The Roman historian Suetonius says that Nero had an 'unreasonable craving for immortal fame'. Posterity seems to have granted that wish: even if Nero is not Rome's most famous emperor, he is certainly the most notorious. But it is perhaps less well known that the historians who documented his bloodthirsty reign and the poets and authors closely associated with Nero himself, are some of the most important writers Roman antiquity produced. They include the poet Lucan, the novelist Petronius, and the philosopher Seneca. Literary art produced in and about the Neronian period is currently the focus of lively scholarly attention.

This module aims to introduce you to exemplary works of literature and to the texts which provide the original sources for the historical background to this literature. Lectures will set out general issues; assignments for seminars and essays will give you the opportunity to explore the different relations between literary and historiographical texts and the culture they serve to represent. This should enable you to achieve the following objectives:

• become familiar with the form and subject matter of 'silver age' texts
• acquire a colourful and detailed historical picture of 1st century AD Roman culture (contributing to your knowledge of ancient Greco-Roman culture as a whole)
• acquaint yourself with major authors and historians of the period
• assess the relative uses of both literature and historiography as source material

Those of you studying texts in Latin for this course will also enhance your knowledge of the language and your appreciation of its literary value.