Curtius
Quintus Curtius Rufus (unknown - 53 AD)
When and where born?
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Curtius was writing during the reigns of Emperor Tiberius (14 AD - 37 AD), Caligula (37 AD - 41 AD) and Claudius (41 AD - 54 AD). Tiberius and Caligula were considered to be tyrants at the time and many felt harshly treated by them so Curtius was writing in a time where people werre depressed about the leadership of the Roman Empire.
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Career outside of writing
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Curius was a son of a non-senator so he must have had a career in the military in order to become a member of the senate; in 43 AD he became consul. It is believed that he was able to advance as he was protected by Tiberius' praetorian prefect, Seianus, as when Seianus fell from power in 31 AD, Curtius' career stopped until under the reign of Claudius.
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Work on Alexander the Great
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When writing the 'History of Alexander', Curtius attempted to portray the tyranny of Tiberius and Caligula as it looks at studying the psychological factors behind Alexander the Great's success. It is possible to gather this as Curtius' description of the trial of Philotas is remarkably similiar to an incident during the reign of Tiberius.
Curtius used Cleitarchus' 'History of Alexander' as his main source as it focussed on the psychological development of Alexander from a conqueror to despot, using stories told by soldiers. This would be fairly unreliable as soldiers often exaggerated and were unlikely to understand the scale, importance or even exactly what was happening in these events. However, Curtius used Ptolemy and Aristobulus to correct his model. Curtius' account also includes many stories that are not included in Arrian's works. |