Title: Assyrian history of Herodotus : the missing and the extant logos
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2023, vol. 28, iss. 1, pp. 107-127
Extent
107-127
-
ISSN1803-7402 (print)2336-4424 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2023-1-7
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/digilib.78222
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
Herodotus wrote down a very brief account of the history of Assyria in his Histories, but he promised to deliver a complete logos as well. We can find two remarks on this future project that (possibly) never materialized in the end. In the preserved text, there are only several mentions of Assyrian kings, history, and customs, but it seems he planned to expand the narrative further, potentially in a separate piece of work. The result was a mysterious Assyrian logos. In this article, I will explore the possible influence of Herodotus' account on the Greek tradition about this eastern land through either one of these logoi, if, in fact, he had any at all. In the first part, I will examine the sources, whether they refer to his more detailed treatise on Assyria, and what can be said about this work in general. In the second part, I will focus on his extant Assyrian logos, whether any later author (most notably Ctesias and Berossus) could have used his work as a source, and who became the authorities on the history of Assyria, considering the changes in the narratives.
References
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[2] Almagor, E. (2012). Ctesias and the Importance of His Writings Revisited. Electrum, 19, 9–40.
[3] Alonso-Núñez, J. M. (1988). Herodotus' Ideas about World Empires. Ancient Society, 19, 125–133.
[4] Alonso-Núñez, J. M. (2003). Herodotus' Conception of Historical Space and the Beginnings of Universal History. In P. Derow, & R. Parker (Eds.), Herodotus and his World: Essays from a Conference in Memory of George Forrest (pp. 145–152). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[5] Asheri, D., Lloyd, A., Corcella, A., & Murray, O. (2007). A Commentary on Herodotus: Books I–IV. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[6] Beaulieu, P.-A. (1989). The Reign of Nabonidus, King of Babylon 556–539 B.C. New Haven: Yale University Press.
[7] Bichler, R. (2000). Herodots Welt: Der Aufbau der Historie am Bild der fremden Länder und Völker, ihrer Zivilisation und ihrer Geschichte. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
[8] Bichler, R. (2004). Some Observations on the Image of the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms within the Greek tradition. In R. Rollinger, & C. Ulf (Eds.), Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World: Means of Transmission and Cultural Interaction (pp. 499–518). Stuttgart: Steiner.
[9] Bichler, R. (2011). Ktesias spielt mit Herodot. In G. Lanfranchi, R. Rollinger, & J. Wiesehöfer (Eds.), Ktesias' Welt/Ctesias' World (pp. 21–52). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
[10] Boncquet, J. (1990). Ctesias' Assyrian King-List and His Chronology of Mesopotamian History. Ancient Society, 21, 5–16.
[11] de Breucker, G. (2011). Berossos between Tradition and Innovation. In K. Radner, & E. Robson (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture (pp. 637–657). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[12] Dalley, S. (1999). Sennacherib and Tarsus. Anatolian Studies, 49, 73–80.
[13] Dalley, S. (2003). The Transition from Neo-Assyrians to Neo-Babylonians: Break or Continuity? Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies, Hayim and Miriam Tadmor Volume, 25–28.
[14] Dalley, S. (2005). Semiramis in History and Legend. In E. Gruen (Ed.), Cultural Borrowings and Ethnic Appropriations in Antiquity (pp. 12–22). Stuttgart: Steiner.
[15] Dillery, J. (1992). Darius and the Tomb of Nitocris (Hdt. 1.187). Classical Philology, 87(1), 30–38.
[16] Dillery, J. (2013). Berossos' Narrative of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II from Josephus. In J. Haubold, G. Lanfranchi, R. Rollinger, & J. Steele (Eds.), The World of Berossos (pp. 75–96). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
[17] Dougherty, R. (1929). Nabonidus and Belshazzar: A Study of the Closing Events of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press.
[18] Drews, R. (1965). Assyria in Classical Universal Histories. Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, 14(2), 129–142.
[19] Drews, R. (1970). Herodotus' Other Logoi. The American Journal of Philology, 91(2), 181–191.
[20] Drews, R. (1973). The Greek Accounts of Eastern History. Washington: Center for Hellenic Studies.
[21] Evans, P. (2009). The Invasion of Sennacherib in the Book of Kings. Leiden: Brill.
[22] Gasche, H. (1995). Autour des Dix-Mille: vestiges archéologiques dans les environs du 'Mur de Médie'. Pallas, 43, 201–216.
[23] Gera, D. (1997). Warrior Women: The Anonymous Tractatus de Mulieribus. Leiden: Brill.
