In Dionysius and the City of Rome: Portraits of Founders in the Roman Antiquities, Beatrice Poletti examines Dionysius of Halicarnassus' description of figures traditionally regarded as the founders of the political and religious institutions of Rome, namely, Aeneas, Romulus, Numa Pompilius, L. Junius Brutus, and M. Furius Camillus. She considers the function of each of them in the narrative development of the Roman Antiquities to show how Dionysius portrayed legendary Roman characters for an empire-wide, Greek-speaking audience, and how such portraits served his historiographical and pedagogical aims. The literary work of Dionysius represents a milestone in the contemporary discourse about Greek and Roman identities. A Greek from Caria, he lived over twenty years in Rome under Augustus (r. 31 BCE-14 CE), where he composed a history of Rome from the aftermath of the Trojan War to the outbreak of the First Punic War. Dionysius' purpose was to reconcile Greek intellectual opposition to Rome with Roman domination by demonstrating that the Romans were originally Greek and lived by Greek moral principles. He also intended his history as 'exemplary' by offering his readers models of good leadership through his characters. The author contextualizes Dionysius' effort within the cultural and political climate of Augustan Rome to illustrate the extent of contemporary influences on Dionysius' project.
Beatrice Poletti is adjunct assistant professor of classics at Queen's University.
Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Chapter One: Aeneas Chapter Two: Romulus and Numa Chapter Three: L. Junius Brutus and M. Furius Camillus Conclusion Bibliography About the Author
With Dionysius and the City of Rome: Portraits of Founders in the Roman Antiquities, Beatrice Poletti has produced a particularly stimulating book, which contributes to renewing the debate on Dionysius of Halicarnassus' Roman Antiquities and shows once and for all that this work deserves the full attention of anyone interested in the origins of Rome. The comprehensive study of Dionysius' characterization of history (applied to the specific case of the founders) is undoubtedly a seminal contribution of this book: it opens up new perspectives as much as it deepens our understanding of the mechanisms by which the historiographical narrative was elaborated. Nicolas Meunier, Universite catholique de Louvain -- Nicolas Meunier, Universite catholique de Louvain
