Livy's Exemplary History
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: December 26, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9780198152743
Subjects: European history: BCE to c 500 CE; History: theory & methods; Literary studies: classical, early & medieval; History: World; Ancient Rome - History; Literary Criticism; History - General History; Latin; Ancient Rome; Literary Criticism & Collections / Ancient & Classical; Ancient - Rome; Ancient and Classical; Historiography; Ab urbe condita; Livy; Livy.; Rome
Description: "The idea that it is possible to learn from history was a commonplace for the historians of Greece and Rome, but what exactly did they think it meant? Were the lessons moral or practical or both? How might one perceive and apply them? In Livy's History of Rome, people constantly learn or fail to learn from the past, and in many ways his monumental narrative can be read as an extended exploration of these questions." "Dr Chaplin starts from Livy's programmatic claim that history offers examples of good and bad conduct. Where previous studies have focused on the meaning of exemplary episodes and characters in isolation, this treatment traces the way historical figures try to interpret the past to their advantage. In doing so, the book demonstrates Livy's awareness of the shifting relevance of history and argues that a narrative organized around exempla allowed Livy, poised between the collapse of the Republic and the foundation of the Empire, to make the Romans' past meaningful for their future."--Jacket.