The Roman HistoriansThe Romans' devotion to their past pervades almost every aspect of their culture. But the clearest image of how the Romans wished to interpret their past is found in their historical writings. This book examines in detail the major Roman historians: Ronald Mellor demonstrates that Roman historical writing was regarded by its authors as a literary not a scholarly exercise, and how it must be evaluated in that context. He shows that history writing reflected the political structures of ancient Rome under the different regimes. |
Contents
Sallust | 30 |
Livy | 48 |
Tacitus | 76 |
Ammianus Marcellinus | 110 |
Roman biography | 132 |
Autobiography at Rome | 165 |
Historical writing at Rome | 185 |
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achievements Agricola Agrippina Ammianus Ammianus Marcellinus ancestors ancient annalistic Annals aristocrats army Atticus Augustus autobiography battle biography Brutus called career Catiline Cato character Cicero civil Claudius consul contemporary Cornelius Nepos corruption criticism death digressions Domitian dramatic early elite emperor Empire epic Fabius Flavian Gallic Gallic War Gaul genre Germans Greece Greek Hannibal Herodotus Historia Augusta imperial important inscriptions intellectual Italy Jugurtha Julian Julius Caesar later Latin literary lives Livy Livy's Loeb Marius material military modern moral narrative Nepos Nero orator past perhaps philosophers Plutarch poet poetry political Polybius praise preface prose provides Punic readers regarded reign Republic Res Gestae rhetorical Roman historians Roman historical writing Roman historiography Roman Republic Rome Rome's Sallust scholars Scipio Sejanus Senate senatorial sources speeches story style stylistic Suetonius survive Tacitus Thucydides Tiberius tion tradition Trajan virtues writing history written wrote