The term was coined by German classicists (based on Aelianus' [2] title ποικίλη ἱστορία, poikílē historía), to classify prose works which present their material in a deliberately indiscriminate order. We have no ancient generic term for works of this kind (neither do we have a detailed critical explanation), but can make the following distinction: (a) works whose contents follow one another apparently haphazardly and whose subjects are different and (…
Cite this page
Bowie, Ewen (Oxford) and
Krasser, Helmut (Gießen),
“Buntschriftstellerei”, in:
Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry.
Consulted online on 26 January 2021 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e221660>