Colleen McCullough and the Evidence

81 Pages·2016·1.46 MB·English

Colleen McCullough and
the Evidence
Some Case Studies in the Late Roman Republic

Blake Cook, BA (Macquarie University)

Submitted 9/10/2015 in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Research
Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney
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Table of Contents

Thesis Summary ...................................................................................................................................... v
Declaration ............................................................................................................................................ vii
Abbreviations, Citations and References ............................................................................................... ix
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ xi
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1
Literature Review .................................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter One: The Divorce of Pompey and Mucia ................................................................................ 13
Chapter Two: The 'Bona Dea Affair' ...................................................................................................... 23
Chapter Three: The 'First Triumvirate' .................................................................................................. 33
Chapter Four: The 'Vettius Affair' ......................................................................................................... 43
Chapter Five: Caesar ............................................................................................................................. 53
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 63
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 65

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Thesis Summary

The historical fictions series Masters of Rome (1990 - 2007) by Dr Colleen McCullough-Robinson is
based upon almost two decades of research into the ancient world, depicting the political and
military struggles of the first century B.C.E which ultimately transformed the Roman Republic into
the military autocracy of the Principate. This thesis is concerned with how the author has recreated
some key historical events surrounding the year 60 B.C.E, that year in which Asinius Pollio saw the
beginning of the end for the Republic and which Sir Ronald Syme saw as the beginning of the 'Roman
Revolution', from the extant ancient evidence and in the context of modern academic scholarship.
This study is thus something of a combination between what ancient historians would recognise as
traditional source criticism, in examining how McCullough interpreted the ancient sources, and of a
reception study, in that the thesis examines a modern literary representation of antiquity. Although
this thesis will examine how the ancient evidence and modern scholarship has influenced the
representation of the late Roman Republic in the novel Caesar's Women (1996), it is not my intent to
merely criticise McCullough's interpretations. Issues of narrative elements such as plot development
and characterization will also be addressed for understanding why sources have been interpreted in
a particular way. As a conclusion to the thesis, the historiographical significance of McCullough's
presentation of history, evoking a Rankean idea of 'the past as it really was', will be examined.
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Declaration

I, Blake Cook, certify that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other
university or institution.

Date: 29/03/2016

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Blake Cook
Blake Cook

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Abbreviations, Citations and References

Abbreviations

Abbreviations of standard Greek and Latin texts follow those set out in the Oxford Classical
Dictionary (4th ed., 2012).

Citations

Citations of modern scholarship will be confined to footnotes in the short-title convention, with a full
reference in the Bibliography

References

Due to the frequency with which I refer to the novel Caesar's Women, references to this work will
always appear with the full title, so as to avoid a string of ibid. and op.cit.

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