Hellenica Oxyrhynchia

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The Helleniká Oxyrhynchia (from Greek  Ἑλληνικά "Greek (history)" and Ὀξύρρυγχιος "from Oxyrhynchos ") are an ancient Greek historical work .

Lore

Only fragments of the work have survived . Three groups of papyrus fragments (from the 2nd century) have survived . On the one hand, there are the “London Papyrus” (found in 1906), the “Florentine Papyrus” (found in 1934) and a short papyrus fragment from Cairo. About 900 lines of the work are incomplete. The author and original title of the work are unknown, so it was named after the place where Oxyrhynchos was found in Egypt. As Hellenika referred to general historical works that deal with Greece (Hellas).

content

In terms of content, the Helleniká Oxyrhynchia follow on from the historical work of Thucydides and therefore, in the opinion of many researchers, offer a valuable parallel tradition to Xenophon's Helleniká . The "Florentine Papyrus" reports on the battle of Notion in the Decel-Ionian War (407 BC). The "London Papyrus" describes various events from 397–395 BC. BC, namely the sea war between the Persians under Konon and the Spartans , the Theban-Phocian disputes and the land operations of the Spartans in Asia Minor under Agesilaos . It also includes an important digression on the constitution of the Boeotian covenant. The very short "Cairo Papyrus" is about the failure of the Athenian offensive in Ionia under the walls of Ephesus in 409 BC. It is usually assumed that the author worked on the model of Thucydides on the basis of an autopsy and his own exploration. The style is simple, excursions are frequent, speeches are completely absent. As with Thucydides, the year is counted with the help of an epoch year, in this case the takeover of hegemony by the Spartans (403/02 BC)

Author's question

The name of the author is not known. Research suggested the following possible authors: Ephoros of Kyme , Theopompos of Chios , Androtion , Daimachos and Kratippos of Athens . The latter is considered by many to be the most likely candidate in modern research, especially with regard to the chronological classification and assessment of his work by Plutarch . References to the source tradition going back to the Helleniká Oxyrhynchia can also be found in Plutarch as well as in Diodor , Cornelius Nepos and Justin .

The ancient historian Bruno Bleckmann vehemently advocates Theopompus as the author and also advocates the thesis that the content of the Helleniká is merely an embellishment of older works (especially by Xenophon ) and therefore has little or no independent source value. Bleckmann takes up a consideration already represented by Georg Busolt and justifies it further. It remains to be seen whether this position will prevail in research.

Editions and translations

The Helleniká Oxyrhynchia can be found in Felix Jacoby's " Fragments of the Greek Historians ". Furthermore, an edition edited by Vittorio Bartoletti appeared in the Bibliotheca Teubneriana series . Annotated and translated editions exist in English and German .

literature

  • Bruno Bleckmann : Athens' path to defeat. The last years of the Peloponnesian War (= contributions to antiquity. Vol. 99). Teubner, Stuttgart et al. 1998, ISBN 3-519-07648-9 .
  • Bruno Bleckmann: Fiction as History. New studies on the author of the Hellenika Oxyrhynchia and on the historiography of the fourth century BC (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, 277). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-525-82549-8 .
  • Klaus Meister : The Greek historiography. From the beginning to the end of Hellenism. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart et al. 1990, ISBN 3-17-010264-8 , pp. 65-68.
  • Egidia Occhipinti: The Hellenica Oxyrhynchia and Historiography. New Research Perspectives. Brill, Leiden / Boston 2016, ISBN 9789004325715 .
  • Carlo Scardino: The Hellenica of Oxyrhynchos. In: Bernhard Zimmermann , Antonios Rengakos (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Greek literature of antiquity. Volume 2: The Literature of the Classical and Hellenistic Period. CH Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-61818-5 , p. 620 f.

Remarks

  1. ^ P. Oxy. V 842. Bernard P. Grenfell: The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Vol. V, Egypt Exploration Society, London 1908, No. 842 full text .
  2. ↑ PSI 1304. Pubblicazioni della Società Italiana per la Ricerca dei Papiri Greci e Latini in Egitto. Papiri greci e latini. 13, 1953, ZDB -ID 990976-x , No. 1304.
  3. ↑ P. Cair (Temp. Inv. No.) 26/6/27 / 1-35. Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte, Catalog Général des Antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire .
  4. ^ Gustav Adolf Lehmann : A new fragment of Hell. Oxy .: Some remarks on P. Cairo (Temp. Inv. No.) 26/6/27 / 1-35. In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 26, 1977, pp. 181–191.
  5. ↑ Eberhard Ruschenbusch : Theopompea . In: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 39, 1980, p. 81ff.
  6. ^ Felix Jacoby , Paul Maas : The Authorship of the Hellenica of Oxyrhynchus . In: The Classical Quarterly 44, 1950, pp. 1-11.
  7. ^ Philipp Harding: The Authorship of the Hellenika Oxyrhynchia . In: The Ancient History Bulletin 1, 1987, ISSN  0835-3638 , pp. 101-104.
  8. ↑ Cf. for example Carlo Scardino: Historiography. In: Bernhard Zimmermann , Antonios Rengakos (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Greek literature of antiquity. Vol. 2, Munich 2014, here p. 621f.
  9. ↑ Plutarch, Moralia 345c-e.
  10. ↑ Cf. Bleckmann: Athens' way into defeat. P. 19ff.
  11. ↑ Cf. Georg Busolt: Der neue Historiker und Xenophon. In: Hermes 43, 1908, pp. 255-285.
  12. ↑ FGrH 66.
  13. ^ Vittorio Bartoletti (Ed.): Hellenica Oxyrhynchia. Teubner, Leipzig 1959.
  14. ↑ Paul McKechnie, Stephen J. Kern (Eds.): Hellenica Oxyrhynchia. Aris & Phillips, Warminster 1988, ISBN 0-85668-358-2 .
  15. ↑ Ralf Behrwald (ed.): Hellenika von Oxyrhynchos (= texts on research 86). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-18500-5 .