Fame and Infamy : Essays for Christopher Pelling on Characterization in Greek and Roman Biography and Historiography

Over recent decades, the debate about how individuals are portrayed in prose-texts of Greek and Roman historiography and biography has evolved in increasingly nuanced ways. The sorts of questions which now tend to be raised concerning such prose-texts brings them closely into line with the more subtle analysis usually reserved for poetry. Moreover, the engagement with literary strategies at work in historiography and biography has a fundamental impact both on the relationship of these texts with poetry and on the status of these genres as historical evidence. In twenty-four chapters written by leading experts in their fields, 'Fame and infamy' considers the central question of characterization within Greek and Roman historiography and biography from a fresh perspective, combining close readings of texts of individual authors and overarching exploration into questions of how and why characterization in the ancient world evolves in the ways that it does. Spanning a wide period of time, and focusing on writers from both the Greek and Roman worlds - from Herodotus to Cassius Dio, and from Cicero to Suetonius and beyond - this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the genres of historiography and biography in the ancient world Title Pages 1 Epigraph 4 Acknowledgements 5 A Conversation Between Plutarch and Lamprias 7 An Appreciation of Chris Pelling 10 Basanos Kai Paidia 14 Characterization in Herodotus 28 Putting up Pyramids, Characterizing Kings 45 Herodotus on Being ‘Good’ 60 ‘The Medium is the Message’ 73 Plutarch, Herodotus, and the Historian’s Character 87 Self-Characterization and Political Thought in Xenophon’s Anabasis 99 Implied Characterization and the Meaning of History in Xenophon’s Hellenica 112 Aspect and Subordination in Plutarchan Narrative 127 Dressed for Success? Clothing in Plutarch’s Demetrius 146 ‘The Love of Noble Deeds’. Plutarch’s Portrait of Aratus of Sicyon 158 Plutarch’s Numa and the Rhetoric of Aetiology 172 Plutarch and Dio on Cicero at the Trial of Milo 187 The Rapture and the Sorrow 201 Characterizing Augustus 216 Teachers and Students in Roman Athens 229 Tacitus and Germanicus 244 At the End of the Rainbow. Nero and Dido’s Gold (Tacitus Annals 16.1–3) 259 Colour in Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars 274 Bigger from a Distance 289 Three Readings of Character in the Periochae of Livy 302 From Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth 314 Pagan and Christian Sex Lives in the Roman Empire 322 Not the Whole Story? Moralizing Biography and Imitatio Christi 338 References 352 Index Locorum 416 General Index 427 Fame and Infamy honours Christopher Pelling, reflecting the range of his interests and demonstrating the extent of his influence in spearheading the so-called literary turn in the study of ancient historiography. The volumes twenty-four chapters are written by former pupils, graduate students, and close academic associates, themselves leading experts in their fields, from the UK and overseas. They consider the central question of characterization within Greek and Roman historiography and biography from a fresh perspective, combining close readings of texts of individual authors and overarching exploration into questions of how and why characterization in the ancient world evolves in the ways that it does. Spanning a wide period of time, and focusing on writers from both the Greek and Roman worlds -- from Herodotus to Cassius Dio, and from Cicero to Suetonius and beyond -- this volume will be essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the genres of historiography and biography in the ancient world. This collection of 24 new essays by Classical scholars on Greek and Roman historiography and biography considers from a fresh perspective the central question of how characterisation evolves in these two major Classical genres. The volume is wide-reaching, both in the time-periods and authors considered, ranging from Herodotus to Cassius Dio, and from Cicero to Suetonius and beyond. The contributors offer close readings of individual texts and overarching engagement with questions of how and why characterisation in the ancient world develops as it does