Writing Rome Textual Approaches to the City [Paperback]

This book explores a wide range of descriptions of the city of Rome from later periods as well as from antiquity.What did the city of Rome mean to ancient Romans? Roman writers, Cicero, Virgil, Juvenal and others, described their city in many different ways. Their writings have played a part in determining responses to the city in their own time as well as in later centuries.What did the city of Rome mean to ancient Romans? Roman writers, Cicero, Virgil, Juvenal and others, described their city in many different ways. Their writings have played a part in determining responses to the city in their own time as well as in later centuries.What did the city of Rome mean to ancient Romans? Roman writers, Cicero, Virgil, Juvenal and others, described their city in many different ways: they marveled at its beauty, they despaired of its dirt, they explored its history, they lamented its absence. Their writings have played a vital part in determining responses to the city both in their own time and in later centuries. This book explores a wide range of descriptions of the city from later periods as well as from antiquity.Introduction: the city of words; 1. The city of memories; 2. The city of gods; 3. The city of empire; 4. The city of marvels; 5. The city of exiles; Epilogue: the transcendent city. ...[a] rich volume... New York Sun ...this stimulating book.... ...led me to think in fresh ways about the peculiar dynamic of Roman literature.... Lee T. Pearcy, Bryn Mawr Classical Review ...this stimulating book....led me to think in fresh ways about the peculiar dynamic of Roman literature in which global assertations are intimately connected to specific persons and places. Lee T. Pearcy, Bryn Mawr Classical Review