Roman History Books and More

online book chats

This blog is an adjunct to The Roman History Reading Group which meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month except August in our chat room from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. US EST (UTC/GMT -05).  This means that in Asia and Australia/Pacific, it's daytime. Here is a world time clock as a general assistance for non-USAns.

Chat room location (with instructions) at Google Talk.

2009 Reading Schedule
2010 Reading Schedule

 November 4 & 18

Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldworthy

And don't forget: December is Mystery Month!

December 2:  Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis
December 16:  Ovid by David Wishart

Join us!
We are now also on Facebook.
New: Find our updates on Twitter.

pliny the younger, his life and letters

In our next book chat on October 21 we are going to discuss the Letters of Pliny the Younger (Plinius Secundus).  There are more translations in print, and the letters  also available online:

• Letters of Pliny the Younger at About.com
• Letters of Pliny the Younger at VRoma (Latin and English)

Jona Lendering at livius.org has an extensive (in 6 parts) biography of Pliny the Younger.  It's an all you want to know about ... and more essay.

For my next post on Plinius Secundus, I may explore JSTOR.

But there is also a beer called Pliny the Younger … maybe we should lift a cup in his honor …

timelines of art history, metropolitan museum roman republic and roman empire

An e-mail from the MetMuseum today led me to its Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, and the subsections Roman Republic and Roman Empire.  Both pages have related timelines and links to Thematic Essays.

They are interactive in many ways, as the Fresco wall painting from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale shows.

Fresco wall painting in a cubiculum (bedroom) from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale
ca. 40–30 b.c., Late Republican Roman, Pilaster

Image courtesy www.metmuseum.org, click on it for interactive page.

did you know that …

… Julius Caesar tweets?

Julius_Caesar checks in daily on Twitter.

• Name Gaius Julius Caesar
• Location Rome
• Bio Descendent of Venus, conqueror of all Gaul, dictator for life

'blogging pompeii'

First we had Ostia antica, now there is:

Blogging Pompeii
A blog for all those who work on Pompeii and the other archaeological sites ofthe Bay of Naples. Here we share news and information about Pompeii and the other sites, and we discuss current research.

There is also a related Facebook page Blogging Pompeii.

roman mystery series for children: 'the roman mysteries' (caroline lawrence)

WELCOME  TO THE WORLD OF FLAVIA GEMINA

 THE YEAR IS AD 79.

THE PLACE IS OSTIA, PORT OF ROME.

FROM HERE, FLAVIA GEMINA, DAUGHTER OF A ROMAN SEA CAPTAIN, EMBARKS ON THRILLING ADVENTURES WITH HER THREE FRIENDS JONATHAN, NUBIA AND LUPUS.

AS SHE AND HER FRIENDS ATTEMPT TO SOLVE THEIR FIRST CRIME, THE CLUES LEAD THEM AROUND OSTIA: TO THE HARBOUR, THE FORUM, THE LIGHTHOUSE AND THE TOMBS OF THE DEAD.

LATER MYSTERIES TAKE THEM TO POMPEII, ROME, GREECE, North AFRICA, Egypt, Turkey and finally back to Ostia and Rome.

   explore the website
   BBC Series

Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries Blog

In 2009, Caroline Lawrence won the Classical Association Prize for her Roman Mysteries series.  The prize, which is worth £5000, is awarded annually for 'a significant contribution to the public understanding of Classics'.  The award was presented on Sunday 5th April 2009, at a ceremony held in Glasgow.

stuff you usually only find on jstor: 'the antiquary's shoebox'

The Antiquary's Shoebox
A Selection of Articles from Various Journals in the Fields of Classics and Archaeology

Courtesy Bill Thayer, who writes:  "The thumbnail I use to indicate this subsite is a colorized version of a drawing that seemed appropriate to me; I found it in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, on p978, s.v. Pyxis."

Hat tip Adrian Murdoch

latin program: catiline

Vicky sent me this from the Latin Program at Ohio State University:

Catiline  ☞ In Catilinam I Pages

[...]  As this page is under construction, one should expect many changes and (I hope not too many) errors (from the typo to the howler).

'encyclopaedia romana'

Bill Thayer gently chided me in two comments of his that I mistook him for Jim Grout in posts of mine. 
So here are my apologies and Jim's website, which has the same host as Bill Thayer's:

ENCYCLOPÆDIA ROMANA
ROME. THE HOME OF EMPIRE AND ALL PERFECTION

Enjoy the site and the photos!

ostia antica

David Meadows tweeted Berlin-Kent Ostia Excavations, a nice blog, whence I got to this extensive and very active site:

Ostia, Harbour City of Ancient Rome (Ostia antica)

This website is dedicated to Ostia, the harbour city of ancient Rome.  Here you will find information for professional archaeologists and historians, for students of Roman archaeology and history, and for interested lay-people. The site is maintained by the Internet Group Ostia.

