Caesar: Bellum Gallicum Book VII

The first commentary on Caesar's Bellum Gallicum in a hundred years, and the first ever to offer a literary interpretation.

Christopher B. Krebs (Edited by)

9781009177146, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 July 2023

400 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.559 kg

This is the first commentary on Caesar's Bellum Gallicum to approach it as a literary text. It attempts a contextualized reading of the work through the eyes of a contemporary Roman reader, who was trained in rhetoric, versed in Greek and Roman literature, and familiar with the same political and cultural conventions and discourses as its author. In appreciating Caesar as a writer and situating the seventh book of the Bellum Gallicum within its 'horizon of expectations' and especially its historiographical tradition, it reveals much that rewards careful attention, including: a dramatized narrative, sustained intertextual borrowings and allusions (especially from and to Thucydides and Polybius), (in)direct speeches telling of Rome's second-greatest speaker, and word- and sound-play telling of the leading linguist, not to mention artful technical descriptions that lack parallels in the Roman republic. Ultimately, both author and text emerge as quite different from their grossly generalized reputations.

Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
Caesar: Bellum Gallicum Book VII
Commentary
Index personarum locorumque
Index rerum
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Translation & interpretation [CFP]