Of all aspects of Roman culture, the gladiatorial contests for which the Romans built their amphitheatres are at once the most fascinating and the most difficult for us to come to terms with. They have been seen variously as sacrifices to the gods or, at funerals, to the souls of the deceased; as a mechanism for introducing young Romans to the horrors of fighting; and as a direct substitute for warfare after the imposition of peace. In this original and authoritative study, Thomas Wiedemann argues that gladiators were part of the mythical struggle of order and civilisation against the...
Of all aspects of Roman culture, the gladiatorial contests for which the Romans built their amphitheatres are at once the most fascinating and the mos...
'The dark, unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero..are condemned to everlasting Infamy' wrote Gibbon. This 'infamy' has inspired the work of historians and novelists from Roman times to the present.
This book summarises political events during the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero, and the civil wars of the 'year of four emperors'. It considers too the extent to which social factors influenced the imperial household.
Assuming no knowledge of Latin and drawing on material including inscriptions and coins,...
'The dark, unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero..are condemned to everlasting Infamy' wro...
Histories of the late Republic and biographies of Cicero have previously tended to treat political and cultural developments as essentially separate. In Cicero and the End of the Roman Republic, Thomas Wiedemann takes a fresh approach, looking at Cicero's literary works in the context of his public life, and of contemporary political and social issues.
Wiedemann explores Cicero's role in the creation of a new and effective 'Roman' cultural identity demanded by the process of Italian unification and the consequent collapse of the old Republican party...
Histories of the late Republic and biographies of Cicero have previously tended to treat political and cultural developments as essentially s...
