Herodian's Septimius Severus: Literary Portrait and Historiography

Chrysanthos S. Chrysanthou
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引用次数: 2

Abstract

In this article I offer a comprehensive examination of Herodian’s narrative of the emperor Septimius Severus, with a focus on his literary programme and historical methodology. First, I corroborate the view of recent scholarship as regards Herodian’s complex characterization of Septimius Severus by offering new insights into Herodian’s technique of progressively shaping the emperor’s portrait with great richness and complexity. Second, I show that Herodian goes to some trouble to rework his source material, mainly Cassius Dio’s History, in order to favour a more positive reading of Severus, which best suits his themes and interests. Third, I argue that Herodian constantly employs intratextuality in order to develop substantial structural, thematic, and verbal associations and comparisons between Severus and other historical agents and thus draw the reader to perceive his history in a dovetailed and comparative manner. Thus, I propose that Herodian’s portrait of Severus is his own innovation, and that it should be tailored to his overall narrative method of providing a cohesive, unified, and intelligible re-configuration of the fragmented and chaotic post-Marcus world. I show that Severus’ portrait has been shaped by Herodian’s universalising view of imperial history, and that it is used to provide a sense of continuation and repetition among separate reigns by establishing thematic oppositions (mainly between activity and cowardice, and between tyrannical and enlightened behaviour), which recur as a unifying factor for his work as a whole.
希律王的塞普提米乌斯·西弗勒斯:文学肖像和史学
在这篇文章中,我提供了一个全面的检查希律王的叙事皇帝塞普提米乌斯塞维鲁,重点是他的文学纲领和历史方法论。首先,我证实了最近学术界关于希律王对塞普提米乌斯·塞维鲁的复杂刻画的观点,通过对希律王以丰富和复杂的方式逐步塑造皇帝肖像的技巧提供了新的见解。其次,我表明希律王花了一些功夫来修改他的原始材料,主要是卡西乌斯·迪奥的《历史》,以便更积极地解读西弗勒斯,这最适合他的主题和兴趣。第三,我认为希律王不断地运用内在性,以便在西弗勒斯和其他历史人物之间建立实质性的结构、主题和语言联系和比较,从而吸引读者以一种相互关联和比较的方式来理解他的历史。因此,我认为希律王的西弗勒斯肖像是他自己的创新,它应该适合他的整体叙事方法,为支离破碎和混乱的后马库斯世界提供一个连贯、统一和可理解的重新配置。我展示了西弗勒斯的肖像是由希律王对帝国历史的普遍看法所塑造的,它被用来通过建立主题对立(主要是在活动和懦弱之间,以及在专制和开明行为之间),在不同的统治之间提供一种延续和重复的感觉,这些对立作为他整体作品的统一因素反复出现。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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