This volume focuses on the great Roman love poet Propertius. Propertius' poetry reveals an ardent love affair between the poet and his girlfriend, whom he calls 'Cynthia', yet it also offers a snapshot of life in ancient Rome during the Augustan age (20s BC). While this was a period of growth and revival after the crippling civil wars of the previous century, it was also a time when Rome was adjusting to a new form of government under its first emperor.

Oxford Readings in Propertius is the first volume on Propertius' poetry to bring together some of the best and most influential scholarship written during the last three decades and put them into dialogue with each other. The articles discuss the recent developments in Propertius scholarship, as well as major critical approaches that have emerged in classical studies in general, and look at issues of text, intertextuality, gender, and the social and political context of Propertius' work.