2022/01/04 by Camila Condilo · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Classical Philosophy and Thought #Historical and Literary Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.11606/issn.2316-9141.rh.2022.180558
openalex publication_date 2022/01/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
In this article, I suggest that genealogy was a rhetorical strategy to build authority in the ancient history writing. In this way, I divide my argument into four parts. Firstly, I present my understanding of genealogy and authority, as these concepts orient my selection and analysis of the evidence. Secondly, I turn to the genealogical evidence, trying to demonstrate its relation with controversial debates and its role as a rhetorical tool. For this, I compare Herodotus’ and Isocrates’ use of genealogy, and suggest that genealogy was a form of tekmerion. Thirdly, I try to substantiate this hypothesis by looking at both Aristotle’s definition of tekmerion and to what extent Herodotus and Isocrates share his understanding of this word. Finally, I present considerations about why genealogy was such a powerful rhetorical resource in discourses of various nature, history included.