Blackwell-Bristol Lectures on Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition – serie

Why Plato Wrote argues that Plato was not only the world’s first systematic political philosopher, but also the western world’s first think-tank activist and message man. Shows that Plato wrote to change Athenian society and thereby transform Athenian politicsOffers accessible discussions of Plato’s philosophy of language and political theorySelected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2011

Tales of the Barbarians traces the creation of new mythologies in the wake of Roman expansion westward to the Atlantic, and offers the first application of modern ethnographic theory to ancient material. Investigates the connections between empire and knowledge at the turn of the millennia, and the creation of new histories in the Roman WestExplores how ancient geography, local histories and the stories of wandering heroes were woven together by Greek scholars and local expertsOffers a fresh perspective by examining  passages from ancient writers in a new light

Provides a unique and accessible understanding of Sallust and his influence on writing the history of RomeGaius Sallustius Crispus ('Sallust', 86-35 BCE) is the earliest Roman historian from whom any works survive. His two extant writings chronicle crucial moments of a political, social, and ethical revolution with profound consequences for his own life and those of his audience. After the Past: Sallust on History and Writing History examines what it meant to write the history of contentious events—Catiline’s famous rebellion in 63 BCE and the war waged against the North African king Jugurtha fifty years earlier—while their effects were still so vividly felt.One of the first book-length treatments of Sallust in over fifty years, the text offers a comprehensive reading of Sallust’s works using the tools of narratology and intertextual analysis to reveal the changing functions of historiography at the end of the Roman Republic. Author Andrew Feldherr’s comprehensive approach examines the literary strategies used by Sallust and many of the most interesting and significant aspects of the historian’s accomplishment while advancing the study of historiography as a literary form, reconsidering its relationship to rival genres such as rhetoric and tragedy. Pursuing a focused and distinctive scholarly argument, this book: Provides a comprehensive approach to Sallust’s extant worksExplores how Sallust helped his readers to reflect on their own relationship with their tumultuous pastContributes to understanding Roman conceptualizations of space and of writingChallenges the core assumption that literary historiography of the time period is essentially rhetorical natureAfter the Past: Sallust on History and Writing History is an accessible and useful resource for students of Latin literature and Roman history from the advanced undergraduate through professional levels, and for all those with an interest in historiography as a literary genre in Greco-Roman antiquity and in the literary history of the late Republic and triumviral period.

Tales of the Barbarians traces the creation of new mythologies in the wake of Roman expansion westward to the Atlantic, and offers the first application of modern ethnographic theory to ancient material. Investigates the connections between empire and knowledge at the turn of the millennia, and the creation of new histories in the Roman WestExplores how ancient geography, local histories and the stories of wandering heroes were woven together by Greek scholars and local expertsOffers a fresh perspective by examining  passages from ancient writers in a new light

Dionysus Resurrected analyzes the global resurgence since the late 1960s of Euripides’ The Bacchae. By analyzing and contextualizing these modern day performances, the author reveals striking parallels between transformational events taking place during the era of the play’s revival and events within the play itself. Puts forward a lively discussion of the parallels between transformational eventsduring the era of the play’s revival and events within the play itselfThe first comparative study to analyse and contextualize performances of The Bacchae that took place between 1968 and 2009 from the United States, Africa, Latin America, Europe and AsiaArgues that presentations of the play not only represent liminal states but also transfer the spectators into such statesContends that the play’s reflection on various stages of globalization render the tragedy a contemporary playEstablishes the importance of The Bacchae within Euripides’ work as the only extant tragedy in which the god Dionysus himself appears, not just as a character but as the protagonist