You might also like

More about Classical Culture and the Idea of Rome in Eighteenth-Century England

• Book details
• Synopsis
• Trending among others

You get 130 loyalty points

Book synopsis

This book looks at the aristocratic adoption of Roman ideals in eighteenth-century English culture and thought. Philip Ayres shows how, in the century following the Revolution of 1688, the ruling class promoted - by way of its patronage - a classical frame of mind embracing all the arts, on the foundations of 'liberty' and 'civic virtue'. The historical fact of a Roman Britain lent an added authenticity to a new 'Roman' present constructed by Lord Burlington and his circle. Ayres's study shows that the propensity to adopt the self-image of virtuous Romans was the attempt of a newly empowered oligarchy to dignify and vindicate itself by association with an idealized image of Republican Rome. This sense of affinity with the ideals of the free Roman Republic gave British classicism an authenticity impossible under the various versions of absolutism on the continent. Its discourse precluded any more thoroughgoing revolution by suggesting that Britain's liberty had been won by an 'oligarchy of virtue', which now defended, defined and emblematized the nation.

Book details

Book category Books in English Literature & literary studies Literature: history & criticism Literary studies: general

• Full title: Classical Culture and the Idea of Rome in Eighteenth-Century England
• Author: Philip Ayres
• Language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 296
• EAN: 9780521105798
• ISBN: 052110579X
• ID: 02021832
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Weight: 514 g
• Dimensions: 244 × 170 × 16 mm
• Date of publishing: 19. March 2009

Trending among others

---

---

---