Greek Literature and the Roman Empire: The Politics of Imitation

by Tim Whitmarsh

Overview

Greek Literature and the Roman Empire uses up-to-date literary and cultural theory to explore the phenomenal rise of interest in literary writing in Greece under the Roman Empire. Greek identity cannot be properly understood without appreciating the brilliant sophistication of the writers of the period, whose texts must be considered in the historical and cultural context of the battles for identity that raged under the vast, multicultural Roman Empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199240357
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	01/28/2002
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Tim Whitmarsh is Reader in Greek Literature, Exeter University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Part One: The Politics of Imitation Repetition: The Crisis of Posterity
2. Education: Strategies of Self-making
3. Part Two: Greece and Rome Rome Uncivilized: Exile and the Kingdom
4. Civilizing Rome: Greek Pedagogy and the Roman Emperor
5. Satirizing Rome: Lucian
Conclusion
Appendix One: Translation of Favorinus, On Exile
Appendix Two: The Performative Context of Dio's Kingships
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"Tim Whitmarsh is possibly the most interesting and sophisticated critic writing on Greek Imperial literature these days, and this important, groundbreaking new book should solidify this reputation. The breadth, subtlety, and richness of writing on display is remarkable; if you want to understand why the Second Sophistic is undergoing such a resurgence in Classics, to grasp what is at stake in the literature and why it is so exciting, and can only read one book on the topic, this should be it."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"This book is extremely stimulating.... Whitmarsh's work manifests an enviable familiarity with the most recent bibliography and an extremely acute critical eye, and it will serve as a valuable guide to the slipperiness of texts written in an age of extraordinary literary self-consciousness."—Journal of Hellenic Studies

"An important contribution to the study of the so-called 'Second Sophistic' period.... Whitmarsh offers illuminating and provocative readings of texts both familiar and less known."—Choice

From the Publisher