Late Antique Historiography

To Cleopatra on the history of Alexandria

Title(s):
  • To Cleopatra on the history of Alexandria
  • Πρὸς Κλεοπάτραν περὶ τῶν κατ’ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἱστοριῶν βιβλία δέκα
    (Pros Kleopatran peri tōn kat' Alexandreian historian biblia deka, Ten books to Cleopatra on the history of Alexandria)
Author:
Period covered:
About Zenobia?
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Secular history (local history)
Remarks:
Stein (1923: 448-456) was the first to consider Πρὸς Κλεοπάτραν and Περὶ τῶν κατ’ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἱστοριῶν as parts of a single title. He linked the history to queen Zenobia: according to the testimony of the Historia Augusta, she used to present herself as the new Cleopatra (cf. Thirty Tyrants 27, 1; Aurelian 27,3). Stein's idea has been accepted by almost all scholars. Cameron proposes to date the work between 269 and 271, while Zenobia was the queen of Egypt (cf. 1967: 382-384). Kaldellis suggests to extend the range to 272, the year of Aurelian's victory (cf. BNJ 281 T1a).
Edition - Translation:
  • FGrHist 281
  • BNJ 281
  • E. Amato (2009) Severus Sophista Alexandrinus: Progymnasmata quae extant omnia (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana). Berlin - New York: 31-45, esp. 43 (FF 3, 8).
  • FHG III, 663-664
Fragments:
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • Al. Cameron (1967) 'The date of Porphyry's κατὰ Χριστιανῶν'. The Classical Quarterly 17: 382-384.
  • P. Janiszewski (2006) The missing link: Greek pagan historiography in the second half of the third century and in the fourth century A.D. Warsaw: esp. 195-224.
  • A. Stein (1923) 'Kallinikos von Petrai'. Hermes 58: 448-456.