Plato and Aristotle both believed that the arts were mimetic creations of the human mind that had the power to influence society. In this they were representative of a widespread consensus in ancient culture. Cultural and political impulses informed the fine arts, and these in turn shaped--and were often intended to shape--the living world. The contributors to this volume, all of whom have been encouraged and inspired by the work of Peter Green, document the interaction between life and the arts that has made art more lively and life more artful in sixteen essays with subjects ranging from...

Over recent decades, the debate about how individuals are portrayed in prose-texts of Greek and Roman historiography and biography has evolved in increasingly nuanced ways. The sorts of questions which now tend to be raised concerning such prose-texts brings them closely into line with the more subtle analysis usually reserved for poetry. Moreover, the engagement with literary strategies at work in historiography and biography has a fundamental impact both on the relationship of these texts with poetry and on the status of these genres as historical evidence.
In twenty-four chapters...