Roman History Books and More

mary beard's sather lectures (1)

Sather Lectures

"Thanks to you all for your patience.

"And apologies to those who think that this might be one step too far in self-publicity.

"But you can now get to the audio of my first two Sather lectures through this site."

read on

more from the bbc

BBC Radio 4's In Our Time discusses Tacitus's influence on our perceptions of Ancient Rome. The programme was broadcast yesterday (Thursday), but is available from the series archives to listen online or download. From the programme's site:

Tacitus’ Rome is a hotbed of sex and violence, of excessive wealth and senatorial corruption. His work is a pungent study in tyranny and decline that has influenced depictions of Rome, from Gibbon’s "Decline and Fall" to Robert Graves’ "I, Claudius".

But is it a true picture of the age or does Tacitus’ work present the tyranny and decadence of Rome at the expense of its virtues? And to what extent, when we look at the Roman Empire today, do we still see it through his eyes?

It's well worth browsing through the programme's archives. Some of the programmes on offer of particular relevance to us are:

The Celts
The Romans in Britain
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The Roman Republic
The Oath

this month's radio 3 greek and latin voices

This month the Greek and Latin voices in the BBC Radio 3 Essay series are Plato (7 to 10 July) and Virgil (14 to 17 July). Each programme is broadcast at 11 pm BST (GMT +1) and is available on the internet for 7 days after the broadcast. There is also a set of accompanying Open University pages.

greek and roman voices: sappho and cicero

BBC Radio 3 continues its Greek and Roman Voices series with essays on Sappho from 2 June to 5 June and Cicero from 9 June to 12 June. Each programme is available on the internet for 7 days after the radio broadcast, which is at 11 pm BST (GMT +1).

The Open University has material to supplement the broadcasts, covering women's lives, different versions of the Oedipus story, Horace, and lots more.

juvenal on the beeb

Towards the end of last year we read Juvenal's Satires.  Those who want to explore Juvenal some more may be interested to know that BBC Radio 3 is featuring Juvenal in their series Greek and Roman Voices next week. The programmes will be broadcast at 11pm (BST = GMT +1) each night from Monday 14 April to Thursday 17 April, and available on the internet for seven days after being broadcast.

a reminder: tacitus essays on bbc radio coming up

BBC Radio Three's The Essay will be discussing Tacitus and his influence in four programmes from Monday to Thursday at 11 pm (GMT) next week. Each programme will be available on the internet for seven days after being broadcast.

the essay: greek and roman voices

BBC Radio 3 is offering a series of talks in two-week blocks giving perspectives on Greek and Roman literature. Last week was Homer and this week is Horace. The subjects in January will be Thucydides and St. Augustine. The subjects in March will be Euripides and Tacitus. Promised for the future are: Sappho, Herodotus, Plato, Juvenal, Cicero, and Virgil.  Each programme will be available on the internet for one week after the broadcast.

Further details

lindow man

The Oxford DNB has put up a new podcast on Lindow Man. Scroll down to the list of podcasts at the bottom of the page. The podcast on Boudicca is also still there if you haven't heard it yet.

Lindow Man is now in the British Museum, which has a page on him.

Lindow Moss is near Wilmslow in Cheshire. The local website has some nice pictures accompanying a rather lurid text.

boudicca podcast

Not only does the Oxford DNB put up regular biographies and articles for a week or a month at a time, but it also has audio files of biographies being read out loud which you can download and listen to. They seem to stay on the site for much longer. The latest one is their biography of Queen Boudicca. Scroll down to the list of biographies at the bottom of the page: they are in broadcast order, with the most recent at the top.