Books by Tim Howe
Recent scholars have analysed ways in which authors of the Roman era appropriated the figure of ... more Recent scholars have analysed ways in which authors of the Roman era appropriated the figure of Alexander the Great. The essays in this collection, by an international team of scholars, cast a wider net. They show how classical Greek, hellenistic and Roman authors reinterpreted, sometimes misinterpreted, information on ancient Macedonians to serve their own literary and political aims. Although Roman ideas pervade the historiographical tradition, this volume shows that the manipulation of ancient Macedonian history largely occurred much earlier. It reflected the complicated dynastic politics of the Argead royal house, the efforts of Alexander himself to redefine Macedonian kingship, and the competing strategies of the Successors to claim his legacy. Facing the complexity of the source tradition about the ancient Macedonians yields a richer and more balanced reflection of both the history and the historiography of this important and controversial people.
As the founder of the longest-lasting of all the Hellenistic kingdoms, not only was Ptolemy I an ... more As the founder of the longest-lasting of all the Hellenistic kingdoms, not only was Ptolemy I an able soldier and ruler, he was also an historian and, in Egyptian eyes, a living god. His own inclination and experience facilitated continuous acts of self-creation in a variety of forms, whether literary, dynastic, artistic, or political. The chapters in this book, written by field experts in numismatics, gender, warfare, historiography, Egyptology and religion, examine the many ways in which Alexander the Great's most successful Successor consciously made his own legacy.
The Argead Empire of Ancient Macedon had an interesting and fascinating history long before its r... more The Argead Empire of Ancient Macedon had an interesting and fascinating history long before its rise under Philip II and his son Alexander III (the Great). This volume offers an account of the place of Argead Macedonia in the context of its regal, structural, historical, courtly and military traditions in the literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources from the sixth century BCE to the second century CE. The volume is divided into four sections: Argead relations with Achaemenid Persia, political and military matters, coinage, dynastic profile and reception.
As the essays in this collection show, ancient historiography balanced the reporting of facts wit... more As the essays in this collection show, ancient historiography balanced the reporting of facts with shaping and guiding the political interests and behaviours of its audience. Each author, in his day, responded to an ever-evolving contemporary need to see the past in light of present circumstances. Over time, historians became increasingly conscious of the fact that they wrote to show contemporaries what past events justified the present status of this or that place; what heroic or semi-divine lineage gave legitimacy to this or that noble family; and what actions led to a great men’s (and great empire’s) triumphs and tragedies. As Thucydides argues (1.22.4), historiographers wrote history to serve as an aid to judgement (ὠφέλιμα κρίνειν), so that contemporaries could develop the ability to make informed decisions regarding imminent events based on an authoritative understanding of the past.
The essays in this collection examine the historical context about which the ancient historians wrote while at the same time attending to the clues that linked historiographic texts to contemporary concerns. Written by field experts, each chapter sifts through historical literature from the Achaemenid, Athenian, Macedonian and Roman ‘empires’ to tease out context, identify elements of cultural meaning, and deconstruct traditional literary topoi and later interpolation in order to gnaw at the historical kernels underlying them and thereby make sense of the way events and the accounts of those events interact. In this way, attention is given both to the genre and to the context of history-writing in the ancient world.
The ancient Greco-Roman sources on the history of Alexander III and the Successors contain numero... more The ancient Greco-Roman sources on the history of Alexander III and the Successors contain numerous episodes on diverse forms of Macedonian violence. Viewed from a mocking, moralistic perspective, the Macedonians served as a distorted mirror in which Greeks and Romans asserted their identities. The theme of Macedonian violence was also present in Greek comedy. This volume explores four case studies aiming at the deconstruction of these Greco-Roman topoi. The articles examine images of the Macedonians, Alexander, and Demetrius Poliorcetes analyzing the dimensions and expressions of Greco-Roman bias and its socio-political background.
Traders in the Ancient Mediterranean takes a diachronic view of the Mediterranean trader from the... more Traders in the Ancient Mediterranean takes a diachronic view of the Mediterranean trader from the Late Bronze Age through the Roman Imperial period, in an attempt to identify individual behavior and economic choice. The five scholars whose work is presented here, cunningly map ancient trading behavior and in so doing offer a framework on which to hang ancient Mediterranean buying, selling, and transporting of goods.
