No CrossRef data available.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Let's start at the very beginning: that is, at the beginning of the history of Rome. This latest volume of the Oxford Readings in Classical Studies makes a clear case for the virtue of reprinting old articles even in an age of supposedly wide digital availability. An obvious virtue here is the fact this collection includes no fewer than seven articles that have been translated into English for the first time. In making this collection, the editors hope to show the continuing lively debate on the nature of the ancient historiographical tradition. Rather than taking a particular editorial line, the collection includes scholars with differing views as to the reliability of this tradition when it comes to early Roman history. That being said, it is not surprising that scholarship that aims wholeheartedly to uphold the historicity of the traditional accounts is definitely outnumbered by studies demonstrating instead the construction of historiographical tradition(s). Nonetheless, Andrea Carandini begins the collection by arguing once more for the congruence of the archaeological evidence and the literary tradition. The articles that follow vary somewhat in approach and in degrees of scepticism – for instance, Fausto Zevi admits a historical core to stories about Demoratus and the Tarquins, whereas Michael Crawford is forthright in his rejection of historicity in the earliest list of Roman colonies. The editors have taken the helpful decision to focus rather more on ‘stories’ than individual authors and this certainly helps shape a thought-provoking collection that can be read with profit rather than just put on the shelf for future reference. In particular, the editors’ suggestion that this volume could profitably be given to students in place of a single ‘authoritative’ version of the history of early Rome, so that they can see that there are indeed different ways of ‘doing’ ancient history, is persuasive. Finally, any selection of papers is, of course, subjective but an article focusing rather more particularly on non-literary historical traditions might have rounded out the picture more fully.
1 The Roman Historical Tradition. Regal and Republican Rome. Edited by James H. Richardson and Federico Santangelo. Oxford Readings in Classical Studies. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 372. Hardback £90, ISBN: 978-0-19-965784-1; paperback £40, ISBN: 978-0-19-965785-8.
2 J. Burckhardt, The Age of Constantine the Great, trans. M. Hadas (London, 1949), 283 and 260.
3 Eusebius. By Aaron P. Johnson. Understanding Classics. London and New York, I.B. Tauris, 2014. Pp. xv + 232. Hardback £58, ISBN: 978-1-78076-555-6; paperback £14.99, ISBN: 978-1-78076-556-3.
4 Suetonius. Life of Augustus. Translated with Introduction and Historical Commentary by D. Wardle. Clarendon Ancient History Series. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. x + 603. 12 tables. Hardback £100, ISBN: 978-0-19-968645-2; paperback £35, ISBN: 978-0-19-968646-9.
5 The Roman Empire. Economy, Society and Culture. By Peter Garnsey and Richard Saller, with contributions by M. Goodman, R. L. Gordon, J. Eisner, and G. Woolf. Second edition. London, Bloomsbury, 2014. Pp. xviii + 328. 11 colour plates, 5 b/w illustrations. Paperback £19.99, ISBN: 978-1-4725-2402-7.
6 Triangular Landscapes. Environment, Society, and the State in the Nile Delta under Roman Rule. By Katherine Blouin. Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. xxv + 429. 5 figures, 5 maps, 28 tables, 14 halftones. Hardback £80, ISBN: 978-0-19-968872-2.
7 Medieval Rome. Stability and Crisis of a City, 900–1150. By Chris Wickham. Oxford Studies in Medieval European History. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. xxviii + 501. 13 halftones, 9 maps. Hardback £35, ISBN: 978-0-19-968496-0.
8 The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic. Edited by Harriet Flower. Second edition. Cambridge Companions to the Ancient World. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. xli + 476. 42 illustrations. Hardback £60, ISBN: 978-1-107-03224-8; paperback £24.99, ISBN: 978-1-107-66942-0.
9 How to Manage Your Slaves, by Marcus Sidonius Falx. By Jerry Toner. London, Profile Books, 2014. Pp. xiv + 216. Hardback £14.99, ISBN: 978-1-78125-251-2; paperback £8.99, ISBN: 978-1-78125-252-9.
10 In my previous review I was struck by the (lack of) of gender balance in the books under review; here, six out of eight books have male authors, editor, or translators; of the reprinted essays on the ‘Roman Historical Tradition’, eleven out of thirteen are by men.