Paradigmi storiografici classici in alcune allocuzioni militari del De bello Neapolitano di Giovanni Pontano

Paradigms of Classical Historiography in Some Military Allocutions of Giovanni Pontano’s De bello Neapolitano

Ancient sources give us useful information to a likely reconstruction of the contexts, the manners, the functions, and the contents of the speeches held by generals during a battle (adlocutiones militares). Most important evidences are contained in the ancient treatises de re militari and in the Greek and Latin historical works, for they provided over the centuries a basic model for those historians who were inspired by the classical tradition, like Giovanni Pontano. Through some speeches taken from Giovanni Pontano’s De bello Neapolitano, the paper outlines the historical practice of Pontano and its relationship both with Pontano’s theoretical statements about history, which were developed in his Actius, and further evidences found in other contemporary literary documents.