Apollonius Rhodius, Herodotus and Historiography

Argues that Herodotus is key to understanding genre and the relationship between past and present in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica.

A. D. Morrison (Author)

9781108729253, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 April 2023

256 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.378 kg

'… this is a valuable contribution to the study of Herodotus and Apollonius and the ways that historiography in general and Herodotus in particular can influence epic.' Laura Marshall, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

This book examines the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes through one aspect of its relationship with other texts. The particular intertextual relationship examined is that with the Histories of Herodotus, focusing on the presence of the latter text in the former in terms of the poem's employment of characteristics and features of historiographical discourse, narrative structures, presentation and description of characters, aetiology and patterns of explanation, portrayal of ethnic groups, depiction of kingship and tyranny; the relationship between particular passages in both texts is also explored. The consequences for the interpretation of the poem are profound: the Argonautica employs Herodotean historiography as a key intertext in order to manipulate and frustrate the reader's generic expectations for an epic poem and to complicate the relationship between the contemporary Hellenistic Mediterranean (and its kingdoms) and the distant mythological Argonautic past.

1. Introduction
2. Receiving Herodotus
3. Creating authorities
4. Explaining the past
5. Telling stories
6. Greeks and non-Greeks
7. Kings and leaders
8. Conclusions and consequences.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History: earliest times to present day [HBL], History [HB], Humanities [H], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literary studies: general [DSB], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]