Historiae mundi: studies in universal history

Description

Universal History is a type of history that attempts to explain the world beyond the immediate surroundings of the author. It reflects a desire to synthesise the mass of written and oral knowledge about the past and to introduce a systematic interpretation. The purpose of this collection is to re-examine the notion of Universal Historiography with a focus on its appearance in the Greek and Roman world and on the legacy that ancient authors offered to later generations. Fifteen new essays by a diverse set of international scholars tackle questions of definition, and illustrate the diversity of. Introduction / Tim Cornell, Andrew Fear, Peter Liddel. -- Metabole politeion as universal historiography / Peter Liddel. -- Polybius and the first universal history / François Hartog. -- Diodorus' reading of Polybius' universalism / Brian Sheridan. -- Diodorus' good statesman and state revenue / Errietta Bissa. -- Strabo and the development of ancient Greek universal historiography / Johannes Engels. -- The glory of Italy and Rome's universal destiny in Strabo's Gegraphika / Marta García Morcillo. -- Universal history and the early Roman historians / Tim Cornell. -- Universal and particular in Velleius Paterculus : Carthage versus Rome / Clemence Schultze. -- Focalised universality : contextualising the genre / Liv Mariah Yarrow. -- Ennius as universal historian : the case of the Annales / Jackie Elliott. -- Theology versus genre? the universalism of Christian historiography in late antiquity / Peter Van Nuffelen. -- Orosius and escaping from the dance of doom / Andrew Fear. -- A rose in the desert? Late antiquity and early Byzantine chronicles and the formation of Islamic universal historiography / Marco Di Branco. -- Universal historiography and world history according to Hegel / Allegra de Laurentiis. -- Spengler, the modern west, and Roman decline / John Farrenkopf.