Political Autobiographies and Memoirs in Antiquity

Political Autobiographies and Memoirs in Antiquity PDF

Author: Gabriele Marasco

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2015-11-24

Total Pages: 473

ISBN-13: 9004214658

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Ancient autobiography has been the object of several studies and meetings. However, these have focused chiefly on the philosophical and literary aspects. This book aims to examine the development of political autobiography and memoirs in the Greek and Roman world, stressing, instead, the relation of a single work with the traditions of the genre and also the influence of the respective aims of the authors on the composition of autobiographies. At times these works were written as a means of propaganda in a political struggle, or to defend a past action, and often to furnish material to historians. Nonetheless, they still preserve the personal viewpoint and voice of the protagonists in all their vividness, even if distorted by the aim of defending their record. Political Autobiographies and Memoirs in Antiquity will be a highly valuable and useful reference tool for both scholars and students of Greek and Roman history and literature.

Situating Josephus’ Life within Ancient Autobiography

Situating Josephus’ Life within Ancient Autobiography PDF

Author: Davina Grojnowski

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-06-15

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 1350320188

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Davina Grojnowski examines Life, the autobiographical text written by ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, from a literary studies perspective and in relation to genre theory. In order to generate a framework of literary practices, Josephus' Life and other texts within Josephus' literary spheres-all associated with autobiography-are the focus of a detailed literary analysis which compares the texts in terms of established features, such as structure, topoi and subject. This methodological examination enables a better understanding of the literary boundaries of autobiography in antiquity and illustrates Josephus' thought-process during the composition of Life. Grojnowski also offers a comparative study of autobiographical practices in Greek and Roman literature, demonstrating the value of passive education supplementing what had been taught actively and its impact on authors and audiences. As a result, she provides insight into the development of literary practices in reaction to various forms of education and subsequently reflects on the religious (self-) views of authors and audiences. Simultaneously, Grojnowski reacts to current discourses on ancient literary genres and demonstrates that ancient autobiography existed as a teachable literary genre in classical literature.

The Politics and Poetics of Cicero's Brutus

The Politics and Poetics of Cicero's Brutus PDF

Author: Christopher S. van den Berg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-09-16

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1108495958

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Cicero's dialogue on oratory responded to the political crisis of Julius Caesar but ultimately invented 'modern' literary history.

Public Opinion and Politics in the Late Roman Republic

Public Opinion and Politics in the Late Roman Republic PDF

Author: Cristina Rosillo-López

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-06-01

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 110850955X

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This book investigates the working mechanisms of public opinion in Late Republican Rome as a part of informal politics. It explores the political interaction (and sometimes opposition) between the elite and the people through various means, such as rumours, gossip, political literature, popular verses and graffiti. It also proposes the existence of a public sphere in Late Republican Rome and analyses public opinion in that time as a system of control. By applying the spatial turn to politics, it becomes possible to study sociability and informal meetings where public opinion circulated. What emerges is a wider concept of the political participation of the people, not just restricted to voting or participating in the assemblies.

The Political Biographies of Cornelius Nepos

The Political Biographies of Cornelius Nepos PDF

Author: S. Rex Stem

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2012-11-19

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0472118382

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The Roman writer Cornelius Nepos was a friend of Cicero and Catullus and other first-century BCE authors, and portions of his encyclopedic work On Famous Men are the earliest surviving biographies written in Latin. In The Political Biographies of Cornelius Nepos, Rex Stem presents Nepos as a valuable witness to the late Republican era, whose biographies share the exemplary republican political perspective of his contemporaries Cicero and Livy. Stem argues that Nepos created the genre of grouped political biographies in order to characterize renowned Mediterranean figures as role models for Roman leaders, and he shows how Nepos invested his biographies with moral and political arguments against tyranny. This book, the first to regard Nepos as a serious thinker in his own right, also functions as a general introduction to Nepos, placing him in his cultural context. Stem examines Nepos' contributions to the growth of biography, and he defends Nepos from his critics at the same time that he lays out the political significance and literary innovation of Nepos' writings. Accessible to advanced undergraduates, this volume is addressed to a general audience of classicists and ancient historians, as well as those broadly interested in biography, historiography, and political thought.

War, Warlords, and Interstate Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean

War, Warlords, and Interstate Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean PDF

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-12-05

Total Pages: 518

ISBN-13: 9004354050

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During the 4th-1st century BC, Mediterranean polities, stateless formations and stronger powers fought for hegemony. Edited by Toni Ñaco del Hoyo and Fernando López Sánchez, this volume addresses interstate relations and warlordism according to classical studies and social sciences.

A History of Autobiography in Antiquity

A History of Autobiography in Antiquity PDF

Author: Georg Misch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-11-12

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 1136240225

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This is Volume IV of 9 historical works from the International Library of Sociology. This is part one of two looking at the history of the autobiography. Appearing in isolation as they do, autobiographies demand for their description and appreciation, a comprehensive view of the development of the human mind. This volume covers the conception and the origin of autobiography, looking at ancient civilisations of the Middle East, classical Greece and Greco-Roman periods.

Sulla

Sulla PDF

Author: Alexandra Eckert

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2019-11-05

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 3110624826

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This book brings together an international group of scholars to offer new perspectives on the political impact and afterlife of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138–78 B.C.), one of the most important figures in the complex history of the last century of the Roman Republic. It looks beyond the march on Rome, the violence of the proscriptions, or the logic of his political reforms, and offers case studies to illustrate his relations with the Roman populace, the subject peoples of the Greek East, and his own supporters, both veterans and elites, highlighting his long-term political impact and, at times, the limits on his exercise of power. The chapters on reception reassess the good/bad dichotomy of Sulla as tyrant and reformer, focusing on Cicero, while also examining his importance for Sallust, and his characterisation as the antithesis of philhellenism in Greek writers of the Imperial period. Sulla was not straightforward, either as a historical figure or exemplum, and the case studies in this book use the twin approach of politics and reception to offer new readings of Sulla’s aims and impact, both at home and abroad, and why he remained of interest to authors from Sallust to Plutarch and Aelian.

A History of Irish Autobiography

A History of Irish Autobiography PDF

Author: Liam Harte

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 719

ISBN-13: 1108547354

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A History of Irish Autobiography is the first ever critical survey of autobiographical self-representation in Ireland from its recoverable beginnings to the twenty-first century. The book draws on a wealth of original scholarship by leading experts to provide an authoritative examination of autobiographical writing in the English and Irish languages. Beginning with a comprehensive overview of autobiography theory and criticism in Ireland, the History guides the reader through seventeen centuries of Irish achievement in autobiography, a category that incorporates diverse literary forms, from religious tracts and travelogues to letters, diaries, and online journals. This ambitious book is rich in insight. Chapters are structured around key subgenres, themes, texts, and practitioners, each featuring a guide to recommended further reading. The volume's extensive coverage is complemented by a detailed chronology of Irish autobiography from the fifth century to the contemporary era, the first of its kind to be published.