Rebels and slaves: reinterpreting the first Sicilian slave war (original) (raw)
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A. Meeus (ed.), Narrative in Hellenistic Historiography, Histos Supplements 8, 2018
Diodorus Siculus' narrative of the First Sicilian 'Slave War' is often considered to offer an 'accurate, reliable, and comprehensive' account of the war. This article aims to demonstrate that the text is not necessarily authoritative by reassessing the narrative function of an anachronistic explanatory passage that is often 'fixed' in modern accounts with a plausible, but hypothetical alternative. It is argued that we cannot 'fix' this anachronism without thereby jeopardising the text's narrative structure. In sum, the anachronism was inserted because the author did not understand the events he narrated or their immediate historical context.
The Commanders in the First Sicilian Slave War
Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica, 1993
sent to the island in each of the years 134-132 in an at tempt to quell the revolt. P. Rupilius (cos. 132) finally succee ded in reducing the last rebel strongholds, thus ending the war. There is scholarly consensus on what the consuls did against the slaves. More troublesome are the activities of the praetorian commanders, who had to face the initial stages of the revolt, and then continued to be sent to the island alongside the con suls, for the entire length of the war. And how long was that? Here we face another problem. The most recent scholar to treat this war, after surveying a very full modern bibliography on this question, considers the basic chronology of the revolt im possible to ascertain, suggesting a duration of anywhere from five to as many as nine years ('). (•) Some of the arguments found here were first advanced in my doctoral dissertation, The Praetorship in the Roman Republic down to 81 B. C., Harvard Univ. 1990. I must warmly thank Professor E. Ra dian,-who directed the dissertation, for generously undertaking to read several drafts of this paper, and substantially improving it by offe ring much expert criticism. I would like to emphasize that Prof. Ra dian is in no way res|»iisible for any errors which remain, nor is it to be assumed that he agrees with all the opinions here expressed. I should note that all ancient dates in this paper are B. C. unless other wise specified. (') K. R. Bradley, Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World, 140 B. C.-70 B. C., Bloq/fington and Indianapolis 1989. 59; cf. 140-141 «... altogether the range of possibilities for the initial year of the war 154 T. COREY BRENNAN These difficulties are not surprising, given the state of the ancient evidence. Our principal source for the First Slave War is Photius' summary of Diodorus, supplemented with a few passages which a Byzantine excerptor made in the tenth cen tury A. D. for the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (=Diod. 34/35, 2; 8-11). In the form that we have Diodorus' account, it omits most of the specific events of the war. Our other sources are mostly epitomes relying on Livy (the Periochae, Orosius, Obsequens, Floras), some short passages of Vale rius Maximus and Frontinus, a few obiter dicta of Cicero, thi-ee rebel coin issues, and some inscribed sling bullets found in the vicinity of Henna (>). Despite this sad state of affairs, the extends from 141 B. C. to 136 B. C. The only safe point that can be made on the duration of the war is that it covered at east the years 136 B C-132 B C and perhaps a little longer.. Though Bradley also despairs of reconstructing the sub^nsular commands in the war, his lKK.k is excellent on the background and character of the revolt. The last few decades have seen a fair amount of discussion on the ve xed problem of the chronology of the Fin* Slave Green 77ie First Sicilian Slave War,-Past and Pres. • 20, 1961, 10-29, argued for open insurrection breaking out in
2001
Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheke has traditionally been seen as a quarry for the lost historians on whose works he drew while researching it. Consequently, Diodorus has not been studied as a historian in his own right, and the Bibliotheke has become little more than a jigsaw puzzle, with sections attributed to any number of lost historians. This dissertation seeks to relocate Diodorus and the Bibliotheke within the Greek historiographical tradition. Therefore it will examine four aspects relating to Diodorus and the Bibliotheke. First, the General Proem will be examined in order to show how Diodorus informed his readers about his aims and methods. Secondly, it will be argued that the General Proem is not an unintelligent repetition of older ideas, specifically those expounded by Polybius in the Introduction to his Histories. Rather, Diodorus builds on the work of Polybius, but more importantly he also interweaves his own original ideas about historiography, particularly universal histo...
The Geography of Rebellion: Strategy and Supply in the two ‘Sicilian Slave Wars’
2014
The two Sicilian ‘Slave Wars’ of the second century BC have rarely been studied in terms of their strategic complexities. Previous efforts to do so have started from the assumption that each conflict was a priori the same or similar. In addition, both wars have been placed into a separate category of analysis from other wars, leading to analyses that have characterised the wars together as disorganized guerrilla campaigns or examples of ancient marronage. In this paper I argue, in contrast, that we must consider the two conflicts as separate entities, and that we must approach their study as we would any other wars. By studying the rebel strategies of each war in terms of their relationships with the geography of Sicily and the logistics of warfare I contend that the two wars were fought in contrasting manners, with the first highly strategic, and the second confused and ineffectual.
There's No Place Like Home: Diodorus Siculus, Agyrium, and the Young Caesar
Delivered at ASCS 39 in Brisbane, Australia. Throughout the Bibliotheca Historica, Diodorus Siculus’ hometown of Agyrium appears again and again, seemingly out of place next to mentions of Syracuse, Henna, and Messana. It is honoured by Hercules, instrumental in a Sicilian victory over Carthage, and notable for its fecund landscape. Despite this, the town is mentioned rarely outside of the Bibliotheca. This paper will examine why Diodorus’ inclusion of Agyrium in the Bibliotheca Historica is of importance, with a particular focus on the glorification of its mythical past (Diod. Sic. 4.24), the city’s apparent strength in both politics and warfare (Diod. Sic. 14.95, 16.82-83), and the fertility of its environs (Diod. Sic. 4.84). Following the revionist methodologies of Kenneth Sacks, Peter Green, and Iris Sulimani (who all move away from Diodorus as mere compiler), this paper argues that these inclusions throughout the text are a reaction to the younger Caesar’s victory over Sextus Pompeius in 36 BCE, and the subsequent punishments levied against Sicily for siding with Pompeius during the Sicilian Revolt. These punishments included the destruction of cities, large-scale confiscations of land, and mass relocations of people. As Diodorus was a contemporary of these events, living at Rome through the 40s and 30s BCE, this paper will demonstrate that the author’s glorification of Agyrium is not simply an attempt at self-aggrandisement or vanity, but aims to justify the continued importance of Sicily to Rome, all the while pointing subtle barbs at imperial rule and the hegemony of the younger Caesar.
Rebels with a Cause: An Analysis of Rebellious Nobles in the Graeco-Roman World
This paper discusses the rhetoric of historians and orators as they describe nobles who have gone rebel, from Polycrates to Sextus Pompey. Focusing on the characters of Alcibiades and Catiline, correlations are drawn to their characters, however history remembers these men very differently. They both resort to the use of force and violence, and sometimes outright piracy, to gain their political means, but Cicero begins a tradition of vilifying rebel nobles which persists for centuries.