Greece, Macedon and Persia contains papers related to the history and historiography of warfare, ... more Greece, Macedon and Persia contains papers related to the history and historiography of warfare, political relationships, and power in the Ancient Mediterranean. The contributions, written by 20 international scholars from a variety of methodological and evidentiary perspectives, explore how ancient peoples used war and violence. Alexander the Great and his Successors provide the central themes, but among the other topics explored are Darius the Great’s usurpation of the Persian throne, the Greco-Persian Wars, the failed Athenian expedition to Sicily, and the Macedonian cult of the dead. Some of Alexander and his father Philip’s military strategies are also scrutinized, as are the sources that record those strategies. Finally, part of the collection focuses on Alexander’s legacy, analyzing the conqueror’s influence on diplomacy, military strategy and even dynastic marriage. The result is a rich understanding of ancient history and the place of war within it from the 6th to the 2nd century BCE, from the Persian to the Roman Empires. Presented in honour of Waldemar Heckel, a foremost scholar of Alexander the Great and ancient warfare, the papers reflect his wide range of interests from prosopography to military strategy.
Macedonian Legacies contains a collection of papers related to the history and historiography of ... more Macedonian Legacies contains a collection of papers related to the history and historiography of Ancient Macedonia. The contributions, written by 13 international scholars from a variety of methodological and evidentiary perspectives, explore how the ancient Macedonians lived, fought, and commemorated their accomplishments. Alexander the Great and his Successors provide the central themes, but among the other topics explored are the natural environment, sport and athletics, and religion. The result is a rich understanding of Ancient Macedonian history and the place of war within it from the 5th to the 2nd century BCE.
This book is a discussion about land use, especially politicized land non-use, and attempts to an... more This book is a discussion about land use, especially politicized land non-use, and attempts to answer three questions: (1) why did wealthy (and even some non-wealthy) people in a dry, mountainous region like Greece prioritize the production of animals to such a degree that they removed their best land from cereal or other food cultivation; (2) how did these people justify taking essential land away from food production in order to raise non-food animals such as horses; and (3) how did these choices about land affect those individuals directly and not directly involved in animal production?
Commentaries and Translations by Tim Howe
Testimonia and fragments with translation and commentary of Macedonian historians Marsyas of Pell... more Testimonia and fragments with translation and commentary of Macedonian historians Marsyas of Pella (135) and Marsyas of Philippi (136)
Articles by Tim Howe
Hellenistic Monarchies in the Mediterranean World, 2024
This paper explores the ways in which Ptolemy I of Egypt used both Greek and Egyp- tian literatur... more This paper explores the ways in which Ptolemy I of Egypt used both Greek and Egyp- tian literature to combine Alexander’s legacy with key events in the Egyptian past, narrated in literary styles of that past, so that the powerful priests of Egypt could not only understand but also themselves participate in his legitimation as King of Egypt. By acknowledging and investing in Egypt’s cultural superiority in traditionally Egyp- tian ways Ptolemy signaled to the Egyptian elites that they and their traditions mattered and that there was room in Ptolemy’s system for them.
Legacy of the East and Legacy of Alexander, 2024
As the only one of Alexander’s Successors to write about his experiences in the Macedonian army, ... more As the only one of Alexander’s Successors to write about his experiences in the Macedonian army, Ptolemy offers us unique insight into how command-level military service under Alexander was curated after the Macedonian king’s death. This paper explores how inter- and intratextality were deployed in Ptolemy’s rhetoric with regard to the wounds he and Alexander received (as preserved in paraphrase and quotation by later sources), in order to contextualize Ptolemy’s rise to independent command.
Desperta Ferro, 2024
This paper traces the campaign in the Indus Valley after the Battle of the Hydaspes. This campaig... more This paper traces the campaign in the Indus Valley after the Battle of the Hydaspes. This campaign is different from anything previously experienced, because it was not a true conquest of the territory, rather a purge of insurgents.