There are lots of things to explore, from the introduction with time line, history and maps to ancient texts, an amazing topographical dictionary, computer reconstructions, virtual museum, videos, Yahoo group, and more.

new map: the waters of the city of rome

 Very neat once one has figured out navigation.  (thanks to N.S. Gill)

Aquae Urbis Romae

Aquae Urbis Romae is an interactive cartographic history of the relationships between hydrological and hydraulic systems and their impact on the urban development of Rome, Italy. Our study begins in 753 BC and will ultimately extend to the present day. Aquae Urbis Romae examines the intersections between natural hydrological elements such as springs, rain, streams, marshes, and the Tiber River, and constructed hydraulic elements such as aqueducts, fountains, sewers, bridges, conduits, etc., that together create the water infrastructure system of Rome.

topographia: rome reborn – update (more)

Update 2:  Mary Beard:  What's the matter with Google Earth's Ancient Rome?

2008 Update 1:  It's been upgraded and is now Rome Reborn 2.o  / Gallery.  It can also be viewed on Google Earth 4.3, but I personally find this complicated.  (courtesy N.S. Gill)

---

In my recent review of Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day by Philip Matyszak I referred to its illustrations by Altair 4 Multi-Media Roma. That leads to a timely reminder of the new project at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia, officially rolled out on June 11:

Rome Reborn 1.0

This initial site version (4th century A.D.) is only the beginning of an undertaking that will span the time from the Bronze Age (c. 1000 B.C.) to A.D. 552.  However, what is there so far, is well worth exploring in depth.  Also, under Resources, there are recommended sites on Roman Topography, from Piranesi to Platner’s Topographical Dictionary (best seen at LacusCurtius’  TOPOGRAPHIA URBIS ROMÆ) to current versions.

Related Smithsonian Magazine Article, July 2007

please welcome our new guest author, heloise

We have a new guest author, Heloise, who kindly has agreed to replace our friend Bingley.

She will soon start blogging and sharing images and videos from her recent trip to Hadrian's Wall.

Welcome, Heloise!

annotated justinian code online

Courtesy Adrian Murdoch:

Annotated Justinian code at the University of Wyoming. (by Fred H. Blume, edited by Timothy Kearley). Mostly as PDF files, except the Novellae Constitutiones or Novels which are scanned images.

Introduction

the virtual museum of archaeology (mav)

BBC News has this:

Hi-tech future for ancient Roman town

Technology is often employed to bring exhibitions to life, but as David Reid found out, one museum has gone one step further by using it to replace all its displays.

The Virtual Museum of Archaeology (or MAV), which opened this summer, is based on the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum and is sited 100 metres from the ruins of the former settlement.

The creators of MAV aim to digitally reconstruct the destroyed town and recreate what life there was like.  read on

More on the subject on YouTube:

If one goes here, oen can find related videos.

a blog for LacusCurtius and livius.org

For readers who look at these two websites, a blog: New at LacusCurtius and Livius.Org

"This website is maintained by Jona Lendering, and is meant to keep people updated about the websites LacusCurtius (maintained by Bill Thayer in Chicago) and Livius.Org. Occasionally, there is some other news."

reminder: the reading group is on facebook too, and so is this blog

We are now on Facebook too, and so is the blog.

Roman History Books and More

marcus tullius tiro / origin of shorthand

Marcus Tullius Tiro, the narrator in Robert Harris' novel, Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome, was Cicero's slave secretary and later freedman.  Here is a little Wikipedia (as usual handle with care) page.  He supposedly lived to the age of 99.

He is thought to have collected and published Cicero's work after his death, and several ancient writers refer to works by Tiro himself also, now lost.  His other claim to fame is the tradition that he invented the shorthand.  Although it seems that the initial honor should go to Xenophon, according to a Britannica online article, shorthand. (Another site has an image supposedly representing Tironean shorthand.) Postscript later today:  See comments below for further elucidation.  A warning: The Manuscript site is not easy to navigate.

Tiro appears as a supporting character in novels and mysteries about the late Republic.

anthony trollope wrote a "life of cicero"(updated may 17)

Searching the Internet Archive to see what I could find of Cicero's writings, I discovered that Anthony Trollope (Wikipedia, handle with care) wrote a Life of Cicero in two volumes (Chapman and Hall, 1880):

• The life of Cicero (Volume 1)
• The life of Cicero (Volume 2)

Finding the time to browse through it is another thing . . .

It's in facsimile print available too: The Life of Cicero: Volume 1, The Life of Cicero: Volume 2.  A listing of more works: Anthony Trollope.

reprise: late antiquity

I posted this in June 2007, and it might be timely again:

late antiquity, spätantike: when did it happen?