Cleitarchus

Kleitarchos of Colophon was an ancient Greek historian, the late 4./Anfang of the 3rd century BC lived.

Life and work

Over the life of the Kleitarchos is other than the fact that he was the son of the historian Dinon of Colophon, very little is known. Kleitarchos written sometime between 323 and about 283 BC ( probably around 310 BC), a story about the deeds of Alexander the Great in at least 12 books. It is unknown whether Kleitarchos has the Macedon king met yet or whether he has participated in the Alexandrian; at least the latter is very unlikely. Although the work of the Kleitarchos is preserved only in fragments ( Fragments of the Greek Historians No. 137 ), it developed an amazing effect story about some later historian Alexander.

The historical work is the source of so-called Vulgatatradition. This means that Kleitarchos the popular - novelistic and dramatic episodes ( see also Alexander novel) gave preference before - at least batch - critical review of the sources used by him. Especially the novelistic embellishment and dramatising effective presentation, which should be targeted astonish the reader, but it provided well for the success of the work, for the "opposite direction ", however, is the Anabasis Arrian. Kleitarchos described as not only the purely military events, but also wove ethnographic and geographical representations one. In his description, however, he often had the effect in preference to the historical reality.

Kleitarchos used, among others, the history of Callisthenes of Olynthus, and reports from participants in the Alexanderzugs, including ordinary soldiers. The historical work of Kleitarchos been used by many later historians. So the 17th book of Diodorus' history of the world is largely based on Kleitarchos, which is also the main source of Trogus Pompeius and Quintus Curtius Rufus, possibly mediated through an intermediate source.

Kleitarchos does have probably written a lot Unglaub exemplary, but also preserved many interesting episode, in which Alexander is not always positively evaluated; Rather, he wrote to Alexander and tyrannical traits. However, it is at least doubtful that Kleitarchos exclusively a negative characterization of Alexander intended, for he says that quite a number of sovereign virtues such as gentleness, courage and generosity. The work of Kleitarchos probably presented the most widely read ancient history of Alexander dar. It was still very popular in later times, which held about Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis historia ( Pliny 10, 70, 136),