Bitola, Macédoine
Théopompe (en grec ancien Θεόπομπος / Theópompos), né à Chios v. 378, est un historien grec.
Il fut l'élève d'Isocrate. Sa famille fut contrainte de quitter la cité en raison de la préférence affichée de son père pour Sparte. Il se fit orateur et remporta de nombreux succès. En particulier, il remporta le premier prix du concours organisé par Artémise II, reine de Carie, en l'honneur de feu Mausole son époux. Il rencontra Alexandre le Grand, dont la faveur lui permit de regagner sa cité natale. À la mort de ce dernier, il fut contraint une nouvelle fois de fuir en raison de ses sympathies pour Sparte. Il se réfugia d'abord à Alexandrie auprès de Ptolémée Ier, mais l'accueil plus que réservé qu'il rencontra le mit de nouveau sur la route. Nous ne savons rien de sa carrière ultérieure.
Il fut de son temps très apprécié pour ses qualités d'orateur. Il rédigea de nombreux discours, essentiellement des panégyriques. Son œuvre essentielle, néanmoins, est historique. Ses Helléniques (Ἑλληνικαὶ Ἱστορίαι / Hellênikaì Historíai), en douze volumes, continuent l'ouvrage de Thucydide. Elles couvrent la période allant de 411 à 394. Ses Philippiques (Φιλιππικά / Philippiká) en 58 volumes décrivent la vie et le règne de Philippe II de Macédoine. Ses œuvres historiques furent très influencées par la technique rhétorique qui surchargeaient le cours du récit, notamment par l'usage de nombreuses digressions morales et géographiques, et l'emploi de nombreux discours reconstitués.
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A far more elaborate work was the history of Philip's reign (360‑336), with digressions on the names and customs of the various races and countries of which he had occasion to speak, which were so numerous that Philip V of Macedon reduced the bulk of the history from 58 to 16 books by cutting out those parts which had no connection with Macedonia. It was from this history that Trogus Pompeius (of whose Historiae Philippicae we possess the epitome by Justin) derived much of his material. Fifty-three books were extant in the time of Photius (9th century), who read them, and has left us an epitome of the 12th book. Several fragments, chiefly anecdotes and strictures of various kinds upon the character of nations and individuals, are preserved by Athenaeus, Plutarch and others. Of the Letter to Alexander we possess one or two fragments cited by Athenaeus, criticizing severely the immorality and dissipations of Harpalus.
The artistic unity of his work suffered severely from the frequent and lengthy digressions, of which the most important was On the Athenian Demagogues in the 10th book of the Philippica, containing a bitter attack on many of the chief Athenian statesmen, and generally recognized as having been freely used by Plutarch in several of the Lives.
Another fault of Theopompus was his excessive fondness for romantic and incredible stories; a collection of some of these was afterwards made and published under his name. He was also severely blamed in antiquity for his censoriousness, and throughout his fragments no feature is more striking than this. On the whole, however, he appears to have been fairly impartial. Philip himself he censures severely for drunkenness and immorality, while Demosthenes receives his warm praise.
(Wikipedia)
Bitola, Macédoine
Théopompe (en grec ancien Θεόπομπος / Theópompos), né à Chios v. 378, est un historien grec.
Il fut l'élève d'Isocrate. Sa famille fut contrainte de quitter la cité en raison de la préférence affichée de son père pour Sparte. Il se fit orateur et remporta de nombreux succès. En particulier, il remporta le premier prix du concours organisé par Artémise II, reine de Carie, en l'honneur de feu Mausole son époux. Il rencontra Alexandre le Grand, dont la faveur lui permit de regagner sa cité natale. À la mort de ce dernier, il fut contraint une nouvelle fois de fuir en raison de ses sympathies pour Sparte. Il se réfugia d'abord à Alexandrie auprès de Ptolémée Ier, mais l'accueil plus que réservé qu'il rencontra le mit de nouveau sur la route. Nous ne savons rien de sa carrière ultérieure.
Il fut de son temps très apprécié pour ses qualités d'orateur. Il rédigea de nombreux discours, essentiellement des panégyriques. Son œuvre essentielle, néanmoins, est historique. Ses Helléniques (Ἑλληνικαὶ Ἱστορίαι / Hellênikaì Historíai), en douze volumes, continuent l'ouvrage de Thucydide. Elles couvrent la période allant de 411 à 394. Ses Philippiques (Φιλιππικά / Philippiká) en 58 volumes décrivent la vie et le règne de Philippe II de Macédoine. Ses œuvres historiques furent très influencées par la technique rhétorique qui surchargeaient le cours du récit, notamment par l'usage de nombreuses digressions morales et géographiques, et l'emploi de nombreux discours reconstitués.
......................................
A far more elaborate work was the history of Philip's reign (360‑336), with digressions on the names and customs of the various races and countries of which he had occasion to speak, which were so numerous that Philip V of Macedon reduced the bulk of the history from 58 to 16 books by cutting out those parts which had no connection with Macedonia. It was from this history that Trogus Pompeius (of whose Historiae Philippicae we possess the epitome by Justin) derived much of his material. Fifty-three books were extant in the time of Photius (9th century), who read them, and has left us an epitome of the 12th book. Several fragments, chiefly anecdotes and strictures of various kinds upon the character of nations and individuals, are preserved by Athenaeus, Plutarch and others. Of the Letter to Alexander we possess one or two fragments cited by Athenaeus, criticizing severely the immorality and dissipations of Harpalus.
The artistic unity of his work suffered severely from the frequent and lengthy digressions, of which the most important was On the Athenian Demagogues in the 10th book of the Philippica, containing a bitter attack on many of the chief Athenian statesmen, and generally recognized as having been freely used by Plutarch in several of the Lives.
Another fault of Theopompus was his excessive fondness for romantic and incredible stories; a collection of some of these was afterwards made and published under his name. He was also severely blamed in antiquity for his censoriousness, and throughout his fragments no feature is more striking than this. On the whole, however, he appears to have been fairly impartial. Philip himself he censures severely for drunkenness and immorality, while Demosthenes receives his warm praise.
(Wikipedia)