Search results for ""Author Robert A Kaster""

The Roman poet Statius called the Via Appia "the Queen of Roads," and for nearly a thousand years that description held true, as countless travelers trod its path from the center of Rome to the heel of Italy. Today, the road is all but gone, destroyed by time, neglect, and the incursions of modernity; to travel the Appian Way today is to be a seeker, to walk in the footsteps of ghosts. Our guide to those ghosts - and the layers of history they represent - is Robert A. Kaster. In "The Appian Way", he brings a lifetime of studying Roman literature and history to his adventures along the ancient highway. A footsore Roman soldier pushing the imperial power south; craftsmen and farmers bringing their goods to the towns that lined the road; pious pilgrims headed to Jerusalem, using stage-by-stage directions we can still follow - all come to life once more as Kaster walks (and drives - and suffers car trouble) on what's left of the Appian Way. Other voices help him tell the story: Cicero, Goethe, Hawthorne, Dickens, James, and even Monty Python offer commentary, insight, and curmudgeonly grumbles, their voices blending like the ages of the road to create a telescopic, perhaps kaleidoscopic, view of present and past. To stand on the remnants of the Via Appia today is to stand in the pathway of history. With "The Appian Way", Kaster invites us to close our eyes and walk with him back in time, to the campaigns of Garibaldi, the revolt of Spartacus, and the glory days of Imperial Rome. No traveler will want to miss this fascinating journey.

Read more less

What did it mean to be a professional teacher in the prestigious "liberal schools" - the schools of grammar and rhetoric - in late antiquity? How can we account for the abiding prestige of these schools, which remained substantially unchanged in their methods and standing despite the political and religious changes that had taken place around them? The grammarian was a pivotal figure in the lives of the educated upper classes of late antiquity. Introducing his students to correct language and to the literature esteemed by long tradition, he began the education that confirmed his students' standing in a narrowly defined elite. His profession thus contributed to the social as well as cultural continuity of the Empire. The grammarian received honor - and criticism; the profession gave the grammarian a firm sense of cultural authority but also placed him in a position of genteel subordination within the elite. Robert A. Kaster provides the first thorough study of the place and function of these important but ambiguous figures. He also gives a detailed prosopography of the grammarians, and of the other "teachers of letters" below the level of rhetoric, from the middle of the third through the middle of the sixth century, which will provide a valuable research tool for other students of late-antique education.

Read more less

To walk on remnants of the storied Appian Way today, from Rome to the heel of Italy, is to walk in the footsteps of ghosts. Our guide to those ghosts-and the layers of history they represent-is Robert A. Kaster. In The Appian Way, he brings a lifetime of studying Roman literature and history to his adventures along the ancient highway. A footsore Roman soldier pushing the imperial power south; craftsmen and farmers bringing their goods to the towns that lined the road; pious pilgrims headed to Jerusalem-all come to life once more as Kaster travels what's left of the Appian Way. He invites us to close our eyes and trek with him back in time, to the campaigns of Garibaldi, the revolt of Spartacus, and the glory days of Imperial Rome. No traveler will want to miss this fascinating journey.

Read more less

The Saturnalia, Macrobius’s encyclopedic celebration of Roman culture written in the early fifth century CE, has been prized since the Renaissance as a treasure trove of otherwise unattested lore. Cast in the form of a dialogue, the Saturnalia treats subjects as diverse as the divinity of the Sun and the quirks of human digestion while showcasing Virgil as the master of all human knowledge from diction and rhetoric to philosophy and religion.The new Latin text is based on a refined understanding of the medieval tradition and improves on Willis’s standard edition in nearly 300 places. The accompanying translation—only the second in English and the only one now in print—offers a clear and sprightly rendition of Macrobius’s ornate Latin and is supplemented by ample annotation. A full introduction places the work in its cultural context and analyzes its construction, while indexes of names, subjects, and ancient works cited in both text and notes make the work more readily accessible than ever before.

Read more less

The Saturnalia, Macrobius’s encyclopedic celebration of Roman culture written in the early fifth century CE, has been prized since the Renaissance as a treasure trove of otherwise unattested lore. Cast in the form of a dialogue, the Saturnalia treats subjects as diverse as the divinity of the Sun and the quirks of human digestion while showcasing Virgil as the master of all human knowledge from diction and rhetoric to philosophy and religion.The new Latin text is based on a refined understanding of the medieval tradition and improves on Willis’s standard edition in nearly 300 places. The accompanying translation—only the second in English and the only one now in print—offers a clear and sprightly rendition of Macrobius’s ornate Latin and is supplemented by ample annotation. A full introduction places the work in its cultural context and analyzes its construction, while indexes of names, subjects, and ancient works cited in both text and notes make the work more readily accessible than ever before.

Read more less

The Saturnalia, Macrobius’s encyclopedic celebration of Roman culture written in the early fifth century CE, has been prized since the Renaissance as a treasure trove of otherwise unattested lore. Cast in the form of a dialogue, the Saturnalia treats subjects as diverse as the divinity of the Sun and the quirks of human digestion while showcasing Virgil as the master of all human knowledge from diction and rhetoric to philosophy and religion.The new Latin text is based on a refined understanding of the medieval tradition and improves on Willis’s standard edition in nearly 300 places. The accompanying translation—only the second in English and the only one now in print—offers a clear and sprightly rendition of Macrobius’s ornate Latin and is supplemented by ample annotation. A full introduction places the work in its cultural context and analyzes its construction, while indexes of names, subjects, and ancient works cited in both text and notes make the work more readily accessible than ever before.

Read more less

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE - 65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and adviser to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. The "Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca" is a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Seneca - whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Desiderius Erasmus to Ralph Waldo Emerson - to his rightful place among the classical writers most widely studied in the humanities. "Anger, Mercy, Revenge" comprises three key writings: the moral essays "On Anger" and "On Clemency" - the latter penned as advice for the young emperor Nero - and the "Apocolocyntosis", a brilliant satire lampooning the end of the reign of Claudius. Friend and tutor, as well as philosopher, Seneca welcomed the end of Claudius' sovereignty and the beginning of the age of Nero in tones alternately serious, poetic, and comic - making "Anger, Mercy, Revenge" a collection just as complicated, astute, and ambitious as its author.

Read more less

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BCE to 65 CE) was a Roman Stoic philosopher, dramatist, statesman, and advisor to the emperor Nero, all during the Silver Age of Latin literature. Here, with the publication of "Anger, Mercy, Revenge" and "Natural Questions", the University of Chicago Press proudly inaugurates "The Complete Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca", a fresh and compelling series of new English-language translations of his works in eight accessible volumes. Edited by world-renowned classicists Elizabeth Asmis, Shadi Bartsch, and Martha C. Nussbaum, this engaging collection restores Seneca - whose works have been highly praised by modern authors from Erasmus to Emerson - to his rightful place among those classical writers most widely studied in the humanities. "Anger, Mercy, Revenge" comprises three key writings: the moral essays 'On Anger' and 'On Clemency' - which were penned as advice for the then young emperor Nero - and the Apocolocyntosis, a brilliant satire lampooning the end of the reign of Claudius. "Natural Questions" is a stand-alone treatise in which Seneca compiles and comments on the physical sciences of his day, offering us a valuable look at the ancient scientific mind at work. Both volumes introduce the Latinless reader to the writings of one of the ancient world's most fascinating - and acclaimed - philosophical figures, making them perfect for the undergraduate student and lay scholar alike.

Read more less