Roman Classics (Cliffsnotes)

Cliffs Notes on Roman Classics is the reference book you need to understand the values and ideas inherent in Latin literature and Roman civilization. It is a must for students of: the Humanities English Literature World Literature Law Classical Literature and Languages Political Science History Theatre and Drama Religion Speech Communications Use this invaluable reference book to:
* Give you concise overviews of Roman poets, playwrights, orators, satirists, philosophers, historians, and their works.
* Locate topics for term papers and essays.
* Check facts, dates, spelling, and pronunciation.
* Identify the five major divisions of Latin literature, including the Golden Age and the Silver Age.
* Discover the genesis of biography, the encyclopedia, and the art of satire.
* Recognize literary allusions to people and events such as Little Boots, the Queen of the Nile, the Good Emperors, the Roman Homer, crossing the Rubicon, the eruption of Vesuvius, the Battle of Actium, and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.
* Comprehend, through example, such terms as Philippics, persona non grata, a sound mind in a sound body, the law of three children, plebes, and equites, lightning war, divide and conquer, the sublime, toga virilis, triumvirate, the die is cast, de rerum natura, apologia, veni vidi vici, arms and the man, et tu Brute, Pax Romana, Cumaean Sybil, Ides of March, bread and circuses, pontifex maximus, and the Vulgate Bible.
* Place Roman authors in historical context and chronological relationship to one another.
* Review the accomplishments of Roman civilization under its various forms of government.
* Recognize the roots of Western poetic themes and genres in such Latin writers as Ovid, Virgil, and Catullus.
* Discover the importance of Christian thought as Rome evolved into the center of the Catholic world.
* Understand the great influence of major Greek ideas, such as Epicureanism, Platonism, Aristotilianism, and the Golden Mean.

About the Author Mary Ellen Snodgrass earned her B.A. in British and classical literature from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, her M.A. in English from Appalachian State University, and certification in gifted education from Lenoir-Rhyne College. A member of the American Classical League, Virgilian Society, Phi Beta Kappa, AFT, NCTE, and IRA, she taught English and Latin at Hickory High School for twenty years and has served as chairman of the English department, coordinator of language arts for the Hickory City Schools, reader for the North Carolina Textbook Commission, and writer, editor, and consultant for major textbook publishers. Her published works include Cliffs Teaching Portfolios as well as articles for Islands magazine, the Presbyterian Center, ERIC, and other professional groups. She was contributing editor of The Short Story and You (National Textbook) and The Great American English Handbook (Perma-Bound).