In recent decades, Latin love poetry has become a significant site for feminist and other literary critics studying conceptions of gender and sexuality in ancient Roman culture. This new volume, the first to focus specifically on gender dynamics in Latin love poetry, moves beyond the polarized critical positions that argue that this poetry either confirms traditional gender roles or subverts them. Rather, the essays in the collection explore the ways in which Latin erotic texts can have both effects, shifting power back and forth between male and female. If there is one conclusion that emerges, it is that the dynamics of gender in Latin amatory poetry do not map in any single way onto the cultural and historical norms of Roman society. In fact, as several essays show, there is a dialectical relationship between this poetry and Roman cultural practices. By complicating the views of gender dynamics in Latin love poetry, this exciting new scholarship will stimulate further debates in classical studies and literary criticism with its fresh perspectives.

Explores the use of images in the political and social contests for power in Republican Rome

The Roman elegiac poet Propertius was one such author. This final published collection, issued in 16 BCE, has been traditionally read as an abandonment by Propertius of his earlier flippant love poems for a more mature engagement with Roman public life or else a comical send-up of imperial policies as embodied in Rome's public buildings. The Elegiac Cityscape explores Propertius' Rome and the various ways his poetry about the city illuminates the dynamic relationship between one individual and his environment. The relationship between poet and city is complicated at every turn by the presence in the background of the emperor Augustus, whose sustained artistic patronage of Roman monuments brought about the most pervasive transformation that the city had yet seen. Combining the approaches of archaeology and literary criticism, Tara S. Welch examines how Propertius' poems on Roman places scrutinize the monumentalization of various ideological positions in Rome, as they poke and prod Rome's monuments to see what further meanings they might admit. The result is a poetic book rife with different perspectives on the eternal city, perspectives that often call into question any sleepy or complacent adherence to Rome's traditional values. Book jacket.

A bold retelling of the legend of Tarpeia, a priestess destined to be swept up in the danger of Rome's earliest days, and whose name would give rise to Rome's most dreaded site -- the Tarpeian Rock.

A bold retelling of the legend of Tarpeia, a priestess destined to be swept up in the danger of Rome’s earliest days, and whose name would give rise to Rome’s most dreaded site—the Tarpeian Rock. It is 753 BCE and the new city of Rome exists on the edge of a knife. The young King Romulus reels from the loss of his mother’s counsel, turning to his father—Mars, the god of war—and his city’s new chief Vestal, Tarpeia, to fill the void. The city is constantly at war. As bad, it is a city of men, set to die out within a generation. Thus, the knife slips, setting into motion an infamous crime that will entangle Tarpeia and resound throughout Latium and beyond, pitting Rome against its enemies and allies alike, and showing the settlement by the Tiber, and its young king, what it will ultimately take to rule the world. TARPEIA is the second novel in The First Vestals of Rome, an epic trilogy about the founding Vestal Virgins of ancient Rome. ​​​​​​​About The First Vestals of Rome Trilogy Set in the 8th century BCE, The First Vestals of Rome is an action-packed trilogy that dramatizes the sensational, often perilous lives of three legendary women who gave rise to Rome’s powerful order of Vestal Virgins. All of them central to the life of Romulus, Rome’s founder, these tectonic women were fated to shape the history of the Eternal City as much as any Caesar who came after them.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.