Truth and historiographical aims in Polybius' histories
<p>This work looks at the textual exegesis of the passages in which Polybius writes about truth as seen in a historiographical milieu and in relation to what Polybius claims to be the proper way of writing history. The main scholarly contribution and originality of this dissertation are to pro...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English Greek, Ancient (to 1453) |
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2019
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| Summary: | <p>This work looks at the textual exegesis of the passages in which Polybius writes about truth as seen in a historiographical milieu and in relation to what Polybius claims to be the proper way of writing history. The main scholarly contribution and originality of this dissertation are to provide a comprehensive analysis of this concept, since the notion of truth in Polybius’ work has not been yet extensively examined, and at the same time to ‘test’ Polybius’ assessments and check whether he actually stuck to his claims.</p>
<p>The linguistic analysis of the Polybian terminology and the close look at his style and narrative technique illustrate how he employs diverse narrative and oratorical devices, how he mixes references to history, philosophy, tragedy, and rhetoric to invent new words and concepts (which have been defined as Polybian neologisms), and how he plays on different levels with his readers (a special kind of readers, the ‘lovers of learning’). Also, this work shows Polybius’ anxiety to give an overall view of the events, which is feasible only by applying the rules and techniques required by universal history. The thematic approach to truth has gone hand in hand with the focus on Polybius’ attitude towards historiographical methodology in relation with his predecessors, and the dissertation also delineates different types of non-truths or anti-truths in Polybius’ view, thus ‘how not to write a (false) account of events’. Indeed, in most cases Polybius’ methodology lies in the shadow of the critiques to his predecessors.</p>
<p>My work not only reconstructs the image Polybius has of truth, but also advocates a new understanding of the figure of the historian, who is characterized by the newly-created Polybian concept of assuming the proper ethos when one undertakes the crucial task of writing history.</p> |
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