Ancient readings:
Diodorus I.1-9
Arrian I.1-12.5
Plutarch Alexander 1
Justin's Preface to Pompeius Trogus
Testimonia and Fragments of Ptolemy (FGrH 138, pp. 183-205)
Fragments of the Royal Ephemerides (FGrH 117, pp. 30-34 of History of Alexander)
Modern Readings:
Bosworth, A. B. "Plus ça change: Ancient Historians and their Sources." Classical Antiquity 22 (2003): 167-198.
Brunt, P. A. "On Historical Fragments and Epitomes." Classical Quarterly 30 (1980): 477-494.
Pearson, L. "The diary and letters of Alexander the Great." Historia 3 (1955): 429-455.
Hammond, N.G.L. "The Royal Diary of Alexander." Historia 37 (1988): 129-150.
Questions:
- What do Diodorus, Plutarch, Arrian, and Justin/Trogus reveal about the aims of their histories? How are they similar, and how are they different? How are the ancient historians similar to, or different from, modern historians?
- What aspects of their works do Diodorus, Arrian, Justin/Trogus, and Plutarch believe set them apart from other histories?
- What are Arrian’s reasons for relying primarily on the accounts of Ptolemy and Aristobulus? How convincing are they?
- What does Arrian reveal about his view of Alexander the Great? What might this explain about his choices of sources?
- What are the major problems with historical fragments according to Brunt? How well can fragments be used to understand a lost historian? What can we tell about the history of Ptolemy from the fragments?
- What are the problems with using ancient historians who are themselves reliant on earlier historians? How accurately do they represent their sources based on the analyses of Brunt and Bosworth?
- What kind of information do the so-called Royal Diaries/Ephemerides contain in the directly quoted excerpts given in Robinson?
- What is the evidence for a genuine Journal/Diary of Alexander's expedition? What would its characteristics have been, if it did exist? How convincing is this? Is there evidence that it was a major source for any of the Alexander historians? How would this affect our view of them and their value for reconstructing the reign of Alexander?