Dexippus and Priscus and the Thucydidean Account of the Siege of Plataea

Abstract

A MONGST THE FRAGMENTS of the Scythic War of P. Herennius Dexippus and the Byzantine History of Priscus of Panium there are descriptions of sieges of cities which show knowledge and imitation of the account of the Spartan siege of Plataea in Thucydides. Both later historians were insofar as they imitated his style, borrowing constructions, words, and even phrases. This has been satisfactorily demonstrated by the scholars named below; and in the case of Dexippus was stated in the second half of the ninth century A.D. by Photius (Bibl. cod. 82). As a result of this imitation the historical accuracy of the details given in the Thucydidean passages of these writers has been questioned, in Dexippus by F. J. Stein and in Priscus by E. A. Thompson.1 According to these critics both historians, in their eagerness to emulate Thucydides, lifted material straight from his narrative and unhistorically transplanted it into their own accounts. Writers of the second century A.D. did this on a large scale according to Lucian (Hist. conscr. 15), who says that they thought that they were writing like Thucydides if they plagiarized his text, making only small alterations. Nevertheless the case against Dexippus and Priscus is not strong, as is shown by a close examination of the nature of the imitation in the Thucydidean accounts of sieges in these writers and through observation of its effect upon the reliability both of the general outline of the account and of the details. Firstly it will be convenient to summarize the first part of Thucydides' account (2.75-76), to which most of the imitations look, in order to be able later to refer back to it: The attackers (the Spartans) build a wooden palisade around the city to prevent anyone from leaving. The attackers build a mound up to the city wall. Firstly they cut wood from Kithairon and make parallel retaining walls for the mound. Then they fill the space between with wood, stones, soil, etc. They work for seventy (?) days and nights in relays.

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