Ancients in Action – serie

This volume offers an introduction to the life and work of the 3rd-century-AD Greco-Roman senator and historian Cassius Dio, whose work, although imperfectly preserved in 80 books, is of fundamental importance to our understanding of Roman history. It is said that Dio is not one of the best ancient historians and his Roman history, due to its sheer size, is often imprecise and superficial in its analysis. It has also been assumed that there was no political agenda behind the work, and that Dio’s principal value to us is as a reliable copyist, who mediated the works of other, and better sources. This introduction to his life and work offers a different picture. Here, Dio is presented through his Greek cultural lens as a politician with a clear vision for how Roman politics and government should be organized. Carefully selected examples will be the starting points for fresh critical analysis of Dio’s work and its legacy, both in antiquity and through to the Enlightenment.The book assumes no familiarity with Cassius Dio, his writing or context. All text will be translated and suggested further reading will point readers towards avenues for more detailed study.

This volume offers an introduction to the life and work of the 3rd-century-AD Greco-Roman senator and historian Cassius Dio, whose work, although imperfectly preserved in 80 books, is of fundamental importance to our understanding of Roman history. It is said that Dio is not one of the best ancient historians and his Roman history, due to its sheer size, is often imprecise and superficial in its analysis. It has also been assumed that there was no political agenda behind the work, and that Dio’s principal value to us is as a reliable copyist, who mediated the works of other, and better sources. This introduction to his life and work offers a different picture. Here, Dio is presented through his Greek cultural lens as a politician with a clear vision for how Roman politics and government should be organized. Carefully selected examples will be the starting points for fresh critical analysis of Dio’s work and its legacy, both in antiquity and through to the Enlightenment.The book assumes no familiarity with Cassius Dio, his writing or context. All text will be translated and suggested further reading will point readers towards avenues for more detailed study.

The presocratic philosopher Protagoras of Abdera (490–420 BC), founder of the sophistic movement, was famously agnostic towards the existence and nature of the gods, and was the proponent of the doctrine that ‘man is the measure of all things’. Still relevant to contemporary society, Protagoras is in many ways a precursor of the postmodern movement. In the brief fragments that survive, he lays the foundation for relativism, agnosticism, the significance of rhetoric, a pedagogy for critical thinking and a conception of the human being as a social construction. This accessible introductory survey by Daniel Silvermintz covers Protagoras’ life, ideas and lasting legacy. Each chapter interprets one of the surviving fragments and draws connections with related ideas forwarded by other sophists, showing its relevance to an area of knowledge: epistemology, ethics, education and sociology.

Thucydides was labelled the 'greatest historian that ever lived' by Macauley and no study of Classical Greece is complete without encountering his history of the Peloponnesian War, the greatest war of Greeks against Greeks in the late fifth century BCE, which ended in the fall of Athens.This concise introductory guide sets Thucydides in context as a Greek historian writing about the Peloponnesian War; as an intellectual in the era of the 'sophists', who were willing to question a variety of traditional assumptions; and as an upper-class Athenian who lived through and was actively involved in the Peloponnesian War as a general. Including a survey and summary of Thucydides' work, P. J. Rhodes explores the principles and practices of historiography which Thucydides originated and implemented throughout his History: his narrative insight, an almost scientific judgment and exposition of sources and prejudices, and a strictly defined and authoritative view of what was required in a history of a war. In addition to examining Thucydides' work, the volume provides an overview of the social, political and intellectual contexts Thucydides was writing in, and looks at his impact in antiquity and beyond, from forming modern concepts of impartial history to his effect on popular culture.

