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 (with download instructions for both Mac and Windows users), from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. US EST.  (This means that in Asia and Australia/Pacific, it's daytime.)  Here is a world time clock as a general assistance for non-USAns.

2008 scheduled reading list (updated April 2)

On April 16 and May 7 & 21 we will discuss The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme. (April 2 was canceled)

This is followed by a discussion of the works of the poet Ovid, June 4 & 18.

Join us!

marcus terentius varro, antiquarian, 'most learned of the romans'

We meet Varro as Pompey's intimate in Fortune's Favorites by Colleen McCullough, the subject our current book chat.

Marcus Terentius Varro, "whose vast and varied erudition in almost every department of literature earned for him the title of the " most learned of the Romans" (Quintil. x. 1. § 95 ; Cic. Acad. i. 2, 3 ; Augustin. de Civ. Dei, vi. 2), was born b. c. 116, being exactly ten years senior to Cicero, with whom he lived for a long period on terms of close intimacy and warm friendship. (Cic. ad Fam. ix. 1—8.) He was trained under the superintendence of L. Aelius Stilo Praeconinus, a member of the equestrian order, a man, we are told (Cic. Brut. 56), of high character, familiarly acquainted with the Greek and Latin writers in general, and especially deeply versed in the anti­quities of his own country, some of which, such as the hymns of the Salii and the Laws of the Twelve Tables, he illustrated by commentaries. Varro, having imbibed from this preceptor a taste for these pursuits, which he cultivated in after life with so much devotion and success, completed his education by attending the lectures of Antiochus (Acad. iii. 12), a philosopher of the Academy, with a leaning perhaps towards the Stoic school, and then embarked in public life ..."

claudian online (and in print)

In Gibbon’s Chapters XXIX and XXX of his Decline and Fall one of  his major sources is Claudius Claudianus, generally known as Claudian, the 4th century Alexandrian court poet of Theodosius and the Western generalissimo Stilicho. 

Claudian wrote mostly in Latin.  His texts in translation can be found at LacusCurtius and the Theoi Project.

While he is considered a major poet, his panegyrics and invectives make him a not too reliable historical source.  Or, as Gibbon puts it:

The celestial gift, which Achilles obtained, and Alexander envied, of a poet worthy to celebrate the actions of heroes, has been enjoyed by Stilicho, in a much higher degree than might have been  expected from the declining state of genius and of art.  The muse of Claudian,⁽¹⁷⁾ devoted to his service, was always prepared to stigmatise his adversaries, Rufinus or Eutropius, with eternal infamy;  or to paint, in the most splendid colours, the victories andvirtues of a powerful benefactor.  In the review of a period indifferently supplied with authentic materials, we cannot refuse to illustrate the annals of Honorius from the invectives, or the panegyrics, of a contemporary writer, but as Claudian appears to have indulged the most ample privilege of a poet and a courtier, some criticism will be requisite to translate the language of fiction or exaggeration into the truth and simplicity of historic prose.

topographia: rome reborn 1.0

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 
A warning, the Quicktime Fly through Ancient Rome link froze my laptop!

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.

author chat with james duffy, “sand of the arena”, march 21

Please join us us on March 21 for a chat with Jim Duffy, author of  Sand of the Arena, an action packed novel set in the Neronian era.

Sand   of the Arena is a “€œprince and the pauper” story that plays out in the arenas of ancient Rome.  A rich Roman, Quintus Romanus, has his identity stolen by a conniving slave, Lucius Calidius, after a disaster at sea.  The epic adventure that follows sends Quintus across the Roman Empire in search of a new life and a new family.  He finds both in the gladiatorial schools and arenas of Britannia, Rome, and Pompeii.  His rise to primus palus status “the best of the best among gladiators” €“is paralleled by the rise of his archrival, Lucius, in Imperial politics.  As both reach the top of their game, they clash once again in a final battle that settles all scores.  Set against the turbulent and erotic setting of Nero'€™s Empire, Sand of the Arena is an action-packed  tale of graphic arena battles, family devotion, friendship, and   vengeance.

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.

anthony burgess

“That so many writers have been prepared to accept a kind of martyrdom is the best tribute that flesh can pay to the living spirit of man as expressed in his literature. One cannot doubt that the martyrdom will continue to be gladly embraced. To some of us, the wresting of beauty out of language is the only thing in the world that matters.” — Anthony Burgess.

Wikipedia has what looks like a straightforward but extensive biography of Anthony Burgess.

