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The Romans' devotion to their past pervades almost every aspect of their culture. But the clearest image of how the Romans wished to interpret their past is found in their historical writings. This book examines in detail the major Roman historians:
* Sallust
* Livy
* Tacitus
* Ammianus
as well as the biographies written by:
* Nepos
* Tacitus
* Suetonius
* the Augustan History
* the autobiographies of Julius Caesar and the Emperor Augustus.
Ronald Mellor demonstrates that Roman historical writing was regarded by its authors as a literary not a scholarly exercise, and how it must be evaluated in that context. He shows that history writing reflected the political structures of ancient Rome under the different regimes.
List of contents
Preface, 1. Introduction, 2. Origins of Roman Historiography, 3. Sallust, 4. Livy, 5. Tacitus, 6. Ammianus Marcellinus, 7. Roman Biography, 8. Autobiography at Rome, 9. Historical Writing at Rome, Further reading, Index.
About the author
Ronald Mellor is Professor of History at UCLA. He is the author of Tacitus (1993) and The Historians of Ancient Rome: An Anthology (1997).
Summary
Ronald Mellor demonstrates that Roman historical writing was regarded by its authors as a literary, not a scholarly exercise, and how it must be evaluated in that context.
