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Document Details : Title: The Use and Abuse of Historians Subtitle: Polybios' Book XII and our Evidence for Timaios Author(s): BARON, Christopher Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 39 Date: 2009 Pages: 1-34 DOI: 10.2143/AS.39.0.2042603 Abstract : Polybios’ Book XII provides crucial evidence concerning Timaios, the main object of Polybios’ scorn. Scholars have occasionally studied his specific attacks on Timaios but have tended to concern themselves with the question of whether the critique is justified. But since Timaios survives largely through the lens of Polybios, and Polybios uses Timaios for a very specific purpose — to show how not to do history — an important matter for investigation is the methodological one of how we should go about using this evidence. An analysis of Polybios’ treatment of Timaios in Book XII, when compared to his statements elsewhere in the Histories, highlights the distorting effect of Polybios’ polemic on the evidence for Timaios’ historiography. It also reveals that, despite his lengthy complaints, Polybios himself provides evidence that Timaios was a respected and successful historian as well as a careful and diligent researcher. My findings help bring out the methodological dangers inherent in the study of the fragmentary historians. |
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