Divination, Prediction and the End of the Roman Republic

Federico Santangelo is Lecturer in Ancient History at Newcastle University. His previous publications include Sulla, the Elites and the Empire: A Study of Roman Policies in Italy and the Greek East (2007).

• Introduction - the power of signs; 1. The De diuinatione in context; 2. The terms of the debate; 3. Fringe divination?; 4. The haruspices and the rise of prophecy; 5. Etruscan ages and the end of the Republic; 6. Alien sooth: the Sibylline Books; 7. Wild prophecies; 8. Foresight, prediction, and decline in Cicero's correspondence; 9. Between fortune and virtue: Sallust and the decline of Rome; 10. Divination, religious change, and the future of Rome in Livy; 11. Signs and prophecies in Virgil; 12. The rise of monarchy; Envoi - away from the future; Appendix 1. Mark Antony and the election of Dolabella; Appendix 2. Glossary.

'These author-focused studies not only enhance readers' appreciation of the role of prophetic events and discourse in Latin literature, they also inform understanding of traditional religious practices newly defined to serve Augustan religious and political ideologies. The bibliography constitutes a valuable research tool. Useful glossary; full indexes … Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.' P. B. Harvey, Jr, Choice