Synopses & Reviews
This volume completes the three-volume collection of Fergus Millar's essays, which, together with his books, transformed the study of the Roman Empire by shifting the focus of inquiry onto the broader Mediterranean world and beyond. The eighteen essays presented here include Millar's classic contributions to our understanding of the impact of Rome on the peoples, cultures, and religions of the eastern Mediterranean, and the extent to which Graeco-Roman culture acted as a vehicle for the self-expression of the indigenous cultures. In an epilogue written to conclude the collection, Millar argues for rethinking the focus of "ancient history" itself and for considering the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean from the first millennium B.C. to the Islamic conquests a valid scholarly framework and an appropriate educational syllabus for the study of antiquity. English translations of extended ancient passages in Greek, Latin, and Semitic languages in all the essays make Millar's most important articles accessible for the first time to specialists and nonspecialists alike.
Review
"Those who have learned much from [Millar] will be delighted with this volume, and will find much to stimulate new avenues of exploration. . . . The book belongs in every library used by those studying the classical, Jewish and Christian sources and world."
Journal of Jewish Studies
Review
"[A] significant contribution to the sum of knowledge about the Roman empire. . . . It opens up the world of the Roman empire to those readers who do not have an ancient language background, yet desire to know more about the background and culture of Imperial Rome from a scholar who must be considered one of the most influential historians of our time."
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
Review
"[Millar] explores this dauntingly broad topic with an admirable breadth of knowledge. . . . The collection allows a glimpse into what great academic careers are made of: seemingly insatiable intellectual curiosity and the courage to explore new avenues."
-Arctos
Synopsis
Fergus Millar is one of the most influential contemporary historians of the ancient world. His essays and books, above all The Emperor in the Roman World and The Roman Near East, have transformed our understanding of the communal culture and civil government of the Greco-Roman world. This second volume of the three-volume collection of Millar's published essays draws together twenty of his classic pieces on the government, society, and culture of the Roman Empire (some of them published in inaccessible journals). Every article in Volume 2 addresses the themes of how the Roman Empire worked in practice and what it was like to live under Roman rule. As in the first volume of the collection, English translations of the extended Greek and Latin passages in the original articles make Millar's essays accessible to readers who do not read these languages.
Synopsis
"Those who have learned much from [Millar] will be delighted with this volume, and will find much to stimulate new avenues of exploration. . . . The book belongs in every library used by those studying the classical, Jewish and Christian sources and world."
Journal of Jewish Studies "[A] significant contribution to the sum of knowledge about the Roman empire. . . . It opens up the world of the Roman empire to those readers who do not have an ancient language background, yet desire to know more about the background and culture of Imperial Rome from a scholar who must be considered one of the most influential historians of our time."
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
About the Author
Fergus Millar is Camden Professor of Ancient History at Oxford University. Hannah M. Cotton is professor of ancient history and classics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Guy M. Rogers is professor of classics and history at Wellesley College.