Like Guy Fawkes in early 17th-century Britain, L. Sergius Catilina was a threat to the constitution imposed on Rome by Sulla in the mid-1st century BC. His aim at first was to reach the consulship, the summit of power at Rome, by conventional means, but he lacked the money and support to win his way to the top, unlike two contemporaries of greater means and talent: the orator Cicero and the military man Pompey the Great.Defeated for the third time, Catiline took to revolution with a substantial following: destitute farmers, impoverished landowners, discontented Italians and debtors of all kinds. But they could not stand up to the forces of law and order and the rebellion was quashed. For the controversy that still surrounds it, the personalities involved, the distinction of the writers such as Cicero and Sallust, who are our main sources of information for it, this episode remains one of the most significant in late Republican history.This volume gives an energetic and appealing overview of the events, their sources, and the arguments of modern historians looking back at this controversial period. Accessible for students, but useful also for more experienced scholars, this is the perfect introduction not only to a specific historical episode, but also to the problems of tackling ancient sources as evidence.

Gaius Marius (158/157-86 BC) has a major transformational impact on the history of the late Roman Republic. Although none of his ancestors had been a member of the Senate, he managed to reach the consulship on seven occasions, and was responsible for a series of major military victories, notably against King Jugurtha in North Africa and the Teutons and the Cimbrians in Southern Gaul and Northern Italy. Much of his internal political agenda, however, was highly controversial. His reform of the army recruitment system was regarded by some (perhaps with undue emphasis) as a crucial factor in the downfall of the Roman Republic. The final years of his life witnessed his exile, his return to Rome at the head of an armed force, and his comeback to power, shortly followed by his sudden death.This volume provides an account of the life and career of Gaius Marius, sets his achievements and failures within the wider context of the decline of the Roman Republic, and discusses his political legacy in the following decades. It also provides an assessment of the main modern interpretations of the man and his policies.

Callimachus was one of the most important Greek poets, and can also be one of the most rewarding to read. He was a pivotal figure in the history of ancient literature and an influential presence in later ancient poetry, including Catullus and Vergil. Yet his work is not read and enjoyed as much as it could be. This new volume in the popular Ancients in Action series seeks to bring Callimachus to a wide audience, addressing the problems with currently available scholarship, which assumes a professional level of expertise, including full knowledge of Greek.Rawles presents a much-needed introduction to Callimachus’ poetry and is intended for the non-specialist reader and student, assuming no knowledge of Greek. The book is organised in thematic chapters, rich in quotation (in translation), with selective annotations and guidance for further study and reading.

Callimachus was one of the most important Greek poets, and can also be one of the most rewarding to read. He was an important figure in the history of ancient literature and an influential presence in later ancient poetry, including Catullus and Vergil. Yet his work is not read and enjoyed as much as it could be. This new volume in the popular Ancients in Action series seeks to bring Callimachus to a wide audience, addressing the problems with currently available scholarship, which assumes a professional level of expertise, including full knowledge of Greek.This new volume is, therefore, a much-needed clear introduction to Callimachus’ poetry and is intended for the non-specialist reader and student, assuming no knowledge of Greek. The book is organised in thematic chapters, rich in quotation (in translation), with selective annotations and guidance for further study and reading.

This book offers a concise introduction to Xenophon, the Athenian historian, political thinker, moral philosopher and literary innovator who was also a pupil of Socrates, a military general on campaign in Persia, and an exile in residence in the Peloponnese during the late fifth and fourth centuries BC. Alive during one of the most turbulent periods in Greek history, Xenophon wrote extensively about the past and present. In doing so he not only invented several new genres, but also developed pointed political analyses and probing moral critiques. It is the purpose of this book to explore Xenophon’s life, writing and ideas, and reception through thematic studies that draw upon the full range of his work. Starting with his approach to the past and to Socrates, it demonstrates how the depiction of events and people from previous times and places are inflected with contemporary concerns about political instability and the challenges of leadership, as well as by a ‘Socratic’ perspective on politics and morality. The following in-depth examination of Xenophon’s theories concerning political organization and the bases for a good life highlight the interconnectivity of his ideas about how to live together and how to live well. Although Xenophon addresses conceptual issues, his writings provide a practical response to real-life problems. Finally, an evaluation of his significance as an inspiration to later writers in their creative interrogations of human affairs brings the investigations to a close. This book thus illuminates Xenophon’s importance within the vibrant intellectual culture of ancient Greece as an active participant in and evaluator of his world, as well as his impact over time.

