Alexandros, oder, Der Lügenprophet /
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Lucian's Alexander the False Prophet is the only literary testimony to a highly influential cult of the 'New Asclepios Glycon' which, as archaeological evidence continues to document, spread all over the eastern Mediterranean basin throughout the second and third centuries AD. This book offers an analysis of the complete manuscript tradition, a newly constituted text and a German translation. The extensive introduction deals with (1) the archaeological evidence, (2) the question of Lucian's historical reliability, (3) the reasons for Lucian's opposition to the oracle of Abonuteichos, (4) the institutions and the teaching of the cult at Abonuteichos. Furthermore, there is a commentary on all philological and historical questions and on those issues relevant to the history of religions. Lucian's Alexander is not one of his satirical bravuras, but a strikingly successful attempt at writing a work of contemporary history - a practical example of what the author himself has theoretically discussed in his work, How to Write History .
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1 online resource (viii, 180 pages, [4] pages of plates) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-177) and index. :
9789004295896 :
0927-7633 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Reconfiguring the Imperial Past: Narrative Patterns and Historical Interpretation in Herodian's History of the Empire /
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In the process of recording the history of the Roman Empire, from the death of Marcus Aurelius to the accession of Gordian III, Herodian makes his characters respond to the same situations in similar or different ways. This book shows that each reign in Herodian's History is creatively mapped onto ever-recurring narrative patterns. It argues that patterning is not simply decorative in Herodian's work but constitutes a crucial conceptual and methodological tool for writing interpretative history. Herodian deserves credit as an original and independent author. A careful consideration of the formulaic nature of his historiography indicates that there is more artistry in his composition than had previously been discerned.
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This book argues that Herodian uses an orderly and coherent historiographical form to reconfigure and explicate a most chaotic period of Roman history. Through patterning he offers a distinctive interpretative framework in which successive reigns and individual emperors need to be read in a dovetailed way. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004516922
9789004516892
Ovid in exile : power and poetic redress in the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto /
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In response to being exiled to the Black Sea by the Roman emperor Augustus in 8 AD, Ovid began to compose the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto and to create for himself a place of intellectual refuge. From there he was able to reflect out loud on how and why his own art had been legally banned and left for dead on the margins of the empire. As the last of the Augustan poets, Ovid was in a unique position to take stock of his own standing and of the place of poetry itself in a culture deeply restructured during the lengthy rule of Rome's first emperor. This study considers exile in the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto as a place of genuine suffering and a metaphor for poetry's marginalization from the imperial city. It analyzes, in particular, Ovid's representation of himself and the emperor Augustus against the background of Roman religion, law, and poetry.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-231) and indexes. :
9789047424079 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Plutarch's pragmatic biographies : lessons for statesmen and generals in The parallel lives /
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In Plutarch's Pragmatic Biographies , Susan Jacobs argues for a major revision in how we interpret the Parallel Lives. She integrates the existing focus on moral issues into the much broader paradigm of effective leadership found in Plutarch's Moralia. There, in addition to moral virtue, the successful leader needed good critical judgment, persuasiveness and facility in managing alliances and rivalries. The analysis of six sets of Lives shows how Plutarch carefully portrayed Greek and Roman leaders of the past assessing situations and solving problems that paralleled those faced by his politically-active audience. By linking victories and defeats to specific strategic insights and practical skills, Plutarch created "pragmatic biographies" that could instruct statesmen and generals of every era.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004276611 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Moses Finley and politics /
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Moses Finley (1912-1986) was one of the most widely read scholarly historians and journalists of his age, having grown famous with The World of Odysseus ; and he exercised a transformative influence on the study of the history of Greek and Roman antiquity. In this centenary volume distinguished ancient historians and Americanists analyse Finley's political and intellectual evolution, and attempt to understand the paradoxes of the young leftist and victim of McCarthyism whose work owes more to Weber than to Marx and of the young Jewish scholar (Moses Finkelstein) who distanced himself from Jewishness.
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1 online resource (155 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004261693 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.