Last Real Greek Historian?

[longshotgene]

I have been performing a paper on the evolution of the historiography of Ancient Greece. So far I have ended my paper with Polybius being the last true Greek Historian before the rise of the Roman Empire. Would you agree or disagree, and why?

[Primus Pilus]

I have been performing a paper on the evolution of the historiography of Ancient Greece. So far I have ended my paper with Polybius being the last true Greek Historian before the rise of the Roman Empire. Would you agree or disagree, and why?

 

It's hard to disagree if your criteria is only "before the rise of the Roman Empire". Rome's power was definately spreading during Polybius' lifetime, but he was born a free Greek and even resisted Roman occupation. Though clearly a partisan of the Scipiones once he began his writing in earnest, he eventually returned to Greece and later held a position of local political importance (post destruction of Corinth).

 

Unlike later Greek historians, Arrian, Appian, Plutarch and Cassius Dio he never held Roman citizenship nor obviously political office. His work (though some is clearly lost) focuses on themes both Greek and Roman, but perhaps more importantly seems to have been written for a Greek rather than Roman audience. While the 4 other historians mentioned above also wrote in Greek, the target audience of their work seems to be much broader. However, not being able to read the original I am influenced by the translations, so perhaps such an observation is largely conjecture.

[M. Porcius Cato]

I agree with PP. After the Greeks were deprived of their own imperial ambitions, Greek historical narrative had to switch to the new protagonists, which were in Rome.

 

Now wouldn't it be amazing to find some Carthaginian Polybius, writing of the Roman conquest of Greece, or a Carthaginian Plutarch, writing of the parallels between the illustrious Carthaginian statesmen and Roman ones? Maybe today we'd be talking about Punic-Roman civilization instead of Greco-Roman civilization.

[Kosmo]

What's a "real" or "true" greek historian?

Historians living during roman rule could not ignore this reality and as historians often wrote about their recent history that had to be roman. Still, we have works like Anabasis, about Alexander, written by Arrian that has nothing to do with roman history but it's a great book, written in the attic dialect that presents us a wealth of info. And Plutarch it's a good source for greek history also not only roman.

As many things roman this it's a open ended question that, if you don't chose carefully your subject, could have the name of George Sphrantzes as answer.

[Primus Pilus]

What's a "real" or "true" greek historian?

 

And that's the real question. LSG said that his criteria was "prior to the rise of the Roman Empire". Without that clause, then yes, I'd also see no reason to include some of those that followed.