This volume represents the outcome of a conference that took place at Aix-en-Provence on 25–26 September 2017 (‘Composer une histoire monumentale à la fin de la république et au début du principat. L'encyclopédisme et sa mise en pratique’). It was organised by the editor together with Cécile Durvye within the programme ‘Diodore et le Ier siècle’ (USR 3125/MMSH d'Aix-Marseille Université, 2017–18) coordinated by them. In addition to the articles presented by its participants, Cohen-Skalli also includes thematically fitting contributions by two other authors (A. Lehmann and V. Naas).
The book's general issue may be described as ‘the (conditions of) production of monumental works of encyclopaedism, geography and historiography from late Hellenistic to early Imperial times’. Therefore, its chapters are bound together especially by an interest in the institutions, places, practices and circumstances connected with writing such oeuvres, such as libraries, compilation or book exchange. As Cohen-Skalli points out in the preface (pp. 13–15), certain aspects emerge as characteristic for the kind of literature treated in this volume, namely the quality as ‘books on and/or from books’, competition amongst authors, the authors’ longevity, specific techniques of literary production and organisation as well as some typical stages of a monumental text's emergence, publication and circulation. These observations also serve to summarise some of the book's most important findings, in view of the absence of a concluding chapter.
The volume begins with a preface by the editor, ‘Préface. La composition de κολοσσουργίαι de Diodore à Pline’, briefly presenting its issues as well as the individual articles, and an introduction by L. Mondin (‘Introduction. La littérature monumentale à Rome aux 1er s. a.C. et 1er s. p.C.’). The latter shows itself to be more of a contribution in its own right, giving an overview over the whole field the volume is dedicated to.
The main part of the book is organised in two sections, focusing first on the production and exchange of knowledge, then on the production of ‘colossal’ histories (and other works). Part 1 (‘Contexte. Dans la bibliothèque, l'atelier et le cercle des érudits: Circulation des savoirs et pratiques livresques) consists of three articles, Part 2 (‘Études des cas. Composer une histoire colossale: L'historien à son écritoire’) comprises six. This includes a second, specialised introduction by J. König, ‘Encyclopaedism, Libraries and the Construction of Authority in Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial Historiography’, outlining common contexts for the following five chapters, contextualising ‘the growth in libraries and book production with the expansion of knowledge-ordering writing in the late Republic and early Empire’ (p. 135).
Part 1 starts with an article dedicated to Varro by A. and Y. Lehmann, the former focusing on his role as librarian and his De bibliothecis libri III, the latter on his Disciplinarum libri IX (‘Varron de Réate. Le bibliothécaire et l'encyclopédiste’). Exploiting virtually every source available, A. Lehmann draws the somewhat meagre conclusion, as she rightly concedes, that Varro had done research on Greek and Eastern/Oriental libraries and published it in one of his books On libraries (p. 56). Y. Lehmann presents Varro's Disciplinarum libri IX as a work of truly universal claims, trying to present everything a free man needed to know (cf. p. 67, as for the following). He sets it in the context of Octavian's cultural renovation programme, which he holds to be a continuation of Julius Caesar's visions, making Varro an important intellectual pillar of such policies for both rulers.
T. Dorandi's ‘Pratiche di redazione e di produzione libraria nella biblioteca di Filodemo a Ercolano’ focuses on the texts from the Villa dei papyri in Herculaneum. She argues for the collection of books found there to have been the private library of Philodemus of Gadara, preserved by L. Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus and his successors and transferred to the villa after its construction. Under these premises, she analyses various papyri, which she interprets as outcomes of different stages of literary production – from excerpting to formulating a draft and from proofreading to producing a master copy for publication. Given the correctness of her assumptions, Dorandi's article comes closest to watching an ancient author write his texts, even if it is not exactly the monumental kind intended to be at the book's core.
I. Matijašić offers precisely what his chapter's title suggests, ‘Writing, Copying and Exchanging Books in the First Century bc: Testimonies from Cicero's Correspondence’, giving an overview of what can be found on libraries and books in the letters of Cicero. Especially noteworthy seems to him the observation that the terms ὑπομνήματα and κεφάλαια refer to notes, synopses and excerpts for private use, meant to produce more elaborate texts, which is, amongst others, in accordance with their use within some Herculanean papyri (pp. 109–11). Therefore, an explicit association of these findings with T. Dorandi's discussion of ὑπομνηματικόν (in her eyes referring to a draft version of a text in the works) just some pages earlier (pp. 83–7) might have been fruitful. In general, however, such use of the term ὑπομνήμα by Cicero had been known before (see e.g. O. Lendle, Hermes 95 [1967], which the author does not mention).
Following J. König's second introduction (see above), the editor's article traces bibliographic notes in Diodorus Siculus’ bibliotheke (‘Diodore e ses notes de lecture’, followed by two appendices). As she shows by analysing selected passages, he uses them as a means of orientation and part of the text's ‘infrastructure’, making his work a true literary library. She suggests that this phenomenon might be the result of Diodorus’ reading and excerpting his sources one after another as a basis for his writing (pp. 152–3).
