Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Series Editor’s Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Dedication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Ctesias (a)
- 3 Ctesias (b)
- 4 Deinon (a)
- 5 Deinon (b)
- 6 Heracleides
- 7 Conclusions
- Appendix I Two Notes on the Cypriot War
- Appendix II Plutarch, the Persica and the Regum et Imperatorum Apophthegmata
- Bibliography
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Series Editor’s Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Dedication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Ctesias (a)
- 3 Ctesias (b)
- 4 Deinon (a)
- 5 Deinon (b)
- 6 Heracleides
- 7 Conclusions
- Appendix I Two Notes on the Cypriot War
- Appendix II Plutarch, the Persica and the Regum et Imperatorum Apophthegmata
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The most important writer of the group of authors who are said to have composed Persica works is Ctesias of Cnidus (fl. 400–390 BCE). Of all the authors treated in this book, Ctesias the physician is the only one about whom we have relatively secure information concerning his life and work, even though it all appears to ultimately come from his own descriptions, and despite the fact that certain issues are still unclear. Contrary to other scholarly treatments of Plutarch's use of Ctesias, we shall divide the discussion here into two chapters: the first is the group of passages in which Ctesias’ name is explicitly stated as a source by Plutarch, and the second is the class of sections which can be attributed to Ctesias with a high degree of probability. In this chapter, after an analysis of the passages in Plutarch's work, we shall combine our observations with what is known of Ctesias from other sources, to infer Plutarch's work method and his purpose of using Ctesias in the Artaxerxes and mentioning this source.
PLUTARCH AND CTESIAS
Apart from one instance, all the explicit references to Ctesias in Plutarch's corpus come from the Artaxerxes. This fact leads to the most likely conclusion that Ctesias’ work was only read and used by Plutarch for this biography, even though abridged sections from his Persica may have been encountered by the biographer in other works and collections of which we have no possibility of knowing. The first passage comes from the beginning of the Artaxerxes and seems to imply that the intended readers are familiar with Ctesias’ name and reputation (Art. 1.4):
Artaxerxes was originally called Arsicas, but Deinon says his name was Oarses. Ctesias, however, even if he includes fanciful tales and nonsense in his books, is not likely to be ignorant of the name of the king, in whose house he lived and whom he treated, together with the king's wife, mother, and children.
ὁ δ᾽ ᾽Αρτοζέρζης ᾽Αρσίκας πρότϵρον ἐκαƛϵῖτο· καίτοι Δϵίνων φησὶν ὅτι ᾽Οάρσης. Ἀƛƛὰ τὸν Κτησίαν, ϵἰ καὶ τἄƛƛα μύθων ἀπιθάνων καὶ παραφόρων ἐμβέβƛηκϵν ϵἰς τὰ βιβƛία παντοδαπὴν πυƛαίαν, οὐκ ϵἰκός ἐστιν ἀγνοϵῖν τοὔνομα τοῦ βασιƛέως, παρ᾽ ᾧ διέτριβϵ θϵραπϵύων αὐτὸν καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ μητέρα καὶ παῖδας.
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- Information
- Plutarch and the Persica , pp. 34 - 72Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2018