Sulla and the Invention of Roman Athens
Journal: Mnemosyne
Year: 2018

Abstract In 86 BC Sulla sacked Athens. The siege left deep marks in the cityscape and in the literary sources. This article traces a diachronic development in the ancient reception of the sack of Athens in Greek literature, from the first century BC through the second century AD . In earlier authors the siege is presented primarily in a military context, while in later authors the emphasis shifts onto Sulla’s destruction of cultural capital. His treatment of Athens comes to be understood as irra