Martial's Rome : Empire and the Ideology of Epigram / Victoria E. Rimell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rimell, Victoria E..

Series:

Cambridge books online.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Epigrams, Latin--History and criticism.

Epigrams, Latin.

Rome--In literature.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

PDF

Summary:

This provocative book is a major contribution to our understanding of Martial's poetics, his vision of the relationship between art and reality, and his role in formulating modern perceptions of Rome. The study shows how, on every scale from the microscopic to the cosmic, Martial displays epigram's ambition to enact the sociality of urban life, but also to make Rome rise out of epigram's architecture and gestures. Martial's distinctive aesthetic, grounded in paradox and inconsistency, ensures that the humblest, most throwaway poetic form is best poised to capture first-century empire in all its dazzling complexity. As well as investigating many of Martial's central themes - monumentality, economics, death, carnival, exile - this book also questions what kind of a mascot Martial is for classics today in our own advanced, multicultural world. It will be an invaluable guide for scholars and students of classical literature and Roman history.

Contents:

1 Contagion and copyright: the city as text 19

2 Vigor mortis: living and dying 51

3 Poetic economies: figuring out Martial's maths 94

4 Mundus inversus: Martial's Saturnalia 140

5 The space of epigram 181.

Notes:

Title from publishers bibliographic system (viewed on 30 Apr 2012).

Other Format:

Print version:

ISBN:

9780511575860

9780521828222

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.