Dionysius & the History of Archaic Rome.

From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Good condition - The work of Dionysius of Halicarnassus is not well known to most classical scholars. Best known are his literary judgments on various Greek prose-writers and his comments revealing material of interest to historians of Rome, but he is also the author of the earliest history of archaic Rome composed in Greek. Professor Gabba has brought a fresh view to the study of Dionysius's History in a superb and exciting piece of scholarship that deserves to be read by anyone interested in the ideological aspects of writing history. The last decades B.C. provided an enormous challenge to historians and creative writers. On the one hand, they knew Rome to be the greatest empire the world had seen, seemingly impregnable in military power and still capable of expansion. On the other hand, they were acutely aware that its internal organization had barely survived half a century of civil strife. The most famous historian of the epoch, Livy, wrote with a nostalgia for an ancient past supposedly characterized by austere virtues no longer evident in the present. Dionysius, Livy's contemporary, in contrast viewed the civil wars as a temporary aberration and presented a. history in which Rome was consistently on the side of the angels. Dionysius selected and interpreted his sources so as to view Rome throughout its history as an embodiment of all that was best in Greek culture, institutions, and values. Gabba is excellent at placing this remarkable thesis in its cultural context. He is sensitive to its special pleading, but recalls to us how little was securely known of Rome's origins. Part of the value of this book is its reminder of how much is prejudiced in our own relative assessments of Greek and Roman culture. In addition to illuminating Dionysius's methodology, Gabba is excellent at comparing his author with other ancient historians, evaluating his treatment of his sources, and capturing the intellectual context of his work. Those who need to consult Dionysius as a source on Roman antiquities now have a comprehensive study of the highest quality. ISBN 9780520073029