Roman History Books and More

tiberius' villas on capri

Robert has more:  Tiberius's Villas on Capri

The emperor Tiberius left Rome in 26 AD never to return.  For most of the rest of his life he stayed on the island of Capri, where he had 12 villas.  Remains still exist of some of them.  The best preserved of them is the Villa Jovis, or possibly Jonis, which was the largest.  CapriWeb has four pages of text and some nice pics of the Villa Jovis, while Oebalus also has informative text and a floor plan.  read on

Imagined reconstruction by Carl Weichardt (c. 1900)
Villa Jovis, Archaeological Institute Heidelberg

for german speakers: erstes inoffizielles köln-archiveinsturz-gedicht

Der Archiveinsturz (Köln, 3. März 2009)

In weißen Schachteln,
beschriftet: Firma Reisswolf,
lagert Papiergekröse.
Selten ist Pergament dabei,
das haltbare.
Schachtel um Schachtel
öffnen die weiß gewandeten Helfer.
Ausfegen, verpacken, aufschreiben.
Ausfegen, verpacken, aufschreiben.
Ausfegen, verpacken, aufschreiben.
Zerfetzte Geschichte,
geborstenes Gedächtnis.
Soviel an Sorge
ließ angedeihen nie
man den alten Schriften,
solange still sie ruhten
und unbeschadet in den
Archivgelassen.

***

Erstes inoffizielles Köln-Archiveinsturz-Gedicht
Von Assessor des Archivdienstes Dr. Klaus Graf
Archivalia

for german speakers mainly, interactive: römer in germanien

Römer in Germanien (ZFD Fernsehen), including:

Der Limes - Grenzwall gegen die Barbaren
Eine schwer befestigte Grenzanlage zieht sich vor beinahe 2000 Jahren quer durch ganz Europa. Ein Bollwerk von Nordbritannien bis zum Schwarzen Meer. Doch wovor fürchtete sich das Imperium Romanum?

     Slightly over dramatized, IMO, but interesting, lots of archaeology.

Hat tip Chris P.

images about the 'varusschlacht'

Even though the site is in German, English speakers may go here and click on the red arrow above the photo to view a slide show of 12 images related to the battle in the Teutoburg Forest. The magnifying icon gives you nice enlargements.

Wikimedia Commons has more:

Relief  "Before the Battle" - Aachen

Otto Albert Koch: Varusschlacht, 1909

for german speakers: golo mann and antiquity

Antike und Abendland, remembering Golo Mann's 100th birthday this month, has an entry Golo Mann, die Antike und ihre Historiker – eine Spurensuche zum Hundertsten.

Golo Mann had an affinity to Roman literature:

Die Antike, genauer: die römische Literatur bildete einen nicht unwesentlichen, wenngleich wenig beachteten Teil im geistigen Haushalt Golo Manns. In Salem gehörte Latein, von Kurt Hahn persönlich unterrichtet, zu seinen Lieblingsfächern, und auf den fürsorglichen Rat von Karl Jaspers hin absolvierte er das Erste Staatsexamen für das Lehramt in diesem Fach, um einen beruflich brauchbaren Abschluß vorweisen zu können. Die gelesenen Autoren - Cicero, Sallust, Horaz und Tacitus - begleiteten ihn das Leben hindurch. 1976 erschien in der „Neuen Rundschau" ein „Versuch über Tacitus". Dem in seinen Augen letzten großen Historiker Roms fühlte er sich besonders verbunden; Stilwillen, eindringliche Personenportraits und eine pessimistische Grundhaltung kennzeichneten beider Geschichtsschreibung.

Furthermore, he was instrumental in getting Syme's Roman Revolution translated into German, and under his aegis as editor of Propyläen Weltgeschichte 3 plus of its 10 volumes were dedicated to antiquity.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

roman-germanic encounters in the late republic and early principate

For our book chat members, the content of this detailed Bryn Mawr Classical Review of the German publication Römisch-germanische Begegnung in der späten Republik und frühen Kaiserzeit. Voraussetzungen-Konfrontationen-Wirkungen. Gesammelte Studien by Dieter Timpe, 2006, should be of interest, given last Wednesday's discussion.

(my translation of the title: Roman-Germanic Encounters in the Late Republic and Early Principate)

[…] In his introduction (3-18), T. explains the impossibility of writing straightforward 'Germanic' history, principally because 'Germani' is a Roman construct. There was never an ancient, independent and self-aware Germanic 'nation', viscerally opposed to the Roman Empire, only middle and northern Europeans messily but positively interacting with their southern neighbours -- Celts, then Romans. T. argues that Rome's dealings with the northern barbarians are obscured by the paucity of the sources and their propensity to distort what they describe according to their own experiences and expectations.

