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Roman historical myths : the regal period in Augustan literature

Author: Matthew Fox
Publisher: Oxford [England] : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
Series: Oxford classical monographs.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:
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
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Details

Named Person: Augustus, Emperor of Rome
Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: Matthew Fox
ISBN: 0198150202 9780198150206
OCLC Number: 32508916
Description: 269 p. ; 22 cm.
Contents: 1. The Regal Period in Cicero's De Republica --
2. Some Theoretical Considerations --
3. The Account of the Regal Period in Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Antiquitates Romanae --
4. Livy's Representation of the Regal Period --
5. The Regal Period in Propertius 4 --
6. The Regal Period in Ovid's Fasti --
Appendix: Varro and the Regal Period.
Series Title: Oxford classical monographs.
Responsibility: Matthew Fox.
More information:

Abstract:

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.

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