Velleius Paterculus - Böcker

This volume deals with the most controversial part of Velleius' work, regarded by the majority of modern scholars as a panegyrical biography of Tiberius and used as an excuse for dismissing the historical value of Velleius' whole work. In the introduction Dr Woodman considers the nature of the Tiberian narrative in the light of the literary tradition, and argues that it is no more panegyrical than some of the most admired products of Roman historiography such as Livy and Ammianus. He also considers the transmission of Velleius' text since its discovery in 1515, and argues that, contrary to the opinion of most nineteenth and twentieth-century editors, Rhenanus' editio princeps of 1520 is a more reliable authority than Amerbach's apograph of 1516. Dr Woodman provides a full apparatus criticus, and an extensive commentary which is intended for use by students and specialists in Roman literature, historiography, and history.

An imperial historian and an emperor’s history.Velleius Paterculus, who lived in the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (30 BC–AD 37), served as a military tribune in Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor, and later, from AD 4 to 12 or 13, as a cavalry officer and legatus in Germany and Pannonia. He was quaestor in AD 7, praetor in 15. He wrote in two books “Roman Histories,” a summary of Roman history from the fall of Troy to AD 29. As he approached his own times he becomes much fuller in his treatment, especially between the death of Caesar in 44 BC and that of Augustus in AD 14. His work has useful concise essays on Roman colonies and provinces and some effective compressed portrayals of characters.Res Gestae Divi Augusti. In his 76th year (AD 13–14) the emperor Augustus wrote a dignified account of his public life and work of which the best preserved copy (with a Greek translation) was engraved by the Galatians on the walls of the temple of Augustus at Ancyra (Ankara). It is a unique document giving short details of his public offices and honors; his benefactions to the empire, to the people, and to the soldiers; and his services as a soldier and as an administrator.

A Roman commander’s comprehensive history of Rome.The histories of Velleius Paterculus chronicle the story of Rome and Roman culture from the fall of Troy to AD 30. Although his work’s title, proem, and opening chapters are lost along with the narrative from Romulus to the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC, Velleius provides much valuable information, especially about the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius (30 BC–AD 37), for which he provides our only extant historical depiction by a contemporary witness. Velleius was also an active participant: after service under both emperors as a military tribune in Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, and Asia Minor and as a cavalry officer and legatus in Germany and Pannonia, he joined Tiberius at his triumph in AD 12 and became praetor in 15, after which he seems to have retired from public life except for meetings of the senate.Much like his near-contemporaries Cornelius Nepos (LCL 467) and Valerius Maximus (LCL 492, 493), Velleius adopted for his work a condensed and selective format, but his style is richly literary and he allows himself to digress when themes or topics seem especially interesting or significant: these include literature, rhetoric, culture, chronology, and dating, as well as individual Roman towns, colonies, and provinces, about which he was richly informed through firsthand familiarity with Rome and much of the empire along a vast arc that stretched from the Elbe to the Euphrates.This edition of Velleius Paterculus, which replaces that of F. W. Shipley, offers a new translation, ample annotation, and a freshly edited text.

This essential document for the study of Roman history traces the story of Rome from Romulus and the foundations of Rome to the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. It is especially valuable to historians and students for its vivid eyewitness account of the dramatic years that saw the Roman Empire emerge from the chaos left by the shattered Republic.Rendered with the non-specialist in mind, the translation—the first English language translation in nearly ninety years—seeks to remain faithful to the original while avoiding technical and obscure jargon.The volume includes a substantial introduction to Velleius' life and times, and to the literary context of his historical work, as well as generous and detailed notes on the text, a bibliography, map, glossary of unfamiliar terms, and an index.

This essential document for the study of Roman history traces the story of Rome from Romulus and the foundations of Rome to the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. It is especially valuable to historians and students for its vivid eyewitness account of the dramatic years that saw the Roman Empire emerge from the chaos left by the shattered Republic.Rendered with the non-specialist in mind, the translation—the first English language translation in nearly ninety years—seeks to remain faithful to the original while avoiding technical and obscure jargon.The volume includes a substantial introduction to Velleius' life and times, and to the literary context of his historical work, as well as generous and detailed notes on the text, a bibliography, map, glossary of unfamiliar terms, and an index.