Roman Historiography: From Origins to the Republic

History as a Literary Genre

The Greek word "history" means investigation of facts. Greeks interpreted it as a narrative of true events. However, in early Rome, a high degree of patriotism prevented historians from sticking to the facts of the matter. Roman historiography has a moralizing character, emphasizing the mores maiorum, the customs inherited from ancestors. Cicero considered history IUF Magistra. In Cicero's opinion, history was oratorium maxime opus, the maximum expression of oratory skill.

Origins of Roman Historiography

The Annales Pontificum were notes taken by the Pontifex Maximus on a white table called an album to commemorate events worthy of remembrance. Later, the term Annales was used for accounts of events prior to the historian's time, while Historiae referred to contemporary facts. The first author of the Annales was Quintus Fabius Pictor. However, Cato is considered the real founder of Roman historiography and is the author of the first Roman history, Origines.

Historiography of the Republic

Caesar

Caesar (100-44 BC) was born in Rome into the heart of one of the noblest families, the gens Iulia. From a very young age, he devoted his life to politics. In 60 BC, he formed, along with Pompey and Crassus, an alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which shared power in Rome. While serving as consul, he began a series of brilliant military campaigns that led him to conquer all of Gaul up to the Rhine. In 49 BC, after the death of Crassus and his growing enmity with Pompey, Caesar decided to march with his army to Italy, initiating the Civil War. After defeating Pompey, Caesar was appointed dictator for life. This situation caused alarm among Republican factions in Rome, leading to his assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC. Caesar's works stand out for the purity, simplicity, and elegance of their Latin.

Sallust

Only two complete works of Sallust survive: Bellum Catilinae and Bellum Iugurthinum. His Historiae is only preserved in fragments. Sallust is a master of characterization and psychological portrayal of characters. His prose has a tendency towards brevitas. He uses morphological and phonetic archaisms, and he has a predilection for lapidary phrases and sententiae.

Cornelius Nepos

Cornelius Nepos devoted his entire life to literature. He wrote a universal history entitled Chronica. His most important work is De Viris Illustribus. His work has a more rhetorical and exemplary character than traditional historiography.