The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier (Routledge Classical Monographs) [Hardcover]

Duane W Roller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 10, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0415305969 | ISBN-13: 978-0415305969 | Edition: 1

Raised and educated in Rome, Juba II (48BC - AD 23) was sent to uphold Roman interests in northwest Africa as ruler of the new client kingdom of Mauretania. Together with his wife Kleopatra Selene, daughter of Mark Anthony and Kleopatra VII, he established a rich, multi-cultural environment at their capital, renamed Caesarea, where Egyptian, Hellenistic Greek and indigenous elements came together. Juba combined a reign of more than half a century with a career as a distinguished scholar and writer, producing an extensive collection of works and shaping Roman knowledge of the southern half of the known world, from the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa to India. The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene explores the complex culture and legacy of the kingdom, with emphasis on Juba's scholarship and the world created by these two remarkable monarchs. This detailed and comprehensive study is not only the first examination in English of Juba's life and career, but the first critical analysis of the king both as an implementer of the Augustan political, artistic and intellectual programme and as a notable scholar.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Roller's study ... is a welcome addition .. his book does a great deal to illuminate the southern periphery of the early Roman empire.' - BMCR

About the Author

Duane W. Roller is Professor of Greek and Latin at the Ohio State University. An archaeologist and ancient historian, he is the author of The Building Program of Herod the Great, and Messapia: An Archaeological Survey in the Heel of Italy and Tanagram Studies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (September 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415305969
• ISBN-13: 978-0415305969
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,222,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Historian, archaeologist, and classical scholar, Duane W. Roller is Professor Emeritus of Greek and Latin at The Ohio State University, and currently lives in Santa Fe, NM. He is the author of ten books, including Through the Pillars of Herakles, The Building Program of Herod the Great, and Eratosthenes' Geography. He has excavated in Greece, Italy, Turkey, and the Levant. He is a three-time Fulbright scholar, most recently the Karl-Franzens Distinguished Chair of Cultural Studies at the University of Graz, Austria.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding and Imaginative Scholarship, November 22, 2010

By 

Jim C. - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier (Routledge Classical Monographs) (Hardcover)

Duane Roller's book is a fascinating portrait of a ruler, a kingdom, and an epoch that deserve to be known more widely. Juba II -- royal prince, ruler of an obscure North African kingdom at Rome's sufferance, scientist and litterateur -- is himself an extrordinarily interesting subject. Add to that the presence of Kleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony, as well as a thorough and well-documented study of the rich culture of a very late Hellenistic court just before that tradition's demise, and you have a work of scholarship that is both original and informative without resort to the pedantry that too often plagues scholarly studies of the ancient world. Well done!