Roman History Books and More

our next book discussion: 'the eagle of the ninth' by rosemary sutcliff

On January 6.

A beloved author to several of our reading group members, Rosemary Sutcliff is new to me.

There are several blogs about her:

• Rosemary Sutcliff – For one of the world's greatest 20th Century historical novelists. Born 1920. Died 1992. Blogsite of Anthony Lawton, Rosemary Sutcliff's godchild and literary executor
• Rosemary Sutcliff: an appreciation
• Rosemary Sutcliff with a 1986 interview

And then there is an appreciation from the Historical Novel Society: SANDRA GARSIDE-NEVILLE looks at one of Britain’s best-loved historical novelists Personal Life. Unfortunately not easy on the eye!

The copy I got from the library is a very tattered one, and as I start reading, I can see why: Lots of suspense! More comments to come.

I would have liked to post a photo of the author, but there don't seem to be any that are in the open domain …

for military history buffs: the roman legions …

… all you wanted know and more

Just a few days ago I came across these excellent pages at livius.org:  The Roman Legions, and Geographical Overview of same.  Jona Lendering has put together an extensive catalog:

On this site, you will find an alphabetical and chronological catalogue of the imperial legions. An overview of the armies in certain provinces is here.

Don't miss the New at Lacus Curtius & Livius blog by Jona Lendering and Bill Thayer.

Irene's photo:

Titus Flavius Bassus Stele 2nd half of 1st century CE
Top section of the funerary monument for T. Flavius Bassus Mucalae, an eques of an auxiliary troop from Noricum Province, of the tribe of the Desenter. Romano-Germanic Museum, Cologne.

helping cure juvenile dermatomyositis, october 2

Stamford fellow blogger Kevin of Always Home and Uncool has asked me to post this as part of his effort to raise awareness in the blogosphere of juvenile myositis, a rare autoimmune disease his daughter was diagnosed with on this day seven years ago. The day also happens to be his wife's birthday.

*

Our pediatrician admitted it early on.

The rash on our 2-year-old daughter's cheeks, joints and legs was something he'd never seen before.

The next doctor wouldn't admit to not knowing.

new at lacus curtius: plutarch on talkativeness

Bill Thayer: It's bad.

de garrulitate by Plutarch

It is a troublesome and difficult task that philosophy has in hand when it undertakes to cure garrulousness. For the remedy, words of reason, requires listeners; but the garrulous listen to nobody, for they are always talking. And this is the first symptom of their ailment: looseness of the tongue become impotence of the ears.  For it is a deliberate deafness, that of men who, I take it, blame Nature because they have only one tongue, but two ears. If, then, Euripides was right when he said with reference to the unintelligent hearer,

          I could not fill a man who will not hold
          My wise words flooding into unwise ears,

it would be more just to say to the garrulous man, or rather about the garrulous man,

          I could not fill a man who will not take
          My wise words flooding into unwise ears,

or rather submerging, a man who talks to those who will not listen, and will not listen when others talk. For even if he does listen for a moment, when his loquacity is, as it were, at ebb, the rising tide immediately makes up for it many times over.

They give the name Seven-voiced to the portico at Olympia which reverberates many times from a single utterance; and if but the least word sets garrulousness in motion, straightway it echoes round about on all sides,

          Touching the heart-strings never touched before.

read on

Mestrios Plutarchos (Plutarch)

alex munthe on capri (in re tiberius)

 … take a look at the photo below, one can imagine Tiberius there.

Robert of Matters Arising blogs:

Axel Munthe's The Story of San Michele is briefly mentioned in the introduction to Allan Massie's "Tiberius: The Memoirs of the Emperor", the Roman History Reading Group's current read.  Munthe was a Swedish doctor who built a villa on Capri, on what was allegedly the site of one of Tiberius's villas, in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century.
read on

Villa San Michele

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

mythology: isis and osiris on matters arising

Robert of Matters Arising in his mythology series is blogging Isis and Osiris, with nice images.

The story of the Egyptian gods Isis and Osiris, their brother Set, their child Horus, and the sun god Ra is well known from a mixture of native Egyptian texts and from texts written by the 2nd century AD Greek biographer and philosopher Plutarch, and the slightly later Roman novelist Apuleius.    read on

Roman fresco from the temple of Isis in Pompeii, Io is welcomed in Egypt by Isis.
Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples), courtesy Wikimedia Commons

'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.

