Mason Hammond (1903–2002)

This is a book about greek and roman political theory and its relation to actual political organisations in antiquity. The author recapitulates in broad terms the development of political institutions from the independent greek city-states to the hellenistic empires, the roman republic and the beginning of the roman empire. His main thesis is that hellenistic and roman theorists were not able to put forward a viable political theory for the gigantic empires they lived in and that this show more failure had a significant effect on the political institutions of the Roman empire. It's a good and interesting book but the arguments were perhaps a bit too brief since it was not always clear to me what the intended conclusions were. The final chapters on how Cicero was influenced by Greek political theory and how he in turn influenced Augustus' practical measures were the most interesting ones in my opinion. show less

This is a pretty good beginning Latin reader, definitely worth checking out in your library if you're working on comps - puts you through your paces quickly. If you can read this facily, you should have no problems.

Edition: // Descr: xiii, 491 p. 27 cm. // Series: Call No. { 478.87 H18 } Examples are in Latin Explanations are in English Contains Metrical Schemes, Index of Sources, Index of Authors and Works, and Vocabulary. // //