The Role of Temeritas at Cannae: A Historiographical Analysis of Book XXII of Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

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The Role of Temeritas at Cannae: A Historiographical Analysis of Book XXII of Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita

Name: Timothy Knoepke
Major: Classical Archaeology
Hometown: Jim Falls, WI
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: SURE
Funding: SURE

Abstract

The historian Livy had specific purposes and goals when he wrote his history the end of the 1^st century BCE, describing the events of the 2^nd Punic War, fought between Rome and Carthage at the end of the third century BCE. His history describes events with strong emotion and focuses on character and plot, rather than accuracy. But most of all, he meant his history to serve as an exemplum, lesson, to his readers. This, then, was the basis for my research. Temeritas, an excessive reliance on fortune, and fortuna, fortune, were the main topics of study for my research, analyzing their usages throughout the XXII book of the Ab Urbe Condita.

History is meant to serve as more than a chronological listing of events. It allows one to see into the human condition, to understand the rationale, mechanism, and purpose behind every event. History itself would have been very different if the writings of men like Livy had been studied. The poster will present the basic facts of the battle of Cannae from the account of Livy, alongside the quotes and a summary of the exemplum to be found in the text. The episode explains the effect and power of rashness (temeritas) in warfare and its outcome on battle. As a result of my research, I came to understand the historiography of Livy’s writings through an in-depth study of word choice and context in the histories.

Poster file