Arnaldo Momigliano traces the growth of ancient biography from the fifth century to the first century B.C. He asks new questions about the origins and development of Greek biography, and makes full use of new evidence uncovered in recent decades from papyri and other sources. By clarifying the social and intellectual implication of the fact that the Greeks kept biography and autobiography distinct from historiography, he contributes to an understanding of a basic dichotomy in the Western tradition of historical writing. The Development of Greek Biography is fully annotated, and includes a bibliography designed to serve as an introduction to the study of biography in general.

For many, “Greece” is synonymous with “ancient Greece,” the civilization that gave us much that defines Western culture today. But, how did Greece come to be so powerfully attached to the legacy of the ancients in the first place and then define an identity for itself that is at once Greek and modern? This book reveals the remarkable achievement, during the last three hundred years, of building a modern nation on the ruins of a vanished civilization—sometimes literally so. This is the story of the Greek nation-state but also, and more fundamentally, of the collective identity that goes with it. It is not only a history of events and high politics; it is also a history of culture, of the arts, of people, and of ideas. Opening with the birth of the Greek nation-state, which emerged from encounters between Christian Europe and the Ottoman Empire, Roderick Beaton carries his story into the present moment and Greece’s contentious post-recession relationship with the rest of the European Union. Through close examination of how Greeks have understood their shared identity, Beaton reveals a centuries-old tension over the Greek sense of self. How does Greece illuminate the difference between a geographically bounded state and the shared history and culture that make up a nation? A magisterial look at the development of a national identity through history, Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation is singular in its approach. By treating modern Greece as a biographical subject, a living entity in its own right, Beaton encourages us to take a fresh look at a people and culture long celebrated for their past, even as they strive to build a future as part of the modern West.

It is widely accepted by New Testament scholars that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles probably originated as two parts of one work by a single author. In spite of this, the books have been assigned to very different genres: Luke is traditionally viewed as a biography of Jesus, and Acts as a history of the early church. Comparing in detail the structure and content of Acts with the formal features of history, novel, epic and biography, Sean A. Adams challenges this division. Applying both ancient and modern genre theory, he argues that the best genre parallel for the Acts of the Apostles is in fact collected biography. Offering a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of genre theory, along with an insightful argument regarding the composition and purpose of Acts, this book will be of interest to those studying the New Testament, Acts, genre theory and ancient literature.

The Greeks invented history as a literary genre in the fifth century B.C. The first historians owed much to Homer and adopted his vivid and direct style in narrating historical events. Yet, despite the influence of Homer the birth of history was basically a reaction against mythical accounts of the past. Homer wrote about war and travel in foreign lands, in the distant and mythical past. In contrast, the Greek historians of the fifth century wrote about contemporary or very recent events, where eye witnesses could be interviewed and facts checked. The Greek Historians follows the development of history from Herodotus, via Thucydides, Xenophon and Polybius, until the Hellenistic age. It introduces the individual writers and their topics, yet it also outlines their attitudes to historiography and their criticisms of each other. Such themes as the uses and value of truth and causation are traced, as well as the growing constraints on free speech under Hellenistic monarchs and the Romans. Written in an accessible and captivating manner, with suggestions for further reading, this book serves as a lucid introduction to Greek historians and writing of history.

Ancient biography is now a well-established and popular field of study among classicists as well as many scholars of literature and history more generally. In particular biographies offer important insights into the dynamics underlying ancient performance of the self and social behaviour, issues currently of crucial importance in classical studies. They also raise complex issues of narrativity and fictionalization. This volume examines a range of ancient texts which are or purport to be biographical and explores how formal narrative categories such as time, space and character are constructed and how they address (highlight, question, thematize, underscore or problematize) the borderline between historicity and fictionality. In doing so, it makes a major contribution not only to the study of ancient biographical writing but also to broader narratological approaches to ancient texts.

Ancient Greece (Hellas) was in many ways the birthplace of Western civilization. It was Greece that gave the world the idea of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympics, and influential works of Western literature. Situated at the junction of North Africa, Western Europe, and Asia, Greek culture and philosophy have played a large role in shaping the development of Western and world history.Over the years, the boundaries of Greece have shifted, but the country is made up of key regions - Macedonia, Athens, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete, and the Ionian Islands.Below is a list of some famous people from Ancient Greece discussed in this book:1. Homer (c. 8th Century B.C. )2. Solon (638 BC - 558 BC) 3. Sappho( c 570 BC)4. Pythagoras (c. 570 BC - c 495 BC)5. Cleisthenes ( 570 BC - 558 BC )6. Aeschylus (524 BC - c.455 BC)7. Sophocles (497 BC - 406 BC)8. Pericles (495 - 429 BC)9. Herodotus (c. 484-425 BC) 10. Euripides c. 480 - 406 BC)11. Socrateswriter (469 - 399 BC)12. Hippocrates 460BC - 377BC)13. Aristophanes 446 BCE - c. 386 BCE14. Platohistorical (424 - 348 BC) 15. Dionysius I, (c.432-367)16. Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) 17. Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC)18. Euclid (c. 325 - 265 BC) 19. Archimedes (287 B.C - 212)20. Cleopatra (69 -30 BC)