Ctesias and the Importance of His Writings Revisited

Summary

Abstract: Following the recent attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of Ctesias and the information given in his works, this paper proposes to understand certain of the seemingly fanciful details that were associated with the physician and his writings. It tries to shed some light on several uncertainties connected with Ctesias (i.e., his sojourn in Persia) and the Persica (i.e., date, original style and sources of imagery). It argues that the pedestrian lists included in the work might have been later interpolations and that the minor works circulating under Ctesias’ name might have been either sections of the Persica that were taken out to be presented as stand-alone volumes or else falsely attributed to him. The paper addresses the Indica and puts forward several possibilities concerning its relation with the Persica. The influence of Ctesias on the author Deinon is examined, and in the appendix the impact of the Persica on Xenophon's Anabasis is analyzed.

Keywords: Ctesias, Persica, Indica, Artaxerxes II, Xenophon, Anabasis, Greek Historiography, Photius, Plutarch, Deinon.

From Cnidos comes one of the more controversial and influential authors of Classical literature, namely Ctesias, a physician and a historian (probably floruit 401-392 BCE). Ctesias seems not only to have been one of the first prose writers to dwell on his own personal experiences (in this case, at the court of the Great King Artaxerxes II), in what might be considered tantamount to a proto-autobiography, but also to have developed a unique genre of historical writing, following Herodotus yet going beyond his model, in creating works situated between fact and fiction.