This book offers a concise introduction to Xenophon, the Athenian historian, political thinker, moral philosopher and literary innovator who was also a pupil of Socrates, a military general on campaign in Persia, and an exile in residence in the Peloponnese during the late fifth and fourth centuries BC. Alive during one of the most turbulent periods in Greek history, Xenophon wrote extensively about the past and present. In doing so he not only invented several new genres, but also developed pointed political analyses and probing moral critiques. It is the purpose of this book to explore Xenophon’s life, writing and ideas, and reception through thematic studies that draw upon the full range of his work. Starting with his approach to the past and to Socrates, it demonstrates how the depiction of events and people from previous times and places are inflected with contemporary concerns about political instability and the challenges of leadership, as well as by a ‘Socratic’ perspective on politics and morality. The following in-depth examination of Xenophon’s theories concerning political organization and the bases for a good life highlight the interconnectivity of his ideas about how to live together and how to live well. Although Xenophon addresses conceptual issues, his writings provide a practical response to real-life problems. Finally, an evaluation of his significance as an inspiration to later writers in their creative interrogations of human affairs brings the investigations to a close. This book thus illuminates Xenophon’s importance within the vibrant intellectual culture of ancient Greece as an active participant in and evaluator of his world, as well as his impact over time.

The Roman emperor Hadrian, who lived from 76 to 138 AD was a hugely influential figure whose architectural legacy is obvious even today. However, he was also contradictory and mysterious: he was a Spaniard who became emperor at Rome; he was a popular, successful soldier who aimed to be a man of peace. He dabbled in black magic, and he courted scandal: as well as his bitterly unhappy marriage, he had a very public love affair with Greek boy, who died in mysterious circumstances surrounded by rumours of human sacrifice.This title explores these contradictions and complexities, and pieces together the picture of a man, his life, times and influence. It presents a rounded picture written in a lively and accessible style.Looking in detail at key themes and topics of Hadrian’s life, the title explores his Spanish background, his military service and initiatives of peace, his architectural legacy such as the Pantheon, his villa at Tivoli, his love of Athens and Athenian culture, his relationship with Antinous, and how he dealt with Christians and Jews. In addition to this, the title covers social aspects of life in the Roman empire in the second century: slavery, Roman baths and hygiene, the public spectacles of circus races, gladiatorial fights and animal hunts.

"The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" stand at the very beginning of Greek literature. Much has been written about their origins and authorship, but Jasper Griffin, although he touches briefly on those questions, is here concerned with the ideas of the poems, which have had such an incalculable influence on the ideas of the West. He shows that each of the two epics has its own coherent and suggestive view of the world and of man's place in it.

Virgil lived through the fall of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Empire. In his poems we see a series of attempts, increasingly ambitious in scale and conception, to combine technical brilliance and beauty with profound meditation on the nature of imperialism and the relation of the individual to the State. From short pastoral poems on love and song he progressed to the heroic myth of the founding of Rome. "The Aeneid", immediately recognised as the greatest masterpiece of Latin literature, has had incalculable influence on European literature in the two thousand years since it was first published.

For many today Spartacus is Kirk Douglas. The influence of Kubrick's film has been enormous, but Spartacus was famous before 1960. For hundreds of years he has been a byword for resistance, revolution and the fight for freedom. He has given his name to a revolutionary party in Germany and a political group in the USA; he is the subject of several novels and films, and even a ballet. Though only a slave, he is as famous as Julius Caesar. Not much information, and much of it negative, survives about him from the ancient world, yet his reputation has survived this character assassination and he is still famous as a popular hero two thousand years after his death. Theresa Urbainczyk explores the man and the myth in this fascinating short treatment of an icon of revolution.

Catullus, who lived from about 84 to 54 BC, was one of ancient Rome's most gifted, versatile and passionate poets. In this accessible short book Amanda Kolson Hurley explores the many facets of Catullus' poetry, discussing in detail over twenty of his most important poems, ranging from obscene and abusive epigrams to delicate lyrics and formal wedding hymns. Catullus relates many of his poems in the first person, and may therefore seem an artlessly sincere narrator, yet this impression is misleading. Hurley examines the skilful rhetoric the poet employs to gain his reader's sympathy, and confronts a major difficulty involved in reading Catullus: while the autobiographical hints in hist most famous poems make us want to learn more about him, much of his history has been lost. The book presents the poet's work clearly in the context of ancient Roman culture and society, and looks at the reception of Catullus in English literature, a tradition that has shaped modern thinking about the poet.

