Tacitus’ Wonders: Empire and Paradox in Ancient Rome

Description

This volume approaches the broad topic of wonder in the works of Tacitus, encompassing paradox, the marvellous and the admirable. Recent scholarship on these themes in Roman literature has tended to focus on poetic genres, with comparatively little attention paid to historiography: Tacitus, whose own judgments on what is worthy of note have often differed in interesting ways from the preoccupations of his readers, is a fascinating focal point for this complementary perspective. Scholarship on Tacitus has to date remained largely marked by a divide between the search for veracity – as validated by modern historiographical standards – and literary approaches, and as a result wonders have either been ignored as unfit for an account of history or have been deprived of their force by being interpreted as valid only within the text. While the modern ideal of historiographical objectivity tends to result in striving for consistent heuristic and methodological frameworks, works as varied as Tacitus’ Histories, Annals and opera minora can hardly be prefaced with a statement of methodology broad enough to escape misrepresenting their diversity. In our age of specialization a streamlined methodological framework is a virtue, but it should not be assumed that Tacitus had similar priorities, and indeed the Histories and Annals deserve to be approached with openness towards the variety of perspectives that a tradition as rich as Latin historiographical prose can include within its scope. This collection proposes ways to reconcile the divide between history and historiography by exploring contestable moments in the text that challenge readers to judge and interpret for themselves, with individual chapters drawing on a range of interpretive approaches that mirror the wealth of authorial and reader-specific responses in play. Cover Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Contents Contributors Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Notes References Part One Paradoxography and Wonder 1 Tacitus and Paradoxography Defining the marvellous from Callimachus to Tacitus Truth, falsehood, causes and the paradoxographer-historian’s method Ours not to reason why: Correcting without explaining Of monsters and miracles: When explanation fails Conclusions Acknowledgements Notes References 2 Beyond ira and studium Tacitus and the Hellenistic Anxiety About Wonder The dangers of wonder The attraction of wonder The lessons of wonder Conclusion Acknowledgements Notes References 3 Wonderment in Aper’s Second Speech in Tacitus’ Dialogus de oratoribus Notes References 4 Laus eloquentiae and fama rerum The Paradox of the Socially Marvellous in Tacitus’ Dialogus and Agricola Wonders in the Dialogus? The socially marvellous in the Dialogus Wonders in the Agricola? The socially marvellous in the Agricola The paradox of the socially marvellous Appendix 1: Wonderful women in the Agricola and Dialogus Appendix 2: Social wonders in the Germania Acknowledgements Notes References Part Two Interpreting Wonders 5 Marvellous Predictions Wonders as Metahistory in Annals 6 The False Drusus Astrology and historiography The return of the phoenix Conclusion Notes References 6 Prodigiosum dictu Interpreting Signs and Oracles in Tacitus’ Histories The religious failings of Otho’s populism Vitellius and the absence of leadership Fortuna and fortuita: Titus at the oracle of Paphian Venus Conclusion Notes References 7 Interpreting Wonders in the Agricola and Germania Agricola Germania Ethnographic wonders: Redirection and irony Conclusions Acknowledgements Notes References Part Three The Principate as Object of Wonder 8 qualem diem Tiberius induisset Tiberius’ Absences on Capri as an Inspiration for Wonder and Uncertainty Tiberius the enigma Anecdotal and paradoxographical emperors Tiberius the wondrous Conclusion Notes References 9 Tacitus’ Tragic Touch Vespasian’s Healing Miracles at Histories 4.81–83 The healing miracles The visit to the temple of ‘Serapis’ The origins of ‘Serapis’ Athenian tragedy becomes Roman history Acknowledgements Notes References 10 Tacitus’ Ordinary Wonders The wondrous The ordinary Conclusions Notes References Index of Latin Terms Index of Greek Terms Index of Passages Cited Index of Names General Index