Bøger i Ancients in Action serien

Part of a series of books, which introduces major figures of the ancient world to the modern general reader, this book sets Tacitus in context, surveying all his works and clarifying the traditions of ancient writing that informed and shaped his narratives. It also traces how his works have been used and abused in subsequent eras.

Callimachus was one of the most important Greek poets, and can also be one of the most rewarding to read. He was a pivotal figure in the history of ancient literature and an influential presence in later ancient poetry, including Catullus and Vergil. Yet his work is not read and enjoyed as much as it could be. This new volume in the popular Ancients in Action series seeks to bring Callimachus to a wide audience, addressing the problems with currently available scholarship, which assumes a professional level of expertise, including full knowledge of Greek. Rawles presents a much-needed introduction to Callimachus' poetry and is intended for the non-specialist reader and student, assuming no knowledge of Greek. The book is organised in thematic chapters, rich in quotation (in translation), with selective annotations and guidance for further study and reading.

A lively short biography of one of the best known Roman emperors.

The presocratic philosopher Protagoras of Abdera (490-420 BC), founder of the sophistic movement, was famously agnostic towards the existence and nature of the gods, and was the proponent of the doctrine that 'man is the measure of all things'. Still relevant to contemporary society, Protagoras is in many ways a precursor of the postmodern movement. In the brief fragments that survive, he lays the foundation for relativism, agnosticism, the significance of rhetoric, a pedagogy for critical thinking and a conception of the human being as a social construction. This accessible introductory survey by Daniel Silvermintz covers Protagoras' life, ideas and lasting legacy. Each chapter interprets one of the surviving fragments and draws connections with related ideas forwarded by other sophists, showing its relevance to an area of knowledge: epistemology, ethics, education and sociology.

The Roman poet Lucretius, who lived in the first century BC, composed an epic poem, De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe), whose avowed purpose was to change the way we live our lives, to abandon our fear of the gods and of death, and to see what real happiness is and how to obtain it.

An insightful series of portraits of Boudicca as envisaged by both ancient and modern writers and artists.

Few people in history have achieved more yet with such fatal consequences for the cause that they supported than Hannibal. This study explores Hannibal's fascinating but complex personality in the light of his extraordinary military and political career, which made him one of history's greatest survivors.

Martial (Marcus Valerius Martialis) was a Spanish writer who lived in Rome in the second half of the first century AD. This book tells what we know about the man's commonsense attitude to life, and his hatred of hypocrisy and malice. It also assesses his debt to literary tradition and the astonishing influence he had on later writers.

Virgil lived through the fall of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Empire. This text studies his poems and the way they attempt to combine technical brilliance and beauty with profound meditation on the nature of imperialism and the relation of the individual to the State.

"The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" stand at the very beginning of Greek literature. This book is concerned with the ideas of these poems and shows that each of the two epics has its own coherent and suggestive view of the world and of man's place in it.

The most prolific of Roman poets, Ovid was born in 43 BC and died in exile on the Black Sea in 17 AD, banished by the Emperor Augustus.

Catullus, who lived from about 84 to 54 BC, was one of ancient Rome's most gifted, versatile and passionate poets.

Spartacus has for centuries been revered as an iconic figure, his name a byword for revolution, resistance and freedom. However, there is little known about the man himself. Theresa Urbainczyk sifts the evidence and offers an assessment of the inspiration that remains the legacy of Spartacus to this day.

The impact of Ovid's Metamorphoses on our culture can hardly be overestimated. The poem is one of the most exciting and accessible classical texts, our key source for nearly all the famous myths of Greece and Rome.

Pindar's odes contain invocations and prayers, but their most characteristic effects are achieved thhrough the depiction of fragments of myth. This work argues that these passages served as a dramatic mechanism by which dancers brought an experience of another world to guests gathered in the banqueting suite of the victor.

An account of what remains of the life and works of the Greek poet, Sappho. This book covers Sappho's ancient biography in addition to the post-classical accounts of her life. It discusses Sappho's poetry in a series of thematic chapters that include her religious writings; personal interpretations of mythological themes; and marriage hymns.

Horace is a poet of surprising contradictions who lived through the most dramatic period of social and political revolution in Rome. From fighting on the losing side in the civil war, he became a confidant of his recent enemies. From humble beginnings as the son of a freedman, he rocketed to the very centre of the Roman establishment.

In this text, the authors look at the historical Cleopatra, at images of Cleopatra as a Greek queen and as ruler of Egypt, at contemporary perceptions of her and at how we see her today.