This reader contains selections from Tacitus, Suetonius and Seneca on the first five Roman emperors. They present a dark world of murder, mayhem, debauchery and palace intrigue: Augustus with his firm moral policies and secret adulterous affairs; the sour and depraved Tiberius; the extravagance and madness of Caligula; the slobbering and ineffective Claudius; and Nero with his absurd artistic pretensions. Exciting, horrific and moving, the selections are also valuable for studying style and rhetoric, human nature and the roles of women, imperialism and corruption. The book is aimed at students moving on to genuine, unsimplified Latin prose after completing an introductory Latin course. It contains a useful introduction, detailed notes providing a lot of help with grammar, expression and translation, a full vocabulary, and an appreciation offering historical comment for context and analysis and literary criticism to make the passages come alive as literature and enhance students' perception and enjoyment.

This volume offers up-to-date translations of all 21 epistles of Ovid's Heroides. Each letter is accompanied by a preface explaining the mythological background, an essay offering critical remarks on the poem, and discussion of the heroine and her treatment elsewhere in Classical literature. Where relevant, reception in later literature, film, music and art, and feminist aspects of the myth are also covered. The book also contains an introduction covering Ovid's life and works, the Augustan background, the originality of the Heroides, dating, authenticity and reception. A useful glossary of characters mentioned in the Heroides concludes the book. This is a vital new resource for anyone studying the poetry of Ovid, Classical mythology or women in the ancient world.

Apuleius' famous novel, The Metamorphoses, tells the story of a man who was magically changed into an ass, and who had various (humorous, sad, exciting, disturbing, erotic, horrific) adventures before he regained his human form. As well as being genuinely interesting and great fun to read, The Metamorphoses is of great value for the study of narrative technique, literary style, religious practices, contemporary culture in a Roman province and much more. This book contains selections from the novel and is aimed at students moving on to genuine, unsimplified Latin prose after completing an introductory Latin course. It contains a useful introduction, detailed notes providing a lot of help with grammar, expression and translation, a full vocabulary, and passages of appreciation to make the selections come alive as literature and to enhance students' perception and enjoyment of the stories.

This reader contains selections from Tacitus, Suetonius and Seneca on the first five Roman emperors. They present a dark world of murder, mayhem, debauchery and palace intrigue: Augustus with his firm moral policies and secret adulterous affairs; the sour and depraved Tiberius; the extravagance and madness of Caligula; the slobbering and ineffective Claudius; and Nero with his absurd artistic pretensions. Exciting, horrific and moving, the selections are also valuable for studying style and rhetoric, human nature and the roles of women, imperialism and corruption. The book is aimed at students moving on to genuine, unsimplified Latin prose after completing an introductory Latin course. It contains a useful introduction, detailed notes providing a lot of help with grammar, expression and translation, a full vocabulary, and an appreciation offering historical comment for context and analysis and literary criticism to make the passages come alive as literature and enhance students' perception and enjoyment.

This is the first full and detailed commentary on the second book of Tibullus' elegies since K.F. Smith's edition of 1913. It takes into account every significant advance in scholarship since then on Tibullus, elegy in general. The book provides an authoritative Latin text, based on the definitive Oxford Classical Text, an Introduction covering such topics as the chronology of Book II, its completeness and construction, and the main characters of the poems; and a comprehensive Commentary discussing all aspects of linguistic and literary interest in the poems: the problems of reference and the interpretation for instance, as well as notes on diction, style, themes, and metre. There are also introductory essays on each poem, discussing the background situation, genre, and main models. A critical appendix looks at all the textual points that substantially affect the understanding and appreciation of the elegies, a structural appendix explores the structure of the individual poems, and there are full indices.

This volume offers up-to-date translations of all 21 epistles of Ovid's Heroides. Each letter is accompanied by a preface explaining the mythological background, an essay offering critical remarks on the poem, and discussion of the heroine and her treatment elsewhere in Classical literature. Where relevant, reception in later literature, film, music and art, and feminist aspects of the myth are also covered. The book also contains an introduction covering Ovid's life and works, the Augustan background, the originality of the Heroides, dating, authenticity and reception. A useful glossary of characters mentioned in the Heroides concludes the book. This is a vital new resource for anyone studying the poetry of Ovid, Classical mythology or women in the ancient world.

Apuleius' famous novel, The Metamorphoses, tells the story of a man who was magically changed into an ass, and who had various (humorous, sad, exciting, disturbing, erotic, horrific) adventures before he regained his human form. As well as being genuinely interesting and great fun to read, The Metamorphoses is of great value for the study of narrative technique, literary style, religious practices, contemporary culture in a Roman province and much more. This book contains selections from the novel and is aimed at students moving on to genuine, unsimplified Latin prose after completing an introductory Latin course. It contains a useful introduction, detailed notes providing a lot of help with grammar, expression and translation, a full vocabulary, and passages of appreciation to make the selections come alive as literature and to enhance students' perception and enjoyment of the stories.

This engaging, readable yet impeccably scholarly investigation of monsters in Classical literature will entertain and stimulate as well as inform. It covers all the major mythical monsters mentioned by Greek and Roman authors (Medusa, Hydra, Polyphemus, the Minotaur, Sphinx, Harpies, Sirens, Cerberus, Chimaera, Centaurs, and many more) along with Classical precursors of vampires, werewolves and the living dead. Versions of these creatures that appear in later literature and film are also discussed. Mythical Monsters is original in considering monsters squarely from a literary standpoint, introducing elements of literary analysis gradually as the work progresses, and building up to quite a sophisticated approach. This will increase readers' critical appreciation and plain enjoyment of these stories, which continue to fascinate today. To facilitate browsing, each chapter can be read independently. There is a useful bibliography, and the book is enlivened by illustrations from ancient and more recent art.