Granius Licinianus (active in the 2nd century AD) was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
author of historical and encyclopedic works that survive only in fragments. He most likely lived at the time of
Hadrian
Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...
.
History
Granius compiled a "novel" narrative epitome of Roman history, drawing mainly on
Livy
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...
and
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...
, that ran to at least 36 books, "keen on anecdotes and curious details." That he had his own views on
historiography
Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...
should not be doubted: in his opinion, Sallust ought not to be read as an historian at all, but as an orator. Granius covered the history of Rome from the early times at least to the death of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
; the assumption of this as an end-point of his history has sometimes caused him to be identified with
Granius Flaccus and his life to be dated to the 1st century BC. Though riddled with ''
lacunae,'' Granius's Book 35 presents one of the most informative accounts of the siege of Rome during the
civil war of 87 BC, and his history regularly provides illuminative details that complement more complete histories. Some fragments of the books relating to the years 163-78 BC are preserved in a manuscript which was discovered in 1853 and survives as a double ''
palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid ski ...
,'' that is, a 5th-century copy was overwritten in the 6th century with a Latin grammatical treatise and again in the 11th century with a
Syriac translation of
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (; ; – 14 September 407) was an important Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and p ...
's sermons. (
Add. 17212)
Granius also wrote ''Cenae Suae'' ("My Dinner Parties"), an encyclopedic work that displayed his
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...
interests in the manner of
Aulus Gellius
Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, ...
and his ''Attic Nights''.
Editions
*K.A. Pertz (1857), ''
editio princeps
In Textual scholarship, textual and classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by han ...
'';
[Arnaldo Momigliano, "Jacob Bernays," in ''A.D. Momigliano: Studies on Modern Scholarship'' (University of California Press, 1994), p. 130.downloadable.]
*Seven Bonn students (1858)
*M. Flemisch, ''Granius Licinianus. Eine text-, sprach- und quellenkritische Untersuchung'' (1899/1900, 1902, 1904)
*See also JN Madvig, ''Kleine philologische Schriften'' (1875)
*N. Criniti (Leipzig, 1981). For introduction, critical commentary (in Italian), and full bibliography, see also Criniti's "Granio Liciniano," ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' 2.34.1 (1993), pp. 120–, limited previe
online.
Commentary
*Italian translation and commentary by B. Scardigli, with A. R. Berardi (Florence, 1983).
References
*
External links
Translation
of Granius Licinianus's ''History'' a
Attalus.org
a
Tertullian.org
{{Authority control
2nd-century historians
2nd-century Romans
Latin historians
Silver Age Latin writers
Ancient Roman antiquarians
Licinianus