The Roman Emperor Gaius "Caligula" and His Hellenistic Aspirations

The Roman Emperor Gaius

Author: Geoff W. Adams

Publisher: Universal-Publishers

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1599424231

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The Roman Emperor Gaius 'Caligula' and his Hellenistic Aspirations examines one of the most notorious of Roman Emperors in light of his rather unconventional upbringing in the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. The study has sought to use the ancient evidence in order to reassess the context in which the young Gaius Caligula was raised particularly in relation to the influence of his father, Germanicus.

The Emperor Caligula in the Ancient Sources

The Emperor Caligula in the Ancient Sources PDF

Author: Anthony A. Barrett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-04-27

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 0198854560

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There can be few historical figures who have made such a powerful impact on the popular imagination as the Roman emperor Caligula (died AD 41). Yet an accurate reconstruction of his life and reign largely eludes us. This is paradoxical. The source material is plentiful, even lavish, by the standards of antiquity. The problem lies not so much in the quantity of evidence available, but in its quality. For our information we are obliged to draw on ancient accounts that can be colourful and wonderfully entertaining but have a flexible notion of historical truth and often seem to border on fiction. The consequence is that there is hardly a detail that the modern historian can present without deep reservations about its reliability. A biography of Caligula, in the regular modern sense of the word, is an insurmountable task, and can be at best be a summary personal interpretation by an individual historian of a mass of incoherent and often inconsistent material. Where does this leave the serious general reader? This book approaches Caligula from a quite different angle, by presenting the reader with the raw material of the ancient sources. It provides over 300 translated passages of texts, taken mainly from ancient writers, but also from coins and inscriptions. The translations are accompanied by extensive introductions and notes. These are tailored to the non-specialist, and intended to help such readers navigate material that is often contradictory, sometimes downright incredible, and helps to place events and institutions in their historical contexts. The colourful and exotic incidents are still here, but are presented in a context that will help the reader gain a more sophisticated understanding of how scholars try to reconstruct events of the past. This approach allows the reader to tackle head-on the stark reality that what we read in our sources is not necessarily the truth.

Caligula

Caligula PDF

Author: Anthony A. Barrett

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-03-05

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1317533917

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The Roman Empire has always exercised a considerable fascination. Among its numerous colourful personalities, no emperor, with the possible exception of Nero, has attracted more popular attention than Caligula, who has a reputation, whether deserved or not, as the quintessential mad and dangerous ruler. The first edition of this book established itself as the standard study of Caligula. It remains the only full length and detailed scholarly analysis in English of this emperor’s reign, and has been translated into a number of languages. But the study of Classical antiquity is not a static phenomenon, and scholars are engaged in a persistent quest to upgrade our knowledge and thinking about the ancient past. In the thirty years since publication of the original Caligula there have been considerable scholarly advances in what we know about this emperor specifically, and also about the general period in which he functioned, while newly discovered inscriptions and major archaeological projects have necessitated a rethinking of many of our earlier conclusions about early imperial history. This new edition constitutes a major revision and, in places, a major rewriting, of the original text. Maintaining the reader-friendly structure and organisation of its predecessor, it embodies the latest discoveries and the latest thinking, seeking to make more lucid and comprehensible those aspects of the reign that are particularly daunting to the non-specialist. Like the original, this revised Caligula is intended to satisfy the requirements of the scholarly community while appealing to a broad and general readership.

Alexander the Great in the Roman Empire, 150 BC to AD 600

Alexander the Great in the Roman Empire, 150 BC to AD 600 PDF

Author: Jaakkojuhani Peltonen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-13

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0429850549

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The life of Alexander the Great began to be retold from the moment of his death. The Greco-Roman authors used these stories as exemplars in a variety of ways. This book is concerned with the various stories of Alexander and how they were used in antiquity to promote certain policies, religious views, and value systems. The book is an original contribution to the study of the history and reception of Alexander, analysing the writings of over 70 classical and post-classical authors during a period of over 700 years. Drawing on this extensive range and quantity of material, the study plots the continuity and change of ideas from the early Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages.

