Greco roman biography definition dictionary
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Nepos may have been inspired to juxtapose illustrious Greeks and Romans in different professions by Varro's Imagines, a compilation of seven hundred portraits of philosophers, poets, kings, dancers, and other famous men. It is no surprise that today biography remains among the most popular and best-selling genres of non-fiction.
Nepos and Non-Roman Cultures
To seek out the best lessons of noble conduct, Nepos decided that he would not restrict his study to notable Romans; instead, he would present the noble characters of Romans and foreigners alike.
To do any more would risk violating the spirit of Nepos' project and his attempt to carve out a distinctive identity for biography in Roman literature.
Nepos' simple style can be attributed to the audience for whom he wrote. Indeed, cultural difference is an illusion: "the nature of all states is the same" (eandem omnium civitatum esse naturam).7 A Greek might dance or play the flute or marry his half-sister, but all good men—Greek, Roman, or even Carthaginian—display intelligence, courage, and loyalty, and so reveal themselves as suitable models for the behavior of even the most upright Roman reader.
Nepos' Audience
In his concise biographies, Nepos focuses our attention on those episodes in which his subjects exhibit their exemplary qualities.
Among the over six hundred works composed by Varro (116–27 BC) were two autobiographies and a biographical work on poets. This innovative project, however, drew on a rich tradition of Greek and Roman authors who had praised famous men—and the rare woman. Biographical elements feature prominently in the writings of Plato and Xenophon, in particular those that deal with the trial and death of their mentor, Socrates.
While scholars focused their attention on the lives of generals, philosophers, and poets, many anecdotes about the members of this larger-than-life trio evolved through a symbiotic relationship between folk tradition and scholarship, in which a democratic, oral or sub-literary tradition of storytelling provided material that scholars would elaborate and correct.
Speaking of the general Pelopidas, he says, "I fear that if I were to detail his exploits, I will no longer seem to be recounting his life, but writing history" (ne non vitam eius enarrare, sed historiam videar scribere, 1). Of course, the deeds of a person's life, his upbringing, and motivations are intrinsic components of any historical account t moves beyond a simple recitation of events to describe people in action.
Nepos, therefore, elaborates well-chosen anecdotes to illustrate Hannibal's virtue. Several of Xenophon's other works reveal a keen interest in commemorating the exemplary characters of extraordinary individuals. Brit.): Graeco-Roman
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His project, therefore, sought to harness historical figures for the moral education of a non-elite audience. The fourth-century historian Theopompus was praised for examining "even the hidden reasons for actions and the motives of their agents, and the feelings in their hearts."1 The historian Polybius, who composed a lost work on the general and statesman Philopoemen, would even claim that elucidating the upbringing and character of important figures was more vital to his goals as a historian than traditional subjects, such as the founding of cities.2
If Greek literature provided Nepos with a variety of models for describing the lives of famous men, Roman aristocratic families had long fostered the commemoration of their worthy ancestors.
In what remains, however, we can discern the essential features that would come to define the genre of biography: utilization of multiple sources in determining the truth about a person's character, which was revealed by assessing their behavior and lifestyle often through the evidence of minor anecdotes rather than the great achievements that would be the focus of a proper historical account.
The Hellenistic period also witnessed a sustained interest in three quite different men: Alexander the Great, Homer, and Aesop, the writer of fables.
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Biography, therefore, had an intrinsic value for all readers, no matter how humble, as they could observe examples of noble or iniquitous action and model their behavior accordingly, even if the circumstances of their lives were more limited than those experienced by the most preeminent figures in a given profession. And so six centuries after their composition, Nepos still found an eager new audience for his biographies, one that would ensure that at least some of his writings would survive to be read in turn by you, over two millennia after Nepos first conceived of his project.
1. Theopompus, 6 (Usher trans). 2. Polybius, 10.21.4. 3. Nepos, Life of Timotheus 4.5-6. 4. Nepos, Life of Atticus 11.6. 5. Plutarch, Introduction to the Lives of Alexander and Caesar (Perrin trans.). | 6. Nepos, Life of Epamonidas 1.3-4. 7. Nepos, Life of Miltiades 6. 8. Nepos, Life of Pelopidas 1. 9. Nepos, Preface 1. |
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Unlike historians, who sought to commemorate the great achievements of previous generations and to provide examples of past successes and failures to help generals and statesmen navigate analogous situations in the present, ancient biographers focused on providing a moral education for their readers.