Historiography at the End of the Republic: Provincial Perspectives on Roman Rule

"Liv Mariah Yarrow takes as her starting point the end of Polybius' Histories, and investigates the subsequent documentation of the Roman empire as recorded by non-Romans within the context of the political dimensions of intellectual activity. In the decades following the destruction of Carthage and Corinth Rome made the transition from strict military dominance to a system of provincial administration and client states. The process of change of governance throughout the Mediterranean left local elites grasping for the remains of their political influence. As intellectuals were part of these elites, their products reflect the concerns of the day. The texts of six contemporary historians survive in enough detail to allow fruitful analysis : the author of 1 Maccabees, Posidonius, Diodorus Siculus, Pompeius Trogus, Nicolaus of Damascus, and Memnon of Heraclea." "Yarrow first analyses in detail the relationship between individuals and political authority, examining the ability of the intellectual both to control his own life and to exert influence over others. The methodological difficulties of interpreting the different forms of reliquae are discussed. The remainder of the study looks at the political dimensions of the themes present in the history writings of these non-Roman authors. Through the course of the investigation it becomes apparent that the historians are working not with models of endorsement or resistance, but instead with an eye to the pragmatic issues of.