Routledge Focus on Classical Studies – serie

Gallus Reborn is the first comprehensive study of the publication history and reception of the works that have been attributed to Gaius Cornelius Gallus, first canonical Roman elegist, friend of Virgil, and ‘missing link’ in Roman literary history.Gallus was a widely read and frequently imitated author from the Renaissance onwards, when he overcame the disadvantage of having no surviving works by putting his name to a substantial body of pseudepigrapha: misattributed, faked or forged poems. This monograph asks what Gallus was like, during that phase of his existence; how was he read, and by whom; and what impact did he have on literary history?Combining close readings of the texts with a comparative overview of their wider reception, Gallus Reborn will interest scholars and advanced students of classical reception, Neo-Latin, comparative literature and early modern studies.

What makes Classics "global", and what does it mean to study the ancient world "globally"? How can the study of antiquity contribute to our understanding of pressing global issues? Global Classics addresses these questions by pursuing a transdisciplinary dialogue between Classics and Global Studies.Authoritative and engaging, this book provides the first field-wide synthesis of the recent "global turn" in Classics as well as a comprehensive overview of an emerging field in ancient studies. Through focused readings of ancient sources and modern scholarship, the author introduces readers to three key paradigms that are essential to research and teaching in global antiquities: transborder, transhistorical, and transdisciplinary.Global Classics will appeal to educators, students, and scholars interested in the application of globalization theories and paradigms in ancient studies, in globalizing their teaching and research, and in approaches to contemporary global issues through the study of the remote past.

What makes Classics "global", and what does it mean to study the ancient world "globally"? How can the study of antiquity contribute to our understanding of pressing global issues? Global Classics addresses these questions by pursuing a transdisciplinary dialogue between Classics and Global Studies.Authoritative and engaging, this book provides the first field-wide synthesis of the recent "global turn" in Classics as well as a comprehensive overview of an emerging field in ancient studies. Through focused readings of ancient sources and modern scholarship, the author introduces readers to three key paradigms that are essential to research and teaching in global antiquities: transborder, transhistorical, and transdisciplinary.Global Classics will appeal to educators, students, and scholars interested in the application of globalization theories and paradigms in ancient studies, in globalizing their teaching and research, and in approaches to contemporary global issues through the study of the remote past.

This book presents an introduction to the Characters, a collection of thirty amusing descriptions of character types who lived in Athens in the fourth century BCE. The author of the work, Theophrastus, was Aristotle's colleague, his immediate successor and head of his philosophical school for thirty-five years. Pertsinidis' lively, original and scholarly monograph introduces Theophrastus as a Greek philosopher. It also outlines the remarkable influence of the Characters as a literary work and provides a detailed discussion of the work's purpose and its connection with comedy, ethics and rhetoric.

This book surveys the uses and function of prophecy, prophets, and oracles among Jews, Christians, and pagans in the first three centuries of the Roman Empire and explores how prophecy and prophetic texts functioned as a common language that enabled religious discourse to develop between these groups. It shows that each of these cultures believed that it was in prophetic texts and prophetic utterances that they could find the surest proof of their religious beliefs and a strong confirmation of their group identity.

Democracies and Republics Between Past and Future focuses on the concepts of direct rule by the people in early and classical Athens and the tribunician negative power in early republican Rome – and through this lens explores current political issues in our society. This volume guides readers through the current constitutional systems in the Western world in an attempt to decipher the reasons and extent of the decline of the nexus between ‘elections’ and ‘democracy’; it then turns its gaze to the past in search of some answers for the future, examining early and classical Athens and, finally, early republican Rome. In discussing Athens, it explores how an authentic ‘power of the people’ is more than voting and something rather different from representation, while the examples of Rome demonstrate – thanks to the paradigm of the so-called tribunician power – the importance of institutionalised mechanisms of dialogic conflict between competing powers. This book will be of primary interest to scholars of legal history, both recent and ancient, and to classicists, but also to the more general reader with an interest in politics and history.