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.

classics e-text resources at about.com

N.S. Gill, editor of Ancient / Classical History, presents us with an A-Z of ancient texts, most of which are in the public domain:

Classical Texts, Literature, Primary Sources, Public Domain Translations, and Ancient History Texts

announcement: bingley to be guest author of this blog

I'm pleased to announce that ‘Bingley Austen’ has agreed to become a guest author on this blog.  Here is his introduction:

I first became interested in the classical civilisations of Greece and Rome as a child in England through re-tellings of myths.  When I started grammar school just before my 12th birthday Latin was still a compulsory subject. I enjoyed the lessons and found I was good at it, so it seemed natural a year later, when we were offered the choice of Greek, German or Russian as our 3rd language to choose Greek.  When the time came to start 'A' level study (at age 16), I chose Greek, Latin and Ancient History.

For the most part, I abandoned Classics at university but did manage to squeeze in courses on Ancient Greek religion and Greek and Roman drama.

Despite not continuing with formal study of Classics I still maintained a keen interest in anything to do with Greece and Rome.  After a series of office jobs, I became an EFL teacher. That took me to SE Asia, where I now live and work as an editor and translator.

Apart from reading the occasional novel set in Greece or Rome, I didn't have much chance to follow my interests in classical civilisation out here until I got Internet access in the mid 1990s, and at about the same time Jakarta got some big English-language bookshops.  One of the first forums I joined encouraged us to take pseudonyms in the form of character + author, hence Bingley Austen (I couldn't really see myself as Darcy).

Bingley will blog about any things classical that may take his current fancy, beyond the books the group is reading.

Welcome, Bingley!

appian on the hannibalic war

Jona Lendering of livius.org, who has an excellent and well illustrated page on Hannibal Barca, points to Appian's History of Rome: The War against Hannibal as a major source:

"Although only his books on the Roman Civil Wars survive in their entirety, large parts of other books have also come down to us. His account of the War against Hannibal contains some information that can not be found in other sources (Polybius of Megalopolis and Livy), is fortunately well-preserved, and is certainly accessible."

And he provides us with a translation, footnotes, and his own additions.

Hannibal coin:
AR dishekel, 1½  & ¼, beardless male head, club behind / elephant
(Wikipedia/Carthage and its Coinage)

LibraryThing, a new way to catalogue your home library

Tim Spalding, whom you may know from Isidore of Seville and Ancient Library, has created a new thingy: You can put your books or your reading list into his new program, LibraryThing | Catalog your books online. You can just do it for yourself, or share it with the rest of us. Up to 200 books are free, for the remainder you pay a very modest fee.

My thanks to Bingley for alerting us.

For German speakers: Archäologie Online

www.archaeologie-online.de - Entdecken Sie Archäologie neu!

A portal to what's going on in the world of archaeology, the German way. Originally a commercial site, is is now managed by three volunteers. It has these features:

Magazin: Focus points (Schwerpunktthema, Fundpunkt), news round-up, TV programs, calendar of events, etc.
Guide: Over 5,000 categorized links to other archaeology sites
Bibliothek: New books, reviews (Rezensionen), CD-ROM's, downloads, etc.
Newsletter
Suchen & Finden: expanded search feature
Forum: Forums, classified, polls, etc.
Archäologie Online Club (special access options to the site)

Carnivals in the Blogosphere

'Carnivals' are blog round-ups about what's going on in the blogosphere and/or fields of related interest.

There is David Meadows with his daily classicarnival at the rogueclassicism blog. Some of you may know David from his Yahoo! Anthropology and Archaeology Group, The Explorator, with his weekly news roundups. As Phil Harland remarks in his blog, "How does he keep up with it all?"

There is also the Biblical Studies Carnival, and the general gateway History Carnival.

What is a blog carnival?

Having now 'kept up with it' too, I'll return to 'work' work myself …

Ancient / Classical History Website

Our friend − and fellow book chat member when she has the time − N.S. Gill runs the excellent Ancient / Classical History site at About.com, with a related Forum. Forum access requires (free) registration. She also has a blog, AncientRome.StudyPast.com, which links back to the above site.

A related site is Kris Hirst's Archaeology. A subsection covers Ancient Civilizations.

Ancient Wargaming

Greg Pitts is an Ancient Military historian and gamer and involved with War Games Journal.

The January issue of the Journal is now out, http://www.wargamesjournal.com/home/index.asp, and the fancied up version of Part 4 of the Roman Imperial Army is included in the issue.

Greg also runs a gaming group on Yahoo!, Ancient  Empires, 2nd Edition and says: 'I have attempted now for many years to obtain a game mechanic system that gives what I consider to be the correct "feel" for warfare in antiquity, while still remaining a playable game.'

He is working on a writing project on Scipio Africanus and the Roman Military System.

Postscript:  See Greg's comment on the Battle of Magnesia.