In the Court of the Gentiles: Narrative, Exemplarity, and Scriptural Adaptation in the Court-Tales of Flavius Josephus

In the Court of the Gentiles: Narrative, Exemplarity, and Scriptural Adaptation in the Court-Tales of Flavius Josephus PDF

Author: David Edwards

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-06-05

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 9004549064

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Edwards explores how Josephus in Antiquities adapts the scriptural stories of Joseph and Esther in unexpected ways as models for accounts of more recent Jewish figures. Terming this practice “subversive adaptation,” Edwards contextualizes it within Greco-Roman literary culture and employs the concept of “discourses of exemplarity” to show how Josephus used narratives about past figures to engage Roman elites in moral reflection and pragmatic decision-making. This book supplies analysis of frequently overlooked accounts as well as Josephus’ broader literary strategies, and shows how ancient Jews appropriated imperial historiographical conventions and forms of discourse while countering Greco-Roman claims of cultural superiority.

2007

2007 PDF

Author: Massimo Mastrogregori

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2011-12-23

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 3110251183

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Die International Bibliographiy of Historical Sciences verzeichnet jährlich die bedeutendsten Neuerscheinungen geschichtswissenschaftlicher Monographien und Zeitschriftenartikel weltweit, die inhaltlich von der Vor- und Frühgeschichte bis zur jüngsten Vergangenheit reichen. Sie ist damit die derzeit einzige laufende Bibliographie dieser Art, die thematisch, zeitlich und geographisch ein derart breites Spektrum abdeckt. Innerhalb der systematischen Gliederung nach Zeitalter, Region oder historischer Disziplin sind die Werke nach Autorennamen oder charakteristischem Titelhauptwort aufgelistet.

Masculine Ideals and Alexander the Great

Masculine Ideals and Alexander the Great PDF

Author: Jaakkojuhani Peltonen

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-11-23

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1003829872

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From premodern societies onward, humans have constructed and produced images of ideal masculinity to define the roles available for boys to grow into, and images for adult men to imitate. The figure of Alexander the Great has fascinated people both within and outside academia. As a historical character, military commander, cultural figure and representative of the male gender, Alexander’s popularity is beyond dispute. Almost from the moment of his death Alexander’s deeds have had a paradigmatic aspect: for over 2300 years he has been represented as a paragon of manhood - an example to be followed by other men - and through his myth people have negotiated assumptions about masculinity. This work breaks new ground by considering the ancient and medieval reception of Alexander the Great from a gender studies perspective. It explores the masculine ideals of the Greco-Roman and medieval past through the figure of Alexander the Great, analysing the gendered views of masculinities in those periods and relates them to the ways in which Alexander’s masculinity was presented. It does this by investigating Alexander’s appearance and its relation to definitions of masculinity, the way his childhood and adulthood are presented, his martial performance and skill, proper and improper sexual behaviour, and finally through his emotions and mental attributes. Masculine Ideals and Alexander the Great will appeal to students and scholars alike as well as to those more generally interested in the portrayal of masculinity and gender, particularly in relation to Alexander the Great and his image throughout history.

From Josephus to Yosippon and Beyond

From Josephus to Yosippon and Beyond PDF

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2024-06-13

Total Pages: 684

ISBN-13: 9004693297

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Two millennia ago, the Jewish priest-turned-general Flavius Josephus, captured by the emperor Vespasian in the middle of the Roman-Jewish War (66–70 CE), spent the last decades of his life in Rome writing several historiographical works in Greek. Josephus was eagerly read and used by Christian thinkers, but eventually his writings became the basis for the early-10th century Hebrew text called Sefer Yosippon, reintegrating Josephus into the Jewish tradition. This volume marks the first edited collection to be dedicated to the study of Josephus, Yosippon, and their reception histories. Consisting of critical inquiries into one or both of these texts and their afterlives, the essays in this volume pave the way for future research on the Josephan tradition in Greek, Latin, Hebrew and beyond.

Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond

Marcus Aurelius in the Historia Augusta and Beyond PDF

Author: Geoffrey William Adams

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 0739176382

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This book examines the biography of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It seeks to further understand the author of the Historia Augusta alongside the reminiscences of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Geoff W. Adams arrives at this understanding through a study of a wide range of literary texts. Marcus Aurelius was a very important ruler of the Roman Empire, who has had an impact symbolically, philosophically, and historically upon how the Roman Empire has been envisioned. Adams achieves this end to bring a clearer understanding to his representation and to modern interpretations of his highly interpreted and romanticized representations in the ancient texts.

Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene

Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene PDF

Author: Michał Marciak

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2017-07-31

Total Pages: 597

ISBN-13: 9004350721

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The monograph Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene by M. Marciak offers the first-ever comprehensive study of the history and culture of these three ancient countries located in Northern Mesopotamia from the third century BCE to the seventh century CE.