A Roman Life by John Henderson )
Rutilius Gallicus was chief of police, poet and courtier of the Roman Emperor Domitian. He is a unique figure in that he can be studied in detail through both text and inscription, thereby fusing literature with history, and linking poetry with epigraphy. His recovery from a critical illness was celebrated in a sparkling poem by Statius, the poet laureate whose work is currently being read with new interest. As well as taking the reader on a tour across the city of Rome and the provinces, and through Flavian history and culture, Gallicus is by turns a sternly formal public servant, a delicate amateur poet and speaker, a workaholic chasing an early grave, the darling of his people, the strong-man of his tyrant Emperor, the miraculously resurrected patient of Apollo and a soldier-hero of the empire. How long could his luck last?
Henderson brilliantly capitalises on the survival of both an inscription and a poem (Statius, Silvae 14) about the high-ranking Rutilius Gallicus, the emperor Domitian's urban prefect. With this rare collusion of epigraphical and literary criticism he takes us on a dazzling excursion through Roman social and cultural history and imperial politics and poetics. The book also draws attention to the importance of Statius' Silvae as significant lyrical and cultural productions of Domitian's reign.
Carole Newlands
Carole Newlands
John Henderson is Professor of Classics, University of Cambridge and Fellow and Director of Studies in Classics of King's College, Cambridge. He is co-author (with Mary Beard) of Classics: A very short introduction (Oxford, 1995) and is the author of many books, including Figuring Out Roman Nobility: Juvenal's Eighth Satire (1997) and A Roman Life: Rutilius Gallicus on Paper and In Stone (1998), both published by University of Exeter Press.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780859895651 |
| ISBN 10 | 0859895653 |
| Title | A Roman Life |
| Author | John Henderson ) |
| Series | Exeter Studies In History |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Liverpool University Press |
| Year published | 1998-04-01 |
| Number of pages | 160 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |