The Emperor Caligula in the Ancient Sources

The Emperor Caligula in the Ancient Sources by Anthony A Barrett

There can be few historical figures who have made such a powerful impact on the popular imagination as the Roman emperor Caligula (died AD 41). Yet an accurate reconstruction of his life and reign largely eludes us. This is paradoxical. The source material is plentiful, even lavish, by the standards of antiquity. The problem lies not so much in the quantity of evidence available, but in its quality. For our information we are obliged to draw on ancient accounts that can be colourful and wonderfully entertaining but have a flexible notion of historical truth and often seem to border on fiction. The consequence is that there is hardly a detail that the modern historian can present without deep reservations about its reliability. A biography of Caligula, in the regular modern sense of the word, is an insurmountable task, and can be at best be a summary personal interpretation by an individual historian of a mass of incoherent and often inconsistent material. Where does this leave the serious general reader? This book approaches Caligula from a quite different angle, by presenting the reader with the raw material of the ancient sources. It provides over 300 translated passages of texts, taken mainly from ancient writers, but also from coins and inscriptions. The translations are accompanied by extensive introductions and notes. These are tailored to the non-specialist, and intended to help such readers navigate material that is often contradictory, sometimes downright incredible, and helps to place events and institutions in their historical contexts. The colourful and exotic incidents are still here, but are presented in a context that will help the reader gain a more sophisticated understanding of how scholars try to reconstruct events of the past. This approach allows the reader to tackle head-on the stark reality that what we read in our sources is not necessarily the truth.

Anthony A. Barrett is Emeritus Professor of Classics, University of British Columbia, where he taught from 1968 to 2008. He currently resides in Heidelberg, Germany. J.C. Yardley is Emeritus Professor of Classics, University of Ottawa, where he taught from 1989 to 2010. He currently resides in Milton, Ontario.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780198854579
ISBN 10	0198854579
Titel	The Emperor Caligula in the Ancient Sources
Autor	Anthony A Barrett
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	Oxford University Press
Erscheinungsjahr	2023-05-18
Seitenanzahl	240
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
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