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DE NOVIS LIBRIS IUDICIA

DE NOVIS LIBRIS IUDICIA DE NOVIS LIBRIS IUDICIA T. H arrison , Divinity and History . The Religion of Herodotus. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2000. XII, 320 p. Pr. £45. Harrison sets himself a clear task: to prove that Herodotus did have religious beliefs and that, moreover, these are not merely his individ- ual beliefs but are representative of the beliefs of his time. Let me state at the outset that as far as this reviewer is concerned, H. has won his case. Not, however, as a result of his methodology, but because I never had any real doubts concerning Herodotus’ beliefs in the Ž rst place. H.’s claim that modern approaches to Herodotus, which stress his reŽ ned sense of history or use of literary techniques, have led to a general rejection amongst scholars of religious traces in the Histories , strikes me as an exaggeration. But more important than the validity of the thesis which he sets out to refute, is of course H.’s defense of his own thesis. He proceeds largely by cumulation and analogy, collecting all instances where Herodotus explicitly states his belief, and then adducing similar, but implicit passages (e.g., when a character expresses the same ideas). In http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Mnemosyne Brill

DE NOVIS LIBRIS IUDICIA

Mnemosyne , Volume 55 (1): 105 – Jan 1, 2002

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2002 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0026-7074
eISSN
1568-525X
DOI
10.1163/156852502753777046
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

DE NOVIS LIBRIS IUDICIA T. H arrison , Divinity and History . The Religion of Herodotus. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2000. XII, 320 p. Pr. £45. Harrison sets himself a clear task: to prove that Herodotus did have religious beliefs and that, moreover, these are not merely his individ- ual beliefs but are representative of the beliefs of his time. Let me state at the outset that as far as this reviewer is concerned, H. has won his case. Not, however, as a result of his methodology, but because I never had any real doubts concerning Herodotus’ beliefs in the Ž rst place. H.’s claim that modern approaches to Herodotus, which stress his reŽ ned sense of history or use of literary techniques, have led to a general rejection amongst scholars of religious traces in the Histories , strikes me as an exaggeration. But more important than the validity of the thesis which he sets out to refute, is of course H.’s defense of his own thesis. He proceeds largely by cumulation and analogy, collecting all instances where Herodotus explicitly states his belief, and then adducing similar, but implicit passages (e.g., when a character expresses the same ideas). In

Journal

MnemosyneBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2002

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