The Roman Novel

The Roman Novel PDF Author: P.G. Walsh
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
ISBN: 9781853994500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
"The Satyricon" of Petronius and the "Metamorphoses" (or "The Golden Ass") of Apuleius are the only novels written at Rome before AD 200 to have survived. The genre is the comic romance, the literature of relaxation in the ancient world. This study defines the genre and sets it in the context of other forms of fiction of the period. It shows that both Petronius and Apuleius introduced important innovations into the traditional comic romance. A critical study of "The Satyricon" is included, with a separate chapter on Trimalchio's feast, a central comic episode of the book. "The Golden Ass" is similarly examined, again with special analysis of its centre piece, the story of Cupid and Psyche. The book assesses the later influence of the two novels on the mainstream of European picaresque fiction.

The Roman Novel

The Roman Novel PDF Author: P.G. Walsh
Publisher: Bristol Classical Press
ISBN: 9781853994500
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Get Book Here

Book Description
"The Satyricon" of Petronius and the "Metamorphoses" (or "The Golden Ass") of Apuleius are the only novels written at Rome before AD 200 to have survived. The genre is the comic romance, the literature of relaxation in the ancient world. This study defines the genre and sets it in the context of other forms of fiction of the period. It shows that both Petronius and Apuleius introduced important innovations into the traditional comic romance. A critical study of "The Satyricon" is included, with a separate chapter on Trimalchio's feast, a central comic episode of the book. "The Golden Ass" is similarly examined, again with special analysis of its centre piece, the story of Cupid and Psyche. The book assesses the later influence of the two novels on the mainstream of European picaresque fiction.

Roman Blood

Roman Blood PDF Author: Steven Saylor
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: 1429908580
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
In the unseasonable heat of a spring morning in 80 B.C., Gordianus the Finder is summoned to the house of Cicero, a young advocate staking his reputation on a case involving the savage murder of the wealthy, sybaritic Sextus Roscius. Charged with the murder is Sextus's son, greed being the apparent motive. The punishment, rooted deep in Roman tradition, is horrific beyond imagining. The case becomes a political nightmare when Gordianus's investigation takes him through the city's raucous, pungent streets and deep into rural Umbria. Now, one man's fate may threaten the very leaders of Rome itself.

Medicus

Medicus PDF Author: Ruth Downie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1596917741
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
**THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** A serial killer is on the loose in Roman-occupied Britain, and Gaius Petreius Ruso is out to catch him... if he isn't killed first. The Gods are not smiling on army doctor Gaius Petreius Ruso in his new posting in Britannia. He has vast debts, long shifts, and an overbearing hospital administrator to deal with . . . not to mention a serial killer stalking the local streets. Barmaids' bodies are being washed up with the tide and no one else seems to care. It's up to Ruso to summon all his skills to investigate, even though the breakthroughs in forensic science lie centuries in the future, and the murderer may be hunting him down too. If only the locals would just stop killing each other and if only it were possible to find a decent glass of wine, and someone who can cook, Ruso's prospects would be a whole lot sunnier.... The first novel in the New York Times bestselling Gaius Petreius Ruso series. With a gift for comic timing and historic detail, Ruth Downie has conjured an ancient world as raucous and real as our own.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone PDF Author: Tennessee Williams
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 081122046X
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
Tennessee Williams's first novel The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is vintage Tennessee Williams. Published in 1950, his first novel was acclaimed by Gore Vidal as "splendidly written, precise, short, complete, and fine." It is the story of a wealthy, fiftyish American widow recently a famous stage beauty, but now "drifting." The novel opens soon after her husband's death and her retirement from the theatre, as Mrs. Stone tries to adjust to her aimless new life in Rome. She is adjusting, too, to aging. ("The knowledge that her beauty was lost had come upon her recently and it was still occasionally forgotten.") With poignant wit and his own particular brand of relish, Williams charts her drift into an affair with a cruel young gigolo: "As compelling, as fascinating, and as technically skillful as his play" (Publishers Weekly).

Gods and Legions

Gods and Legions PDF Author: Michael Curtis Ford
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429904380
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
The year 354 A.D.: Julian, a young scholar in Athens, is the last survivor of a bloody political purge that killed his entire family. Unexpectedly summoned to the court of the Emperor Constantius, he fears the worst-only to find himself bearing the ring of Caesar of the Western Empire. Tested by bloody battle and the scepticism of the Roman legions, Julian proves to be a military genius, crushing the German tribes that have threatened Rome for generations. Soon after, defying his own emperor against overwhelming odds, he risks civil war and ultimately seizes the Empire for himself, becoming the most powerful man in the world while still only thirty. Now the dark side of his ambition emerges. Julian discards the Christianity of his boyhood and sets his sights on the greatest conquest of all-the Persian Empire. In Persia, however, his gods and his sanity desert him, and in one swift stroke, the course of history is altered forever. Ranging from the forbidding forests of ancient Gaul to the sweltering sands of Persia, Gods & Legions is a breathtaking historical re-creation of one of the most dangerous periods-and enduring mysteries-of all time.

