The rhetoric of documentary quotation in Roman historiography / Spielberg, Lydia M.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Spielberg, Lydia M., author.

Contributor:

Damon, Cynthia, 1957- degree supervisor.

Ker, James, degree committee member.

Farrell, Joseph, degree committee member.

Damon, Cynthia, 1957- degree committee member.

University of Pennsylvania. Classical Studies, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Classical studies.

Ancient history.

Classical literature.

Classical Studies--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Classical Studies.

Local Subjects:

Classical studies.

Ancient history.

Classical literature.

Classical Studies--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Classical Studies.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (340 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 76-11A(E).

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]: University of Pennsylvania ; Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2015.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Since ancient historiography strives for vivid narration that makes the past come alive before the eyes of the reader, it is a bit of a paradox that historians generally avoid quotation, whether of archival documents, official records, published speeches, personal letters, or inscriptions. In this dissertation, I examine the places where Roman historians from Cato the Elder to Tacitus do engage with such "verbal" relics that can claim to provide direct access to the past, and I argue that when historians expressly incorporate, reject, or qualify such "authentic" words, they reflect on the fundamental process of converting the materia of history into a narrative with literary, social, and political import. I show that the so-called "convention" by which ancient historians generally avoid direct quotation of documents and individuals needs to be understood in terms of literary and social authority. Historians are keen to avoid being perceived as mere mouthpieces for the words of historical speakers or the narratives put forward by impressive public monuments and documents, but they also exploit the convention that quoted words reveal the authentic self, using "prosecutorial" techniques borrowed from forensic oratory to make dicta and documents reveal hidden truths. Each of my chapters concentrates on a single historian engaging with documents of types and in modes characteristic of the historical moment in which he writes: Sallust uses transcribed letters to contest the attempts of individual politicians control history with their published speeches and commentarii, while showing how words from the past reveal the corrupted language and values of the present; Livy contrasts the (merely) antiquarian interest of monumental inscriptions and published speeches with the comprehensive monumentum of AUC historiography; Tacitus shows how historiography can commemorate the true significance of ipsa verba in spite of the attempted manipulation of quotations to construct damning or flattering portraits of their authors. My dissertation shows that where these historians show themselves engaging with "verbal relics" of the past, whether to include or pointedly exclude them from their narratives, they are self-consciously commenting on what historiography does as a mediator, even a gatekeeper, between past and present.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 76-11(E), Section: A.

Advisors: Cynthia Damon; Committee members: Cynthia Damon; Joseph Farrell; James Ker.

Department: Classical Studies.

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2015.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9781321851960

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.