Troy Between Greece and Rome
Local Tradition and Imperial Power
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:27th Sep '01
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£54.00(9780199265800)
Troy linked Greece and Rome. It was once the subject of the greatest of Greek poems and the mother city of the Romans. It gave the Romans a place in the mythical past of the Greeks, it gave Greeks a way of approaching Rome, and it gave the emperor Augustus, descendant of Aeneas, a suitably elevated ancestry. In this book Andrew Erskine examines the role and meaning of Troy in the changing relationship between Greeks and Romans, as Rome is transformed from a minor Italian city into a Mediterranean superpower. In contrast to earlier studies the emphasis is on the Greek rather than the Roman perspective. The book seeks to understand the significance of Rome's Trojan origins for the Greeks by considering the place of Troy and Trojans in Greek culture. It moves beyond the more familiar spheres of art and literature to explore the countless, overlapping, local traditions, the stories that cities told about themselves, a world often neglected by scholars.
The strengths of this book are its nuances, its marshalling of evidence and its subtle understanding of the problem of identity. There are numerous illuminating details of argument ... We learn a good deal about views of Troy beyond Athens, Alexander and Rome, which is refreshing and helpful, and Erskine's account of Rome's interest in Ilion itself is a textbook analysis of identity politics. This will be an interesting book for scholars, useful to students and accessible even to sixth formers. * The Journal of Classics Teaching *
... wealth of fresh observation distilled into this illuminating book. * Journal of Roman Studies *
Erskine refreshingly abandons any notion of the intrinsic significance of the myths ... the antiquarian-minded non-specialist will find much to enjoy in the bizarre local adaptations, and their articulation in a wide variety of archaeological and literary sources ... a refreshing demand to think again about how myths, particularly foundation myths, can do their work even against the most obvious demands of both rationality and tradition. * Matthew Fox, Times Literary Supplement *
A detailed and spirited sifting of evidence. * Peter Stothard, Times Higher Education Supplement *
ISBN: 9780199240333
Dimensions: 224mm x 145mm x 33mm
Weight: 500g
332 pages