JOURNAL ARTICLE

Friendship, glory, and common death: The Nisus and Euryalus theme in Curtius Rufus' Historiae Alexandri Magni.

  • Published In: Philologus -- Zeitschrift für Antike Literatur und Ihre Rezeption, 2025, v. 169, n. 1. P. 90 1 of 3

  • Database: Humanities Source Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Ammann, Andreas 3 of 3

Abstract

Curtius Rufus' History of Alexander contains three episodes, absent from all other ancient texts on the Macedonian king, that are clearly modelled on Virgil's famous story of Nisus and Euryalus. This paper considers these passages in relation to the Virgilian model, as well as to one another, and argues that they are more than mere literary embellishment of the historical narrative: they serve as a device for the author to indirectly criticise the king's increasingly reckless behaviour by showing the detrimental effect it has on his subjects – even if the king himself, protected by his perpetual good luck, always escapes unscathed. Moreover, this paper explores how the depiction of the corrupting influence of Alexander's felix temeritas ("fortunate rashness") is utilised by Curtius to present his own pessimistic reading of the story of Nisus and Euryalus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Philologus -- Zeitschrift für Antike Literatur und Ihre Rezeption. 2025/06, Vol. 169, Issue 1, p90
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:History
  • Publication Date:2025
  • ISSN:00317985
  • DOI:10.1515/phil-2024-0019
  • Accession Number:186455804
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Philologus -- Zeitschrift für Antike Literatur und Ihre Rezeption is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.