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Tacitus' Sarmation Cavalry Lance: the Victory of Art over History

Tacitus' Sarmation Cavalry Lance: the Victory of Art over History BERNARD S. BACHRACH (Minneapolis, U. S. A.) TA CITUS' SARMA TION CA VALRY LANCE: THE VICTOR Y OF AR T OVER HISTOR Y _ The importance of literary style to the great Roman historian Tacitus (d. ca. 117 A.D.) has never been at issue. Moreover, it was not unknown for him to sacrifice historical accuracy for the sake of his art.2 Thus, modem scholars, , who use Tacitus' work in order to ascertain "fact," must be constantly aware of his potential to distort in pursuit of his art. Vigilance is especially war- ranted when other available written sources concerning an important topic are, at best, jejune. For example, our knowledge regarding the combat tech- niques of the Sarmatian cataphracts of South Russia, who engaged Roman military forces during the later first and early second centuries A.D., is slim, ' indeed.3 Consequently, it is of importance that an accurate grasp of Tacitus' stylistically complex account in the Histories i, 79. 12-15, has long been seen 1. The citation of classical sources follows the system utilized by the Oxford Classical Dic- tionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), ix-xxii. 2. The fundamental work on Tacitus remains Ronald Syme, Tacitus, 2 vols. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Russian History Brill

Tacitus' Sarmation Cavalry Lance: the Victory of Art over History

Bachrach, Bernard S.
Russian History , Volume 28 (1-4): 15 – Jan 1, 2001
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0094-288X
eISSN
1876-3316
DOI
10.1163/187633101x00073
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

BERNARD S. BACHRACH (Minneapolis, U. S. A.) TA CITUS' SARMA TION CA VALRY LANCE: THE VICTOR Y OF AR T OVER HISTOR Y _ The importance of literary style to the great Roman historian Tacitus (d. ca. 117 A.D.) has never been at issue. Moreover, it was not unknown for him to sacrifice historical accuracy for the sake of his art.2 Thus, modem scholars, , who use Tacitus' work in order to ascertain "fact," must be constantly aware of his potential to distort in pursuit of his art. Vigilance is especially war- ranted when other available written sources concerning an important topic are, at best, jejune. For example, our knowledge regarding the combat tech- niques of the Sarmatian cataphracts of South Russia, who engaged Roman military forces during the later first and early second centuries A.D., is slim, ' indeed.3 Consequently, it is of importance that an accurate grasp of Tacitus' stylistically complex account in the Histories i, 79. 12-15, has long been seen 1. The citation of classical sources follows the system utilized by the Oxford Classical Dic- tionary, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970), ix-xxii. 2. The fundamental work on Tacitus remains Ronald Syme, Tacitus, 2 vols.

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Russian History – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2001

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