Timagenes of Alexandria

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Timagenes of Alexandria was an ancient Greek rhetorician and historian . He lived in the 1st century BC. Chr.

Life

Timagenes came from Alexandria in Egypt; According to the Byzantine lexicon Suda , his father was a money changer there. In 55 BC Timagenes came as a prisoner of war of Aulus Gabinius , who was Ptolemy XII in Egypt . when king had reinstated, to Rome. He was ransomed by Faustus Cornelius Sulla , son of the dictator Sulla , and settled in Rome. There he made the acquaintance of Mark Antony , but later stayed in the vicinity of Augustus . Due to his sharp tongues, however, he fell out with Augustus, who finally terminated Timagenes' Amicitia ("friendship"). His new patron was Gaius Asinius Pollio , who himself was a historian and little devoted to the principate . Euagoras of Lindos is said to have written a (now lost) biography about Timagenes.

Works

Timagenes wrote several writings, of which only 15 fragments have survived. He wrote a treatise on Gaul , which the late antique historian Ammianus Marcellinus used (directly or through an intermediate source) in his excursus on Gaul. Timagenes seems to have relied on Poseidonios ; the work also reflects his general interest in geography and ethnography. The often very spirited Timagenes burned a treatise on the rule of Augustus after his break with the Princeps.

His main work was probably called Peri Basileon ("About the Kings"). It was apparently a universal story that went back to Caesar's time . The depiction was probably heavily focused on the Hellenistic monarchies of the East, with the history of the various dynasties serving as the central theme. Many details of this work are controversial. The aftermath, however, was quite considerable. It probably served as a source for Appian , Quintus Curtius Rufus and Pompeius Trogus , among others . Plutarch and Strabo mention him and probably also used his universal story; Flavius ​​Josephus names and quotes him from Strabon's history. Quintilian praised Timagenes as a very important historian, who after Clitarchus had brought Greek historiography back to a new fame.

Alfred von Gutschmid assumed that the universal history of Pompeius Trogus, which we only have as the epitome of Junianus Justinus , was merely a Latin adaptation of the universal history of Timagenes. This would be plausible, among other things, because the universal history of Timagenes covers a similar topic as the work of Trogus. Although the hypothesis is controversial, it has recently been taken up again in a modified form - Timagenes as an important source and influencing factor. At least it would be very surprising if Trogus had not known the work of Timagenes and at least had not included it.

Some of the research assumes that Timagenes has an anti-Roman stance, mainly because of a statement by Seneca that Timagenes regretted fires in Rome only because the destroyed buildings would then be replaced by more beautiful ones. But this is questionable in view of his good relations with Roman leadership circles. In any case, such an attitude cannot be derived from the few fragments. It is also speculative to relate Titus Livius ' statement that some Greek historians glorified the Parthians at the expense of Rome to Timagenes. Likewise, it cannot be conclusively clarified whether Timagenes really thought in a Hellenocentric way and was favored by the barbarians, as Marta Sordi said, since too little of his work has survived.

reception

Richard Laqueur stated, “It may very well be that T (imagenes) played a greater role in ancient lore than we can prove; but it is not really tangible. Man and work in a peculiar way elude any access. ”At least Timagenes apparently occupied a not unimportant place in the ancient historiographical tradition (at least according to Polybius ) and was read quite often. He is therefore to be regarded as one of the most important Greek writers of the Augustan period. Apparently he also played a not insignificant role in conveying Greek culture in Augustan Rome. Strabo and Nikolaos of Damascus seem to have been influenced literarily by him; As a rhetorically versed author, he was also in direct contact with several contemporary rhetoricians.

Text output

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Suda, tau 588 .
  2. ↑ Glen Bowersock : Augustus and the Greek World . Oxford 1965, p. 109f., P. 123ff.
  3. ↑ Ammian 15,9,2. See Laqueur, Timagenes , Sp. 1069-1071.
  4. ↑ Seneca the Elder , Controversiae 10,5,22; there is also an interesting characterization of the Timagenes.
  5. ↑ On the presumed character of the work, cf. Laqueur, Timagenes , Sp.1065f.
  6. ↑ Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 10,1,75.
  7. ^ Alfred von Gutschmid: Trogus and Timagenes . In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 37, 1882, pp. 548–555.
  8. ^ John C. Yardley, Waldemar Heckel : Justin: Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus. Vol. 1, Oxford 1997, pp. 30ff. See also Laqueur, Timagenes , Sp. 1065f.
  9. ↑ Seneca, Epist. 91.13.
  10. ↑ Livy 9:18, 6.
  11. ↑ Ronald Syme : The Augustan Aristocracy . Oxford 1986, p. 357. Johannes Engels argues against this : Augusteische Oikumenegeographie und Universalhistorie in Strabon's work by Amaseia . Stuttgart 1999, p. 229ff. Engels vigorously contradicts the sometimes widespread view that Timagenes could be seen as a representative of an intellectual opposition to Roman rule in the Mediterranean region. See also Laqueur, Timagenes , Sp. 1066-1068.
  12. ↑ See also the Timagenes article . In: Hatto H. Schmitt , Ernst Vogt (Ed.): Lexicon of Hellenism . Wiesbaden 2005, column 1085.
  13. ↑ Laqueur, Timagenes , Col. 1071.
  14. ↑ See also Glen Bowersock: Augustus and the Greek World . Oxford 1965, p. 124.
  15. ↑ Jeremy McInerney, Duane W. Roller: Biographical Essay . In: Brill's New Jacoby , No. 88.
personal data
SURNAME Timagenes of Alexandria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek historian
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria
DATE OF DEATH 1st century BC Chr.