Exeter Studies in History
2 total works
How did the Romans make sense of their own past? And how can we make sense of it, when the evidence for early Rome and the Republic is so inadequate? In this volume, Professor Wiseman focuses on some of the more unfamiliar aspects of the Roman experience, where the historian needs not just knowledge but imagination too. The first essay in the book, the 1993 Ronald Syme Lecture 'The Origins of Historiography', argues that dramatic performances at the public games were the medium through which the Romans in the 'pre-literary' period made sense of their own past. All Latin and Greek source material is translated.
In this sequel to Historiography And Imagination (UEP 1994), Professor Wiseman explores the question of how the Romans understood their own past and the role of early drama in generating and transmitting legends. The first six of the book's twelve essays are concerned with stories and scenarios in the surviving literature which are best explained as having been first created for the stage. The other essays discuss the family traditions of Roman aristocrats, the rites of spring enjoyed by the Roman plebs, the use of Roman history in the radical politics of the nineteenth century, and how a great modern Roman historian exploited the novelist's art. The book is designed to be accessible to anyone with an interest in the ancient world, and all Latin and Greek is translated.