GRETHLEIN, J., and Chr.B. KREBS, (eds.),
Time and Narrative in Ancient Historiography. The 'Plupast' from Herodotus to Appian.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016. First paperback ed. X,257p. Paperback. The editors explore traditions of ancient historiography by assembling eleven learned contributions that study the 'metahistorical' concept of the subtitle (coined by Grethlein). The introduction develops a theory and then ten chapters apply it to surviving 'historical' texts, either a single section (Tacitus) or an entire work (Xenophon). This 'plupast' includes periods prior to the historians’ chosen scope and periods prior to the presents of the historians’ characters, past paradigms of desirable or undesirable plans and acts mentioned in their speech or thought. The editors maintain a tight focus. Only three chapters address Latin writers (major figures: Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus, but where is Ammianus, even Caesar, or Suetonius?). The remaining authors, besides Appian and Herodotus, are Thucydides, Xenophon, Dionysius, and Plutarch (historian by courtesy of sporadically policed genre parameters). (...) The volume articulates a newly titled but significant ancient phenomenon.' (DONALD LATEINER in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2012.11.43).
€ 23.50
(New)