Democracies and Republics Between Past and Future focuses on the concepts of direct rule by the people in early and classical Athens and the tribunician negative power in early republican Rome – and through this lens explores current political issues in our society. This volume guides readers through the current constitutional systems in the Western world in an attempt to decipher the reasons and extent of the decline of the nexus between ‘elections’ and ‘democracy’; it then turns its gaze to the past in search of some answers for the future, examining early and classical Athens and, finally, early republican Rome. In discussing Athens, it explores how an authentic ‘power of the people’ is more than voting and something rather different from representation, while the examples of Rome demonstrate – thanks to the paradigm of the so-called tribunician power – the importance of institutionalised mechanisms of dialogic conflict between competing powers. This book will be of primary interest to scholars of legal history, both recent and ancient, and to classicists, but also to the more general reader with an interest in politics and history.

Gallus Reborn is the first comprehensive study of the publication history and reception of the works that have been attributed to Gaius Cornelius Gallus, first canonical Roman elegist, friend of Virgil, and ‘missing link’ in Roman literary history.Gallus was a widely read and frequently imitated author from the Renaissance onwards, when he overcame the disadvantage of having no surviving works by putting his name to a substantial body of pseudepigrapha: misattributed, faked or forged poems. This monograph asks what Gallus was like, during that phase of his existence; how was he read, and by whom; and what impact did he have on literary history?Combining close readings of the texts with a comparative overview of their wider reception, Gallus Reborn will interest scholars and advanced students of classical reception, Neo-Latin, comparative literature and early modern studies.

This book surveys the uses and function of prophecy, prophets, and oracles among Jews, Christians, and pagans in the first three centuries of the Roman Empire and explores how prophecy and prophetic texts functioned as a common language that enabled religious discourse to develop between these groups. It shows that each of these cultures believed that it was in prophetic texts and prophetic utterances that they could find the surest proof of their religious beliefs and a strong confirmation of their group identity.

This book explores Grahame’s engagements with classical antiquity in The Wind in the Willows, including ancient epic, parody (Batrachomyomachia), and pastoral imagery. Irby demonstrates how subtle echoes – such as the structure into 12 books, arming scenes, epic catalogues, anabases and katabases, lying tales, Toad’s "cleverness"—cumulatively suggest a link between The Wind in the Willows and classical literature. This study offers the first sustained treatment of classical allusions in The Wind in the Willows, considering the entire novel, not isolated scenes, building on existing scholarship to yield an interpretation through the lens of classical literature and its reception in Victorian and Edwardian England.This volume will provide a unique resource for students and scholars of classical reception and literature, as well as comparative literature, English literature, children’s literature, gender studies, and Grahame’s writing.

This book explores Grahame’s engagements with classical antiquity in The Wind in the Willows, including ancient epic, parody (Batrachomyomachia), and pastoral imagery. Irby demonstrates how subtle echoes – such as the structure into 12 books, arming scenes, epic catalogues, anabases and katabases, lying tales, Toad’s "cleverness"—cumulatively suggest a link between The Wind in the Willows and classical literature. This study offers the first sustained treatment of classical allusions in The Wind in the Willows, considering the entire novel, not isolated scenes, building on existing scholarship to yield an interpretation through the lens of classical literature and its reception in Victorian and Edwardian England.This volume will provide a unique resource for students and scholars of classical reception and literature, as well as comparative literature, English literature, children’s literature, gender studies, and Grahame’s writing.

Historical events literally took place in specific contexts; 'where things are' shapes 'how things are'. In this book, Corinna Rossi examines how three different ways of interacting with the surrounding world were shaped by their physical context in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.Following a discussion on the relationship between history and geography, Rossi delves into the geographical settings of these three civilisations, analysing human mobility within them and how cultural development was shaped by these movements. Rossi also identifies three possible models to describe the three different approaches specific to each of these ancient societies.Egypt, Greece, and Rome: A History of Space and Places is suitable for students and scholars with previous understanding of these three civilisations and an interest in the relationship between history and geography.

Historical events literally took place in specific contexts; 'where things are' shapes 'how things are'. In this book, Corinna Rossi examines how three different ways of interacting with the surrounding world were shaped by their physical context in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome.Following a discussion on the relationship between history and geography, Rossi delves into the geographical settings of these three civilisations, analysing human mobility within them and how cultural development was shaped by these movements. Rossi also identifies three possible models to describe the three different approaches specific to each of these ancient societies.Egypt, Greece, and Rome: A History of Space and Places is suitable for students and scholars with previous understanding of these three civilisations and an interest in the relationship between history and geography.

