Duris of Samos

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Duris (* around 330 BC in Sicily) was an ancient Greek historian and writer of the beginning Hellenism .

Life

Little is known about Duris as the tradition is sparse. His family came from Samos ; his father's name was Kaios and Duris had at least two brothers, Lynkeus and Lysagoras. He was born in the time of exile after the Athenians under Timotheus founded the island in 366/365 BC. Conquered and transformed into a clergy ; the exact time of his birth is unknown. It is believed that the family fled to Sicily and Duris was born there too.

As Duris 320/321 BC When he returned to Samos with his family, conflicts arose between the new and former landowners. Duris' father Kaios took on a decisive role in this crisis and a kind of tyranny with Kaios at the top developed at a point in time that cannot be precisely dated. At the end of the 4th century Lynkeus was a pupil of Theophrastus at the Peripatetic school founded by Aristotle in Athens; Whether Duris also studied there is controversial in recent research.

Duris succeeded his father as the tyrant of Samos at an unknown point in time, which he presumably remained until the island of 281 BC. Passed to King Ptolemy II . Based on a remark made by Pliny the Elder (Pliny, Naturalis historia , 8, 40), it is assumed that Duris was still alive this year and was writing a work. Eventually Duris continued to function as ruler, since his brother Lynkeus was a guest of Ptolemy.

Works

His extensive writings are only preserved in fragments. The main work is a history of the time from Philip II to Demetrios Poliorketes (281 BC). It comprised at least 23 books, tended to be anti-Macedonian and is known by different titles: Histories (Ίστορίαι), Hellenika (Ἑλληνικά) and Macedonica (Μακεδονικά). Duris criticized various other historians (including Ephoros of Kyme and Theopompos ) in the preface and was of the opinion that the writing of history should captivate the reader through a tragic style and imitation ( mimesis ). This type of representation is often referred to in research as "tragic historiography", but the term is rather inappropriate; the opposite direction is the so-called “pragmatic historiography” ( Polybios ). In this respect, Duris is not only important as a historian, but also with regard to the historiographical theory he developed. Duris, however, has apparently often attached greater importance to the elaborate description than to the accuracy of the representation; Even in antiquity, his style was criticized for being “sensational”. The sensational as a form of representation was by no means completely new, but can already be found in earlier historians since Herodotus ; but one can definitely describe the work of Duris as a "sensational history".

Furthermore Duris wrote several other works, such as a history of his homeland Samos and a work on Agathocles of Syracuse in four books. There are also literary-historical and art-historical treatises with titles such as Über die Tragödie , Über die Malerei and (only the title has been handed down) About the competitions , but these have in fact been lost. His writings are often quoted by Diodorus , Plutarch and Athenaios .

The fragments preserved are edited in Felix Jacoby's FrGrHist (No. 76).

literature

Overview representations

Introductions and investigations

  • Robert Barnett Kebric: In the shadow of Macedon: Duris of Samos . Steiner, Wiesbaden 1977, ISBN 3-515-02575-8 .
  • Franca Landucci Gattinoni: Duride di Samo . L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome 1997, ISBN 88-7062-985-6 .
  • Otto Lendle : Introduction to Greek historiography. From Hekataios to Zosimos . Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1992, ISBN 3-534-10122-7 , pp. 181-189.
  • Paul Pédech: Trois historiens méconnus: Théopompe, Duris, Phylarque . Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-251-32637-5 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Franca Landucci Gattinoni: Duride di Samo . Rome 1997, p. 9ff.
  2. ^ Andrew Dalby: The Curriculum Vitae of Duris of Samos. In: The Classical Quarterly . New Series, Vol. 41 (1991), pp. 539-541.
  3. ↑ Cf. in summary Klaus Meister: The Greek historiography . Stuttgart 1990, p. 96ff.
  4. ↑ Klaus Meister: The Greek historiography . Stuttgart 1990, p. 99.
  5. ↑ Otto Lendle: Introduction to Greek historiography. Darmstadt 1992, pp. 185-189.
  6. ↑ Plutarch, Pericles 28.
  7. ↑ Klaus Meister: The Greek historiography . Stuttgart 1990, p. 99f.
  8. ↑ Otto Lendle: Introduction to Greek historiography. Darmstadt 1992, p. 182; Klaus Meister: The Greek historiography . Stuttgart 1990, p. 96.
personal data
SURNAME Duris of Samos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek historian and writer
DATE OF BIRTH around 330 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.