[…] T.'s main themes are easy to recognise. Historiographically, he stresses that most of our sources, preferring preconception over experience, seriously misinform us about Germanic affairs. Their projection of an absolute polarity between 'Germanentum' and 'Römertum' played a crucial role in shaping German nationalism, which remains an embarrassment for contemporary German historians. However, their misinformation may be corrected by assessing what they say against the wider geographical and historical context. Historically, he is equally keen to assert that, contrary to the sources, in their practical dealings Romans and Germani were generally cooperative. His 'big idea' is certainly that under different circumstances Rome could have provincialised Germania, and that what determined otherwise was the emergence of an axis of Suebian power up the Elbe.

read all

Hat tip: Adrian Murdoch

for german speakers: another book about the battle in the teutoburg forest

Die Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald: Arminius, Varus und das römische Germanien by Reinhard Wolters (C.H. Beck, 2., durchgesehene Auflage 2009) is another excellent treatment of the event and its era, and its aftermath.

The review in Der Spiegel, 7 January 2009 (scroll down) says:

Aus der Vielzahl einschlägiger Publikationen hebt sich dabei das Buch des Tübinger Historikers Reinhard Wolters positiv hervor: Es präsentiert seine fundierte Gesamtdarstellung knapp und übersichtlich und ist in jeder Hinsicht preiswert. Der Tonfall ist sachlich, und Wolters verzichtet auf jene narrativen Elemente, die suggerieren, der Autor sei selbst dabeigewesen.

I can whole-heartedly endorse this!  Very informative and well organized.

Hat tip: Adrian Murdoch

Another, longer, review.

museum and park kalkriese, place of the 'varus battle' – 2009 anniversary

Archaeological background to the clades variana battlefield can be found at the Museum und Park Kalkriese, Osnabrűcker Land, Germany.

German
English

I myself had a flying visit there in 2003, with rather meager photo results.  Meanwhile, the 2000th anniversary of the battle is here:  What happens in 2009?

Adrian Murdoch, author of Rome's Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest, has been blogging updates connected to the event, but unfortunately most of the newpaper clippings and interviews are in German.  I have saved the most interesting articles to my computer and may refer to/summarize them, blogging time permitting.

In his latest, he points to Focus Magazin: "Lots too at Focus which is developing its series 2000 Jahre Varusschlacht. It is worth keeping an eye on, as new articles appear to be going up on a daily basis at the moment."

You can also follow Adrian on Twitter.

third century battlefield at kalefeld, germany, discovered

I've been loosely following the recent news (mostly in German) that an ancient battlefield has been discovered at Kalefeld in the administrative district of Northeim in the state of Lower Saxony.  This is close to Göttingen, in the foothills of the Harz Mountains.  (I used to live in Northeim when a young child.)  Findings indicate that the battle took place in the early 3rd century CE, at a time when it has been generally assumed that no Roman forces went that far east of the Rhine river into that particular section of Germania.

(Photo Credit: C. S. Fuchs, Niedersächsisches Landesamt für Denkmalspflege)

It's too bad that the main press release and a news video are in German only, but rogueclassicist David Meadows has an extensive round-up of the news, and both Adrian Murdoch of Bread and Circuses and Gabriele Campbell of Lost Fort cover the issue and speculation at length.

mainly for german speakers: mainz/moguntiacum on wikipedia …

… but non-German speakers might enjoy the images

In the book chats we recently talked about Roman Mainz – see my web page – when we discussed Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem, and earlier this month The Iron Hand of Mars by Lindsey Davis.

The German Wikipedia page Mogontiacum (as usual handle with care) is a comprehensive one, though it says that it still needs editing ("bearbeiten").  It includes a list of the legions that were stationed in Moguntiacum.

The first image on the page is a section of the Tabula Peuteringiana (see also here and at livius.org) showing the area including Roman Mainz, courtesy Wikimedia Commons:  click on image and look for the red arrow pointing to "Mongontiaco":

I'm still trying to find a list of the various types of pictorial symbols on the map.  Assistance is greatly appreciated.

for german speakers: colonia claudia ara agrippinensium at wikipedia

I am in the process of checking and updating the links on my website, a laborious process made easier with the Firefox link checker, and came across the excellent German Wikipedia page for Roman Cologne:

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium

Reconstruction of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium
(Romano-Germanic Museum, Cologne)

I may find similar pages as I progress with the link checking on other travelogue pages and will post them here.

goethe's italian journey

More from David Derrick's The Toynbee convector, on one of my favorite reads: Goethe’s Italian Journey.

