Cicero - by Kathryn Tempest (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: London; New York: Continuum, 2011.

Book Synopsis

As the greatest Roman orator of his time, Cicero delivered over one hundred speeches in the law courts, in the senate and before the people of Rome. He was also a philosopher, a patriot and a private man. While his published speeches preserve scandalous accounts of the murder, corruption and violence that plagued Rome in the first century BC, his surviving letters give an exceptional glimpse into Cicero's own personality and his reactions to events as they unravelled around him - events, he thought, which threatened to destabilize the system of government he loved and establish a tyranny over Rome. From his rise to power as a self-made man, Cicero's career took him through the years of Sulla, and the civil war between Pompey and Caesar, to his own last fight against Mark Antony.
Drawing chiefly on Cicero's speeches and letters, as well as the most recent scholarship, Kathryn Tempest presents a new, highly readable narrative of Cicero's life and times from his rise to prominence until his brutal death. Including helpful features such as detailed chronological tables, a glossary, a guide to Greek and Roman authors and maps, the volume balances background and contextual information with analysis and explanation of Cicero's works. Organized chronologically and according to some of his most famous speeches, Cicero will appeal to anyone with an interest in Roman history, oratory and politics in the ancient world. This accessible yet comprehensive guide provides a thorough introduction to this key ancient figure, his works and influence, and the troubled political times in which he operated.

Review Quotes

'The picture of the cut and thrust of Roman politics is as beguiling as the man, and Tempest does an admirable job in bringing the orator's orator to life.'

Author Kathryn Tempest took part in a live one-hourspecial on Cicero, on the Irish radio 'Newstalk'http: //www.newstalk.ie/2011/programmes/all-programmes/talking-history/cicero-sunday-october-2nd/

By the end of the book, readers will appreciate the complexity not only of Cicero's character, but also of the extraordinary shift from republic to empire. Recommended.

About the Author

Dr Kathryn Tempest is senior lecturer in Latin literature and Roman history at the University of Roehampton, UK. Her research interests focus on ancient oratory especially Cicero and the Attic orators.