Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Augustan Rome: Rhetoric, Criticism and Historiography

Richard Hunter · Casper C. de Jonge

Nov 2018 · Cambridge University Press

About this ebook

The Greek author Dionysius of Halicarnassus came to Rome in 30/29 BC. He learnt Latin, developed a network of students, patrons and colleagues, and started to teach rhetoric. He published a history of early Rome (Roman Antiquities), and essays on rhetoric and literary criticism, including On the Ancient Orators, On Composition, and several letters. This volume examines how Dionysius' critical and rhetorical works are connected with his history of Rome, and the complex ways in which both components of this dual project - rhetorical criticism and historiography - fit into the social, intellectual, literary, cultural and political world of Rome under Augustus. How does Dionysius' interpretation of the earliest Romans resonate with the political reality of the Principate? And how do his views relate to those of Cicero, Livy and Horace? This volume casts new light on ancient rhetoric, literary criticism, historiography and the literary culture of Augustan Rome.

About the author

Richard Hunter is Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Trinity College. He has published extensively in the fields of Greek and Latin literature; his most recent books include Plato and the Traditions of Ancient Literature: The Silent Stream (Cambridge, 2012), Hesiodic Voices (Cambridge, 2014), Apollonius of Rhodes: Argonautica Book IV (Cambridge, 2015) and The Measure of Homer (Cambridge, 2018). Many of his essays have been collected in the two-volume On Coming After: Studies in Post-Classical Greek Literature and its Reception (2008).

Casper C. de Jonge is Lecturer of Ancient Greek Language and Literature at Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, The Netherlands. His research focuses on ancient rhetoric and literary criticism, the history of grammar and scholarship, and Greek intellectuals in Rome. His publications include Between Grammar and Rhetoric: Dionysius of Halicarnassus on Language, Linguistics and Literature (2008). He received a grant from the Netherlands Organisation of Scientific Research (NWO) for a research project on 'Greek Criticism and Latin Literature'.