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This paper argues for a systemic and comparative approach to Syracusan imperialism in Sicily during the first generation of the Second Greco-Punic War, c. 410-380 BC. Like fifth-century Athens and Rome in the mid-Republic, the Syracusans were fairly unique in the pre-modern world in how they sought to balance the internal division of benefits with external predation.

When the second triumvirate proposed a tax on the wealthiest women of Rome to cover the mounting costs of their war with Caesar’s assassins, Rome’s moneyed matrons did not favor the prospect of being taxed without representation.  A group of matrons immediately took action to protect themselves from the steep new levy.  Hortensia, the daughter of the great orator Quintus Hortensius, addressed the Triumvires in the Forum on behalf of the matrons.

This paper defends lines 1.44-49 of De Rerum Natura as a genuine part of Lucretius’ original proem, despite the renewed tendency to suspect or excise them, and illustrates the didactic value of their repetition.  Lucretius describes the nature of the gods with these same 6 lines in two very different contexts, once at the outset of the poem during the hymn to Venus, and again in book 2 as the conclusion to his arguments against divine providence (1.44-49=2.646-651):

omnis enim per se divum natura necessest

In recent years, scholarship on heroism in the Punica has expanded its focus beyond Hannibal (Stocks 2014) and Scipio (Marks 2005) to undertake a sustained engagement with the plethora of other heroic figures in the epic, including, most notably, Fabius and Marcellus (Ariemma 2010; Fucecchi 2010; Tipping 2010; Marks 2014). In broadening the horizons of this investigation into heroism in the epic, scholars have come to appreciate much better how well Silius complicates (even eradicates) the many purported dichotomies between Roman and Carthaginian.

The Calendar of 354 and a large corpus of inscriptions attest to the diversity and vitality of pagan cult at Rome in the second half of the fourth century AD (Salzman).

The most famous passage of Aratus’ Phaenomena is his description of the catasterism of Dike, which includes a re-telling of Hesiod’s Myth of Ages.  This passage has been analyzed through literary, philosophical, and political lenses, and the myriad different interpretations demonstrate that it is programmatic and highly polysemous, but in all of these it is treated largely as a digression from the main focus of the poem.  In this paper, I will offer a new way of viewing this passage, in the context of Aratus’ interest in signs throughout the Phaenomena.  The

Scholars have long understood the Thaumasia of the fourth-century historian Theopompos of Chios either as an entertaining amalgam of stories or as a mere rhetorical exercise. This paper argues that the Thaumasia or “Marvels” (BNJ F 64a—F 76) is not only a rhetorical masterpiece, but also makes a significant argument that illuminates the larger project of the fifty-eight book Philippika, of which the Thaumasia is a crucial part.

The depiction of the emperor as both author and object of humor is a significant feature of Suetonius’ Lives that as yet has received only limited scholarly attention. It is the aim of the present study to argue that humor, beyond providing flashes of color to individual episodes of the Lives, is one of the categories that Suetonius uses to assess the reigns of the various principes.

This paper offers a revisitation of language choice in the renowned early second-century letters from the soldier Claudius Terentianus to his alleged father, the veteran Claudius Tiberianus. Often taken as an example of “Vulgar Latin”, these Egyptian texts are particularly significant for the study of bilingualism in the Roman army, for Terentianus sends Tiberianus letters in both Latin and Greek alternately, performing what in Sociolinguistics is called "code-alternation".

Herodian remains one of the least studied historians of the Roman empire. He has won few admirers, either for his historical technique or his literary qualities, but he has an undeniable flair for the visual and the dramatic, which comes to the forefront in his use of vivid description. The first book of Herodian's History contains a remarkable ekphrasitic description of body of Commodus (1.7.5-6), as it appeared during his entry to Rome. Commodus is described as a sight well-worth seeing, with golden curly hair, bright eyes, and a halo.