Nepos’ Life of Atticus, Nicolaus’ Life of Caesar, and the Genre of Political Biography in the Age of Augustus

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-151
Author(s):  
Rex Stem
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
Political Biography ◽  
Nicolaus Of Damascus

This chapter assesses the genre of political biography in the age of Augustus, comparing Cornelius Nepos’ Life of Atticus to the next political biography extant in the tradition, the Life of Caesar (Augustus) by Nicolaus of Damascus. These biographies are not often compared, despite their chronological proximity, and the comparison yields significant points of thematic overlap as well as meaningful points of contrast. Ultimately, one cannot define political biography in the Augustan period very specifically, nor can one measure Nepos’ originality very decisively. That is not to say that the generic distinction between political biography and political history in the age of Augustus did not exist or could not be felt, for Nepos’ Atticus shows well enough how the craft of biography is distinct from the craft of history. However, it is to admit that one cannot delineate how that craft was transmitted from Nepos and Nicolaus to Suetonius and Plutarch, from the earliest to the greatest extant writers of ancient political biography.

A Political History of Literature

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pankaj Jha
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Political History ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Political Ethics ◽  
Actionable Knowledge ◽  
Political Biography ◽  
Political Traditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Literature ◽  
The Ideal

Vidyapati was a poet and a scholar who lived in the fifteenth century north Bihar and composed nearly a dozen texts on varied themes in three languages. The book focuses on three of Vidyapati’s texts: Likhanāvalī, a Sanskrit treatise on writing letters and documents; Puruṣaparīkṣā, a Sanskrit compilation of mytho-historical stories focused on masculinity and political ethics; and Kīrtilatā, a political biography in Apabhraṃśa of a prince of Mithila composed in the ākhyāyikā style. Together, these compositions provide an exciting entry point into the knowledge formations of the fifteenth century. As such, the book marks a fascinating reading of politics in the literatures of a time that is known for a notorious absence of any ‘imperial’ formation. It does so by placing each of the three texts side by side with other texts composed earlier on identical or similar themes, genres, and ideas in the same and other languages. A critical historicization of the language, composition, and contents of the texts reveal an exciting and messy world of idioms, ideas, and skills drawn from different literary-political traditions. Strikingly, each upheld the ideal of imperium and provided for the cultivation of skills, ethics, and useable pasts appropriate for imperial projects. The book argues that the literary visions that sustained (and gained from) the imperial states in the earlier centuries did not disappear with the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate. They lingered and found hospitable grounds in humbler locations. Vidyapati inherited and reworked these visions into newer, more ‘actionable’ knowledge forms.

On the Problems of Normative Economics

2007 ◽  
pp. 59-72
Author(s):  
I. Lavrov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political History ◽  
Normative Economics ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
Normative Analysis ◽  
Positive Elements ◽  
Real Objects ◽  
Methodological Aspects

The author considers theoretical, philosophical and methodological aspects of normative approach in economic theory. The article discusses normative analysis and types of normative and positive elements in economic theory, basing upon difference between abstract and real objects of science. The specific traits of generations as subjects of economic and socio-political history are determined.

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