Roman historical myths
Journal Data
| Type | SOURCE_BOOK |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Clarendon Press (GB) |
| ISBN-13 | 9780198150206 |
| Open Library | OL2923751W |
| Total publications | 9 |
| Coverage period | 1996 - 1996 |
| Language | EN |
| Cited by | 29 |
| h-index | 1 |
| i10-index | 1 |
This book offers an enlivening and sophisticated analysis of the pervasive use of historical myth in some of the most well known writers of the Late Republic and Augustan periods - from Cicero in the De Republica and the first book of Livy to Propertius IV and Ovid's Fasti. The chapters on prose narrative uncover an uneasy tension between the desire for accurate historical representation and the legendary character of traditional stories. In the light of modern theories of historical truth, Matthew Fox argues that narrative itself expresses a kind of belief in myths, and that this belief is in turn conditioned by historical circumstance. In this way, the accounts of Rome's regal period in both prose and verse bear witness to the uncertainties and upheavals at the end of the Republic. At the same time, Dr Fox argues for a more sophisticated relationship between political and textual reality, and concludes that interpretations of political subversion need to be balanced by the sense of destiny and desire for reinterpretation inherent in recounting the origins of Rome.
Conclusion
When we look back, most striking is the great variety of uses to which the regal period was put. The extreme rationalized, hellenified modernism of Dionysius, and the atmospheric poverty of Propertius 4. 1 represent the extremes. The tendency to find in the regal period the origins of later Rome, and the fertile traditions of aetiologies which surrounded them, explains why the period was open to so many interpretations. This tendency to aetiology…
The Account of the Regal Period in Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Antiquitates Romanae 1
Dionysius’ strongly idealized vision of the regal period raises again questions concerning belief in historical reconstructions. Dionysius’ critics, of whom there have been many, have supposed that his praise of Rome was essentially the work of a propagandist, and that Dionysius’ rhetorical interests were to blame for his failure to follow the most basic tenets of historical method. In order to explain the processes whereby Dionysius passed off a…
The Regal Period in Cicero’s De Republica
Cicero’s fragmentary treatise on government, the De Republica, includes a short narrative account of the regal period. As background to the examination of Augustan accounts of the regal period, it is important for a number of reasons. First, it is the most substantial evidence from the late republic of attitudes to the regal period and monarchy generally, and as such acts as a counterbalance to the defamatory accusations of regnum in rhetorical p…
Some Theoretical Considerations
Cicero’s account of the regal period raises a number of theoretical issues which can be explored more thoroughly. They are issues concerning the nature of history and myth, the fluidity of this distinction, and the influence upon it of political reality. In the De Republica Cicero describes the need for political reform to rest upon a certain vision of history. This need is met by the recreation of mythical material in a historical guise in the r…
Appendix
The Regal Period in Ovid’s Fasti
It is with Ovid that we encounter most forcefully the problem of irony and politics in the interpretation of Augustan literature. Wide acceptance of the historical model of the poet oppressed by autocracy has, speaking generally, imparted a lack of ambiguity to the interpretation of irony. While the subtlety of Ovidian irony is not in question, doubt tends not to be expressed about the object or intention of that irony, universally thought to be …
The Regal Period in Propertius 4
In Propertius’ last book, his poetry takes subjects incongruous to the love-elegy of his earlier work. This new variety can be thought of as the major concern of the book. The bond between the elegiac metre and the figure of the love-poet marginal in society, preferring love to war in poetry as in life, dominated the earlier books. In book 4 this bond is dissolved as the poet broadens his scope to include Rome’s history. That history is the histo…
Livy’s Representation of the Regal Period
Dionysius’ preface makes his attitude to the role of the regal period particularly clear. Livy’s preface, although no less revealing, expresses a much less positive evaluation of the role of the regal period in Rome’s history. The very opening of the preface makes it clear that the early part of his history will be a testing point for the plan of his whole work. Livy declines to say whether he thinks it is worth the effort going through the story…