This book uncovers a sophisticated rhetorical game in Second Sophistic prose in the Roman Empire, in which authors intentionally distorted poetic quotations to challenge readers, display erudition, and creatively rework the Greek literary past.It provides readers with a new interpretive framework for understanding the use and manipulation of quotations from classical poets, including Homer, Hesiod, and Pindar, among others, by Greek authors writing under Rome. Through close philological analysis, systematic classification of examples, and detailed case studies of authors of the Second Sophistic such as Plutarch, Lucian, Dio Chrysostom and Aelius Aristides, the book demonstrates how altered quotations functioned as sophisticated rhetorical strategies within elite paideia, offering tools applicable to the study of Imperial prose, intertextuality, and ancient literary culture more broadly.This volume is suitable for students and scholars working on the Second Sophistic and Greek literature in the Roman Empire, as well as those interested in ancient rhetoric and classical literature more broadly.

This book explores how philosophical and religious communities in the Roman Empire of the first and second centuries CE engaged with, and were shaped by, their relationship to texts and tradition in their quest for true religious knowledge or ultimate truth.This era was a dynamic transition period for philosophers, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire: it was the stage between Hellenistic philosophy and the Neoplatonism of Late Antiquity; the end of Second Temple Judaism and the start of the rabbinic period; Christianity’s rapid growth and transformation into an institutional and uniform church. Philosophers, Jews, and Christians utilized similar strategies for communal identity and boundarymarking and reinterpreted ancient traditions in creative ways to create new centers of authority. An intellectual literary culture fostered a focus on texts as a locus of contention, conversion, and exchange within and between groups. The book surveys and compares these groups as three distinct textual or reading communities, analyzing their practices of textual engagement and parallel attitudes towards textual authority in this period.This book is suitable for students and scholars working on ancient philosophy in the Roman Empire, classicists, and scholars of early Christianity and Judaism in this period.

This book explores how philosophical and religious communities in the Roman Empire of the first and second centuries CE engaged with, and were shaped by, their relationship to texts and tradition in their quest for true religious knowledge or ultimate truth.This era was a dynamic transition period for philosophers, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire: it was the stage between Hellenistic philosophy and the Neoplatonism of Late Antiquity; the end of Second Temple Judaism and the start of the rabbinic period; Christianity’s rapid growth and transformation into an institutional and uniform church. Philosophers, Jews, and Christians utilized similar strategies for communal identity and boundarymarking and reinterpreted ancient traditions in creative ways to create new centers of authority. An intellectual literary culture fostered a focus on texts as a locus of contention, conversion, and exchange within and between groups. The book surveys and compares these groups as three distinct textual or reading communities, analyzing their practices of textual engagement and parallel attitudes towards textual authority in this period.This book is suitable for students and scholars working on ancient philosophy in the Roman Empire, classicists, and scholars of early Christianity and Judaism in this period.

This book explores the circumstances surrounding Socrates’ death, critically analysing conflicting sources to establish a framework for understanding his intellectual activities in the cultural, political, and religious context of 5th-century BC Athens.What were the circumstances surrounding the death of Socrates? What do we know of his life and ideas? This book offers readers an understanding of the history and current landscape of Socratic studies while guiding them through the intricate historical context of Socrates’ life, death, and philosophy. By closely examining the reasons behind his trial and conviction for impiety in 399 BCE, we can develop a more thorough understanding of Socrates’ philosophy, as well as address the contradictions and fictional elements in his portrayals.Socrates and his Demise provides a fascinating re-assessment of Socrates and his death, of interest to students and scholars of Socrates and Socratic philosophy, as well as those working on the intellectual culture of 5th-century Athens and Classical Studies more broadly.

This book explores the circumstances surrounding Socrates’ death, critically analysing conflicting sources to establish a framework for understanding his intellectual activities in the cultural, political, and religious context of 5th-century BC Athens.What were the circumstances surrounding the death of Socrates? What do we know of his life and ideas? This book offers readers an understanding of the history and current landscape of Socratic studies while guiding them through the intricate historical context of Socrates’ life, death, and philosophy. By closely examining the reasons behind his trial and conviction for impiety in 399 BCE, we can develop a more thorough understanding of Socrates’ philosophy, as well as address the contradictions and fictional elements in his portrayals.Socrates and his Demise provides a fascinating re-assessment of Socrates and his death, of interest to students and scholars of Socrates and Socratic philosophy, as well as those working on the intellectual culture of 5th-century Athens and Classical Studies more broadly.