The most prolific of Roman poets, Ovid was born in 43 BC and died in exile on the Black Sea in 17 AD, banished by the Emperor Augustus. As well as his famous Metamorphoses (the subject of another book in this series) he produced a large body of elegiac poetry, the Amores, Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris, Heroides, Fasti, Tristia and Ex Ponto, all of which are accessibly discussed here in Genevieve Liveley's important re-evaluation of the poet's politics, poetics and erotics. She examines the impact on Ovid of Augustus' programmes for social and political reform, the role of genre, allusion and intertextuality in his writings, and the tensions underlying his representations of gender and sexuality. Finally she assesses responses to Ovid's elegiac works by later love poets and writers, and reflects on the continued relevance and readability of his work for a twenty-first century audience.

The Roman poet Lucretius, who lived in the first century BC, composed an epic poem, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe), whose avowed purpose was to change the way we live our lives, to abandon our fear of the gods and of death, and to see what real happiness is and how to obtain it. The poem explains the atomic nature of the world and our own place in it, examining the microscopic world of atoms and the telescopic world of the universe, as well as human life in all its facets - politics, pleasure, the nature of perception, our dreams and sexual behaviour. Here John Godwin explains Lucretius' great poem in its Roman context, assessing the literary and philosophical value of the poems and arguing the merits of the poet's claim to change our lives. Lucretius is seen as a writer for our time, offering us a text of enormous beauty and artistry which will help us find happiness and serenity in a turbulent world.

The impact of Ovid's Metamorphoses on our culture can hardly be overestimated. The poem is one of the most exciting and accessible classical texts, our key source for nearly all the famous myths of Greece and Rome. Sarah Annes Brown offers a lively, and sometimes provocative, introduction to the Metamorphoses, exploring the impact of recent critical developments and tracing its rich afterlife in both high and popular culture. The book's later chapters are devoted to five of the most memorable Ovidian stories - Apollo and Daphne, Actaeon, Philomela, Arachne and Pygmalion. Each subtle and elusive story is found to have generated a huge range of creative responses. The influence of the Pygmalion myth, for example, can be traced in Frankenstein, Vertigo and Blade Runner, as well as in the works of Chaucer and Shakespeare.

Why are we still interested in Cleopatra? She has that eternally attractive combination of sexual allure, political power - even divine status - and personal wealth. She had by any standards an eventful life and an unforgettable death. She very nearly tipped the balance of power at a crucial moment in history: had she and Antony succeeded in maintaining their empire in the east, our cultural life might be very different today. In this concise, readable, well-illustrated book, Susan Walker and Sally-Ann Ashton look at the historical Cleopatra, at images of Cleopatra as a Greek queen and as ruler of Egypt, at contemporary perceptions of her and at how we see her today. We see how Roman propaganda depicted her as a threatening woman with non-Roman qualities of excessive behaviour and emotional manipulation, a view that has come down through Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and forms the basis of our understanding of her over two thousand years later.

Horace is a poet of surprising contradictions who lived through the most dramatic period of social and political revolution in Rome. From fighting on the losing side in the civil war, he became a confidant of his recent enemies. From humble beginnings as the son of a freedman, he rocketed to the very centre of the Roman establishment. Though he is often regarded as morally and politically conservative, his love poetry is played against the backdrop of a hedonistic, bisexual demi-monde. The strident voice of some of the nationalistic odes contrasts with the quieter melancholic tone of the personal lyrics, with their timeless meditations on the nature of friendship, morality and mortality. A poet of dazzling technical brilliance, Horace introduced the metrical complexities of Greek lyric poetry to the Latin language on a scale never previously contemplated. We know more of his life and background than any other ancient poet and his voice has echoed down the ages as a wise comforter and urbane friend to poets and statesmen alike. This introduction embraces all of these aspects and more, assessing the profound and lasting impact of Horace on the culture of the western world.

