The Glory of the City, Strabo
Context: The Glory of the City offers a very short but descriptive explanation of Rome and all of the wonderful things that it offers. It is unclear when exactly it was written but it was sometime between 44 BC and 31 BC while Strabo lived in Rome.
Author: Strabo was a Greek philosopher, historian, and geographer. He is most famous for his work Geographica which offered descriptions of people and places from different regions of the word during his era. Strabo lived and studied in Rome for years, which offers an explanation as to why he has such positive feelings towards the city.
Summarize: The Glory of the City basically just explains how great Rome is at the time. The city is fortunate enough to have paved roads, a plentiful supply of water from the aqueducts, and houses with their own with water pipes. It also explains that the present generation is responsible for all of the luxuries that exist because the "ancients bestowed little attention upon the beautifying of Rome" (234). The also have wonderful arenas for activities such as the circus and wrestling games. Rome also offers amphitheaters and temples that are so amazing that it would be sad to describe anything after them. The tombstones are even fabulous and equip with statues. Strabo concludes with explaining that each work of art is even better than the next, causing you to forget what you saw before.
Key Quotation: "Each successive work causes you speedily to forget that which you have seen before. Such then is Rome!" (235).
Lauren, I enjoyed your summary of “The Glory of the City.” You touched well upon the good characteristics Strabo presented. Also, the biography of Strabo’s life was concise and informational. The key quotations also summarized the document nicely.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job providing a concise reflection on “The Glory of the City.” Something I would have mentioned in the authors biography was Strabo’s chronicle of books “History notes”, his other major work he is famous for. I would also like to have seen the possibility of any bias with Strabo. Finally, I would have included how important it was for carriages to fit in the city, something that was seemingly important to the people of Rome.
Well done! This is another document praising and glorifying the Roman empire. It almost reads almost like a travel brochure.
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