Ex Uno Fonte Multi Rivuli?
This chapter addresses the range of aspects and multiple strands through which Hellenistic biography developed in its spatio-temporal duration of almost three centuries. This extended period witnessed the use and—often in-depth—redevelopment of previous models and methods that, in one way or another, influenced different authors at different moments. Acknowledging these ramifications is not tantamount to claiming, a fortiori, that they may all be traced back to a single model or that they are rooted in the work of Aristotle and the Peripatetic tradition. Rather, it seems more likely that Hellenistic biography drew upon a range of distinct models, albeit often only embryonic or not fully defined ones. Individual Hellenistic authors developed those elements or ideas which they found most congenial to themselves or promising, often with very different aims and purposes. Starting from these reinterpretations, they came up with substantial and original redefinitions of the biographical genre, codifying certain aspects which were then transmitted to subsequent generations as established features.