUNEZ
THE IDEA OF UNIVERSAL
HISTORY IN GREECE
FROM HERODOTUS TO
THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS
J.C. GIEBEN, PUBLISHER
AMSTERDAM 2002
No print of this book may be translated or reproduced in any fonn, by print, photoprint,
microfilm, or any other means, without written pennission from the author.
© by J.M. Alonso-Nufiez / Printed in The Netherlands/ ISBN 90 5063 398 X
TO THE MEMORYO F GEORGEF ORREST

FOREWORD
This is an expanded version of the lecture given in the Departments of
History and Classics at Harvard University on 26th May 1998. I am most
thankful to Professor Ernst Badian, D. Phil., F.B.A., for his kind invita
tion and comments. I also wish to express my gratitude to Professor J.
Stuart, Professor G. Nagy and Professor C. Jones for their remarks as
well as to the rest of the audience, who attended it and stimulated the dis
cussion. Kathleen Walsh (Madrid) and Doctor Peter Lynan (Oxford) have
very kindly improved the English style of this book and Lucia Jones
(Madrid) has also very kindly revised the additions. I am very grateful to
Doctor Nicholas Hardwick (Sydney/Oxford) for his help in correcting the
Greek texts and to Professor Ram6n Martinez Fernandezo f the Universi
ties of Salamanca and Pamplona for the final revision of them. Mr. Emilio
Garcfa Ruiz (Madrid) prepared the index locorum and Mr. Manuel Sanchez
Mariana of the Nationa1 Library Madrid has revised the whole book. Pro
fessor Alfonso Martinez Diez of the University of Madrid helped in the
elaboration of this work at an earlier stage. I am grateful to Doctor Jose
Joaquin Caerols Perez of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientifi
cas, Madrid, R. Martin G6mez, A. Martinez Moguerza and J .L. Moreno
Perez, all of Madrid, as well as to Theodor Waibel (Konstanz) for help
with the computer. Professor Juan Miguel Palacios Garcfa of the Univer
sity of Madrid has very kindly gone throughout the whole work and Mr.
William Clennell, M.A. (Oxon.), formerly Bodleian Library, Oxford, has
helped me to clarify the conditions of copyright. Finally, I wish to express
my deep gratitude to Mr. J.C. Gieben for admitting this work in the presti
gious series Amsterdam Classical Monographs.
Jose Miguel Alonso-Nllii.ez

TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD 7
INTRODUCTION II
I . The appearanceo f universalh istoriographyi n Greece:
Herodotus 15
2. Greek history and interest in Persia: Thucydides,
Xenophon and Ctesias 27
3. Isocrates and the Panhellenic movement. The forerunner
of universal historiography: Ephorus 35
4. The rise of Macedonia. Theopompus. Aristotle and his school:
Aristoxenus and Demetrius of Phalerum 43
5. The empire of Alexander and his historians. General
historiography: Hieronymus of Cardia. The geographical
expansiono f historicalk nowledge:T imaeusa nd Megasthenes.
Hellenism. Judaism: The Book of Daniel 53
6. The emergence of Rome. The shaping of universal
historiography: Polybius 69
7. Roman imperialism. Stoicism and universal historiography:
Posidonius and Diodorus 81
8. The Augustan empire and the historians of the Augustan epoch:
Nicolaus of Damascus, Strabo, Pompeius Trogus and
Dionysius of Halicamassos 93
CONCLUSIONS 115
APPENDIX
A Chronology of authors and works 123
B Maps 126
C The structure of Pompeius Trogus' Historiae Philippicae 133
D The universal historians in the History of Historiography 137
BIBLIOGRAPHY 141
INDICES 143
a. Index of ancient authors 145
b. Index of subjects 148
c. Index of modem authors 150
d. List of abbreviations 153

INTRODUCTION
From a methodological point of view we shaJI proceed by showing the
evolution of the idea of world history through different authors before
drawing general conclusions.
Previous to the study of the authors and their writings on the subject, it
must be pointed out that in order to consider a work as belonging to
universal historiography it must have as its basis a universal conception of
time and space in which the actor is mankind. In other words, universal
historians, strictly speaking, are those who deal only with the history of
mankind from the earliest times and in all parts of the world known to
them. As we shall see, this is a process which took place gradually in
historiography: universal historiography as such acquired its final shape in
the time of Emperor Augustus. However, Polybius, though not concerned
with the remote history of the past, created the pattern, but in terms of
contemporary history.
It must be noted that universal historiography did not emerge as a direct
consequence of a philosophical school, but from the desire to narrate poli•
tical facts. Therefore the increasing political connections, the wars and the
diplomatic relations play an important role in the origins of universal histo•
riography. It is clear that the perception of an expanding space is one of the
roots of universal historiography. On this basis, historians have meditated
about time, i.e., about the past of the different peoples living in that
growing political space, and this reflection on the past is another root of
universal historiography. In this space, man acted throughout the ages. As
mankind did not operate in an isolated way but rather in a social context,
the search for the political principles and constitutions which guided politi•
cal life became an aim of the universal historian. Thus, appears the close
association between political structure and historical narrative.
From the study of universal historiography emerge two approaches: one
which is more concerned with ethnic and cultural aspects, initiated by
Herodotus in his historical work, and the other which is more interested in
politics, Polybius being an example.