Tacitus was Rome's greatest historian, and the Annals his greatest work. This book collects A.J. Woodman's writings on Tacitus over the past twenty-five years, focusing almost exclusively on the Annals. Woodman offers new or different interpretations of some of the most famous passages in the work, and argues that, through familiarity, generations of scholars have misread significant passages, thereby gaining and perpetuating a distorted view of what Tacitus had to say, especially about Tiberius. His iconoclastic insights will have major implications for those who wish to use the Annals as a...

In more recent decades there has been a complete revolution in the way we read the historians of Greece and Rome. Their works have been shown to be quite different in nature from those of today's historians; instead, their techniques and assumptions have much in common with those of Homer or Virgil. Using these narratives as sources for ancient history has become more problematic than ever before, as we come to understand better how their style (the medium) and content (the message) shape each other. This book briefly introduces this revolution as it affects our reading of Latin historical...

This collection of freshly commissioned essays covers the entire range of the works of an exceptionally versatile and innovative poet. The essays introduce readers to a variety of critical approaches to Horace and to Latin poetry, as well as a number of different contexts--political, philosophical, historical. The collection sheds light not only on Horace but on Augustan poetry in general.

The relationship between the author and his audience has received much critical attention from scholars in non-classical disciplines yet the nature of much ancient literature and of its ?publication? meant that audiences in ancient times were more immediate to their authors than in the modern world. This book contains essays by distinguished scholars on the various means by which Latin authors communicated effectively with their audiences. The authors and works covered are Cicero, Catullus, Lucretius, Propertius, Horace's Odes, Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Senecan tragedy, Persius,...

The poets and prose-writers of Greece and Rome were acutely conscious of their literary heritage. They expressed this consciousness in the regularity with which, in their writings, they imitated and alluded to the great authors who had preceded them. Such imitation was generally not regarded as plagiarism but as essential to the creation of a new literary work: imitating one's predecessors was in no way incompatible with originality or progress. These views were not peculiar to the writers of Greece and Rome but were adopted by many others who have written in the 'classical tradition' right...

The poets and prose-writers of Greece and Rome were acutely conscious of their literary heritage. They expressed this consciousness in the regularity with which, in their writings, they imitated and alluded to the great authors who had preceded them. Such imitation was generally not regarded as plagiarism but as essential to the creation of a new literary work: imitating one's predecessors was in no way incompatible with originality or progress. These views were not peculiar to the writers of Greece and Rome but were adopted by many others who have written in the 'classical tradition' right...

The fourth book of Tacitus' Annals has been described as "the best that Tacitus ever wrote." It covers the years AD 23-28, starting when Tacitus noted a significant deterioration in the principate of the emperor Tiberius, and the increasingly malign influence of his "evil genius" Sejanus. R.H. Martin and A.J. Woodman present an improved text of Annals IV, explain in detail the difficulties and unusual features of Tacitus' Latin, and discuss the dramatic, structural and literary qualities of the narrative. They also discuss the political, moral and stylistic dimensions of the Roman...

The relationship between the author and his audience has received much critical attention from scholars in non-classical disciplines yet the nature of much ancient literature and of its 'publication' meant that audiences in ancient times were more immediate to their authors than in the modern world. This book contains essays by distinguished scholars on the various means by which Latin authors communicated effectively with their audiences. The authors and works covered are Cicero, Catullus, Lucretius, Propertius, Horace's Odes, Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses, Senecan tragedy, Persius,...

The Annals of Tacitus, which chronicle the years AD 14-68, are arguably the greatest work of the greatest Roman historian. Book 3 of The Annals covers the years AD 20-22, a period including the trial of Calpurnius Piso for treason and the alleged murder of Germanicus. The editors are the first to compare a recently discovered record of this trial with Tacitus' narrative of the same events. Throughout the volume attention is paid to literary matters, and textual. linguistic and historical issues are treated fully.

The second volume in the edition, covering Velleius' narrative of Julius Caesar and Augustus.