Thucydideses: authorship, anachrony, and anachronism in Greek historiography. (3rd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Greenwood, Emily
• Is Part Of: Classical receptions journal. Volume 12:Number 1(2020)
• Page Start: 32
• Page End: 45
• Publication Date: 2020-01-03
• Subjects: Civilization, Classical -- Periodicals; Classical literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Philosophy, Ancient -- Periodicals; Classical antiquities -- Periodicals; 880.09
• DOI: 10.1093/crj/clz020
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1759-5134

Abstract

Abstract: This article revisits the theme of temporality in ancient Greek historiography through the lens of the Byzantine Histories of Laonikos Chalkokondyles, who fastened onto the device of the anachronic, proleptic future in Herodotus and Thucydides to license his apparently anachronistic device of writing in the language and persona of both, eighteen centuries after they wrote. In Laonikos' account, his narrative is part of the future of 'Greek' history anticipated by Herodotus and Thucydides. Laonikos' clever assimilation of Herodotus and Thucydides sheds new light on Thucydides' own reduplication of himself to project an authorial and textual future. This strong, anachronic move has made Thucydides' work assimilable by future readers and also opened up the work to the contingencies of reception, with its potential for anachronism.