Velleius Paterculus: Making History

Velleius Paterculus' short work occupies a unique position in Roman historiography. It is the earliest surviving attempt on the part of a post-Augustan historian to survey the history of the res publica from its origins. In a period from which no other contemporary historical narrative survives in more than meagre fragments, Velleius' work - written under the emperor Tiberius - offers a critical counter to the later accounts of Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. Not only does it give a different view of Tiberius, but it saw continuity where later authors saw only a radical change which destroyed the Republic and put monarchy in its place. This collection of new papers is by a distinguished international cast of scholars. It gives a wide-ranging re-examination of Velleius' work, of its place within, and contribution to, Roman historiography and the intellectual history of the early Principate.

Eleanor Cowan is Lecturer in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. She conceived and organised the conference on Velleius, at the University of Leicester, from which this volume arises. --Book Jacket.

Introduction / Eleanor Cowan ; Part I. Velleius. Velleius Paterculus as Senator. A dream with footnotes / Barbara Levick ; Time for Italy in Velleius Paterculus / Edward Bispham ; A page in the history of Campania / Maria Elefante ; Part II. Historiography and intertextuality. Velleius' history: genre and purpose / John Rich ; Transit admiratio: memoria, invidia, and the historian / Martin Bloomer ; Explanations in Velleius / John Marincola ; Velleius 2.30.6 and Tacitus, Histories 4.81.2: accomplishing allusion / Victoria Emma Pagán ; Velleius and biography: the case of Julius Caesar / Christopher Pelling ; Part III. Roman themes, Roman values. Roman values in Velleius / Ulrich Schmitzer ; Resuscitating a text: Velleius' history as cultural evidence / John Alexander Lobur ; Velleius 2.124.2 and the reluctant princeps: the evolution of Roman perceptions of leadership / Tom Hillard ; The Stones of Blood: Family, Monumentality, and Memory in Velleius' Second Century / Luke Pitcher ; Heroism and Despair in Velleius Paterculus' narrative of the Republic / Catherine Steel ; Part IV. Velleius and ... Velleius and the Games / T.P. Wiseman ; Paene omnium vitiorum expers, nisi ... : Velleiu…