Myths of Rome

T. P. Wiseman is Emeritus Professor of Roman History at the University of Exeter and a Fellow of the British Academy. He came to Exeter in 1977, and was Head of Department from 1977 to 1990. His published books include Catullan Questions (1969), New Men in the Roman Senate (1971), Cinna the Poet (1974), Catullus and his World (1985), Roman Political Life (1985), and Remembering the Roman People (2009). And on the study of Roman historiography, and from there to the myth-history of early Rome: see Clio’s Cosmetics (1979), Historiography and Imagination (1994), Remus: A Roman Myth (1995), Roman Drama and Roman History (1998), The Myths of Rome (2004), which won the American Philological Association’s Goodwin Award of Merit, and Unwritten Rome (2008)

The Myths of Rome is nothing less than a reconstruction of how the Romans envisaged, fabricated and communicated interdependent, multiform and inclusive stories of what it meant to be Roman…’‘…a provocative and stimulating conspectus of [Wiseman’s] abiding historical concerns to all students of myth.’‘I recommend The Myths of Rome to students and teachers of Roman history, art and myth at undergraduate and graduate level, specialists in these fields, and anyone interested in a potent and provocative re-interpretation of the Roman historical tradition.

• List of illustrationsAcknowledgmentsUser's guideTime-chartMapsMythic RomeHistorical RomeLatium and northern CampaniaThe central and eastern Mediterranean1 The triumph of Flora1.1 Tiepolo in California1.2 Ovid, Bellini and Titian1.3 Ovid and Botticelli1.4 Roman myths2 Latins and Greeks2.1 euoin and Euboians2.2 Trojan stories2.3 Argonauts2.4 Argives2.5 Hercules and Evander2.6 Saturnus and Liber3 Kings (and after)3.1 The exile's treasure3.2 The Etruscan angle3.3 The slave king3.4 Gods and men3.5 The vultures, the snake and the dog3.6 The barons' stories4 The god of liberty and licence4.1 A story in the calendar4.2 Freedom and the Republic4.3 Athens in Rome4.4 The wilderness valley4.5 Fun and games5 What Novius knew5.1 The workplace5.2 The Ficoroni cista5.3 Gods, goddesses and gorgeous girls5.4 Naming names5.5 The twins6 History and myth6.1 The crucible6.2 Camillus6.3 Dynasty and liberty6.4 The foundation legend7 Facing both ways7.1 What the gods demand7.2 Honesty and turnips7.3 Janus and his friends7.4 Surviving the worst7.5 Apollo's authority7.6 Welcoming the Mother8 Power and the people8.1 New ways8.2 The catastrophe8.3 Sallust, Cicero and civil war8.4 The People's historian8.5 Caesar and son8.6 Apollo's agent8.7 The father of his country9 Caesars9.1 Liber's revenge9.2 So many deaths9.3 The world's a stage9.4 The blood of Augustus9.5 At last, a play-text9.6 Grand opera9.7 Soldiers on the rampage10 The dream that was Rome10.1 Long perspectives10.2 Romulus and Remulus10.3 Republics10.4 Empires10.5 Back to FloraReferencesBibliographyIllustration creditsIndex