The papers in this book represent a unique integration of Jewish history and classics. They tackle from different angles the extent to which Jews in the Graeco-Roman period differed from other peoples in the Mediterranean region, and how much Jewish evidence can be used for the history of the wider classical world. The authors make extensive use not only of types of evidence familiar to classicists, such as inscriptions and the writings of Josephus, but also Jewish religious literature, including Rabbinic texts. The various studies demonstrate that, although Jews lived to some extent apart from others with distinctive customs, in many ways their history also highlights the cultural presuppositions and preoccupations of their non-Jewish contemporaries. The book aims to encourage wider use of the Jewish evidence by classicists and will be important for all students of the classical world.

Gruen (history and classics, Berkeley) explores four centuries of Jewish life within the dominant classical civilization, from Alexander the Great's conquest of the Near East to the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 C.E. He begins with an investigation of "the conspicuous absence of a philosophy of Diaspora" and attempts very capably to identify the traces of the concept among Jews ... More under Roman rule. He looks at the cultures of the Jews living in Rome, Asia, and Alexandria, finding very vibrant communities in all three places. In exploring Jewish views of the Diaspora, Gruen offers up two chapters on Diaspora humor, one about the way biblical tales were retold and the lessons they could convey and the other about creating fanciful yet didactic stories. Then the author looks at the evidence about the Jewish image of the Greeks and Romans, a subject usually investigated from the opposite viewpoint. This leads into his final chapter on the Jewish view of the homeland during the period, a view not much different from today's. Gruen admits that his work is far from exhaustive, but it is certainly substantial, fascinating, and scholarly

Arnaldo Momigliano was one of the foremost classical historiographers of the twentieth century. This collection of twenty-one carefully selected essays is remarkable both in the depth of its scholarship and the breadth of its subjects. Moving with ease across the centuries, Momigliano supplements powerful readings of writers in the Greek, Jewish, and Roman traditions, such as Tacitus and Polybius, with writings that focus on later historians, such as Vico and Croce. Charmingly written and concise, these pieces range from review essays reprinted from the New York Review of Books to treatises on the nature of historical scholarship. Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography is a brilliant reminder of Momigliano’s profound knowledge of classical civilization and his gift for deftly handling prose. With a new Foreword by Anthony Grafton, this volume is essential reading for any student of classics or historiography.

Nicholas Horsfall was one of the most recognizable and influential Latinists of his generation. His main legacy is his work on Virgil and the five erudite commentaries on the Aeneid, but he was also a prolific writer of papers, both Virgilian and non-Virgilian. A number of Horsfall's papers, including the important 'Camilla', are translated in this volume for the first time.0Stretching from 1971 to 2015, the papers are drawn from his entire output demonstrating his unparalleled ability to connect Roman poetry with history, antiquarianism, and Realien. While showcasing his unique analysis of Virgil, it also highlights Horsfall's work as both a Latinist and a Romanist, illuminating the coherence in his approach. This volume includes many Virgilian papers that have become classics-on Aeneas the colonist, and on the Aeneas-legend, for example. This does not detract from the value of the non-Virgilian papers, many of which-on the collegium poetarum, and on discussions of reading and libraries at Rome, for example-have become standard treatments of their subjects. Throughout all these works there is an astonishing degree of connection, with glimpses in many papers of his other research interests.0'Nicholas Horsfall needs to be approached through his short papers, typically fresh, innovative and stimulating, and he has been so productive that nobody can claim to have had a full view of his scholarship. When it comes to placing a literary text in the frames offered by material culture, documents, landscapes, history, and by religious, legal, military and antiquarian studies, he was unrivalled.' Professor Alessandro Barchiesi, Professor of Classics, New York University.

Women in ancient Rome challenge the historian. Widely represented in literature and art, they rarely speak for themselves. Amy Richlin, among the foremost pioneers in ancient studies, gives voice to these women through scholarship that scours sources from high art to gutter invective. In Arguments with Silence, Richlin presents a linked selection of her essays on Roman women’s history, originally published between 1981 and 2001 as the field of “women in antiquity” took shape, and here substantially rewritten and updated. The new introduction to the volume lays out the historical methodologies these essays developed, places this process in its own historical setting, and reviews work on Roman women since 2001, along with persistent silences. Individual chapter introductions locate each piece in the social context of Second Wave feminism in Classics and the academy, explaining why each mattered as an intervention then and still does now.