Reinventing Cicero: The Afterlife of the Speeches, Letters and Dialogues between 60 and 50 BCE (Bloomsbury Studies in Classical Reception)

Exploring the reception of an influential phase in the life of the orator and politician Cicero, this volume focuses on the legacy of his public speeches, letters and political writings between 60-50 BCE.Faced with mounting public challenges, he developed an elaborate self-fashioning programme, reinventing himself as a republican statesman and political philosopher in works which have been discussed, (re)interpreted and evaluated by countless later readers. Taking crucial moments such as the letters to Atticus and his friends, De re publica or Pro Milone, the contributors trace the profound interplay between Cicero’s political strategy and its reception from antiquity to the early modern period.Together, they meticulously construct the canonical image of Cicero - an eminent literary figure, a formidable philosopher and the unrivalled orator of ancient Rome - to offer fresh insight into his enduring influence from his own lifetime through to the 21st century.