The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Nero

The age of Nero has appealed to the popular imagination more than any other period of Roman history. This volume provides a lively and accessible guide to the various representations and interpretations of the Emperor Nero as well as to the rich literary, philosophical and artistic achievements of his eventful reign. The major achievements of the period in the fields of literature, governance, architecture and art are freshly described and analysed, and special attention is paid to the reception of Nero in the Roman and Christian eras of the first centuries AD and beyond. Written by an international team of leading experts, the chapters provide students and non-specialists with clear and comprehensive accounts of the most important trends in the study of Neronian Rome. They also offer numerous original insights into the period, and open new areas of study for scholars to pursue.

A comprehensive exploration of a popular and eventful period of Roman history, analysing the politics, art and literature of the Neronian age
Contains chapters by leading scholars which explain but also challenge current thinking, meaning that this volume will appeal to both students and specialists
Pays as much attention to material culture as to literature, giving a broader view of this important era of Roman history

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'… a valuable read for both the serious student of ancient history and the armchair historian.' A. A. Nofi, The NYMAS Review

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Product details

Published: November 2017
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781107669239
Length: 422 pages
Dimensions: 228 × 153 × 20 mm
Weight: 0.68kg
Contains: 40 b/w illus. 2 maps
Availability: Available

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Contents

Julio-Claudian family tree
Map of the Roman Empire 69 CE
Timeline of events
Introduction: angles on an emperor Shadi BARTSCH, Kirk FREUDENBURG and Cedric LITTLEWOOD
Part I. Nero's World:
1. Nero the performer Matthew LEIGH
2. Nero and the Senate Josiah Osgood
3. Nero's imperial administration Carlos F. NOREÑA
4. Nero's women Anthony A. BARRETT
Part II. Neronian Literature:
5. Post-Augustan revisionism Cedric LITTLEWOOD
6. Lucan's Civil War in Nero's Rome Gareth WILLIAMS
7. Petronius, realism, Nero Kirk FREUDENBURG
8. Persius in Neroland Daniel HOOLEY
Part III. Neronian Seneca:
9. Senecan drama and the age of Nero Chiara TORRE
10. Philosophers and the state under Nero Shadi BARTSCH
11. Seneca: virtue, hypocrisy and (vain)glory Catharine EDWARDS
Part IV. Nero's Monumental Rome:
12. Art and the decadent city Caroline VOUT
13. Staging Nero: public imagery and the Domus Aurea Eugenio LA ROCCA
14. Burning Rome, burning Christians John POLLINI
15. Nero's memory in Flavian Rome Eric VARNER
Part V. The Neros of Reception:
16. Nero into (hi)story Donatien GRAU
17. Saint Paul and the Christian communities of Nero's Rome J. Albert HARRILL
18. The image of Nero in Renaissance political thought Peter STACEy
19. Resurgences of Nero in the Enlightenment Elena RUSSO
20. Nero in Hollywood Martin M. WINKLER
Part VI. After the Last Laugh:
21. The Neronian 'symptom' Eric GUNDERSON
Appendix: Nero's image, the four portrait types (notes by Eugenio La Rocca).

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Contributors

Shadi Bartsch, Kirk Freudenburg, Cedric Littlewood, Matthew Leigh, Josiah Osgood, Carlos F. Noreña, Anthony A. Barrett, Gareth Williams, Daniel Hooley, Chiara Torre, Catharine Edwards, Caroline Vout, Eugenio La Rocca, John Pollini, Eric Varner, Donatien Grau, J. Albert Harrill, Peter Stacey, Elena Russo, Martin M. Winkler, Erik Gunderson

Editors

Shadi Bartsch , University of Chicago
Shadi Bartsch is the Helen A. Regenstein Distinguished Service Professor in Classics at the University of Chicago. Her work focuses on the literature and philosophy of the Neronian period in Rome, and on the reception of the Western Classics in contemporary China. She is also the inaugural director of The Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, an initiative to study the cultural and historical roots of different forms of knowledge, and held a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2007–2008. Her previous books include: The Mirror of the Self: Sexuality, Self-Knowledge, and the Gaze in the Early Roman Empire (2006), Persius: A Study in Food, Philosophy, and the Figural (2015), and (edited with Alessandro Schiesaro) The Cambridge Companion to Seneca (Cambridge, 2015). She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Classical Philology.
Kirk Freudenburg , Yale University, Connecticut
Kirk Freudenburg is Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor of Classics at Yale University, Connecticut. His major publications include The Walking Muse: Horace on the Theory of Satire (1993), Satires of Rome: Threatening Poses from Lucilius to Juvenal (Cambridge, 2001), (edited) The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire (Cambridge, 2005), and (edited) Horace: Satires and Epistles (2009).
Cedric Littlewood , University of Victoria, British Columbia
Cedric Littlewood is Associate Professor in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. He is the author of Self-Representation and Illusion in Senecan Tragedy (2004).

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