… thorough, wide-ranging, thoroughly entertaining … From beginning to end, The Rhetoric of Roman Transportation is an eye-opening and enjoyable ride. The book is written with wit and an evident enthusiasm for the subject matter, and the prose is replete with cultural references.' James Uden, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Latin literature is crowded with portraits of Romans in transit, but despite this ubiquity scholars have been reluctant to read vehicles as significant conveyors of textual and cultural meaning. This book offers the first systematic analysis of the representation of Roman vehicles in Latin literary texts. By moving past approaches that count such vehicular portrayals as either transparent glimpses of reality or soaring poetic symbols, it demonstrates how these conveyances work as a system of representation to structure both the texts in which they appear and underlying cultural discourses surrounding power, gender, and empire. Arranged as a series of interlocking studies, each chapter explores the representation of a particular conveyance across author and text, from the humblest and most quotidian (plaustrum) to the most exalted and symbol-laden (currus).

Preamble: setting out
Introduction: en route
1. Making use: plaustrum
2. Power steering: currus
3. The other chariot: essedum
4. Conveying women: carpentum
5. Portable retreats: lectica
Envoi: the end of the road
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Language: history & general works [CBX]