Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian’s History of the Empire

In the process of recording the history of the Roman Empire, from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the accession of Gordian III, Herodian makes his characters respond to the same situations in similar or different ways. This book shows that each reign in Herodian’s History is creatively mapped onto ever-recurring narrative patterns. It argues that patterning is not simply decorative in Herodian’s work but constitutes a crucial conceptual and methodological tool for writing interpretative history. Herodian deserves credit as an original and independent author. A careful consideration of the formulaic nature of his historiography indicates that there is more artistry in his composition than had previously been discerned.

Chrysanthos S. Chrysanthou, DPhil (2016), University of Oxford, is currently the principal investigator of a project on ancient Greek historiography and the ancient Greek novel, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), at the University of Heidelberg. He is the author of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives: Narrative Technique and Moral Judgement (Berlin/Boston, 2018) and a number of articles on ancient Greek literature.

“In comparison to other historians of the empire, such as Tacitus and Cassius Dio, Herodian has remained comparatively under-served by modern literary analysis. Chrysanthou’s book helps to remedy this lack. Noting Herodian’s penchant for circling around particular themes and typical scenes, it convincingly argues that this historian builds up a sense of the merits and faults of the successive emperors through the several ways in which they respond to similar challenges. In doing so, it reveals Herodian to be, like other imperial historians, a thoughtful literary artist, and analyst of what makes for a successful emperor. This is a book which anyone with an interest in ancient historiography, the image of the Roman Emperors, or the history of the late Second and early Third Centuries should read.”
Luke Pitcher, Associate Professor in Classical Languages and Literature. Fellow and Tutor in Classics, Somerville College, University of Oxford

“This is a timely study on Herodian’s History of the Empire after Marcus. In this book, Chrysanthos Chrysanthou treats Herodian’s History on its own terms. Approaching Herodian’s work through a careful literary-historiographical analysis of five of the themes which run through the text, Chrysanthou has produced a systematic study which highlights the intellectual unity of Herodian’s work. More than this, Chrysanthou exposes the inner workings of the History, while highlighting Herodian’s considerable literary artistry. The result is a study which greatly advances our understanding of Herodian and his work.”
Christopher Mallan, Senior Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, University of Western Australia.



As one of a few recent volumes on Herodian, Chrysanthou’s discussion appears to be an important contribution to Brill’s Historiography of Rome and Its Empire series. It is a pleasure to read this text which sheds more light on what narrative techniques were employed by the ancient author to write a history of a time of troubles and anxiety, and, in this respect, can be valuable not only for experts in Greek historical narratives of the second and third centuries CE, but also a broader audience of historians and philologists.
Konstantin V. Markov, Histos 17 (2023) CVIII–CXVII

"Chrysanthou’s book contributes a much needed and original perspective to current scholarship on Herodian: a positive image of Herodian as a crafty and artful writer of interpretative history. For literary scholars, Chrysanthou’s application of narratological questions to ancient texts proves that this practice is still fruitful for gaining new insights and thus represents an important impetus to analyse further writings this way in the future. (...) In sum, Chrysanthou’s narratological study of Herodian’s History of the Empire can be considered an original and essential contribution to research on ancient historiography. As such, it fully deserves its place in the series Historiography of Rome and its Empire and will be indispensable for future work on Herodian. It clearly demonstrates the importance of bringing together the perspectives of Classical Philology and Ancient History for the purpose of gaining knowledge about their common objects of study.
Aaron F. M. Plattner in BMCR 2023.02.44