Excursio per Orientem: eastern subjects in Tacitus' Histories and Annals

Acabo de encontrar que la Universidad de Durham (UK) tiene disponible online el texto de la tesis que escribí hace varios años (entre 2000 y 2004), con la dirección y supervisión de Anthony J. Woodman y David Levene, y gracias a la que obtuve el título Master of Arts by Research (Classics).


Excursio per orientem: eastern subjects in Tacitus' Histories and Annals


This study examines Tacitus' treatment of eastern topics in sections of the Histories and the Annals related to trips from or to Rome. It aims to show that those sections, though involving non-Roman subject matter, are essentially connected with the main subject matter that articulates the narrative of the Histories and of the Annals: the consolidation of the Principate, the legitimacy of the emperors' power, the territorial expansion of the empire and the responses of the Roman institutions to those new realities. Thus the internal structure and the sourrounding narrative of each episode as well as the references to mythical and historical accounts and characters (from remote and recent history) and to ruins, sanctuaries and cult statues are explored: Paphos in Cyprus, Mount Carmel, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Troy...