Reading Miscellany in the Roman Empire

Most classists have viewed Aulus Gellius' second-century text, the Noctes Atticae, as little more than a haphazard collection of short essays and excerpts by an amateur scholar. Often called a "e;miscellany,"e; the Noctes Atticae collects vast amounts of otherwise lost ancient literature and records Gellius' experience of reading them. While the depictions of his scholarly activity have led some s...