Yossi is our resident Ancient Historian. He teaches a wide range of courses covering Greek and Roman history and culture and ancient military history. He has chaired the Department several times, and together with his colleagues contributed to its impressive growth. He has published extensively in Greek history, historiography, and literature, with an emphasis on military history, the Age of Alexander and his successors, and Greek rhetoric. He authored and edited the following books: The General Demosthenes and his Art of Military Surprise (Stuttgart 1993); Alexander the Great: Ancient and Modern Perspectives (ed., Lexington, Mass. 1995); Brill's Companion to Alexander the Great (ed., Leiden 2003); The Rhetoric of Manhood: Masculinity according to the Attic Orators (Berkeley 2005); The Rhetoric of Conspiracy in Ancient Athens (Berkeley 2006). His book Greek History: The Ancient Evidence from Homer to Alexander the Great, coauthored and coedited with John Yardley, is expected to be published by Wiley-Blackwell in 2010. He is currently engaged in editing with Ian Worthington A Companion to Ancient Macedonia (forthcoming 2010), and in writing a monograph on the veterans of Alexander the Great.
|
|
 The Rhetoric of Conspiracy in Ancient Athens (Berkeley 2006)
The Attic orators, whose works are an invaluable source on the social and political history of Classical Athens, often filled their speeches with charges of conspiracy involving almost every facet of Athenian life. There are allegations of plots against men's lives, property, careers, and reputations as well as charges of conspiracy against the public interest, the government, the management of foreign affairs, and more. Until now, however, this obsession with conspiracy has received little scholarly attention. In order to develop the first full picture of this important feature of Athenian discourse, Joseph Roisman examines the range and nature of the conspiracy charges. He asks why they were so popular, and considers their rhetorical, cultural, and psychological significance. He also investigates the historical likelihood of the scenarios advanced for these plots, and asks what their prevalence suggests about the Athenians and their worldview. He concludes by comparing ancient and modern conspiracy theories. In addition to shedding new light on Athenian history and culture, his study provides an invaluable perspective on the use of conspiracy as a rhetorical ploy.
 The Rhetoric of Manhood: Masculinity in the Attic Orators (Berkeley 2005)
The concept of manhood was immensely important in ancient Athens, shaping its political, social, legal, and value systems. This book, a groundbreaking study of manhood in fourth century Athens, is the first to provide a comprehensive examination of notions about masculinity found in the Attic orators, who represent one of the single most imortant sources for understanding the social history of this period. Whereas previous studies have assumed a uniform ideology about manhood, Roisman finds that Athenians had quite varied opions about what consistitued manly value and conduct. Roisman situates the evidence for ideas about manhood found in the Attic orators in historical, ideological, and theorecticl contexts to explore various manifestations of Athenian masculinity as well as the rhetoric that both articulated and questioned it. Roisman illusminates masculine notions, activities, and discourse by focusing on topics such as the nexus between manhood and age; Athenian men in their roles as family members, friends, and lovers; the concept of masculine shame; relations between social and economic status and manhood; manhood in the military and politics; the manly virture of self-control; and what men feared. Throughout, he considers both the variety of forms of Athenian manhood as well as the challenges men faced in achieving masculine archetypes.
 Brill's Companion to Alexander the Great (Leiden 2003)
This book acquaints us with important issues surrounding Alexander the Great's conquest and their current interpretations, and opens up new directions of investigation as it confronts them. It covers a broad range of topics: the ancients' representatins of the king in literature and art; Alexander's relations with Greeks, Macedonians, and the peoples of Asia; the military, political, sociological, and cultural aspects of his campaigns; the exploitation of his story by ancient philosophers to argue a moral point and by modern communities to affirm or contest ethnic and national identities. This volume is of interst to scholars and nonspecialists alike.
 Alexander the Great: Ancient and Modern Perspectives (Lexington 1995)
Using biographical and historical approaches, this book comprises documents and essays pertinent to the main problems surrounding Alexander's career. Among the topics discussed are: the ancient sources on Alexander; the death of Philip II; Alexander's aims; the battle of Issus; and his policy of integrating victors and vanquished.
 The General Demonsthenes and his Use of Military Surprise (Stuttgart 1993)
The Athenian general Demosthenes, who was active in the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta has been described as "the greatest of Athenians soldier generals of the war." This study asks whether Demonsthenes deserved this and similar accolades that have characterized much of the modern studies of him. It also examined his innovative surprise tactics but wonders how effective they really were.
|
