To Write A Critical Analysis Of The Myth Of Rome By T. P. Wiseman

T. P. Wiseman is a classical scholar and professor emeritus of the University of Exeter. He has published numerous books and articles on the literature, social, and political history of the late Roman Republic. He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy, which is an organization that recognizes high scholarly distinction in the humanities or social sciences. He has also published a few books on the mythography of early Rome. He was educated at the Balliol College in Oxford. The Myths of Rome won the Goodwin Award of Merit from the American Philological Association. A circumstance that might have affected his outlook could have been his education at the Balliol College. His experience there as a student might have shaped his critical thinking skills and gave him the ability to read through numerous books and been able to interpret different meanings for the text than other people could. The Myths of Rome’s primary purpose is to correct the common prejudice most people and scholars have, that only the Greeks were truly creative and that the Romans were only engineers, jurists, and empire-builders. Also that the Romans did not just steal their mythology from Greeks but had their own “divine tales”. Wiseman’s main idea is to give evidence to the reader that the Romans were as creative as the Greeks. This book is a credible historical work because he has a reference for each page he has written in his book. He also has a bibliography section, the illustrations he used are given credit, and the index has information on what pages to find certain people, places names, and works of art. It is very helpful for finding exactly what you are looking for. All the figures that are shown have a description of what is shown and some historical context that pertains to the main point of what is written on the page. The knowledge and understanding of history this book would be able to provide for a person would be a better understanding Roman culture, economy, and politics. There are many illustrations and examples a person would be able to easily follow to gain an understanding of Roman life. This book offers new information and a …show more content…
The index is very though and has every name and place listed and where to find them in the book. There is a user’s guide at the beginning of the book that is very useful for being navigation of the book and provides time charts. Some of the titles in the table of contents are a little vague. There is also no glossary to be found in the book, so if there were some words in the book I don’t understand I would have a hard time trying to figure out their meaning. Wiseman has not used number notes in his book, but makes up for this by using references.
The Myths of Rome is a very well put together and thorough book. It has illustrations that are explained well and an extensive index. It provides the reader with a new outlook on Roman history and mythology and has evidence to prove the ideas that are expressed. This book would be very beneficial in helping a student with a research project on mythology. It has an extensive reference section that the student could also use to find other sources on their research paper. They could use the illustrations and explanations of the illustrations in the book as examples in support of their