Sempronius Asellio

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Sempronius Asellio (* around 158 BC; † after 91 BC) came from the Roman plebeian family of the Sempronians and emerged as the author of a Latin historical work that primarily dealt with contemporary history. It is only available in the form of quotations from other authors.

Life

Sempronius Asellio, whose prenomen is unknown, was according to the only surviving information about his life military tribune of Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus at the siege of Numantia in Spain (134-133 BC). Because of his position, he was probably around 24 years old at the time, which means that his date of birth was around 158 BC. Calculated. Since a fragment of his work is very likely to be related to the murder of the tribune Marcus Livius Drusus in 91 BC. Asellio must have lived at least until this year. According to the testimony of another quotation, it is even believed to have happened in the years 86 or 83 BC. Have reported. Otherwise there is no evidence of his biography.

plant

Asellio is considered to be the first Roman historian who limited himself to contemporary history, while his predecessors usually began their presentation with the founding of Rome or wrote monographs on specific past eras. It was only at an advanced age and a little later than the historian Lucius Coelius Antipater that he wrote his historical work, the exact title of which has not been passed down, but fluctuates between Res gestae and Historiae in the quotations . The treated period began around 160 BC. BC or with direct connection to his model Polybios with 146 BC And lasted until at least 91 BC. The exact number of books in Asellio's work is not known. It was at least 14, but the information is likely to have been passed down incorrectly that an event - mostly due to an event in the year 86 (plundering of the port of Piraeus by the general Sulla ) or 83 BC. Related - quote from the 40th book. Such a high volume number seems impossible due to the distribution of other citations, because they can be dated as follows: Fragment 4 (from book 4) probably to 137 BC. BC, fragments 6 and 7 (from Book 5) to 133 BC. And fragment 11 (from book 14) probably to 91 BC. So if 46 years (137–91 BC) were described in 11 books, it is unlikely that Asellio wrote another 26 books (namely book 15 to book 40) over the years 91 to 86 or 83 BC. Chr. Composed. He was also 91 BC. Already almost 70 years old and therefore the 14th book will not be able to have many more at the side.

In total, only 15 fragments of Asellio's work have survived. Most of them come from the Roman writer Aulus Gellius . One of these fragments is a declaration by Asellios, presumably from Proömium, about the purpose and method of his historical presentation, in which he also criticizes the "annals" of his predecessors. These were exhausted in the mere enumeration of facts without giving any information about the underlying causes and motivations or the domestic politics. In addition, “real” historiography should educate a moral-patriotic disposition with the aim of filling the readership with more enthusiasm for the execution of state tasks such as national defense. Asellio was probably the first Roman historian to join the pragmatic historiography of Polybius. Due to the small number of surviving fragments, however, it cannot be assessed to what extent he actually realized his own claim to the processing of historical facts in his work. It is controversial to which authors Asellio's polemics specifically refers. While some of the researchers believe that he means all previous annalists in general, other scholars assume that he only criticizes those historians who mainly included chronicle material of the priestly annals (Annales maximi) in their writings .

reception

The Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero criticized Asellio's simple style, which was used entirely in the manner of Polybius. This also explains why his writing apparently was not used at all by later historians. In any case, apart from Cicero's remark, there are no mentions of Asellio's work, which has only been cited by grammarians and antiquarians since the reign of Emperor Hadrian, until the 2nd century AD . Aulus Gellius saw Asellio directly and partly for reasons of content, the later authors ( Nonius , Charisius , Servius , Priscian ), on the other hand, apparently only indirectly through sources and out of purely linguistic interest.

output

  • H. Peter, Historicorum Romanorum Reliquiae (HRR) 1, pp. 179-184.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Gellius 2,13,3.
  2. ↑ No. 11 ed.Peter in Gellius 13,22,8.
  3. ↑ Charisius , Grammatici Latini (GL) 1,195,18f. ed. Wedge.
  4. ↑ Gellius 5,18,7ff. (= F 1, F 2 Peter)
  5. ^ Cicero, de legibus 1.6.
  6. ↑ Otherwise, there is only one quotation given out of interest in terms of content, which serves as a commentary by the Roman poet Virgil : Scholien Bernensis zu Virgil, Georgica 3.474 = Fragment 9 ed. Peter.
personal data
SURNAME Sempronius Asellio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Asellio, Sempronius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman historian
DATE OF BIRTH around 158 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 91 BC Chr.