Decoding a Narrative Allusion
The Death Narratives of Ammianus’ Julian and Xenophon’s Cyrus
In: MnemosyneSearch for other papers by Tunç Türel in
Current site
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Abstract
In this paper an intertextual relationship between Ammianus’ Res gestae and Xenophon’s Anabasis is proposed and contextualized. This intertextuality, which occurs in the form of a narrative allusion, is founded upon the thematic and structural similarities shared between the death narratives of Julian in book 25.3.3-6 of the Res gestae and that of Cyrus in book 1.8.6, 19, 24-27 of the Anabasis. An attempt at interpreting this particular narrative allusion reveals that Ammianus constructed this allusion intentionally with two specific goals in his mind. First, he made a subtle retort to Gregory of Nazianzus’ negative comparison between Julian and Cyrus (Or. 5.13-14) by reversing Gregory’s comparison into a positive one, and second, which is of a more personal note, he cast himself by implication as Julian’s Xenophon in the Persian campaign of 363 CE, with whom he shares several loci of contact.
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Decoding a Narrative Allusion
The Death Narratives of Ammianus’ Julian and Xenophon’s Cyrus
In: MnemosyneSearch for other papers by Tunç Türel in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
In this paper an intertextual relationship between Ammianus’ Res gestae and Xenophon’s Anabasis is proposed and contextualized. This intertextuality, which occurs in the form of a narrative allusion, is founded upon the thematic and structural similarities shared between the death narratives of Julian in book 25.3.3-6 of the Res gestae and that of Cyrus in book 1.8.6, 19, 24-27 of the Anabasis. An attempt at interpreting this particular narrative allusion reveals that Ammianus constructed this allusion intentionally with two specific goals in his mind. First, he made a subtle retort to Gregory of Nazianzus’ negative comparison between Julian and Cyrus (Or. 5.13-14) by reversing Gregory’s comparison into a positive one, and second, which is of a more personal note, he cast himself by implication as Julian’s Xenophon in the Persian campaign of 363 CE, with whom he shares several loci of contact.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 570 | 246 | 79 |
| Full Text Views | 57 | 6 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 125 | 14 | 5 |
