Emperors and Historiography ― Collected Essays on the Literature of the Roman Empire by Daniel Den Hengst

In this collection of essays Roman historical and biographical texts are studied from a literary point of view. The main interest of the author, Daniel den Hengst, professor emeritus of Latin at the University of Amsterdam, concerns the development of Roman historiography, the ways in which Roman historians present their work and the intertextual relations between these works and other literary genres. Special attention is given to the Historia Augusta and Ammianus Marcellinus, but also authors from the classical period, such as Cicero, Livy and Suetonius and their ideas about historiography are discussed. The articles demonstrate that a detailed interpretation of these texts in the original language is indispensable to understanding the aims and methods of ancient historians and biographers.

Diederik W.P. Burgersdijk, Ph.D. (2009) teaches classical languages at Barlaeusgymnasium, Amsterdam, and is guest researcher at the University of Amsterdam. He is presently working on a study of style and structure of theHistoria Augusta.Joop A. van Waarden, Ph.D. (2009) is a former headmaster of Bonhoeffer College in Castricum and guest researcher at the University of Amsterdam. His study of the episcopal letters in the seventh book of Sidonius Apollinaris' correspondence will be published in 2010.