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A History of Latin Literature From its Beginnings to the Age of Augustus

Author(s): Laurel Fulkerson, Jeffrey Tatum

ISBN: 9781108723244
Publication Date: 21/11/2024
Pages: 406
Format: Paperback
Regular price £26.99 GBP
Regular price Sale price £26.99 GBP

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Latin literature exploded onto the scene from relatively humble beginnings in the third century BCE. In an astonishingly short time the Romans adopted and adapted nearly all the genres of literature known to them and not only were they well aware of their large-scale appropriation but even, curiously, boasted of it. This readable new history of Latin literature covers the full span of the Roman republic, concluding with the age of Augustus, whose great poets engaged with the enormous political and cultural changes of their time and laid the foundations for the literature of the Imperial period. All the major writers are covered but attention is also paid to more fragmentary but still key authors such as Ennius, Cato, Lucilius, and Varro. Readers are given the essential historical, cultural, and literary background as well as close readings of specific passages, which reveal the charm and complexity which animate Latin literature.

  • Helps readers appreciate the exceptional nature of the origins of Latin literature, including its relationship with Greek literature, and how it was shaped by its distinctive and changing cultural circumstances
  • Provides close readings, suggestive rather than prescriptive, of passages from a broad range of writers
  • Presents useful contextual information in sidebars, a glossary and timeline