The book itself in translation:  Italian Journey: 1786-1788 (Penguin Classics)

Online, it's available in German only:

• ItaIienische Reise, vol. 1
• Italienische Reise, vol. 2
• Italienische Reise
• Wiedergeburt in Italien

before this gets lost in the shuffle: illustrations to ovid's metamorphoses

From The Ovid Project. The text links for the Baur – in German – are next to the plates:

• The Metamorphoses by Ovid. Engravings by Johannes Baur. 1703.
  (A couple of typos:  It should read Verwandelungs Bücher, and the artist is Johann Wilhelm Baur)
• Ovid's Metamorphosis Englished Mythologized and Represented in Figures

Image: Baur Plate 3: Aetas aurea

for german speakers: plekos – online periodical on late antiquity

In my search on information on the terminology/dating of  Late Antiquity I stumbled over the German online periodical plekos:

plekos
Periodicum OnLine zur Erforschung
der KOmmunikationsstrukturen in der Spätantike

(Online Periodical for the Research of
Communications Structures in Late Antiquity)

For full articles through 2006, you have to click on the HTML links, beginning 2007, everything is in PDF format.

barthold georg niebuhr (1776-1831), german statesman, diplomat, and historian

While googling for Gn. Pompeius Strabo for our current book chat, The Grass Crown – with not much success – I found these Google Books:

Lectures on the history of Rome (from the earliest times to the fall of the Western empire), Volume I and Volume II by Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Taylor and Walton, London 1844.  (There is obviously more to come.)

The lectures were first published between 1811 and 1832. 

Barthold Georg Niebuhr (1776-1831) was a German statesman, diplomat, and historian.

ancient transportation blog and more…

I had meant to do this for quite a while, and my mind was jogged by David Meadows’ classicarnival of today.

Budding archaeologist Kristian Minck of Denmark has a greatly informative and well illustrated blog,  Ancient Transportation: Roman wagons and beyond.  If you look at the categories, it is nicely organized and also has a separate “still running” bibliography, which however, is largely in German.

All I can contribute to the subject are photos of a reconstructed Roman travel carriage from the Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne, Germany.  (Click on image for more views.)

This is a latish Roman carriage, bits and pieces of which were found north of Thessaloniki.

for german speakers: “abenteuer archäologie” website

Nach umfangreichen Renovierungsarbeiten öffnet die Zeitschrift »Abenteuer Archäologie« am 28.9.2006 ihre neue Webseite.  Unter www.abenteuer-archaeologie.de wird neben Bewährtem auch viel Neues präsentiert.  Die Besucher können in allen bisher erschienenen Ausgaben des Magazins zu recherchieren, Abonnenten können darüber hinaus sämtliche Artikel online lesen und ausdrucken.

Außerdem bietet die Redaktion zukünftig regelmäßig und kostenfrei Nachrichten über die wichtigsten Erkenntnisse archäologischer Forschung und die spektakulärsten Funde. 

Im Rahmen einer Medienpartnerschaft mit dem Deutschen Archäologischen Institut wird zudem die Heft-Rubrik DAI International jeder Ausgabe als PDF-Datei zum Download bereit gestellt. An anderer Stelle werden Stipendiaten des DAI ein Jahr lang über ihre Reise um die Welt berichten.   Mit den Bildern einer Ausstellung lädt die Redaktion zum virtuellen Besuch in ein Museum ein.

Die Überarbeitung der Webseite geht mit dem Erfolg von Abenteuer Archäologie auf dem Zeitschriftenmarkt einher.  Im August 2006 hatte die Heidelberger Spektrum der Wissenschaft Verlagsgesellschaft eine Erhöhung der Erscheinungsweise von drei- auf zweimonatlich verkündet.

Please note that part of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut site is in English, see left-hand column & drop-down menues at top.

roman villas in the provinces

A post in rogueclassicism today,  Excavating a Commodan Villa  and the related website about the  Gayton Thorpe Villa Project  near King's Lynn in Britain, brought back memories of my visit to the Roman Villa in Ahrweiler, Germany in 2003,  and I brought that page up and updated it – there are always disappearing URLs, and new links if one is lucky, and I did find two of the latter ones:  even though they are in German, you can enjoy the photos.

So here is the villa rustica at Ahrweiler, and lots of photos, mine and others'.  Don't miss the miscellany page.

Model of the villa rustica

theodor mommsen at livius.org

livius.org now has a comprehensive article on the 19th century German historian Theodor Mommsen.

At the bottom of the page, Jona Lendering lists a biography of Mommsen in German by Stefan Rebenich,  Theodor Mommsen, Eine Biographie.   I wrote a review a while ago, and for German speakers, I can highly recommend it.

German Speakers may be also pleased to see that more works by Mommsen are available now in print.  If you go here and click on the author's name, you'll get them all.

I've blogged Mommsen earlier also.

My own page with various links.

Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903)

Theodor Mommsen, the eminent 19th century German philologist, legal scholar and historian, gained his early reputation through the collecting of Latin inscriptions, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (see also) as source work for the until then almost exclusive ancient literary knowledge of the Roman antiquity, as well as coins. His two major works in his prime were Roman Constitutional Law and Roman Criminal Law. He was a foremost innovator in the study of Roman history, which would never be the same thereafter.