The Inheritance Of Historiography, 350-900

To what extent did the historians of the early Middle Ages inherit the aims and methods of Greek and Roman historiography? How far were they influenced by classical coventions about literary genre, rhetorical technique and political subject-matter? A conference held in Exeter in 1985 brought together a number of distinguished scholars to discuss these questions.

This book presents nine of the contributions, on representative authors from the fourth century to the ninth. Together they provide an authorative guide to the contrasts and continuities in history-writing from Byzantium to Alfred’s Wessex.

Contributions by
T. S. Brown, Donald Bullough, Averil Cameron, James Campbell, Jill Harries, Robert Markus, Joihn Matthews, Roger Ray, B. H. Warmington and T.P. Wiseman

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS; ABBREVIATIONS; INTRODUCTION: CLASSICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY T.P. Wiseman, 1; DID ATHANASIUS WRITE HISTORY? B.H. Warmington, 7; AMMIANUS AND THE ETERNITY OF ROME John Matthews, 17; CHRONICLE AND THEOLOGY: PROSPER OF AQUITAINE Robert Markus, 31; SOZOMEN AND EUSEBIUS: THE LAWYER AS CHURCH HISTORIAN IN THE FIFTH CENTURY Jill Harries, 45; HISTORY AS TEXT: COPING WITH PROCOPIUS Averil Cameron, 53; THE TRIUMPH OF GRECO-ROMAN RHETORICAL ASSUMPTIONS IN PRE-CAROLINGIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY Roger Ray, 67; ETHNIC HISTORY AND THE CAROLINGIANS: AN ALTERNATIVE READING OF PAUL THE DEACON'S HISTORIA LANGOBARDORUM Donald Bullough, 85; ROMANITAS AND CAMPANILISMO: AGNELLUS OF RAVENNA'S VIEW OF THE PAST T.S. Brown, 107; ASSER'S LIFE OF ALFRED James Campbell, 115; INDEX, 136.

Peter Wiseman is Emeritus Professor of Roman History at Exeter University and a Fellow of the British Academy. He came to Exeter in 1977, and was Head of Department from 1977 to 1990. Although he retired in 2001, he is still involved in graduate teaching at both MA and PhD levels. ‘I've been obsessed with the history and literature of Rome for nearly half a century’, he says. Among the results of that obsession have been books on Catullus (Catullan Questions 1969, Catullus and his World 1985), on Roman political history (New Men in the Roman Senate 1971, Flavius Josephus: Death of an Emperor 1991), on Roman historiography (Clio's Cosmetics: Three Studies in Greco-Roman Literature 1979, Historiography and Imagination: Eight Essays on Roman Culture 1994), and on Roman myth and legend (Remus: a Roman Myth 1995, Roman Drama and Roman History 1998). Reviews of T.P. Wiseman books include the following comments: 'quite simply brilliant' (Times Literary Supplement), 'enthralling' (London Review of Books), 'stylistic elegance and wit, dazzling erudition and imaginative flair' (Classical Review), 'exceptional analytical skill and creative imagination' (Bryn Mawr Classical Review).