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

1000 ancient sites on google maps

From New at LacusCurtius & Livius:

1000 Ancient Sites on Google Maps

Jona Lendering writes:

As I have already written before, I have made a list of ancient sites that can be seen on Google Maps. You can find it here. I have now passed the thousand sites - 101o to be precise.  The list is still arranged topographically, first by countries, and after that by ancient place names (if known).

read on and view an amazing sample!

rome’s 2762nd birthday …

… and games honoring it

Games in Honor of Rome’s 2762nd Birthday!

On 21st April, Rome will celebrate its 2762nd birthday–she’s looking good for her age, wouldn’t you say?
In honor of this big event, a long series of concerts, historic reenactments, speeches, and inaugurations began today and will continue through Tuesday.

   image courtesy idcrome at eternallycool.net

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.

peter stothart on druids and englishmen, and a new book

Love a Druid, Hate a Papist

[...] Whether any Roman writer had ever actually seen a Druid, let alone visited their hideous groves, is a matter of much doubt. But when seventeenth century opponents of an English Catholic kingdom wanted to link themselves to the most flamboyant freedom fighters in their past, the English Druids, as fearsomely described by Caesar, Tacitus and Lucan, were friends indeed.  read on

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

bookplates of scholars in ancient studies

Chuck Jones, on the Ancient World Bloggers Group Blog, presents a wonderful collection of bookplates:

Bookplates of Scholars in Ancient Studies

This posting originated on The Oriental Institute: Fragments for a History of an Institution: A collaborative project intended to focus ideas and thoughts on the history of the Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago, and was first posted there on 2/14/08, and was updated on 2/28/08 and 3/14/08. Since it has now gone beyond the mission of that blog, starting August 13, 2008, I'll maintain it here in more neutral territory. It was updated on September 22, 2008 with the addition of twenty bookplates collected by Peter Pamminger and Kirsten Konrad. It was updated again on March 24, 2009 with the addition of the ISAW Vermeule bookplate.       read on

View all and enjoy!

Image Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

meanwhile, 'matters arising' continues with his 'metamorphoses' series … and also displays art about the rape of lucretia updated

Metamorphoses

---

Update 2:  Lucretia: The 18th to 20th Centuries

Don't miss the links at the bottom:

ultraorange.net
The Lucretia in Art Project
The Visual History of the World

Update 1:  Lucretia: The 17th Century

Lucretia: The 16th Century

Chapter IV in Saylor's book deals with the end of Rome's regal period and the beginnings of the Republic. The part of this story that has most inspired artists is the story of the rape of Lucretia … read all

Here is another one that I found and add:

Lucretia, 1508–12
Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) (Italian, Marchigian, 1483–1520)
Pen and brown ink over black chalk, partially incised with a stylus (recto), rubbed with black chalk for transfer (verso); 15 5/8 x 11 1/2 in. (39.7 x 29.2 cm)
full view and description
courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art

watchmen and spartacus

With the current Watchmen mania I observe in the blogosphere – please forgive an old fogy like me – a blog post by Barry Strauss seems appropriate:

Watchmen

A review of his new book The Spartacus War, Simon & Schuster, March 2009, is forthcoming.  A first read-through is a thumbs-up – in the modern sense  ;-)

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.

upcoming book chats: the battle in the teutoburg forest

Our next two chats, March 18 & April 1, concern themselves with the Battle in the Teutoburg Forest in 9 CE and its consequences, as investigated by two authors, Peter S. Wells and Adrian Murdoch – the former's book is our main selection, the latter's optional for those who can lay hands on it:

The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest
by Peter S. Wells
Excerpts may be found in Google Books, including the Preface.
Review by N.S. Gill

Rome's Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest
by Adrian Murdoch
His blog
My Review

More to come in due course … stay tuned.

scipio africanus, hannibal, and 'matters arising' on the punic wars

Update 1:  N.S. Gill just blogged this chapter too:  Scipio's Shadow

The next Kaeso Fabius Dorso in our current read, Roma, The Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor, is a friend of Scipio Africanus and we experience the Hannibalic War second hand, Kaeso being unable to soldier himself.

In 2006 I did some related blogging in connection with David Anthony Durham's Pride of Carthage which were then reading:

• scipio africanus, conqueror of carthage
• the hannibalic war in Plutarch's lives (including Fabius, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, dictator and famous cunctator, who too is featured in the novel.)
• appian on the hannibalic war
• the aftermath of Cannae: why did Hannibal not go for Rome?

Meeting of Hannibal and Scipio at Zama
Young Folks' History of Rome, by Charlotte Mary Yonge

And Matters Arising has just been blogging The Punic Wars.