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A new consideration of life on the Republican-era Aventine Hill uncovers a diverse urban landscape
Showcases new approaches that reveal the remarkable transformation of Roman and Italian societies during the Middle Republican period.
"This book describes the historical culture of Italy from the Early Iron Age to the Roman conquest, covering a period from roughly 900 - 300 BCE. By historical culture, I refer throughout to a broader concept of social engagement with the past than is sometimes meant by the word "history." But this move permits us, following Sahlins' suggestion, to consider all kinds of new things. There exists a substantial corpus of material, much of it archaeological, some of it newly discovered, which speaks to us about how local communities in early Italy thought and talked about their history and how they articulated their past and present. This material has yet to have much impact on the typical ways in which we reconstruct the process of "becoming historical" in Italy. Instead, the story tends to be told almost exclusively from the Roman perspective and in a teleology"--
Scholars, military men, and casual observers alike have devoted significant energy to understanding how the armies of the Roman Middle Republic (300 – 100 BCE) were able to function so effectively, examining their organization, hierarchy, recruitment, tactics, and ideology in close detail. But what about the concerns, interests, and goals of the soldiers who powered it? The present study argues that the military forces of the Middle Republic were not simply cogs in the Roman military machine, but rather dynamic and diverse social units that played a key role in shaping an ever-changing Mediterranean world. Indeed, the soldiers in the armies of this period not only developed connections wit...
This volume commemorates the 65th birthday of William Vernon Harris (on September 13, 2003), when a group of his former students agreed to honor him with a collection of essays that would represent the wide variety of interests and influences of our advisor and friend. The fifteen papers in fact range chronologically from the first Olympics to late antiquity and discuss various questions of imperialism, law, economy, and religion in the ancient Mediterranean world. The essays share a social historical perspective from which they challenge as many commonly accepted notions in ancient history. The contributors acknowledge their intellectual debt to the formative scholarly acumen of William V. Harris, which adds up to the "tall order" of engaging with his work.
Madness Triumphant: A Reading of Lucan’s Pharsalia offers the most detailed and comprehensive analysis of Lucan’s epic poem of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey to have appeared in English. In the manner of his previous books on Virgil and Ovid, Professor Fratantuono considers the Pharsalia as an epic investigation of the nature of fury and madness in Rome, this time during the increasing insanity of Nero’s reign.
Based on a thorough examination of the epigraphic, legal, and literary sources on the collegia centonariorum, this volume offers a new understanding of their origins, functions, organizations, and social and legal status in the Roman Empire from the first century BC to fourth century AD.
A good argument could be made that the Battle of Actium was the most significant military engagement in Roman history. On a bright September day, the naval forces of Octavian clashed with those of Antony and Cleopatra off the coast of western Greece. The victory Octavian enjoyed that day set the state for forty-four years of what would come to be known as the Augustan Peace, and was in no small way the dawn of the Roman Empire. Yet, despite its significance, what exactly happened at Actium has been a mystery, despite significant labours and effort on the part of many classicists and military historians both amateur and professional. Professor Lee Fratantuono re-examines the ancient evidence and presents a compelling and solidly documented account of what took place in the waters off the promontory of Leucas in late August and early September of 31 B.C.
By taking a look at colonization and subalternity, this book offers a different view on Classical Greece and its modern legacy.
A new, holistic reading of Catullus emerges from convincing solutions to centuries-old problems concerning the nature of his surviving text.