Roman Historical Myths
This book offers an enlivening and sophisticated analysis of the pervasive use of historical myth in some of the best-known writers of the Late Republic and Augustan periods - from Cicero in the De Republica and the first book of Livy to Propertius IV and Ovid's Fasti. The chapters on prose narrative uncover an uneasy tension between the desire for accurate historical representation and the legendary character of traditional stories. In the light…
Roman Historical Myths
This book offers an enlivening and sophisticated analysis of the pervasive use of historical myth in some of the best-known writers of the Late Republic and Augustan periods - from Cicero in the De Republica and the first book of Livy to Propertius IV and Ovid's Fasti. The chapters on prose narrative uncover an uneasy tension between the desire for accurate historical representation and the legendary character of traditional stories. In the light…
Conclusion
When we look back, most striking is the great variety of uses to which the regal period was put. The extreme rationalized, hellenified modernism of Dionysius, and the atmospheric poverty of Propertius 4. 1 represent the extremes. The tendency to find in the regal period the origins of later Rome, and the fertile traditions of aetiologies which surrounded them, explains why the period was open to so many interpretations. This tendency to aetiology…
The Account of the Regal Period in Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Antiquitates Romanae 1
Dionysius’ strongly idealized vision of the regal period raises again questions concerning belief in historical reconstructions. Dionysius’ critics, of whom there have been many, have supposed that his praise of Rome was essentially the work of a propagandist, and that Dionysius’ rhetorical interests were to blame for his failure to follow the most basic tenets of historical method. In order to explain the processes whereby Dionysius passed off a…
The Regal Period in Cicero’s De Republica
Cicero’s fragmentary treatise on government, the De Republica, includes a short narrative account of the regal period. As background to the examination of Augustan accounts of the regal period, it is important for a number of reasons. First, it is the most substantial evidence from the late republic of attitudes to the regal period and monarchy generally, and as such acts as a counterbalance to the defamatory accusations of regnum in rhetorical p…
Some Theoretical Considerations
Cicero’s account of the regal period raises a number of theoretical issues which can be explored more thoroughly. They are issues concerning the nature of history and myth, the fluidity of this distinction, and the influence upon it of political reality. In the De Republica Cicero describes the need for political reform to rest upon a certain vision of history. This need is met by the recreation of mythical material in a historical guise in the r…
Appendix
The Regal Period in Ovid’s Fasti
It is with Ovid that we encounter most forcefully the problem of irony and politics in the interpretation of Augustan literature. Wide acceptance of the historical model of the poet oppressed by autocracy has, speaking generally, imparted a lack of ambiguity to the interpretation of irony. While the subtlety of Ovidian irony is not in question, doubt tends not to be expressed about the object or intention of that irony, universally thought to be …
The Regal Period in Propertius 4
In Propertius’ last book, his poetry takes subjects incongruous to the love-elegy of his earlier work. This new variety can be thought of as the major concern of the book. The bond between the elegiac metre and the figure of the love-poet marginal in society, preferring love to war in poetry as in life, dominated the earlier books. In book 4 this bond is dissolved as the poet broadens his scope to include Rome’s history. That history is the histo…
Livy’s Representation of the Regal Period
Dionysius’ preface makes his attitude to the role of the regal period particularly clear. Livy’s preface, although no less revealing, expresses a much less positive evaluation of the role of the regal period in Rome’s history. The very opening of the preface makes it clear that the early part of his history will be a testing point for the plan of his whole work. Livy declines to say whether he thinks it is worth the effort going through the story…
Roman Historical Myths
This book offers an enlivening and sophisticated analysis of the pervasive use of historical myth in some of the best-known writers of the Late Republic and Augustan periods - from Cicero in the De Republica and the first book of Livy to Propertius IV and Ovid's Fasti. The chapters on prose narrative uncover an uneasy tension between the desire for accurate historical representation and the legendary character of traditional stories. In the light…