Someone asked me, naively, why ancient authors didn’t indicate when they were writing. Of course modern authors don’t tend to embed their names and date of completion in their works either, but this led me to wonder just how many ancient works DO indicate when they were written, in an explicit manner? Comments welcome!
Roger Pearse
Thoughts on Antiquity, Patristics, putting things online, information access, and more
Velleius Paterculus explicitly dates his Roman History to the consulship of a friend (30 AD).
Not a direct answer to the question, but I would suggest the book Caesar’s Calendar, which deals not only with how the calendar was established, but also goes into great detail about ancient perceptions of time and history (and does perhaps give some better perspective on the “why”).
Jona, thanks for this datum – most useful.
Ryan, thanks for the reference!
Jona, any idea whereabouts in Velleius Paterculus this dating is?
It’s not stated explicitly, but he refers often to the occasion of Marcus Vinicius’ consulship (e.g., 1.8.1, 1.13.4) and it is absolutely obvious that his book was written for that occasion.
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/1*.html#8
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/1*.html#13.4
Thanks!