https://ancientrome.org/tags/roman-letters/ Recent content in Roman Letters on Ancient Rome Hugo en-us Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://ancientrome.org/ciceros-letters-the-ancient-world-in-real-time/ Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://ancientrome.org/ciceros-letters-the-ancient-world-in-real-time/ <p>Nearly a thousand letters written by Cicero survive, along with approximately ninety letters addressed to him from other correspondents. They span the period from 68 BC to his death in 43 BC and constitute the most intimate documentary record of any figure from the ancient world. They were not written for publication. They were written to friends, family members, political allies, and enemies, in the urgency of specific moments, and they reveal a man whose public persona — the great orator, the defender of the Republic, the statesman who executed the Catilinarians — was inhabited by someone considerably more anxious, vain, inconsistent, and human than the published speeches would suggest.</p>