The Myths of Rome [Hardcover]

T.P. Wiseman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0859897036 | ISBN-13: 978-0859897037

"There was once a dream that was Rome." So says the old emperor Marcus Aurelius in Ridley Scott's epic Gladiator. It was a Rome of free citizens, brave, incorruptible, loved by the gods. It had its own myths, the stories that defined what the Romans were, and in due course it achieved mythic status itself. The myths of Rome have inspired artists, writers and statesmen throughout the ages: from Botticelli's "Primavera" and Shakespeare's Roman plays to Machiavelli's Discourses and Addison's Cato - a key text for the founding fathers of the American revolution. And yet, while a wealth of material dealing with Greek myth exists, the myths of Rome are a neglected topic. Some authorities have even claimed that the Romans had no mythology at all. Wiseman's remarkable new contribution to this almost totally unexplored field is highly illustrated and characteristically ambitious in its threefold purpose: to collect, and present in readable and accessible form, the neglected evidence for Roman myths, both iconographical and literary; to attempt to trace the development of the Roman story-world over time, from the sixth century BC to the second AD; to explore its "afterlife" in western culture from the Renaissance to the present day, with generous illustration of the visual evidence from ancient and post-Renaissance sources.

Editorial Reviews

Review

a spirited assault on some privileged ideologies among classicists. It is a pleasure to read. --Choice

This brilliant book will create a storm of argument, raising again the old question: what do we mean by myth? --BBC History Magazine, February 2005

About the Author

Peter Wiseman is Professor of Classics at the University of Exeter and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 390 pages
• Publisher: University of Exeter Press (December 31, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0859897036
• ISBN-13: 978-0859897037
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,501,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Authoritative Work, April 21, 2005

By 

MrJennings "Bill" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Myths of Rome (Hardcover)

Myths of Rome is a very welcome addition to my library. Wiseman looks at the mythology of Rome not as a sad adjunct to Greek myths (a depressingly common theme in myth books), but as a generative and creative force in its own right. The book is gorgeously illustrated with b&w images throughout the text, as well as a stunning series of color plates, mostly of full-page reproductions of Renaissance paintings on (Roman) mythological scenes. The scholarship is impeccable, and I highly recommend this book.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the academic or general reader?, August 4, 2007

By 

Anson Cassel Mills (Lake Santeetlah, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Myths of Rome (Hardcover)

This lavishly produced book, the winner of the 2005 Charles J. Goodwin Award of Merit of the American Philological Association, is a curiosity in that both author and press seem to have anticipated that its market would be the general reader as well as the scholar. The prose is much better than most academic fare, and the color plates are certainly worth Wiseman's careful elucidation. But the argument, in all its learnedness, is in my opinion, pitched above what most educated readers will choose to grapple with over the long haul, even with the book's thirty-one sidebars written in an even more popular tone.

Wiseman's basic thesis is that Rome had her own myths independent of the Greek ones and that these myths (mostly historical legends, in fact) showed the Romans to have been more relaxed and leering than most moderns imagine them to have been. The myths of a nation do reflect its values, and Roman mythology provides some good illustrations of this truth. Nevertheless, the average general reader will probably call a halt when he begins to feel, as I did, that the author is piling supposition on supposition to make scholarly points against academic rivals.

If you are a student of ancient Rome then by all means read this one through. For the general reader, I recommend borrowing the book, looking at the pictures, and then determining if you have enough interest in the legends of Rome and their historical implications to sustain you through three hundred pages.