Placing the reading of history in its cultural and educational context, and examining the processes by which ideas about ancient Rome circulated, this study provides the first assessment of the significance of Roman history, broadly conceived, in early modern England.

This original and scholarly work uses three detailed case studies of plays – Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra , King Lear and Cymbeline – to cast light on the ways in which early modern writers used metaphor to explore how identities emerge from the interaction of competing regional and spiritual topographies.