Download Early Roman Historians

Early Roman Historians
The Roman Tradition
The nature of Roman Historical
tradition
Characterized by Greek influences – Historians
looked to Greek Historical tradition for models
 Native Roman sense of history was based on
gens and familia – the basic Roman social units
 Gens: kinspeople, clan – descended from a
common prehistoric ancestor, tightly bound by
common rituals, had their own burial rites and
cemetaries
 familia - family – shared ancestral cult; family
ancestors added to prestige of present
generation
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Traditions to preserve history
of familia
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Family archives, recording accomplishments of famous
ancestors (limited to houses of ruling elite)
Senatorial families had ius imaginum , entitled them to
display in the center of their houses, in the atrium or
tablinium, the imagines of their famous ancestors cast from
wax masks at the death of a male family member
These were paraded by dressed up living members of familia
during funerals - the more famous imagines they could
display, the more prominent was the family
funerary inscriptions listed honours received, offices held –
consulship, military campaigns, triumphs received, etc.
laudautiones funebres – funeral speeches praising all
accomplishments of deceased – copies often preserved
these biographical family records became sources for later
writers/historians
Oral traditions
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“And would there were still extant those
songs, of which Cato in his Origines has
recorded, that long before his time the
several guests at banquets used to sing in
turn the praise of famous men. (Cicero,
Brutus 75)
A Roman funerary procession
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Polybius on Roman Funerals (History, 6.
53-54)
Noble Roman with imagines of his
ancestors
A Roman imago (death mask)
(Caesar?)
Sallust on the effects of the
imagines
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“I have often heard that Quintus Maximus, Publius
Scipio, and other eminent men of our country,
were in the habit of declaring that their hearts
were set mightily aflame from the pursuit of virtue
whenever they gazed upon the masks of their
ancestors. Of course they did not mean to imply
that the wax or the effigy had any such power
over them, but rather that it is the memory of
great deeds that kindles in the breasts of noble
men this flame that cannot be quelled until they
by their own prowess have equally the fame and
glory of their forefathers.” (Sallust, Jugurtha 4,5)
Cicero on the Annales Maximi
“For history began as a mere compilation of
annals, on which account, in order to preserve the
general traditions, from the earliest period of the
city down to the pontificate of Publius Mucius,
each High Priest used to commit to writing all the
events of his year of office, and record them on a
white tabled (album), and post up the tablet
(tabula) at his house, that all men might have the
liberty to acquaint themselves herewith, and to
this day those records are known as the pontifical
annals (annales maximi) (Cicero De orat. 2.52)
 Named after the pontifex maximus (highest priest)
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Cato on the annales
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It is disagreeable to write what stands on
the tablet at the house of the Pontifex
Maximus – how often grain was costly,
how often darkness or something else
blocked the light of the moonor the sun.
(Cato, Origines Frag. 77
History and Family
For the individual Roman the past and the
present were joined by memories and
records of gens and familia.
 function: Records inspired pietas (respect
and affection) central Roman values,
offered historical exempla (examples) as
standards for current conduct
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Tracking time in early Rome
tradition talks about a calendar developed in the
regal period - used to carry out sacrifices,
religious rituals, assemblies at the right time
 no indication of an early Roman system to keep
track of years
 we know of nails pounded into cella walls of the
Capitoline temple to count years, and a method
to count years according to the year of the rex
sacrorum (the chief priestly office in early Rome)
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Sources and their problems
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Earliest period - primarily oral tradition- traditional stories transmitted orally from
generation to generation
family records (heavily biased to flatter and exaggerated to extol prominence of
individual families)
Written Sources Prior to 200 BCE:
XII Tables (earliest lawcode)
Written family records
fasti, compiled by pontifex maximus – chief priest – included the dies fasti (days on
which sacred law permitted business and court transactions) and the dies nefasti
(days on which they were prohibited)
Libri Lintei, linen tablets priestly lists, religious events, natural phenomena
Tabulae Pontificum,
Later – at the end of a year all were added to an inscription set up at the regia in the
forum – and called annales maximi
Gradually included names of consuls, priests, military triumphs, all sort of important
events requiring religious rituals, famines, eclipses (used later to fix dates)
Fasti, Roman Calendar
The first Roman Historians
Roman Historiography emerged around
200 BCE
 Gnaeus Naevius ( poet from Campania) –
Bellum Poenicium on first Punic war more of a national epic
 Quintus Fabius Pictor (ca. 254 BCE – after
200 BCE) a senator – 2nd Punic War
 Lucius Cincius Alimentus – a senator – 2nd
Punic War
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Gnaeus Naevius 270-201 BCE
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Wrote in Latin verse
Roman citizen from Campania, S. Italy
First writer who was free and a citizen who wrote in
Latin
Wrote down orally transmitted Roman legends to
contemporary events in epic form.
