Herodotus in Context

Ethnography, Science and the Art of Persuasion
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-521-01241-6
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 330 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 540 g

Herodotus called his work an enquiry and wrote before 'history' was a separate discipline. Coming from Halicarnassus, at the crossroads between the Persian and Athenian spheres of influence, he combined the culture of Athens with that of the more pluralistic and less ethnocentric cities of east Greece. Alive to the implications of this cultural background for Herodotus' thought, this study explores the much neglected contemporary connotations and context of the Histories, looking at them as part of the intellectual climate of his time. Concentrating on Herodotus' ethnography, geography and accounts of natural wonders, and examining his methods of argument and persuasion, it sees the Histories, which appear virtually without antecedents, as a product of the late fifth-century world of the natural scientists, medical writers and sophists - a world of controversy and debate.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Thomas, Rosalind

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements; References and texts; 1. Introduction; 2. Medicine and the ethnography of health; 3. Dividing the world: Europe, Asia, Greeks and barbarians; 4. Nomos is king: nomos, environment and ethnic character in Herodotus; 5. 'Wonders' and the natural world: natural philosophy and historie; 6. Argument and the language of proof; 7. Polemic and persuasion; 8. Performance, competitive display and apodeixis; 9. Epilogue; Appendix. beavers and female ailments; Bibliography; Indexes.

Über Autor(innen)

Thomas, Rosalind
Rosalind Thomas is Reader in Ancient History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of Oral Tradition and Written Record in Classical Athens (1989 HB 0521350255; 1991 PB 0521425182) and Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece (1992/HB 0521373468; PB 0521377420).