Histos (Journal)
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Sleeping with the Tyrant: Thebe the Tyrannicide and the Death of Alexander of Pherae in Plutarch’s Pelopidas
Get PDFThe murder of Alexander of Pherae by his wife Thebe closes Plutarch’s Pelopidas. While scholars have tended to view this ending as posthumous vengeance for Plutarch’s hero, this paper argues that Plutarch wrote Alexander’s death to satisfy the quintessential elements which a wicked tyrant ought to experience and that he also exercised creativity by adducing another motif of Thebe as noble tyrannicide. Plutarch’s take, therefore, departed from an established tradition which portrayed Thebe unfavourably. A virtuous Thebe complemented Plutarch’s interest in other female tyrannicides in Mulierum Virtutes as well as his position expressed in that treatise that bravery is not gender-specific
Thucydides’ Ἔργα
Get PDFThis paper argues that in order to understand Thucydides 1.22, his well-known chapter on methodology, we need to grasp the central message of 1.20–3. In this passage, unified by the ‘Herodotean’ word ἔργα, which he adapts for his novel purpose, Thucydides claims that he has, through careful and critical research, reproduced precisely in writing the deeds done in ‘his war’. He explicitly does not claim such accuracy for his speeches, nor for his pre-war excursuses, such as the Archaeology and the Pentekontaetia. His phrase for this kind of rhetorically sophisticated ‘approximation’ of the truth is ἀγώνισμα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀκούειν
Procopius in Context (on G. Greatrex and S. Janniard, edd., Le Monde de Procope/The World of Procopius)
No full textApproaches To Ancient Ethnographic Topoi (on M. Zerjadtke, ed., Der ethnographische Topos in der Alten Geschichte: Annäherungen an ein omnipräsentes Phänomen)
Get PDFHellenistic Influence in the Hebrew Bible (on R. K. Gnuse, Hellenism and the Primary History: The Imprint of Greek Sources in Genesis – 2 Kings)
No full textDas Konzept des sozialen Friedens und seine Widersprüche: ein Beitrag zu Aristoteles’ argumentativer und historischer Glaubwürdigkeit
Get PDFThe present article studies Aristotle’s concept of social peace which presupposes a stable politeia based on homonoia between rich and poor, and the existence of a broad middle class. It discusses Aristotle’s analysis of these prerequisites and their disruption by the demagogues and the payments for public service to the polloi. In the process we discover serious contradictions which weaken Aristotle’s reasoning. In the light of external sources it also becomes evident that his information concerning important aspects is misleading, and that, furthermore, he seems to circumvent information which might weaken his attack on what he considers the radical democracy of his time. As a consequence, Aristotle’s reliability as a historical witness is questioned.The present article studies Aristotle’s concept of social peace which presupposes a stable politeia based on homonoia between rich and poor, and the existence of a broad middle class. It discusses Aristotle’s analysis of these prerequisites and their disruption by the demagogues and the payments for public service to the polloi. In the process we discover serious contradictions which weaken Aristotle’s reasoning. In the light of external sources it also becomes evident that his information concerning important aspects is misleading, and that, furthermore, he seems to circumvent information which might weaken his attack on what he considers the radical democracy of his time. As a consequence, Aristotle’s reliability as a historical witness is questioned
