Fragmente Romischer Memoiren

English summary: Autobiographies and their authors have a credibility problem. Who would believe a man who praises his own deeds? Nevertheless, memoirs were a significant element in the political culture of the Romans during the last years of the Republic. They were meant to document the author's capabilities in the political and military sphere and his outstanding services to the res publica for the sake of his contemporaries, and pass them on to 'memoria'. The fact that they were in...
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English summary: Autobiographies and their authors have a credibility problem. Who would believe a man who praises his own deeds? Nevertheless, memoirs were a significant element in the political culture of the Romans during the last years of the Republic. They were meant to document the author's capabilities in the political and military sphere and his outstanding services to the res publica for the sake of his contemporaries, and pass them on to 'memoria'. The fact that they were in most cases written quickly and were lacking in literary ambition didn't exactly justify them being passed down to later generations. This collection, translation and commentary of the fragments of Roman memoirs, which includes an introductory assessment and definition of the genre, aims to create a deeper awareness of these texts as a literary phenomenon and as an element of political culture in the late Roman Republic, while at the same time making them easily accessible to research and for teaching. German description: Autobiographien und ihre Verfasser haben ein fides-Problem. Wer wird dem Glauben schenken, der seine eigenen Taten lobt? Dennoch hatten Memoirenwerke einen festen Sitz in der politischen Kultur der Romer wahrend er letzten Generationen der Republik. Sie sollten die Fahigkeit des jeweiligen Verfassers auf politischem und militarischem Gebiet und seine auaerordentlichen Verdienste um die res publica fur die Zeitgenossen dokumentieren und der /memoria/ uberantworten. Daa sie in der Regel zugig und ohne literarische Ambitionen niedergeschrieben wurden, hat ihre Uberlieferung nicht eben befordert. Ziel der vorliegenden Sammlung, Ubersetzung und Kommentierung der Fragmente romischer Memoiren, die mit einer einlaalichen Betrachtung und Definition dieser Gattung beginnt, ist es, diese Texte als literarisches Phanomen wie als Teil der politischen Kultur der spaten romischen Republik starker ins Bewuatsein zu heben und sie fur Forschung und Lehre leicht zuganglich zu machen.