| Description |
1 online resource (204 pages) |
| Summary |
"There can be few historical figures who have made such a powerful impact on the popular imagination as the Roman emperor Caligula (died AD 41). Yet an accurate reconstruction of his life and reign largely eludes us. The problem lies not so much in the quantity of evidence available, but in its quality. For our information we are obliged to draw on ancient accounts that can be colourful and wonderfully entertaining but have a flexible notion of historical truth and often seem to border on fiction. The consequence is that there is hardly a detail that the modern historian can present without deep reservations about its reliability. This book approaches Caligula by presenting the reader with the raw material of the ancient sources. It provides over three hundred translated passages of texts, taken mainly from ancient writers, but also from coins and inscriptions. The translations are accompanied by extensive introductions and notes. These are tailored to the non-specialist, and intended to help such readers navigate material that is often contradictory, often downright incredible, and also place events and institutions in their historical contexts. The colourful and exotic incidents are still there, but presented in a context that will help the reader gain a more sophisticated understanding of how we try to reconstruct events of the past. This approach allows the reader to tackle head on the stark reality that what we read in our sources is not necessarily the truth"--Publisher's description |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from home page (Oxford Academic, viewed on February 16, 2024) |
| Subject |
Caligula, Emperor of Rome, 12-41.
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| SUBJECT |
Caligula, Emperor of Rome, 12-41 fast |
| Subject |
Emperors -- Rome -- Biography
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Emperors
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Archaeology.
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History.
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| SUBJECT |
Rome -- History -- Caligula, 37-41 -- Sources
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| Subject |
Rome (Empire)
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| Genre/Form |
Biographies
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Biographies.
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Biographies.
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| Author |
Yardley, John, 1942- author.
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| ISBN |
0192596764 |
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9780191888816 |
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0191888818 |
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9780192596758 |
|
0192596756 |
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9780192596765 |
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