The Roman Historians (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780415117739)

The 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: * Sallust * Livy * Tacitus * Ammianus as well as the biographies written by: * Nepos * Tacitus * Suetonius * the Augustan History * the autobiographies of Julius Caesar and the Emperor Augustus. 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.

Author: Ronald Mellor
ISBN-10: 0415117739
ISBN-13: 9780415117739
Publisher: Routledge
Language: English
Published: 12/03/1998
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.56w x 0.89d