Appendix: Thematic Classification of Events in the Parian Marble
Appendix: Thematic Classification of Events in the Parian Marble Epoque Political Event Military Event Cultural Events Religious Event A1 1 0 0 0 A2 1 0 0 0 A3 1 0 0 0 … Read more
Chapters
Final Words
Final Words The Parian Marble is a long inscription of unknown authorship, cut on a tall stele for display on the island of Paros. It may best be described as a selective chronographic list, annalistic in style and panhellenic in scope. It belongs to the families of ancient chronography and monumental historiography. The Parian Marble uses the basic techniques for time reckoning and the compressed, impersonal style… Read more
6. Literary History in the Parian Marble
Chapter 6. Literary History in the Parian Marble Biographies of ancient Greek poets and musicians frequently rely on information found in the Parian Marble. [1] The inscription is held as a reference point, even when the validity of dates is called into question. [2] Yet inquiry into how biographical details were attained rarely goes beyond matters of… Read more
5. Time in the Parian Marble
Chapter 5. Time in the Parian Marble Time is ubiquitous in the Parian Marble, as suits its genre and purpose; it structures the inscription at all levels. While individual entries open with “from when” and conclude with dating formulae (by Athenian kings or archons), the text as a whole is built upon the backward counting of years (see chap. 1, sect. 4 above). Scholarship has thus far… Read more
4. The Parian Marble as a Literary Text
Chapter 4. The Parian Marble as a Literary Text The Parian Marble offers the rare opportunity to explore the textual qualities of an ancient piece of Greek chronography. However, literary scholars seem to have so far been reluctant to study it as a verbal artifact, probably due to its catalogue style, simple syntax, and limited vocabulary. It is certainly possible to analyze the chronicle’s style, themes, characters,… Read more
3. The Genre of the Parian Marble
Chapter 3. The Genre of the Parian Marble 1. The Chronicle as a Literary Genre Features such as the catalogue–like format, the absence of authorial voice, the omission of controversies about facts or sources, are not exclusive to the Parian Marble. They characterize many other texts from ancient Greece and beyond. Most particularly, content and structure link the Parian Marble to the family of “chronography,” one… Read more
2. Text and Translation
Chapter 2. Text and Translation 1. Introduction For more than a century, Jacoby’s has been the authoritative text of the Parian Marble, first through his 1904 Habilitation thesis, later through the collection of historical fragments (FGrH 239), hereafter referred to as Jacoby’s edition. His work was timely, indeed. By 1904, section B of the inscription, just discovered (1897), had already been edited by Krispi and commented… Read more
1. The Parian Marble
Chapter 1. The Parian Marble 1. Introduction The Parian Marble is a monumental inscription written in Attic Greek on a stele that was originally over two meters tall, [1] dating from some time after 264/3 BCE. [2] It has reached us in two sections, ninety-three and thirty-three lines long. There is a gap of nineteen years… Read more
List of Abbreviations
List of Abbreviations BNJ = I. Worthington, ed., Brill’s New Jacoby: The Fragments of the Greek Historians I–III (Jacoby Online), http://www.brill.com/publications/online-resources/jacoby-online. BNP = H. Cancik, M. Landfester, H. Schneider, Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, (New Pauly Online), http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/brill-s-new-pauly. CIG = Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum (Berlin, 1825–1877). CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin,… Read more
Preface
Preface For most philologists working on ancient Greek poetry, the Parian Marble is not usually a final destination, but a series of stopovers. Indeed, a chronological list is hardly the kind of thing that one reads from beginning to end. Hence, the common tendency to approach the inscription as a repository of information and to mine it for specific dates of people and events. Only the few… Read more