N. Wiater dedicates another piece to Dionysius: ‘A Matter not for Bookish Scribblers: the “Implied” Library in Dionysius’ Early Roman History’. He considers the way in which the Halicarnassian refers to earlier authors as well as to contemporary experts, stating that this is not only to build up authority for his own work and to show his scrutiny and seriousness, but also shows Dionysius’ research of early Roman history as an ongoing dialogue with a dynamic process of historic (self-)re-fashioning (cf. pp. 175–7).
B. Mineo, in ‘Philosophie de l'histoire et architecture de l'oeuvre: le cas de l’Ab Urbe Condita de Tite-Live et des Histoires Philippiques de Trogue Pompée’, focuses on the association of work structure, philosophy of history and (Augustan) ideology within the histories of Livy and Pompeius Trogus. He proposes to view Livy's perspective on (Roman) history as a ‘dialectical’ one, developing in waves from chaos to grandeur and back, making the rule of Octavian/Augustus a turning point from chaos to new greatness. Trogus’ history is presented as following a ‘dialectic’ of the rise and fall of empires, culminating first in the end of Hellenistic monarchy through the battle of Actium, then in the completion of the conquest of the Mediterranean by Augustus, making the world a bipolar system (Parthian–Roman). Comparing the two works and their respective orders, Mineo states their similarity concerning the integration of ideological circumstances, historical philosophy and work structure.
The chapter by R. Nicolai, ‘Lo scrittoio di Strabone’, discusses the way in which Strabo cites and refers to other authors in the first two books of the Geographika. He identifies various forms, from relatively precise indications (e.g. author, work, book, position in book) to rather vague ones (e.g. references to groups of authors) and from verbatim citation to paraphrase from memory (pp. 205–18). Moreover, Nicolai treats some more specific working methods of Strabo, concerning, for instance, the way in which he deals with selected individual authors (pp. 218–22). In his conclusion Nicolai emphasises – amongst general problems of textual criticism – the Amaseian's heterogeneous methods. As particular accuracy seems to occur mostly in connection with ‘scientific’ polemic, Nicolai attributes it to Strabo's will to strengthen arguments and/or authority (especially his own), setting it in a competitive context.
V. Naas looks ‘Aux origines de l’Histoire naturelle: sources et structure de l'inventaire plinien’. Focusing on explicit citations and references, she reminds the reader of the important role the diversity of his sources must have played for Pliny in organising and structuring the contents of his Naturalis Historia. Furthermore, she emphasises the processes of procuring these sources, facilitated by Pliny's privileged access to official documents, his connections to other intellectuals, his access to slave labour and specialised staff and a probably rich private library.
The book surely has its merits, primarily in guiding attention towards the work that underlies the literary texts passed down to us from antiquity. But our possibilities to grasp these processes are, at least in some areas, limited, as this book also shows. Especially those chapters based on and pertaining to individual (authors of) literary sources, trying to research the development of the texts by looking at the final products, never had a chance of being groundbreaking work, regarding the immense labours past Quellenkritik has already dedicated to these sources. Even if the perspectives have changed, the intellectual overlap is too big to be ignored. Also, in some cases, the articles can do little more than cumulatively present citations and references, without really being able to generate deeper insights beyond a speculative level. Lastly, a high proportion of the articles are essentially overviews and therefore are not intended to bring forth great new findings. This makes the book a nice tool to work with, providing recent summaries on certain topics (e.g. Varro's Disciplinarum libri IX), and a fruitful source of inspiration raising interesting questions – but at the same time it cannot offer that much with respect to giving answers. A major exception is Dorandi's article, as her sources allow her to shed light on exactly those processes underlying ancient writing many of the other contributions would like to, but cannot really, examine.
The book is decently proofread and produced. Typos and minor errors are seldom, but not altogether absent (e.g. Mondin's introduction is wrongly indicated as starting on p. 19 in the table of contents – p. 17 would have been correct). The articles are more or less bound together by common perspectives and research interests. Only Mineo's text is a bit of an outlier in a section otherwise devoted to citations and references in ancient texts. The book is also rather homogenous in other respects. The only major inconsistency that this reviewer noticed was rather insignificant: Nicolai's chapter offers no full translations of ancient texts cited, but only paraphrases and short translated quotations, thereby differing from all other articles.
Anyone interested in the development of the ‘monumental’ works of writing between late Hellenism and early Imperial times and in the production of ancient literature and its conditions in general is advised to consult this useful book, despite the aforementioned ‘weaknesses’. These, however, seem to result from a general tendency towards aporia in the study of ancient text production. If this is correct, perhaps especially the direction indicated by Dorandi may be a viable option for future research.
