Apuleius and Antonine Rome features outstanding scholarship by Keith Bradley on the Latin author Apuleius of Madauros and on the second-century Roman world in which Apuleius lived. Bradley discusses Apuleius’ work in the context of social relations (especially the family and household), religiosity in all its diversity and complexity, and cultural interactions between the imperial centre and the provincial periphery.

These essays examine the Apology, the speech Apuleius made when he defended himself on the criminal charge of having enticed a wealthy widow to marry him through magical means; the fragments of his speeches known as the Florida; and the remarkable serio-comic novel Metamorphoses (better known as The Golden Ass). Altogether, Apuleius and Antonine Rome effectively illustrates how socio-cultural history can be recovered from works of literature.

Keith Bradley is the Eli J. and Helen Shaheen Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and an adjunct professor in the Department of Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Victoria. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

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‘This is a great book by a major Roman social historian that vastly enriches a reading of Apuleius…One of the great joys of this book is Bradley’s masterful ability to evoke the sights, sounds, colours, and striking cultural mixtures that constituted this complex world, pieced together with deceptive ease.’

Phoenix vol 67:1-2:2013