Bellum Poenicum - ( the Punic War) epic poem with
Homeric elements, includes gods on battlefield although
he himself fought in the war
Poem also includes the Roman foundation myth –
indicates he knew Homer and Hellenistic poetry
Wrote also tragedies/comedies – most likely translations
or adaptations of Greek plays
Gnaeus Naevius
First to write tragedies on Roman themes:
Romulus; and a tragedy on the defeat of
the Gauls by Claudius Marcellus 222 BCE –
likely for his funeral games
 Use of history for glorification of Roman
aristocrats
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Quintus Ennius
239 – 169 BCE
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Also wrote in Latin verse
From Rudiae, s. Italy
Spoke Greek, Latin, Oscan
204 BCE brought to Rome by Cato; later
received Roman citizenship
Joined Scipio’s circle of Hellenized Romans
Wrote tragedy and epic
Epic Poem: Annales (in Latin) – earned him title
of “Father of Latin Literature”
Quintus Ennius
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Annales: an epic poem - a history in 18
books from Aeneas to 170s BCE (600 lines
survived)
 Was much studied by later authors
 Focus on military campaigns, virtus of
ancestors and aristocrats and aristocratic
ideology;
 Epic elements reflecting Greek influences
Q. Fabius Pictor
b. c. 250 BCE
First historian to write in prose
but in Greek, the language of the educated elite
 Roman senator; was ambassador to Delphi to
consult oracle after Roman defeat at Cannae
(216 BCE)
 Wrote in Greek – language of the educated
Romans – Latin vocabulary for prose was
limited
 Wrote a history from beginnings of Rome to
Second Punic War: Annales Graeci
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Fabius Pictor
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Was the prose narrative in a primarily oral
culture
His sources: family archives, annals, speeches,
earlier Greek historians; traditional stories;
personal accounts he heard from children and
grandchildren of participants in the Punic Wars.
Replaced Naevius’ history;
Wrote a serious history that earned respect of
the Greek historians
Important: first one to bring Hellenistic Greek
historical methods to Roman historical writings
Fabius Pictor
Criticized by Polybius for being pro-Roman and anti
Hannibal
 Yet was used heavily by Polybius as source
 Polybius points to his use of moralizing anecdotes, praise
for Roman greatness and superiority.
 Fabius Pictor was the first to see that competition for
social/political prominence among Roman elite could be
transferred to historical writings
 His introduction of history in prose and moralistic
nationalism in historical writings shaped the character of
Roman historiography for centuries
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Lucius Cincius Alimentus
(praetor in 210 BCE)
Also participated in the Second Punic War;
became prisoner of war at battle of
Cannae in 216 BCE
 Wrote historical narrative in Greek
 Was praised by Polybius
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Marcus Porcius Cato ( 234 – 149 BCE)
Cato the Elder
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Had a prestigious public career for a novus homo (new
man – first in his family to pursue public career and even
become consul) reached the consulship in 195 BCE and
become censor in 184 BCE
Famous orator – Cicero knew 150 speeches by Cato;
First to write in Latin prose: Origines - traces Rome’s
history in 7 books from its beginnings to ca. 150 BCE
Only fragments remain; annalistic history
Very conservative Roman; Opposed Hellenization of
Roman culture; promoted mos maiorum - (customs of
the ancestors) i.e. traditional Roman values – especially
frugality, hard work, discipline, pietas (respect and
affection)
Cato the Elder
Purpose of writing history: pragmatic as a
tool to instruct future Roman leaders; to
learn moral standards of ancestors – to
fight the corruption that came with all
things Greek (Hellenization)
 Other Works: De agricultura - farming
handbook
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Greek and Roman historiography
meet
Capture of Magna Graeca 3rd century BC
Direct contact with Greeks
Conquest of Greece proper
Influx of educated Greeks into Rome (as
slaves/hostages or scholars