Papers by Daniel Tober
Hellenistic Historiography (Oxford Classical Dictionary)
Of the nearly thousand Greek histories written between the deaths of Alexander the Great and Cleo... more Of the nearly thousand Greek histories written between the deaths of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra VII, only a handful have survived, almost all incompletely (2 *Maccabees* and portions of the Histories of *Polybius (1)*, the Library of *Diodorus (3)* Siculus, and the Roman Antiquities of *Dionysius (7)* of Halicarnassus). What remains, along with the copious 'fragments' of what does not, belies a strict dichotomy between Hellenistic and Classical historiography. Classical and Hellenistic historians explored a similar set of themes and topics: the great majority wrote local histories; those that did not tended to focus on individual wars or campaigns, on inter-polis affairs more generally, or on broader global history. And they did so in similar ways: there is little to suggest that Hellenistic historians as a whole were more rhetorical, pathetic, or tragic than their Classical counterparts. The Hellenistic period saw advances in chronography, which allowed for a more comprehensive approach to universal historiography, and the proliferation of books and book culture, which influenced the way historians constructed and articulated their narratives. But what primarily distinguishes Hellenistic from Classical historians is their multitude (a consequence of the spread of Greek literacy both inside the Mediterranean and out) and their regrettable failure to enter the canon.
In the thirteenth book of his history of Pontic Herakleia, Memnon recounted an altercation betwee... more In the thirteenth book of his history of Pontic Herakleia, Memnon recounted an altercation between the Herakleotai and Seleucus I Nikator, whose recent defeat of Lysimachos at Koroupedion (281 ) had given him nominal control of the polis. Suspicious of Herakleia's loyalty, Seleucus reprimanded a contingent of local ambassadors who happened to be at court. The leader of the group, the wellknown Peripatetic Chamaileon, was unfazed. ῾Ηρακλῆς κάρρων, Σέλευκε, he replied: 'Herakles is stronger'. According to Memnon, Seleucus was confounded; understanding neither the Doricism nor the reference-Chamaileon was alluding archly to a line from one of Sophron's mimesthe king turned away in anger. Herakleia, in response, turned toward the Greek communities of the region, laying the groundwork, as Memnon frames it, for what would become the 'Northern League' and initiating a series of diplomatic negotiations through which it managed to maintain its autonomy until the Mithridatic Wars.¹ ¹ FGrHist 434 F1.7.1-2 = Phot. Bibl. cod. 224.7.1-2: ᾽Εν τούτῳ δὲ Σέλευκος ᾽Αφροδίσιον πέμπει διοικητὴν εἴς τε τὰς ἐν Φρυγίᾳ πόλεις καὶ τὰς ὑπερκειμένας τοῦ Πόντου. ὁ δὲ διαπραξάμενος ἃ ἐβούλετο καὶ ἐπανιών, τῶν μὲν ἄλλων πόλεων ἐν ἐπαίνοις ἦν, ῾Ηρακλεωτῶν δὲ κατηγόρει μὴ εὐνοικῶς ἔχειν τοῖς τοῦ Σελεύκου πράγμασιν, ὑφ᾽ οὗ Σέλευκος παροξυνθεὶς τούς τε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀφικομένους πρέσβεις ἀπειλητικοῖς ἐξεφαύλιζε λόγοις καὶ κατέπληττεν, ἑνὸς τοῦ Χαμαιλέοντος οὐδὲν ὀρρωδήσαντος τὰς ἀπειλάς, ἀλλὰ φαμένου, ῾Ηρακλῆς κάρρων, Σέλευκε (κάρρων δὲ ὁ ἰσχυρότερος παρὰ Δωριεῦσι). ὁ δ᾽ οὖν Σέλευκος τὸ μὲν ῥηθὲν οὐ συνῆκεν, ὀργῆς δ᾽ ὡς εἶχε, καὶ ἀπετρέπετο· τοῖς δὲ οὐτε τὸ ἀναχωρεῖν οἴκαδε οὐτε τὸ προσμένειν λυσιτελὲς ἐδόκει. ταῦτα δὲ ῾Ηρακλεῶται πυθόμενοι τά τε ἄλλα παρεσκευάζοντο καὶ συμμάχους ἤθροιζον, πρός τε Μιθριδάτην τὸν Πόντου βασιλέα διαπρεσβευόμενοι καὶ πρὸς Βυζαντίους καὶ Χαλκηδονίους. For Chamaileon's identity, see below n. 59; for the likelihood that he was intending here to
Daniel Tober’s “Megarians’ Tears: Localism and Dislocation in the Megarika” explores the interact... more Daniel Tober’s “Megarians’ Tears: Localism and Dislocation in the Megarika” explores the interaction between the local and nonlocal in Megarian cultural memory and historiography in the late Classical and early Hellenistic periods. Fragments from Megarian local histories (the Megarika), along with other sources preserving Megarian tradition (from proverbs to Pausanias’s Periegesis), suggest that the Megarian community conceived of its mythic territory differently from other poleis. The Megarians, occupying the isthmus between the Peloponnese on the one hand and Attica and Boiotia on the other, generated a collective memory that was itself isthmian: constricted by traditions emanating from the communities on either side and at the same time availing itself of Megara’s intermedial position. While many Greek local histories extended the reach of the focal community outward into the greater Greek world, the Megarika and the traditions on which they drew took the opposite approach, dragging renowned figures from the cultural memory of neighboring communities inward and binding them permanently to Megarian land through remembered burial and monumentalized tombs. By filling the Megarid with the graves of celebrated nonlocals (e.g. Adrastos, Alkmene, Ino, and Iphigeneia), Megarians constructed a collective past that advertised their territory’s important role as a facilitator of movement between the Peloponnese and the rest of peninsular Greece.
In the ninth book of his Ἀτθίς the Athenian historian and religious expert Philochorus related an... more In the ninth book of his Ἀτθίς the Athenian historian and religious expert Philochorus related an omen about which he had himself been consulted in the late fourth century B.C.E. (FGrHist 328 F 67). 1
Historia Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte Revue D Histoire Ancienne, 2010
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Papers by Daniel Tober
Book Reviews by Daniel Tober
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