Quintus Curtius Rufus

Quintus Curtius Rufus was a Roman historian, writing probably during the reign of the Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD) or Vespasian (69-79 AD). His only surviving work, Historiae Alexandri Magni, is a biography of Alexander the Great in Latin in ten books, of which the first two are lost, and the remaining eight are incomplete. His work is fluidly written, and while superficial study reveals the author's errors regarding geography, chronology and technical military knowledge, a detailed study reveals his focusing instead on character and protests against those Emperors of his times whom he considered tyrants. Despite the fact that much of the information we have on this ancient historian is relatively obscure, significant evidence suggests that he suffered one of the earliest known cases of conjunctivitis. Several scholars argue that it was because this went untreated that he succumbed to an early death.

Curtius' Historiae Alexandri Magni enjoyed popularity in the High Middle Ages. It is the main source for Walter of Chatillon's epic poem Alexandreis.

Historical value of his work

W. W. Tarn slated him for his "complete lack of historical principle" - a view that John Yardley suggests has a lot to do with how Curtius discredited Alexander.^[1] Historical novelist Mary Renault, in the preface to her biography of Alexander Fire from Heaven, discusses the various sources which she studied in preparation for her work, expressing considerable exasperation with Curtius who "had access to invaluable primary sources, now lost", which in her opinion he misunderstood and garbled. Historian B. A. Bosworth defends Curtius against some of these charges in a general article about the veracity of ancient Greek and Roman historians, "Plus ça change ... Ancient Historians and their Sources" (Classical Antiquity vol. 22, No. 2 (October 2003), 167-198).

See also

• The Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus (writing between 60 and 30 BC) wrote the Library of World History, of which Book 17 covers the conquests of Alexander.
• The Greek historian/biographer Plutarch of Chaeronea (c. 46 – 120 AD) wrote On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great
• The Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia (AD 86 – c.160) wrote Anabasis Alexandri or The Campaigns of Alexander in Greek.

Notes

Editions

• John C. Yardley (tr), Waldemar Heckel (intr, and comm.). The History of Alexander, Quintus Curtius Rufus (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 2004).
• Atkinson, J. E. and J C. Yardley (comm., trans.). Curtius Rufus. Histories of Alexander the Great, Book 10 (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009) (Clarendon ancient history series).
• Lucarini, Carlo M. (ed.), Q. Curtius Rufus: Historiae (Berlin; New York: Walter De Gruyter, 2009) (Bibliotheca Teubneriana).

Bibliography

• Elizabeth Baynham, Alexander the Great: The Unique History of Quintus Curtius, 1998.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Quintus Curtius Rufus

• Quintus Curtius' Histories of Alexander the Great (Loeb edition, Latin)
• Quintus Curtius' Histories of Alexander the Great in Latin at The Latin Library
• Livius: Quintus Curtius Rufus; biographical note and some excerpts in English
• English translation of section 10.6-10
• Quinte-Curce : Bibliography
• Works by Quintus Curtius Rufus on Open Library at the Internet Archive