The shaping of narrative in Polybius / Nikos Miltsios.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miltsios, Nikos, 1980- author.

Contributor:

Orville H. Bullitt Classics Fund.

Series:

Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes ; v. 23.

Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes ; volume 23

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Polybius. Historiae.

Polybius.

Rome--Historiography.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Historiography.

Physical Description:

x, 173 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin : De Gruyter, 2013.

Summary:

In his attempt to explain Rome's rise to world power, Polybius composed a carefully structured narrative. Yet, despite its sophistication, Polybius' narrative artistry has received little scholarly attention. This study is the first book-length narratological analysis of the Histories. It contributes to our understanding of its content and purpose by unveiling the narrative strategies employed by Polybius in shaping his intriguing story. The journal Trends in Classics, and the accompanying Supplementary Volumes publish innovative, interdisciplinary work which brings to the study of Greek and Latin texts the insights and methods of related disciplines such as narratology, intertextuality, reader-response criticism, and oral poetics. Both publications seek to publish research across the full range of classical antiquity. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Well begun is half done 6

1.1 The proem (1.1 - 5) 7

1.2 The Romans' first crossing into Sicily (1.6 - 12) 13

1.2.1 Where to begin 13

1.2.2 Rhegium and AAessana: The issue of mercenaries 18

1.2.3 The intervention of Rome 21

2 The narrative of the prokataskeue 30

2.1 The First Punic War (1.13 - 63) 30

2.1.1 The theme of naval supremacy 32

2.1.2 The story of Hannibal the 'Rhodian' (1.46 - 47) as Mise en Abyme 37

2.1.3 Romans and Carthaginians 39

2.2 The Roman Wars against the Illyrians (2.2 - 12) and the Gauls (2.14 - 35) 47

3 Temporal strategies 58

3.1 Synchronicity 58

3.2 The interlace structure of book 3 64

3.2.1 Spain and Illyria (3.13 - 34) 65

3.2.1.1 The Romans' strategic error 65

3.2.1.2 Hannibal 68

3.2.2 Hannibal's march on Italy (3.35 - 3.57.1) 70

3.3 Order 74

3.3.1 Analepses 74

3.3.2 Prolepses 79

4 Focalization and interpretation 84

4.1 The theatre of war 87

4.2 The attribution of motives 92

4.3 The Carthaginians in Italy (3.69 - 117) 99

4.4 The Romans in Africa (14.1 - 15.9) 106

5 The Polybian narrator 115

5.1 The primary narrator 116

5.1.1 The narrator as writer 117

5.1.2 The narrator as historian 120

5.1.3 The narrator as critic 125

5.2 Polybius as a character 132

5.3 Narratees 140.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Orville H. Bullitt Classics Fund.

ISBN:

3110330016

9783110330014

OCLC:

852732378

Publisher Number:

99955954219