Xenophon’s Memorabilia and Greek historiography. A comparative approach

Abstract

This paper proposes a comparison between Xenophon’s Memorabilia and Greek historiography, with the aim of further illuminating Xenophon’s literary techniques. I pursue this comparison in two parts: in the first part, I deal with the verbs ἤκουσα (“I heard”), ὁρῶ (“I see”), and οἶδα (“I know”) and the expression δοκεῖ μοι (“it seems to me”), examining their uses in Xenophon and his most important historiographical predecessors respectively (Herodotus and Thucydides); in the second part, I turn to the section about Critias and Alcibiades (Mem. 1.2.12–48) and suggest some possible connections with Greek historiography. Throughout my analysis, I highlight both similarities and divergences between Xenophon’s techniques and certain historiographical methods and principles. I suggest that reading the Memorabilia in the light of Greek historiography enables a better evaluation of Xenophon’s literary techniques and that the manifold ways in which Xenophon evokes or differentiates himself from historiographical practices form part of an original apology.