Romans as ΒΑΡΒΑΡΟΙ: Three Polybian Speeches and the Politics of Cultural Indeterminacy
T HE SPEECHES IN POLYBIUs' HISTORIES provide important insights into what is perhaps the most controversial topic in Polybian studies: the Greek historian's attitudes towards Rome. A great deal of modern scholarly debate has revolved around mutually exclusive interpretations that Polybius was essentially either pro-Roman or anti-Roman.' A close reading of the Histories suggests a more nuanced approach to the question of Polybius' views on Rome. Viewing Polybius' barbarian category in relation to his representations of the Romans provides a key to the historian's stance(s) on Rome, and here his speeches are of the utmost importance. The objectives of the present study are to analyze Polybius' "barbarology" vis-'a-vis Rome, with a special focus on the medium of the reported speech, and to explore its implications regarding the political predicament of Greek statesmen of the second century in the face of Roman power. In only one passage in the Histories (12.4b.2-3, discussed in Section II below), does the Achaean historian say in his own voice that the Romans were a barbarian people. Yet in three reported speeches, Polybius allows his historical agents Agelaus, Lyciscus, and a Greek ambassador, probably the Rhodian statesman Thrasycrates, to call the Romans "barbarians."2 Without discounting the historicity of these ambassadors' charges against the Romans, I shall argue that Polybius employs these speeches as a vehicle for indirect expression of hostility towards Rome, a hostility conforming to widespread Greek public opinion at the time of composition of the Histories.3 I refer to this Greek view of the Romans as fdpfa3pot, according to
A data science approach to 138 years of congressional speeches
The availability of automatic data analysis tools and large databases have enabled new ways of studying language and communication that were not possible in the pre-information era. Here we apply a quantitative analysis to a large dataset of USA congressional speeches made over a period of 138 years. The analysis reveals that the readability index of congressional speeches increased consistently until the 96th congress, and then started to decline. Congressional speeches have also become more positive over time, and in general express more sentiments compared to speeches made in the 19th century or early 20th century. The analysis also shows statistically significant differences between Democratic and Republican congressional speeches.
The Voice of the Past: Oral History
In this revised edition, Paul Thompson argues that oral history can help to create a truer picture of the past, documenting the lives and feeling of all kinds of people, and that its value has been neglected by conventional historians. The effect of collecting oral evidence, he claims, can be to bind together communities and promote contact between generations. The development of oral history is traced through its past and into the future, demonstrating how it can be evaluated alongside the traditional sources of history to construct a more democratic record of the past. There is a new chapter on "Memory and the self" examining the therapeu tic value of reminiscence.