Public spectacle--from the morning rituals of the Roman noble to triumphs and the shows of the Arena--formed a crucial component of the language of power in ancient Rome. The historian Livy (c. 60 B.C.E.-17 C.E.), who provides our fullest description of Rome's early history, presents his account of [...]
This book offers a novel interpretation of politics and identity in Ovid's epic poem of transformations, "The Metamorphoses". Reexamining the emphatically fictional character of the poem, "Playing Gods" argues that Ovid uses the problem of fiction in the text to redefine the power of poetry in Augus[...]