Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories
-
Maria Gerolemou
Abstract
With an awareness that the experience of the wondrous as an emotional event is often privileged in the construction and retrieval of memories, Herodotus utilizes wonder as a mnemonic aid. The wondrous as an easily recollected emotional memory is therefore taken as a mechanism that raises questions on past events, particularly on how an event was experienced and, consequently, what is remembered and in what manner. Moreover, unlike the Homeric thauma idesthai, the Herodotean wonder is not defined by a mere static portrayal of an extraordinary event or object; rather, it directs further action primarily related to the ability of the author to collect and criticize facts, reforming and forming in this way contemporary, past and future experiences. That is, while the wondrous validates itself as a successful memory mechanism (from the past and present and for the future), it also allows Herodotus to access and intervene in (or manipulate) certain memories. Hence, sidestepping the discussion about oral memory vs. the cultivation of memory through written records, this paper follows Herodotus’ deconstruction of past emotional memories as a reliable source of information; although memories are generally important to him, they are not treated as an indispensable and integral part of the historical discourse.
Abstract
With an awareness that the experience of the wondrous as an emotional event is often privileged in the construction and retrieval of memories, Herodotus utilizes wonder as a mnemonic aid. The wondrous as an easily recollected emotional memory is therefore taken as a mechanism that raises questions on past events, particularly on how an event was experienced and, consequently, what is remembered and in what manner. Moreover, unlike the Homeric thauma idesthai, the Herodotean wonder is not defined by a mere static portrayal of an extraordinary event or object; rather, it directs further action primarily related to the ability of the author to collect and criticize facts, reforming and forming in this way contemporary, past and future experiences. That is, while the wondrous validates itself as a successful memory mechanism (from the past and present and for the future), it also allows Herodotus to access and intervene in (or manipulate) certain memories. Hence, sidestepping the discussion about oral memory vs. the cultivation of memory through written records, this paper follows Herodotus’ deconstruction of past emotional memories as a reliable source of information; although memories are generally important to him, they are not treated as an indispensable and integral part of the historical discourse.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
