Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus | |
|---|---|
.jpg) 18th-century drawing of Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus | |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Language | Latin |
| Citizenship | Roman Empire |
| Period | 1st century BC |
| Genres | History |
| Subject | Hellenistic period |
| Literary movement | Silver age of Latin literature |
| Notable work | Historiae Philippicae et Totius Mundi Origines et Terrae Situs |
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus[n 1](fl. 1st century BC), alsoanglicized asPompey Trogue,[n 2] was aGallo-Roman historian from theCelticVocontiitribe inNarbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of theemperorAugustus. He was nearly contemporary withLivy.
Pompeius Trogus's grandfather served underPompey in his war againstSertorius. Owing to Pompey's influence, he was able to obtainRoman citizenship and his family adopted their patron'spraenomen and nomen Gnaeus Pompeius. Trogus's father served underJulius Caesar as his secretary and interpreter. Trogus himself seems to have been apolymath.[1]
FollowingAristotle andTheophrastus, Pompeius Trogus wrote books on thenatural history of animals and plants.[1]
His principal work, however, was his 44-volumePhilippic Histories and the Origin of the Whole World and the Places of the Earth (Historiae Philippicae et Totius Mundi Origines et Terrae Situs), now lost, which, according to its surviving epitome, had as its principal theme theMacedonian Empire founded byPhilip II but functioned as a general history of all of the parts of the world which fell under the control ofAlexander the Great andhis successors, with extensive ethnographical and geographical digressions. Trogus began withNinus,legendary founder ofNineveh, and ended at about the same point as Livy (AD 9). The development of the East from theAssyrians to theParthians is given extensive coverage while early Roman history and the history of theIberian Peninsula is briefly glossed in the last two books. ThePhilippic Histories is indebted to earlierGreek historians such asTheopompus (whose ownPhilippica may have suggested Trogus's title),Ephorus,Timaeus, andPolybius. On the grounds that such a work was beyond the ability of a Gallo-Roman, it has generally been assumed that Pompeius Trogus did not gather his material directly from these Greek sources but from an existing compilation or translation by a Greek such as theUniversal History compiled byTimagenes of Alexandria.[2]
Pompeius Trogus'sidea of history was more exacting than that ofSallust andLivy, whom he criticized for their habit of putting elaborate speeches into the mouths of the characters of whom they wrote.[3]
Pompeius Trogus discusses the Jews in the context of the history of theSeleucid Empire. Along with the passages inTacitus, the summary of Pompeius Trogus includes the most extensive description of the Jews in classicalLatin literature.[4]His main overview of the Jews is divided into 3 parts:1. The Antiquities of the Jews - includes a combination of 3 different traditions:Damascus tradition, Biblical tradition and the Egyptian-Greek tradition hostile to theExodus2. A brief geographical description of theland of Judea. 3. A history of the Jews beginning with thePersian period.
Trogus used Greek sources for his composition. It is possible that the writing of the Jews he used the writings ofTimagenes and perhaps also byPosidonius.[5]
The original text of thePhilippic Histories has been lost and is preserved only in excerpts by other authors (includingVopiscus,Jerome, andAugustine) and in a looseepitome by the later historianJustin.[6] Justin aimed only to preserve the parts he felt most important or interesting about Pompeius Trogus's work, with the last recorded event being the recovery of Roman standards from the Parthians in 20 BC. In the manuscripts of Justin's works, however, a separate series of summaries (prologi) of the original work have been preserved. Even in their present mutilated state the works are often an important authority for the ancient history of the East.[3]
Pompeius Trogus's works on animals and plants were extensively quoted in the works ofPliny the Elder.[1]
