Cliffs Notes on Roman Classics

by Mary Ellen Snodgrass

Cliffs Notes on Roman Classics is the reference book you need to understand the values and ideas inherent in Latin literature and Roman civilization. It is a must for students of: the Humanities English Literature World Literature Law Classical Literature and Languages Political Science History Theatre and Drama Religion Speech Communications Use this invaluable reference book to:
* Give you concise overviews of Roman poets, playwrights, orators, satirists, philosophers, historians, and their works.
* Locate topics for term papers and essays.
* Check facts, dates, spelling, and pronunciation.
* Identify the five major divisions of Latin literature, including the Golden Age and the Silver Age.
* Discover the genesis of biography, the encyclopedia, and the art of satire.
* Recognize literary allusions to people and events such as Little Boots, the Queen of the Nile, the Good Emperors, the Roman Homer, crossing the Rubicon, the eruption of Vesuvius, the Battle of Actium, and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
* Comprehend, through example, such terms as Philippics, persona non grata, a sound mind in a sound body, the law of three children, plebes, and equites, lightning war, divide and conquer, the sublime, toga virilis, triumvirate, the die is cast, de rerum natura, apologia, veni vidi vici, arms and the man, et tu Brute, Pax Romana, Cumaean Sybil, Ides of March, bread and circuses, pontifex maximus, and the Vulgate Bible.
* Place Roman authors in historical context and chronological relationship to one another.
* Review the accomplishments of Roman civilization under its various forms of government.
* Recognize the roots of Western poetic themes and genres in such Latin writers as Ovid, Virgil, and Catullus.
* Discover the importance of Christian thought as Rome evolved into the center of the Catholic world.
* Understand the great influence of major Greek ideas, such as Epicureanism, Platonism, Aristotilianism, and the Golden Mean.

Genres: Reference, History

376 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1988

About the author

Mary Ellen Snodgrass is an American educator and writer of textbooks and general reference works.

Reviews

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once upon a time, I took Roman history- so this was somewhat of a return to ancient days.

I read through this rapidly, like a novel of many chapters, with the idea that I'd stumble across some great literary work or other and could then follow up by reading the actual work instead of the Cliffs Notes version.

Well...

Turns out that rapid reading for this purpose rather blended a lot of them together, especially since they often wrote on similar topics...military campaigns, how to live good lives, histories, an epic or two, loads of philosophy, fantastical stories and so forth.

I didn't really find a single person I wanted to read more of other than perhaps Lucretius. He said a couple of things that caught my attention much more than Suetonius, Martial, St. Jerome, Ovid or Virgil did.

I always felt using Cliffs Notes instead of doing the required reading was a cheat, so never used them in college- and perhaps by going through this so rapidly I have cheated myself. Still, it was interesting to read through all the short biographies and get an idea of what their enduring works contain...but it's rather a blur.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adequate albeit brief overview for refreshing one's memory on major authors. The short bios are not always well-balanced and there are some non-sequiturs in the coverage of a few works, but overall a nice reference to have on hand or for setting out a reading plan.