INGO GILDENHARD, ULRICH GOTTER, WOLFGANG HAVENER and LOUISE HODGSON (EDS), AUGUSTUS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF HISTORY: THE POLITICS OF THE PAST IN EARLY IMPERIAL ROME (Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society supplementary volume 41). Cambridge: Cambridge Philological Society, 2019. Pp. vii + 367, illus. isbn 9780956838162. £60.

Abstract

irregularities reect the historian's evolving interests. As Appian immersed himself in the available sources for the civil wars, his interest was piqued and he reshaped the plan of his work accordinglywhat scholar cannot relate to this?Overall, this is a valuable volume that contributes a number of illuminating case studies to contemporary discussions about how the memory and representation of civil war were forged, contested and adapted. While the constraints of space preclude giving every chapter of this diverse array its due here, the individual contributions each add a new perspective to the conversation around their respective author and how they understood and represented the late republican civil wars. If there is one element a reader might be left wanting, it would be a more substantial introduction or a concluding essay to highlight the connections among the various contributions. It is when these contributions are in dialogue with each other (directly or indirectly) that this volume most shines, and more cultivation of the seeds of connection within individual chapters would have amplied the value of this collection even further, elevating its contribution to something greater than the (already considerable) sum of its parts. However, particularly for the reader who takes the time to explore the full collection, this volume successfully illustrates the uid nature of the memory of late republican civil war and the diverse ways in which historiographical writing shaped (and was shaped) by it over the centuries.