Herodotean Kings and Historical Inquiry

Christ, Matthew R.

doi:10.2307/25011013

Cited by 26 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…19 Christ (1994) 178, 168; for 'the objectification and reification of value' as a feature of Persian kings of whom Herodotus is critical, see also Konstan (1987), quote at 62. 20 Christ (1994) 168.…”

Section: Visualizing Multitudes: Three Ways Of Counting Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

Counting the Past in Herodotus’ Histories

Sergueenkova

2016

J. Hell. Stud.

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Abstract:This paper explores instances in Herodotus’ Histories where the historian or his characters engage with very large numbers by counting vast collections of people or things, establishing the dimensions of huge objects and measuring long stretches of time. In these episodes, Herodotus explores how quantifying the material traces of the past can help reconstruct antiquity. This methodological point is most evident in his calculations in book 2, and this paper focuses in particular on his persistent reckoning in three interrelated Egyptian accounts: those of the nature of the Nile valley, of the construction of the pyramids and of the genealogy of the Theban priests. I argue that Herodotus’ quantifying efforts, far from being only a rhetorical strategy to increase the narrator's credibility and authority, are an important, indeed crucial, part of his historical method.

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Section: Visualizing Multitudes: Three Ways Of Counting Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

Counting the Past in Herodotus’ Histories

Sergueenkova

2016

J. Hell. Stud.

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“…He presents the subjection of Greece as merely the first step in a sweeping conquest of Europe that 'will make all lands into a single land' and 'Persian territory end only at the sky ... And so the innocent (1987) Ch. 4; Barcelo (1993) 149-77;Christ (1994); see also Stahl (1983) 211: Socles' speech as a didactic 'Beispielrede'. See Raaflaub (1989) 41 -6, for the origin of the Constitutional Debate in the context of critical analyses of democracy.…”

Section: Historical and Political Thoughtmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brill's Companion to Herodotus

2002

129

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“…Grethlein 2009. Christ 1994 notes the role of Herodotean kings as observers and investigators, offering possible models for the historian.…”

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confidence: 99%

“… See Pelling 1997, 56 on the liminal position of Lydia. 17Christ 1994. 18 See also Munson 1991 on the hubristic king as a perverted model of the historian. 19 Xerxes' distanced viewing is reminiscent of Zeus watching the Trojan War from Mount Ida in the Iliad:Grethlein 2009, 209 and de Jong 1999, 268.…”

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confidence: 99%

Metahistory and the visual in Herodotus and Thucydides

Harman¹

2018

Gaze, Vision, and Visuality in Ancient Greek Literature

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An interest in the visual seems to be part of historiographic discourse in the Classical period (and beyond). Scenes of spectatorship and response, as well as a concern with the visibility of actions and the impact of their visibility on their interpretation, recur across a number of historical texts. Such scenes offer the possibility of reflection on the writing and reading of history. 1 As historical characters are depicted observing events, being affected by and interpreting what they see, we are shown a model for the task of the historian in action. We are also shown a model for the task of the reader: just like characters within the narrative, the reader too must observe, judge and respond to the events which the text presents. Such concerns play an important role in the work of both Herodotus and Thucydides, who use the visual in different (although overlapping) ways. In this chapter, I would like to indicate how visual scenes allow these texts to explore problems and concerns specific to each. However, there are also similarities. In both texts, the act of viewing is imagined as politically engaged, and as politically problematic. Previous writing on the use of the visual in Herodotus and Thucydides has stressed the metatextual or metahistorical function of these texts' depictions of responses to sights, but has tended to frame this as a device for bolstering the authority of the narratorial voice of the historian. We are shown spectators being deceived or manipulated by cleverly crafted displays, being overcome with emotion at spectacles, or otherwise being influenced in their response: we could read such acts of viewing as emblems of failure, as counter-models for the proper role of the historian and reader of history, who should reign in his or her emotions, not be misled, but stand back from events and come to a "clear view" of history. On this model, the historical narrator offers a way out of the problems that spectators within the text face, guiding the reader towards a correct reading. I would like to build on such interpretations, but in order to complicate such a reading. I will suggest that the reader, positioned as a viewer of the text's narrative, is implicated in the problems faced by viewers within the narrative. The problem of how to look at the sights of the text reveals and allows engagement with the politics of the reading process. In the context of this short chapter, the interpre

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Herodotean Kings and Historical Inquiry

Cited by 26 publications

References 30 publications

Counting the Past in Herodotus’ Histories

Counting the Past in Herodotus’ Histories

Brill's Companion to Herodotus

Metahistory and the visual in Herodotus and Thucydides

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