"Nero" is an excellent read, an atmospheric retelling of the
wonders and horrors of its fascinating subject. Champlin piles up
contexts and materials to fill out the shorter accounts offered by
ancient authors in an attempt to find meaning in Nero's
extraordinary actions...It is vivid and exciting. Nero's world
appears in a series of brilliant "tableaux" and the central
character entrances as he horrifies.--Greg Woolf"Times Literary
Supplement" (06/25/2004)
[Champlin's] "Nero" is as dazzling an achievement as the Sun King
and his creations.--D. Wardle "Classical Review "
[Champlin's] working method is efficient, his style is vivid,
especially in description and narrative...Champlin's book, a real
"tour de force", will certainly appeal to a large
audience.--Bertrand Goffaux"Classical Bulletin" (01/01/2006)
A glittering achievement...Champlin represents Nero as a brilliant
interpreter and exploiter of mythological exempla, an ironic
"Saturnalicus princeps" whose inversions of societal norms and
power-structures were embedded within an overarching program of
populist public imagery that sought constantly to confirm and
extend the connection between the emperor and his audience...It is
hard to praise Champlin's achievement sufficiently...Anyone
interested in the emperor or the early empire must consult this
work. It is indispensable.--Paul Roche"Bryn Mawr Classical Review"
(04/20/2006)
Champlin argues that Nero saw himself first and foremost as an
artist, a sort of Oscar Wilde figure whose love of theatricality
dominated his life...Champlin judges Nero to have been an artist,
aesthete, showman and PR man of considerable talent, ingenuity and
energy, who understood what the people wanted to see--and this, he
concludes, accounts for Nero's remarkable afterlife. Whether one
believes that conclusion or not, Champlin's brilliant
interpretation of Nero's stage activities strikes me as an
important advance in our understanding of what drove that dreadful
man.--Peter Jones"Sunday Telegraph" (12/14/2003)
Champlin has a keen eye for the parallels between Neronian history
and the mythic inheritance of Greco-Roman culture...There is much
else in the book that is the fruit of careful and astute
analysis.--Mary Beard"London Review of Books" (09/02/2004)
Champlin's "Nero"...is a compelling reminder that historical
'truth' is usually a lot more complex and elusive than we realize
and that history is rarely written without bias or hidden motives,
conscious or otherwise. You will not love Nero any more after
reading Champlin's account of him, but you will have a far keener
understanding of him, and his context, than you likely had
before.--Jonathan Yardley"Washington Post Book World"
(11/30/2003)
Nero is fascinating because he epitomizes the decadence of Rome.
This book--a rare combination of scholarship with elegance of
expression and wit--explains why. It reveals him as the ultimate
performance artist who plundered history and mythology for themes
and props with which to give purpose and justification to his
aberrant behaviour. His life was pure theatre, played out for his
people and for posterity to marvel at.--Adam Zamoyski"Good Book
Guide" (11/01/2004)
Not the least of the many fine features of Edward Champlin's
brilliant new book on Nero, however, is a refreshing discussion of
the lost sources on which extant accounts drew...By far the most
enjoyable and rewarding modern work on Nero I know...The book is
imaginative, evocative, stylishly written, and a delight to read
(and re-read). It is based on impeccable research and a fine sense
of Roman topography.--Keith Bradley"Scholia Reviews"
(06/01/2005)
This book is a "tour de force"...Champlin weaves a stunningly
cohesive picture of a man of unlimited power confined only by the
theatrical capacity of his imagination; but among the multiplicity
of roles that Nero played, is there no room for contradiction or
inconsistency? Nero and Champlin share the same dexterity in
persuading their audience of the logic of their vision; their dual
act will be very hard for the next biographer of Nero to
follow.--Kathleen Coleman"Journal of Roman Archaeology"
(06/01/2005)
Champlin's "Nero,.".is a compelling reminder that historical
'truth' is usually a lot more complex and elusive than we realize
and that history is rarely written without bias or hidden motives,
conscious or otherwise. You will not love Nero any more after
reading Champlin's account of him, but you will have a far keener
understanding of him, and his context, than you likely had before.
-- Jonathan Yardley "Washington Post Book World" (11/30/2003)
This book is a "tour de force,.".Champlin weaves a stunningly
cohesive picture of a man of unlimited power confined only by the
theatrical capacity of his imagination; but among the multiplicity
of roles that Nero played, is there no room for contradiction or
inconsistency? Nero and Champlin share the same dexterity in
persuading their audience of the logic of their vision; their dual
act will be very hard for the next biographer of Nero to follow. --
Kathleen Coleman "Journal of Roman Archaeology" (06/01/2005)
ÝChamplin's¨ "Nero" is as dazzling an achievement as the Sun King
and his creations. -- D. Wardle "Classical Review"
A compelling reevaluation of an oft-maligned ancient figure who
created his own myth out of the fabric of his life.
Champlin's "Nero..".is a compelling reminder that historical
'truth' is usually a lot more complex and elusive than we realize
and that history is rarely written without bias or hidden motives,
conscious or otherwise. You will not love Nero any more after
reading Champlin's account of him, but you will have a far keener
understanding of him, and his context, than you likely had before.
-- Jonathan Yardley "Washington Post Book World" (11/30/2003)
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