Philip II of Macedon: a consideration of books VII – IX of Justin’s epitome of Pompeius Trogus

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is two-fold: firstly to examine the career and character of Philip II of Macedon as portrayed in Books VII - IX of Justin's epitome of the Historiae Philippicae of Pompeius Trogus, and to consider to what extent Justin-Trogus (a composite name for the author of the views in the text of Justin) furnishes accurate historical fact, and to what extent he paints a one-sided interpretation of the events, and secondly to identify as far as possible Justin's principles of selection and compression as evidenced in Books VII - IX. Apart from this account of Justin-Trogus, there is only one other continuous account of the reign of Philip II, namely that found in Diodorus Siculus XVI. A comparison between Justin-Trogus’ material and that of Diodorus, together with evidence from other ancient sources and also modern scholars, has provided a large quantity of historical matter which has been used to compile a historical commentary. From ah examination of some aspects covered by this commentary the following conclusions have been reached: The factual information in Books VII - IX seems to be as reliable as that given by Diodorus, but there is in Justin-Trogus' account some considerable rhetorical padding which must be treated with extreme caution by modem researchers of the reign of Philip II. Justin's principles of selection seem to have been dominated by an Interest in the more anecdotal aspects of the Macedonian monarchy, the loss of Greek freedom and a lack of Interest in military matters. His methods of compression are closely linked to the latter, and can be identified to some extent by examining the links between different topics.