In R. Rollinger and J. Degen (eds.), The World of Alexander in Perspective: Contextualizing Arrian. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 72-92, 2022
This paper argues that Arrian appropriated the Trojan War metanarrative from Kallisthenes in larg... more This paper argues that Arrian appropriated the Trojan War metanarrative from Kallisthenes in large part because its Hellenic propaganda allowed Arrian to address longstanding Roman-Greek cultural tensions while at the same time showing his readers the ways in which he has superseded Kallisthenes’ along the lines suggested by Kallisthenes’ own preface: a writer ‘should create works of a kind natural both to himself and to the subject’. In this way, Arrian can be a master historian because he goes beyond simply formulating characters that his audience can ‘use’, as he argued Kallisthenes had done, and instead formulates historical characters who themselves are using history to reach insights as the audience watches. In a sense, Arrian embeds his audience with him into the historiographic process. In the Second Preface, which follows directly upon Alexander’s excursion to Troy, Arrian put himself into his work so his readers could watch him using Kallisthenes’ history, and perhaps even his methodology of subject and author compatibility, to undo and supersede Kallisthenes’ work.
Encuentros con las élites del Mediterráneo antiguo, 2021
Al analizar los edificios públicos en Antioquía ad Cragum en la Cilicia montañosa, y las inscr... more Al analizar los edificios públicos en Antioquía ad Cragum en la Cilicia montañosa, y las inscripciones honoríficas asociadas con ellos, exploraré las formas en que el edificio público, patrocinado localmente y por el imperio, y los decretos honoríficos desarrollaron y fomentaron prácticas y valores compartidos entre las élites locales e internacionales de tal forma que articulaba tanto la lealtad al imperio como el liderazgo local y los estilos de vida.
Powerful Women in the Ancient World. Perception and (Self)Presentation, 2021
This paper challenges the traditional view of Ada the Hekatomnid as a propaganda tool in the poli... more This paper challenges the traditional view of Ada the Hekatomnid as a propaganda tool in the political games of powerful men. A key argument is that Ada, as a popular regional leader and owner of the fortresses that controlled passage up the Maiandros Valley – the most convenient land-route from Miletos through Central Asia Minor to Mesopotamia—offered both a military threat and advantage to Alexander the Great and his invading Macedonians. Her regional power and strategic position allowed her to broker an alliance with Alexander the Great and induce him to assist her in retaking Halikarnassos. Retaking Halikarnassos was Ada’s plan, not Alexander’s. She met him as he marched up the Maiandros and convinced him to change plans in favour of a mutually beneficial alliance. But as Alexander’s story grew, Ada’s story become overwhelmed by his, her agency elided by his.
Alexander the Great and Propaganda, 2021
This paper analyses how the Bessos story might fit in Arrian’s wider narrative goals as an imita... more This paper analyses how the Bessos story might fit in Arrian’s wider narrative goals as an imitatio Alexandri. Seen in this light, the salient questions then become: to what extent are portions of Ptolemy’s capture of Bessos part of a narrative arc in Arrian’s (and perhaps Ptolemy’s) account that deploys an intratextual literary emulation of Alexander (imitatio Alexandri) to comment on the nature of monarchy and legitimate succession, specifically the comparison of Bessos and Ptolemy to their respective kings Darius and Alexander.
EPIGRAPHICA ANATOLICA, 2020
This paper analyses the official city names of Antiochia ad Cragum in Rough Cilicia through two n... more This paper analyses the official city names of Antiochia ad Cragum in Rough Cilicia through two new inscription. We conclude that the city likely had two names: one, created at the time of the city’s foundation and likely the “official” city name—Antiochia tes Paralias—and the second, an “unofficial” title based on a long-standing topographic name for the place—Antiochia ad Cragum.
A Companion to Ancient Agriculture, 2020
This uncorrected proof copy of the introduction sets the scope and tone of the book
Uploads
Books by Tim Howe
The essays in this collection examine the historical context about which the ancient historians wrote while at the same time attending to the clues that linked historiographic texts to contemporary concerns. Written by field experts, each chapter sifts through historical literature from the Achaemenid, Athenian, Macedonian and Roman ‘empires’ to tease out context, identify elements of cultural meaning, and deconstruct traditional literary topoi and later interpolation in order to gnaw at the historical kernels underlying them and thereby make sense of the way events and the accounts of those events interact. In this way, attention is given both to the genre and to the context of history-writing in the ancient world.
Commentaries and Translations by Tim Howe
Articles by Tim Howe