The Annals of Ennius (b. 239 B.C.) was the earliest Latin epic poem to be written in hexameters and had a great influence on later Latin poetry; unfortunately only fragments survive. This definitive edition contains an introduction, text with critical apparatus, and full commentary.

A fresh look at the multicultural influences on Quintus Ennius and his epic poem, the Annals. Quintus Ennius, often considered the father of Roman poetry, is best remembered for his epic poem, the Annals, a history of Rome from Aeneas until his own lifetime. Ennius represents an important bridge between Homer’s works in Greek and Vergil’s Aeneid. Jay Fisher argues that Ennius does not simply translate Homeric models into Latin, but blends Greek poetic models with Italic diction to produce a poetic hybrid. Fisher's investigation uncovers a poem that blends foreign and familiar cultural elements in order to generate layers of meaning for his Roman audience. Fisher combines modern linguistic methodologies with traditional philology to uncover the influence of the language of Roman ritual, kinship, and military culture on the Annals. Moreover, because these customs are themselves hybrids of earlier Roman, Etruscan, and Greek cultural practices, not to mention the customs of speakers of lesser-known languages such as Oscan and Umbrian, the echoes of cultural interactions generate layers of meaning for Ennius, his ancient audience, and the modern readers of the fragments of the Annals.

Brings together historical and literary perspectives to begin charting a new course for research on Ennius' masterpiece.

Ennius Perennis: the Annals and Beyond is a collection of eight essays by an international group of scholars on different aspects of the poetry and legacy of Quintus Ennius (239-169 BC). Ennius' epic poem the Annals and his many other works, including tragedies, satires and epigrams, survive only in mystifying fragments, but his influence on Latin poetry was enormous. He is now beginning to be appreciated, thanks both to excellent critical editions and to more enlightened literary and historical approaches, as a complex and varied poet and a fascinating representative of an era of intense cultural and political change. While they acknowledge the extent to which later authors are responsible for creating a misleading perception of Ennius as monolithic, jingoistic and clumsy, these essays also reflect on what can be said about the nature and aims of his work, given the limitations of our evidence. Subjects discussed include Cicero's ‘invention’ of Ennius, the part played by the cor (heart) in unifying Ennius' literary project, the possibility of ‘further voices’ and a role for women in Ennius, Virgil's fraught ‘father-son’ relationship with his epic predecessor and Ennius' later reincarnation in the works of Horace and Petrarch. The collection is likely to appeal to all who are interested in Latin literature, literary history or reception studies.

Bilingualism has seen an explosion of work in recent years. This volume introduces classicists, ancient historians and other scholars interested in sociolinguistic research into evidence of bilingualism in the ancient Mediterranean.

This book contains over fifty passages of Latin from 200 BC to AD 900, each with translation and linguistic commentary. It is not intended as an elementary reader (though suitable for university courses), but as an illustrative history of Latin covering more than a millennium, with almost every century represented. Conventional histories cite constructions out of context, whereas this work gives a sense of the period, genre, stylistic aims and idiosyncrasies of specific passages. 'Informal' texts, particularly if they portray talk, reflect linguistic variety and change better than texts adhering to classicising norms. Some of the texts are recent discoveries or little known. Writing tablets are well represented, as are literary and technical texts down to the early medieval period, when striking changes appear. The commentaries identify innovations, discontinuities and phenomena of long duration. Readers will learn much about the diversity and development of Latin.

This edited volume brings a variety of approaches to the problem of how the Romans conceived of their history, what were the mechanisms for their preservation of the past, and how did the Romans come to write about their past. Building on important recent work in historiography, and the recent memory turn, the authors consider the practicalities of transmission, literary and generic influences, and the role of the city of Rome in preserving and transmitting memories of the past. The result is a major contribution to our understanding of the role history played in Roman life, and the kinds of evidence which could be deployed in constructing Roman history.

"Vivam" is the very last word of Ovid's masterpiece, the Metamorphoses: "I shall live." If we're still reading it two millennia after Ovid's death, this is by definition a remarkably accurate prophecy. Ovid was not the only ancient author with aspirations to be read for eternity, but no poet of the Greco-Roman world has had a deeper or more lasting impact on subsequent literature and art than he can claim. In the present day no Greek or Roman poet is as accessible, to artists, writers, or the general reader: Ovid's voice remains a compellingly contemporary one, as modern as it seemed to his contemporaries in Augustan Rome. But Ovid was also a man of his time, his own story fatally entwined with that of the first emperor Augustus, and the poetry he wrote channels in its own way the cultural and political upheavals of the contemporary city, its public life, sexual mores, religion, and urban landscape, while also exploiting the superbly rich store of poetic convention that Greek literature and his Roman predecessors had bequeathed to him. This Very Short Introduction explains Ovid's background, social and literary, and introduces his poetry, on love, metamorphosis, Roman festivals, and his own exile, a restlessly innovative oeuvre driven by the irrepressible ingenium or wit for which he was famous. Llewelyn Morgan also explores Ovid's immense influence on later literature and art, spanning from Shakespeare to Bernini. Throughout, Ovid's poetry is revealed as enduringly scintillating, his personal story compelling, and the issues his life and poetry raise of continuing relevance and interest. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.