To Write A Critical Analysis Of The Myth Of Rome By T. P. Wiseman

Improved Essays
T. P. Wiseman is a classical scholar and professor emeritus of the University of Exeter. He has published numerous books and articles on the literature, social, and political history of the late Roman Republic. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy, which is an organization that recognizes high scholarly distinction in the humanities or social sciences. He has also published a few books on the mythography of early Rome. He was educated at the Balliol College in Oxford. The Myths of Rome won the Goodwin Award of Merit from the American Philological Association. A circumstance that might have affected his outlook could have been his education at the Balliol College. His experience there as a student might have shaped his critical …show more content…
The index is very though and has every name and place listed and where to find them in the book. There is a user’s guide at the beginning of the book that is very useful for being navigation of the book and provides time charts. Some of the titles in the table of contents are a little vague. There is also no glossary to be found in the book, so if there were some words in the book I don’t understand I would have a hard time trying to figure out their meaning. Wiseman has not used number notes in his book, but makes up for this by using references.
The Myths of Rome is a very well put together and thorough book. It has illustrations that are explained well and an extensive index. It provides the reader with a new outlook on Roman history and mythology and has evidence to prove the ideas that are expressed. This book would be very beneficial in helping a student with a research project on mythology. It has an extensive reference section that the student could also use to find other sources on their research paper. They could use the illustrations and explanations of the illustrations in the book as examples in support of their

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Well it mostly, has to do with why media (films, video games, books, etc.) are made. The sole reason is to simply make money. Yes, sometimes creators have other reasons such as wanting to inspire people and what not, but most of the time, money is involved. When you want to maximize profit, you have to think what would bring in the most people. You have to throw in elements that people will enjoy to bring in more audience members.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    And actually he says it in the preface that one should not actually zero in on the mythical part but on the undertakings of the peoples day to day life. For example the life of Remus and Romulus shows how superstitious the Roman society was from the onset. This is seen when Remus and Romulus consulted the tutelary deities by means of augury to know who was to give his name to the city they founded (Kirschenbaum, 1996); and this is also seen in the latter stories i.e. the defeat at Lake Trasimenus is also linked to some bad omens (ibid.). From this, one will find out that the story of the lives of Romulus and Remus though highly mythical establishes the general lifestyle of the Romans which was rooted in superstition. Hence this work qualifies as a historic text despite of the fact that it is a bit mythical at the beginning; the mythical part is a springboard of the Ancient history divorcing it would be leaving out some important truths.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Hippolytus Myths

    • 1308 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Myth uses the medium of a story to describe the activities of the gods and larger than life humans, emphasising interpersonal relationships. These stories were neither singular nor static but evolved with different versions and were manipulated to highlight different values and ideologies. I agree with the statement and will argue that the myths of Hippolytus and the foundation myths of Roman were used by ancient societies to bind its members into a cohesive unit. This essay will explore the ways in which myth were used to bring members of an ancient society together by instigating and reinforcing civic identity and pride. Explore how the role of myths defined and unified the elite.…

    • 1308 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction: Suetonius and Augustus Suetonius’ approach to biography is elucidated by centring focus on the Life of Augustus. Suetonius rose to prominence as a scholar, and later gained positions in Hadrian’s court, with his work The Twelve Caesars dated tentatively to the reign of Hadrian between 117-38 C.E. He did not write in a chronological style like his contemporary Plutarch, but rather divided his work thematically, into categories such as birth, achievements, career, morals and death, although the structure varied within his work. One of the proposed reasons for this structure is that Suetonius was inspired by Augustus’ Res Gestae. Erik Gunderson argues that Suetonius used Augustus’ Res Gestae as an exempla, while his section on…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Roman Bath Houses

