Italian and Roman Literature and History
Compiled by Richard Seltzer B&R Samizdat Express - May 25, 2004
ISBN: 0-931968-91-7
Genre: Literature, History
Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness - July 5, 2004
Italian literature and history, going back to the times of the Roman Empire is rich in both breadth and scope. In this one volume CD collection, Italian and Roman Literature and History, Richard Seltzer has compiled more than 135 books representing some of the best Italian and Roman texts that are now in the public domain. This collections includes works in Italian, Latin, and in English and German translation. In several instances, the texts are presented in more than one language. For example, La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy) by Dante Alighieri is presented in several formats, including Italian with and without accents, in English translation, and in German translation - with and without accents.
The books in this collection are organized into 5 main categories:
Italian Literature
This category includes works by such authors as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Ludovico Ariosto, Anton Giulio Barrili, Cesare Cantu, Tommaso Campanella, Jacques Casanova de Seingault, Benvenuto Cellini, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Latin / Roman Literature
This section offers a host of works by well-known Roman authors, including Lucius Apuleius, Marcus Aurelius, Ausonius, Catullus, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Dio, Horace, Livy, Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, Titus Lucretius Carus, Nepos, Ovid, Petronius Arbiter, Plautus, Pliny the Younger, Prudentius, Sallust, L. Annaeus Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, Tibullus, and Virgil. It is enough to make any classicist drool!
General Histories of Ancient Rome, by non-Roman Authors
Works in this category run the gamut from Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon to A History of Roman Literature by Charles Cruttwell.
Italian History
The books on Italian History that are included in this collection cover an eclectic range of topics from the The Travels of Marco Polo to a book on Italian painters by Amy Steedman. Here you'll also find works such as The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt, the Autobiography of Benevenuto Cellini, and Tragedies of the Medici by Edgcumbe Staley.
Historical Novels about Ancient Rome
This section is ideal for anyone just looking for some, relatively speaking, light reading. Titles to tempt your interest include Ben Hur by Lew Wallace, Antonina or the Fall of Rome by Wilkie Collins, and The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
A sixth, supplemental category, called 'Context of the Contemporary World' can also be found in this collection. It includes a copy of the 2003 CIA World Factbook. This massive reference book provides a country by country analysis of every country in the world. These analyses provide a wealth of information such as the amount of each country's arable land, literacy statistics, climate, religious and gender make up of the country, languages spoken, main exports, and other useful information that help to give the reader a detailed overview of each country. In regard to this CD collection, it not only gives you an overview of Italy, but also allows you to compare Italy to others countries in the world.
All the texts in this collection, with the exception of the 2003 CIA World Factbook, are saved in plain text files. This CD can only be accessed on a Windows PC. You also need a web browser such as Explorer or Netscape, or a word processing program such as Word or WordPerfect into which you can open the text files. In regard to the 2003 CIA World Factbook, in addition to text files, this book also includes illustrations that are in html format. To properly see all the pages in this book, you will need to open the book in a web browser, such as Microsoft's Explorer or Netscape.
This collection of books on Italian and Roman Literature and History is contained on a single CD. While suitable for readers of all ages and education levels, this collection will be of particular interest to those interested in the study of Latin and Roman History and Literature. The titles contained in the Latin / Roman Literature category cover many of the major texts that are required reading in college levels courses in Latin and in courses on Ancient Rome. In addition, students of Latin will be delighted to find that many of the texts in this category are presented in their original Latin versions, as well as in English translation. Students of a more modern bent will also find the titles on Italian history and literature included in this collection also cover a variety of 'required reading' titles. In short, an excellent collection!
Greek and Roman Classics, compiled and indexed by Richard Seltzer.
Covering classical antiquity, this CD contains a plethora of texts dealing with the history, literature, religion, and philosophy of ancient Greece, Rome, Babylon, Phoenicia, and Roman Judea.
You may also want to visit, the History in Review website for a reviews on a wealth of standard print books on Ancient Rome.
