Mellor R. The Roman Historians

London - New York: Routledge, 1999. – 223 p.
ISBN 0-415-11773-9 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-11774-7 (pbk)
ISBN 0-203-04726-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-22060-9 (Glassbook Format)The Roman Historians provides a clear survey and a critical analysis of five centuries of historical writing in and about ancient Rome. The book examines authors of various historical genres – narrative, biography, and autobiography – and places them within the political and social framework of the late Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Since Roman historiography is an extension of political conflict and moral discourse, all these writings are examined within the context of Roman public life. The book begins with Cato and the early Roman annalists, and includes major chapters devoted to Sallust, Livy, Tacitus, and Ammianus Marcellinus. In these chapters Ronald Mellor brings together each historian’s political experience with his particular rhetoric and style. Chapters on biography and autobiography treat Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars and Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War. Other chapters examine such issues as censorship, literary style, and the moralism of Roman historical writing. This book illuminates how and why Roman authors told the stories of their past. All Roman historical writing is highly political and deeply moral, and we see here how the political experience and moral vision of the historian shape the historical narrative and intimately inform the content, the rhetoric, and the literary style of the history.Origins of Roman historiography
Sallust
Livy
Tacitus
Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman biography
Autobiography at Rome
Historical writing at RomeFurther Reading