Man and Animal in Severan Rome

The Literary Imagination of Claudius Aelianus

AvSteven D. Smith

Inbunden, Engelska, 2014

Del i serien Greek Culture in the Roman World

1 228 kr

Beställningsvara. Skickas inom 7-10 vardagar. Fri frakt över 249 kr.

Fler format och utgåvor

Häftad

468 kr

Beskrivning

The Roman sophist Claudius Aelianus, born in Praeneste in the late second century CE, spent his career cultivating a Greek literary persona. Aelian was a highly regarded writer during his own lifetime, and his literary compilations would be influential for a thousand years and more in the Roman world. This book argues that the De natura animalium, a miscellaneous treasury of animal lore and Aelian's greatest work, is a sophisticated literary critique of Severan Rome. Aelian's fascination with animals reflects the cultural issues of his day: philosophy, religion, the exoticism of Egypt and India, sex, gender, and imperial politics. This study also considers how Aelian's interests in the De natura animalium are echoed in his other works, the Rustic Letters and the Varia Historia. Himself a prominent figure of mainstream Roman Hellenism, Aelian refined his literary aesthetic to produce a reading of nature that is both moral and provocative.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2014-07-24
Mått:157 x 236 x 21 mm
Vikt:630 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Greek Culture in the Roman World
Antal sidor:310
Förlag:Cambridge University Press
ISBN:9781107033986

Utforska kategorier

Mer om författaren

Steven D. Smith is Associate Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Hofstra University, New York. He is the author of Greek Identity and the Athenian Past in Chariton: The Romance of Empire (2007).

Recensioner i media

'Smith compellingly argues that Aelian discusses the desire of animals to provide a moral commentary on human society … [T]hose interested in Roman Hellenism and the intellectual world of Severan Rome will welcome [this] book.' M. L. Goldman, Choice

Innehållsförteckning

Introduction. Approaching the De natura animalium; 1. The independent intellectual; 2. Animals and agroikoi in Aelian's Rustic Letters; 3. The hazards of variety; 4. The Hellenized Roman; 5. Stoicism; 6. Animals, divinity, and myth; 7. Egypt and India; 8. The sexual animal; 9. Bees, lions, eagles: Aelian and kingship; 10. After animals: the women of the Varia Historia; Conclusion. 'Nature produces animals with many voices and many sounds, you might say ...'; Appendix: reconstructing Aelian's Katêgoria tou Gunnidos.