Captivity

Captivity PDF Author: György Spiró
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1632060493
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 864

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Book Description
This translation originally copyrighted in 2010.

Dominus

Dominus PDF Author: Steven Saylor
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250087872
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
Following his international bestsellers Roma and Empire, Steven Saylor's Dominus continues his saga of the greatest, most storied empire in history from the eternal city at the very center of it all. A.D. 165: The empire of Rome has reached its pinnacle. Universal peace—the Pax Roma—reigns from Britannia to Egypt, from Gaul to Greece. Marcus Aurelius, as much a philosopher as he is an emperor, oversees a golden age in the city of Rome. The ancient Pinarius family and their workshop of artisans embellish the richest and greatest city on earth with gilded statues and towering marble monuments. Art and reason flourish. But history does not stand still. The years to come bring wars, plagues, fires, and famines. The best emperors in history are succeeded by some of the worst. Barbarians descend in endless waves, eventually appearing before the gates of Rome itself. The military seizes power and sells the throne to the highest bidder. Chaos engulfs the empire. Through it all, the Pinarius family endures, thanks in no small part to the protective powers of the fascinum, a talisman older than Rome itself, a mystical heirloom handed down through countless generations. But an even greater upheaval is yet to come. On the fringes of society, troublesome cultists disseminate dangerous and seditious ideas. They insist that everyone in the world should worship only one god, their god. They call themselves Christians. Some emperors deal with the Christians with toleration, others with bloody persecution. Then one emperor does the unthinkable. He becomes a Christian himself. His name is Constantine, and the revolution he sets in motion will change the world forever. Spanning 160 years and seven generations, teeming with some of ancient Rome’s most vivid figures, Saylor's epic brings to vivid life some of the most tumultuous and consequential chapters of human history, events which reverberate still.

The Wanderer

The Wanderer PDF Author: Mika Waltari
Publisher: Rare Treasure Editions
ISBN: 1774644789
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Book Description
In The Wanderer, Michael of the charmed life continues his erratic career as an adventurer with an interlude which takes him through much of the 16th century Islamic empire. The holocaust in Rome singed his conscience a bit, and he decided - with his brother in arms, the bull-like Andy, to seek peace in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But Fate decreed otherwise. The pilgrim ship was seized by the infidels. Michael, chameleon like in his loyalties, became for all purposes an aspirant to Islam, and - though a slave - rose rapidly in the service of his masters, until he was confidante, adviser, military leader, political intriguer, whatever suited his mood, and landing - as one of his owners said - "always on his feet." Richly detailed with the lushness of a tawdry era in Europe and the Near East, the novel is more tightly plotted than was "The Adventurer," and Michael finds himself smitten by the strange woman of the evil eye who has captured his heart and imagination. A complex plot, with successive interlocking episodes, this adds up to another picaresque romantic adventure novel which those who enjoyed its predecessors will want to read for sure.

Romanitas

Romanitas PDF Author: Sophia McDougall
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0575110368
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
In a parallel modern world, the Roman Empire stretches from India in the East to the Great Wall of Terranova in the West. A runaway slave girl with a strange gift sets out to rescue her brother and seize her freedom, while the young heir to the Imperial throne discovers a plot against his life. For all three, the only way to survive may shake the Empire to its roots. A fast-moving, compelling story, brilliantly imagined - CONN IGGULDEN [A] hugely imaginative debut - DAILY MIRROR A thoroughly good read ... vividly imagined ... elegant, lively writing - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome PDF Author: Mary Beard
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 1631491253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 743

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Book Description
New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Foreign Affairs, and Kirkus Reviews Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction) Shortlisted for the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History) A San Francisco Chronicle Holiday Gift Guide Selection A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection A sweeping, "magisterial" history of the Roman Empire from one of our foremost classicists shows why Rome remains "relevant to people many centuries later" (Atlantic). In SPQR, an instant classic, Mary Beard narrates the history of Rome "with passion and without technical jargon" and demonstrates how "a slightly shabby Iron Age village" rose to become the "undisputed hegemon of the Mediterranean" (Wall Street Journal). Hailed by critics as animating "the grand sweep and the intimate details that bring the distant past vividly to life" (Economist) in a way that makes "your hair stand on end" (Christian Science Monitor) and spanning nearly a thousand years of history, this "highly informative, highly readable" (Dallas Morning News) work examines not just how we think of ancient Rome but challenges the comfortable historical perspectives that have existed for centuries. With its nuanced attention to class, democratic struggles, and the lives of entire groups of people omitted from the historical narrative for centuries, SPQR will to shape our view of Roman history for decades to come.