Clitarchus (historian)

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Kleitarchos ( Greek Κλείταρχος Kleítarchos ) was an ancient Greek historian . He lived at the end of the 4th / beginning of the 3rd century BC. Chr.

life and work

Kleitarchos came from Colophon ; he was the son of the historian Dinon of Colophon . Very little is known about his life. Between 323 and about 283 BC BC, probably around 310 BC BC, he wrote a description of the deeds of Alexander the great in at least 12 books, which has only survived in fragments. It is unknown whether Clitarchus still met the Macedonian king and whether he took part in the Alexander procession; at least the latter is very unlikely.

Clitarchus preferred the popular, novel-like and dramatic episodes to at least a rudimentary critical review of his sources. He not only described the purely military events, but also interwoven ethnographic and geographical explanations. Not infrequently, literary effects were more important to him than historical reality. The Anabasis Arrians stands for the "opposite direction" .

Kleitarchos took his material from the story of Callisthenes of Olynthos, among other things . He also relied on reports from participants in the Alexanderzug, including common soldiers.

It is true that Clitarchus wrote down many unbelievable things, but he has also preserved many interesting episodes. His judgment of Alexander was critical because he attributed tyrannical traits to him. Nevertheless, he apparently did not want to show the king in a very unfavorable light, because he certainly approved of ruler's virtues such as mildness, bravery and generosity.

reception

It was precisely the novel-like decoration and the dramatic, effective presentation, which was specifically intended to astonish the reader, probably ensured the success of the work, which was apparently the most widely read ancient Alexander story. It had a considerable effect on some later Alexander historians and formed the starting point of the so-called Vulgate tradition , in which the narrative element came to the fore (see also Alexander novel ). Many later authors drew directly or indirectly from this source. The 17th book of Diodor's world history is largely based on her, and Pompeius Trogus and Quintus Curtius Rufus also primarily used material from the depiction of Kleitarchos, which may have been conveyed to them from an intermediate source. The work was still very popular in later times, as recorded by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis historia .

Text output

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis historia 10,70,136.
personal data
SURNAME Clitarchus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient Greek historian
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 3rd century BC Chr.