[24] Gufler, B., & Madreiter, I. (2015). The Ancient Near East and the Genre of Greek Historiography. In R. Rollinger, & E. van Dongen (Eds.), Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact, Continuities, Parallels (pp. 381–396). Münster: Ugarit.
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[27] Huxley, G. (1965). A Fragment of the Ἀσσύριοι λόγοι of Herodotos. Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 6, 207–212.
[28] Kahn, D. (2014). The War of Sennacherib against Egypt as Described in Herodotus II 141. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, 6(2), 23–33.
[29] Lanfranchi, G. (2013). Babyloniaca, Book 3: Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians. In J. Haubold, G. Lanfranchi, R. Rollinger, & J. Steele (Eds.), The World of Berossos (pp. 61–74). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
[30] Llewellyn-Jones, L., & Robson, J. (2010). Ctesias' History of Persia: Tales of the Orient. London: Routledge.
[31] Lloyd, A. (1988). Herodotus' Account of Pharaonic History. Historia: Zeitschrift Für Alte Geschichte, 37(1), 22–53.
[32] MacGinnis, J. (1986). Herodotus' Description of Babylon. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 33, 67–86.
[33] MacGinnis, J. (1988). Ctesias and the Fall of Nineveh. Illinois Classical Studies, 13(1), 37–42.
[34] MacQueen, J. (1978). The Ἀσσύριοι Λόγοι of Herodotus and Their Position in the Histories. The Classical Quarterly, 28(2), 284–291.
[35] Madreiter, I. (2011). Ktesias und Babylonien: über eine nicht existierende Größe in den Persika. In G. Lanfranchi, R. Rollinger, & J. Wiesehöfer (Eds.), Ktesias' Welt/Ctesias' World (pp. 247–278). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
[36] Pettinato, G. (1985). Semiramide. Milano: Rusconi.
[37] Powell, J. (1938). A Lexicon to Herodotus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[38] Powell, J. (1939). The History of Herodotus. Amsterdam: Hakkert.
[39] Ravn, O. (1942). Herodotus' Description of Babylon. Copenhagen: Nyt nordisk forlag.
[40] Röllig, W. (1969). Nitokris von Babylon. In R. Stiehl, & H. Stier (Eds.), Beiträge zur alten Geschichte und deren Nachleben. Festschrift für Franz Altheim zum 6. 10. 1968 (pp. 127–135). Berlin: de Gruyter.
[41] Rollinger, R. (2017). Assyria in Classical Sources. In E. Frahm (Ed.), A Companion to Assyria (pp. 570–582). Hoboken: Wiley Blackwell.
[42] Sack, R. (1991). Images of Nebuchadnezzar: The Emergence of a Legend. Selinsgrove: Sesquehanna University Press.
[43] Schmitt, R. (2006). Iranische Anthroponyme in den erhaltenen Resten von Ktesias' Werk. Wien: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
[44] van der Spek, R. (2008). Berossus as a Babylonian Chronicler and Greek Historian. In Idem (Ed.), Studies in Ancient Near Eastern World View and Society (pp. 277–318). Bethesda: CDL Press.
[45] Stronk, J. (2010). Ctesias' Persian History, I: Introduction, Text, Translation. Düsseldorf: Wellem.
[46] Stronk, J. (2017). Semiramis' Legacy: The History of Persia according to Diodorus Siculus. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
[47] Tuplin, C. (2013). Berossus and Greek Historiography. In J. Haubold, G. Lanfranchi, R. Rollinger, & J. Steele (Eds.), The World of Berossos (pp. 177–199). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
[48] Verbrugghe, G., & Wickesham, J. (1996). Berossos and Manetho: Introduced and Translated. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
[49] Waters, M. (2017). Ctesias' Persica and Its Near Eastern Context. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
[50] West, S. (1987). And It Came to Pass That Pharaoh Dreamed: Notes on Herodotus 2.139, 141. The Classical Quarterly, 37(2), 262–271.
[51] Wiesehöfer, J. (2003). The Medes and the Idea of the Succession of Empires in Antiquity. In G. Lanfranchi, M. Roaf, & R. Rollinger (Eds.), Continuity of Empire (?): Assyria, Media, Persia (pp. 391–396). Padova: Sargon.
[52] Wiseman, D. (1985). Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon: The Schweich Lectures 1983. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[53] Wood, H. (1972). The Histories of Herodotus: An Analysis of the Formal Structure. The Hague: Mouton.
[54] Zawadzki, S. (1984). Herodotus' Assyrian History. Eos, 72, 253–267.