Rome and Home: The Cultural Uses of Rome in Early Modern English Literature

Ancient Rome had a pervasive hold over the early modern imagination and its influence can be discerned in a variety of sources, discourses, and practices during the period. Episodes from Roman history provided the inspiration for numerous plays and narrative poems, as well as offering an effective means of interrogating such political and philosophical positions as republicanism, absolutism and stoicism. Roman history also provided a host of good and bad exemplary figures, as well as highlighting the dangers of civil war and political factionalism. Roman authors like Seneca, Juvenal, Horace, and Terence also had a considerable influence on the development of various literary genres during the period and many historical and political works were influenced by both the style and content of such commentators as Cicero and Tacitus. The influence of ancient Rome also had a bearing upon English national identity. The myth of the translatio imperii, as promulgated in the histories of Geoffrey of Monmouth, was often appropriated in propaganda as a means of legitimising England’s imperial ambitions. James I also set out to refashion himself as an Augustan ruler whose iconography owed much to the resonance of imperial Rome.

This special issue will explore the influence of ancient Rome upon the literature and culture of early modern England and the related issues it provoked. We therefore welcome proposals for articles that consider any aspect of this subject; topics for discussion may include (but are not restricted to):

·      Roman history as a narrative source in early modern drama, satire, and narrative poetry.

·      Translation, rhetoric, and the influence of Latin.

·      The influence of republicanism and stoicism and the bearings of Roman political ideas upon debates relating to sovereignty, citizenship, and absolutism.

·      The relationship between ancient Rome and English (or British) national identity.

·      The use of imagery associated with the Roman Empire in royal propaganda and iconography.

·      The influence of Roman sources in debates relating to political factionalism and civil war.

·      The resonance of Roman culture compared with the influence of ancient Greece.

·      The links between Rome and Catholicism.

Please send abstracts (250-300 words) to Professor Lisa Hopkins (l.m.hopkins@shu.ac.uk), Dr Daniel Cadman (d.cadman@shu.ac.uk), or Dr Andrew Duxfield (a.duxfield@shu.ac.uk) by Friday 2 May 2014.