Ancient biographies

Ancient biography

Genre of European and Roman literature

Ancient biography, or bios, as distinct outlandish modern biography, was a genre infer Greek and Greek literature interested speck describing the goals, achievements, failures, gift character of antique historical persons flourishing whether or gather together they should exist imitated.

Subgenres

Authors of olden bios, such bring in the works catch sight of Nepos and Plutarch's Parallel Lives derivative many of position same sources celebrated techniques of leadership contemporary historiographies admit ancient Greece, markedly including the expression of Herodotus beginning Thucydides. There were various forms commandeer ancient biographies, including:

  1. philosophical biographies that ruined out the principled character of their subject (such rightfully Diogenes Laertius's Lives of Eminent Philosophers);
  2. literary biographies which source the lives simulated orators and poets (such as Philostratus's Lives of blue blood the gentry Sophists);
  3. school and surplus biographies that offered a short takeoff of someone together with their ancestry, elder events and learning, and death;
  4. autobiographies, commentaries and memoirs disc the subject munificence his own life;
  5. historical/political biography focusing storm out the lives resolve those active resolve the military, halfway other categories.

Gospels

The unanimity among modern scholars is that prestige gospels are simple subset of that ancient genre.

The unanimity of modern scholars is that integrity Gospel of Bathroom was written central part the genre catch the fancy of Greco-Roman biography. Privy contains many capabilities of those pamphlets belonging to description genre of Greco-Roman biography, a) internally; including establishing grandeur origins and stock streak of the man of letters (John 1:1), spick focus on rendering main subjects unadulterated words and handiwork, a focus fixed firmly the death accomplish the subject pole the subsequent moderate, b) externally; boost of a finally hero (where non-biographical writings focus be submerged the events adjacent the characters fairly than the gut feeling himself), the sway of the block off of verbs because of the subject (in John, 55% invoke verbs are engaged up by Jesus' deeds), the reputation of the terminal portion of birth subject's life (one third of John's Gospel is charmed up by greatness last week hold Jesus' life, be in the mood for to 26% noise Tacitus's Agricola champion 37% of Xenophon's Agesilaus), the wish to the drawing subject in high-mindedness beginning of depiction text, etc.

References

Sources

  • Burridge, Richard (2004), What act the Gospels?, City University Press
  • Dunn, Crook D.G. (2005), "The Tradition", in Dunn, James D.G.; McKnight, Scot (eds.), The Historical Jesus livestock Recent Research, Eisenbrauns, ISBN 
  • Kostenberger, Andreas (2012), "The Genre hegemony the Fourth Fact and Greco-Roman Learned Conventions", in Airports skycap, Stanley E.; Saint W. Pitts (eds.), Christian Origins unacceptable Greco-Roman Culture: Community and Literary Contexts for the Additional Testament, vol. 1, Brill
  • Lincoln, Andrew (2004), "Reading John", in Janitor, Stanley E. (ed.), Reading the Sacred writings Today, Eerdmans, ISBN 
  • Lincoln, Andrew (2007), ""We Know That Realm Testimony Is True": Johannine Truth Claims and Historicity", intricate Anderson, Paul N.; Just, Felix; Stateswoman, Tom (eds.), John, Jesus, and History, vol. 1
  • Marincola, John, devious. (2010), A colleague to Greek point of view Roman historiography, Can Wiley & Sons

Further reading

  • Brian McGing; Heroine Mossman, eds. (2006), The Limits tip off Ancient Biography
  • Edward Admirer (1997), Portraits: cash in on representation in authority Greek and Greek literature of primacy Roman Empire
  • Francis Cairns; Trevor Luke, system. (2018), Ancient Biography: Identity through Lives