Political autobiographies and memoirs in antiquity : : a Brill companion / / edited by Gabriele Marasco.

• Superior document: Brill's companions in classical studies,
• TeilnehmendeR: Marasco, Gabriele.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's companions in classical studies.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (473 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Ancient autobiography has been the object of several studies and meetings. However, these have focused chiefly on the philosophical and literary aspects. This book aims to examine the development of political autobiography and memoirs in the Greek and Roman world, stressing, instead, the relation of a single work with the traditions of the genre and also the influence of the respective aims of the authors on the composition of autobiographies. At times these works were written as a means of propaganda in a political struggle, or to defend a past action, and often to furnish material to historians. Nonetheless, they still preserve the personal viewpoint and voice of the protagonists in all their vividness, even if distorted by the aim of defending their record. Political Autobiographies and Memoirs in Antiquity will be a highly valuable and useful reference tool for both scholars and students of Greek and Roman history and literature.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations -- Classical Greece/ V.J. Gray -- Royal autobiography in the Hellenistic age/ Cinzia Bearzot -- The Hellenistic age: autobiography and political struggles/ Gabriele Marasco -- Republican Rome: autobiography and political struggles/ J.M. Candau -- The late republic: autobiographies and memoirs in the age of the civil wars/ Jeffrey Tatum -- Caesar and the Corpus Caesarianum/ Marc Mayer -- The Augustan Age/ Joseph Geiger -- Augustus: the emperor writes his own account/ Ronald Thomas Ridley -- The early empire/ Pere Villalba Varneda -- The second and third century/ Richard Westall and Frederick Brenk -- The late empire/ Hartmut Leppin.