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3 - Displaying the Past

Inquiry as Inventory in Herodotus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2021

Athena Kirk
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Chapter 3 treats Herodotus’ use of the catalogue and the general problem of quantifying goods on a large cultural scale, as well as the specific use of the list as a cipher for imparting value. In the Histories, I argue, the genre of historiography and the nascent administrative inventory tradition coalesce. We find multiple examples of lists used to prove points and express value, and the characters and audience of the Histories, deeply invested in quantifying and displaying their wealth and possessions, use the list format to enact and prove their own worth. Meanwhile, Herodotus’ use of the term apodeixis for his work — also the technical word for an inscribed inventory — reveals that he conceives of his project as a grand multimedia catalogue of everything of importance to the Greek world. He has transferred the discrete uses of lists available to him to his own new type of text, thus incorporating old forms while distinguishing the Histories from previous genealogical works.

Type
Chapter
Information
Ancient Greek Lists
Catalogue and Inventory Across Genres
, pp. 78 - 109
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Displaying the Past
  • Athena Kirk, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Ancient Greek Lists
  • Online publication: 05 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108887397.004
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  • Displaying the Past
  • Athena Kirk, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Ancient Greek Lists
  • Online publication: 05 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108887397.004
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Displaying the Past
  • Athena Kirk, Cornell University, New York
  • Book: Ancient Greek Lists
  • Online publication: 05 March 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108887397.004
Available formats
×