Livy on the Hannibalic War - Softcover

Levene, D.

9780198152965: Livy on the Hannibalic War

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198152965 ISBN 13: 9780198152965

Publisher: Oxford University Press, Usa, 2012

Livy's account of the Hannibalic War in his Third Decade (Books 21-30) is our fullest source for one of the most crucial wars of all time; it is also a narrative history of unparalleled richness, drama, and depth. D. S. Levene's book, the first large-scale general study of Livy's Third Decade, explores the things that make it distinctive not only within Livy's writing, but also within all ancient historiography. Levene examines such topics as Livy's construction of his narrative, his source-material and use of literary allusion, his battle scenes, his sophisticated but ambivalent attitudes towards non-Romans, and above all his challenging and revolutionary treatment of such things as chronology, causation, and indeed human character. Livy portrays a world in which military calculation and human reason constantly fail, a world in which events occur beyond normal human comprehension, but where everything is governed by a hidden moral structure. Livy's unique and original approach to history has often been misunderstood; Levene demonstrates the powerful and independent vision underlying the work, and compels readers to rethink many of our standard presuppositions about the nature of history-writing in the ancient world.

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Review:

Review from previous edition A detailed, learned and in some respects radical book ... [Levine] is excellent on challenging our modern expectations of reading and understanding a text such as Livy's ... and he convincingly shows a range of literary subtleties that often go unnoticed. (Mary Beard, Times Literary Supplement, 13/05/2011)

an intricate, dense, and important book, which not only alters out understanding of Livy's craft, but also underscores his imporance in the historiographical canon ... Not every reader will agree with [Levene's] conclusions, and some might be discomfited, but every reader will find here something to provoke thought and stimulate interest. (Ayelet Haimson Lushkov, Journal of Roman Studies)

A long, dense, challenging, intriguing, and rewarding study of Livy's third decade. (Michael P. Fonda, Bryn Mawr Classical Review)

About the Author:

D. S. Levene is Professor of Classics at New York University.

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