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The most admirable aspect of the development of Roman…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    In “The Fall of Rome — an author discussion,” authors Bryan Ward-Perkins and Peter Heather present and confer their stances related to the fall of Rome. Though the two historians disagreed on a few concepts, they both definitely agreed that the fall of Rome was caused by a violent struggle through several “series of unfortunate events.” Contrary to other historians, like Walter Goffart, Ward-Perkins and Heather agreed that each time the Romans ceded land to foreign adversaries, their internal state of affairs were disrupted. For 70 years, Heather states, the Romans “struggled to survive” amid their “loss of vital, agricultural, tax base,” and their difficulty to maintain their military manpower. For example, Alexander Severus, who was Emperor from 222-235, was murdered by his own troops when he refused to increase their pay.…

    • 1586 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We Could Be Heroes In today’s multi-media world, the concept of a hero has often been watered-down to include star athletes, pop-culture celebrities, and those on the local news who perform a single gallant act. To the 18th-century professor of Latin Eloquence at the University of Naples in Italy, Giambattista Vico, a hero and particularly, the heroic mind, had a much deeper significance. Vico sees the heroic mind with an unquenchable hunger for knowledge.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    | Course Syllabus College of Humanities HUM/105 World Mythology | Copyright © 2011, 2009, 2005 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course provides an overview of mythology and its relationship to ancient and current cultures. The course covers the purposes and types of myths, the development of myths and mythological characters, the common elements of mythological structures, the predominant characteristics of deities and sacred places in myth, contemporary theories of myths and mythology, and how myths and mythic structures shape contemporary culture. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following…

    • 2803 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this part the author focuses on the neighboring cities to Rome. He refers to these as a “more traditional and convenient target (p.191)”. Using other articles and books as his sources, he proves his point that the outsiders to the Roman Empire were potentially the most dangerous enemy it ever had. Also by continuing chronologically through time he demonstrates examples of outsiders being a violent disturbance to the Roman Order.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Odyssey portrays Greek civilization while the Aeneid portrays Romans. Both of these epics have been used to portray the differences between each civilization, and in this essay I will be comparing how Virgil uses literary parallels from Homer 's, The Odyssey, to prove the point that Roman civilization is much more…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Explain the negative effects of the Roman conquests Rome held a fate that would be devastating to the city-state following its great conquests. However, to understand the unraveling of the Roman republic, it’s important to understand how Rome obtained the position it had and what ultimately caused the negative effects. To do this an overview of how Rome became the fairest one of all is necessary. This essay will briefly examine how Rome rose to power and through power and greatness lost its upper hand and became torn.…

    • 1146 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Julius Caesar was the first dictator for life and had shaped Rome for ever. Julius Caesar was born on either 12th or 13th of July in 100 BC in Rome to a well known but awfully poor family. Caesar’s life started at 16 when his father, Gaius, died, as a result Julius grew closer to his mother Aurelia. Julius at a young age had an ambition for politics and the idea of becoming apart of the Roman political system grew because of unstable order among the republicans. Caesar took a great step forward towards politics when he married Cornelia a daughter of Sulla a powerful man and dictator in Rome, Sulla had no part in the marriage and forced Caesar to leave or risk losing his property, Julius didn’t back down.…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this quarter, we learned about Greek and Roman civilization, and we were told that the Roman adapted their gods and goddesses from the Greek mythology. For this report, we have decided to do a comparison between a deity in Greek mythology and Roman mythology. In this case, we chose to do a research about Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, and her Roman counterpart, Minerva. They shared many similar aspects, though they are distinct from one another. The differences and similarities we have gathered from doing research are as follow: First of all, Athena was the goddess of wisdom and war, and was mostly emphasized in Greek mythology.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Greek Mythology

    • 2673 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Cesar Quiroz 20 April 2015 Mr. Farson English 1A Greek Gods In today 's world, there is a vast amount of knowledge and information to learn from. Many subjects are important to incorporate, but none are as important as literature.…

    • 2673 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the History and Achievements of Roman Civilization Throughout the history of man, no civilization has ever been more successful or as influential as that of the Romans. Yet what is it that has made Rome so memorable to us? Stories of grand structures, powerful emperors and epic battles all come to mind when we imagine Roman civilization. Despite having knowledge of all these memorable features of Roman civilization, what do we actually know about the Romans and all that they had accomplished? An even more important question to ask might not only be why Rome is so important, but also how it has continued to impact the world even today.…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays