Fragmente eines Lebenswerks

Historischer Kommentar zur Universalgeschichte des Nikolaos von Damaskus

By (author) T. Shahin

Book cover: Fragmente eines Lebenswerks

Extent: 280 pages

Publisher: Peeters Publishers

Subjects: Classical Studies

Series: Collection Latomus

Series volume number: 362

Language: German

Paperback (Published)

(September 2020)

ISBN: 9789042941830

Price: $75.00

In stock

eBook (Published)

(September 2020)

ISBN: 9789042941847

Price: $75.00

This is the first in-depth analysis of the 102 surviving fragments of the originally 144 books of the Universal History by Nicolaus of Damascus (64-4 BC). Nicolaus was one of a number of ancient authors including Poseidonius, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Pompeius Trogus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Timagenes who composed universal histories. Shahin analyzes Nicolaus’ Universal History in terms of both its structure and content by means of composing a commentary on all of the fragments and exploring their respective, distinctive characteristics, which contributed to their preservation. The analysis takes into account the textual context in which the fragments were transmitted, as well as recent research findings about doubtful references, textual variants and fragments that may be the work of Nicolaus.


In the course of his doctoral thesis, Shahin for the first time carried out an in-depth analysis of the 102 surviving fragments of the originally 144 books of the Universal History by Nicolaus of Damascus (64-4 BC). Nicolaus was one of a number of ancient authors including Poseidonius, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Pompeius Trogus, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Timagenes who composed universal histories. Shahin analyses Nicolaus’ Universal History in terms of both its structure and content by means of (a) composing a commentary on all of the fragments and (b) exploring their respective, distinctive characteristics, which contributed to their preservation. The work is based on Felix Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, which remains the principal edition. The analysis takes into account the textual context in which the fragments were transmitted, as well as recent research findings about doubtful references, textual variants and fragments that may be the work of Nicolaus.

  • By (author) T. Shahin