This series of short incisive books introduces major figures of the ancient world to the modern general reader, including the essentials of each subject's life, works, and significance for later western civilisation. Tacitus is arguably the most significant writer of the Roman imperial period. His biting creativity is best known to us through his historical narratives. The Histories ruthlessly depicts the disastrous civil wars which exploded in AD 68-9, while the Annals chillingly documents the murky principates of the Julio-Claudian emperors from Tiberius to Nero. Tacitus is driven throughout by a desire to reveal escalating corruption and selfish ambitions and to demonstrate how and why such a debased world evolved after the death of Augustus. This book sets Tacitus clearly in context, surveying all his works and clarifying the traditions of ancient writing that informed and shaped his narratives. It also traces how his works have been used and abused in subsequent eras.

This series of short incisive books introduces major figures of the ancient world to the modern general reader, including the essentials of each subject's life, works, and significance for later western civilisation. In the newly created tradition of the "Ancients in Action" series, Marguerite Johnson has written a fascinating and accessible account of what remains of the life and works of the Greek poet, Sappho. Sappho's ancient biography is covered in addition to the post-classical accounts of her life, which continue to appear, in a variety of creative and non-creative contexts, in contemporary literature and art. Sappho's poetry, essentially preserved in tantalising fragments, is discussed in a series of thematic chapters that include her religious writings, particularly directed to the goddess of love, Aphrodite; personal interpretations of mythological themes; marriage hymns; and love songs to female companions.

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) was a Spanish writer who lived in Rome in the second half of the first century AD. He wrote only in the genre of epigram, invented by the Greeks, which he chose because of his dislike of all that was pretentious and escapist in contemporary literature, where stale mythological topics were regarded as both 'elevated' and, in times of political danger, safe. His own boundless interest in the life he saw around him in Rome, and his sense of humour, led him to prefer to express himself in short and highly polished poems. He brought the genre to such a pitch of perfection that his work has defined it for subsequent authors. Although only a limited number of his own epigrams conform to the dictionary definition as 'a short poem ending in a witty turn of thought', their effectiveness has shaped this definition. This book tells what we know about the man's commonsense attitude to life, and his hatred of hypocrisy and malice. It assesses his debt to literary tradition and the astonishing influence he had on later writers.Part of the "Ancient in Action" series this new series of short incisive books introduces major figures of the ancient world to the modern general reader, including the essentials of each subject's life, works, and significance for later western civilisation.

Of all the lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work has been best preserved. His odes to victorious Greek athletes were entertainments designed for performance in a hospitable atmosphere of drinking, dining and jokes. The victor has known the favour of the god whose contest he entered, and has brought back pan-Hellenic fame to his family, friends and city. To extend this glory and make it permanent, he has commissioned a song of praise, had dancers trained to sing it, and summoned an audience of kinsmen, neighbours and friends to enjoy it. Pindar's odes contain invocations and prayers, but their most characteristic effects are achieved thhrough the depiction of fragments of myth. Anne Pippin Burnett argues that these passages were meant neither as mere decoration nor as moral instruction, but served rather as a dramatic mechanism by which dancers brought an experience of another world to guests gathered in the banqueting suite of the victor.

Few people in history have achieved more yet with such fatal consequences for the cause that they supported than Hannibal. In this lively and accessible study Robert Garland explores Hannibal's fascinating but complex personality in the light of his extraordinary military and political career, which made him one of history's greatest survivors. He was certainly Rome's most formidable adversary, and the man who came closest to destroying her power base in Italy. At the same time Hannibal did more than anyone else to bring Carthage to the edge of ruin. His endurance in guiding his army and his elephants over the Alps tested the limits of what is humanly possible. And even at the end of his life, he never yielded an inch to his enemies. Garland investigates Hannibal's unintended yet powerful legacy and concludes that he is both an inspiration and a warning to anyone who dreams big dreams.