Roman History Books and More

vitruvius on water and aqueducts

In  Pompeii, A Novel,  Marcus Attilius Primus, the aquarius of the Aqua Augusta, recalls in his mind what he has learned studying Vitruvius, the famous architect/scholar, when he is planning to repair the broken Augusta.

Here is Vitruvius (On Architecture via Lacus Curtius), BookVIII, On Water.  Scroll down to Chapter 6.

1. Water is conducted in three ways, either in streams by means of channels built to convey it, in leaden pipes or in earthen tubes, according to the following rules.  If in channels, the structure must be as solid as possible, and the bed of the channel must have a fall of not less than half a foot to a length of one hundred.  These channels are arched over at top, that the sun may strike on the water as little as possible.  When they are brought home to the walls of the city a reservoir (castellum) is built, with a triple cistern attached to it to receive the water.   Read on

There are two print versions of On Architecture, Ten Books on Architecture and the Loeb editions in two books, On Architecture, Books I-V & On Architecture, Books VI-X.

from the bbc – pompeii: portents of disaster

Thanks to Vicki, here is the BBC's Pompeii: Portents of Disaster by Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, in eight brief chapters.

The people of Pompeii were quite unprepared for the eruption of Vesuvius - getting on with their busy lives, in total ignorance of what was to come. The signs of impending disaster, though, were there – why did no-one pick up on them?

mt. vesuvius at ancient/classical history – ancient sources on the erruption of vesuvius

N.S. Gill of Ancient/Classical History at About.com has an article  on Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii, with links to sites with photos.

Of interest is also the eye-witness account of Pliny the Younger, whose uncle Pliny the Elder was a casualty of the 79 CE erruption of the volcano.

serino aqua augusta / roman aqueducts site

In our upcoming read  on September 5, Pompeii: A Novel  by Robert Harris, the Aqua Augusta plays a prominent part.  Not to be confused with the Aqua Augusta in Rome, this is the Serino Aqua Augusta around Naples.  The comprehensive page on the Serino with maps and photos is part of Roman Aqueducts, a private website by Wilke Schram of the Netherlands, which has data on a number of Roman aqueducts as well as external links.  More links on the author page.

An astounding site!

Enjoy!

met museum greek & roman galleries: an update

Good news:  the Met Museum has updated its pages on the new Greek and Roman Galleries.

Lots of stuff to see!

(Red and I will visit there in September and will report)

Marble grave stele of a little girl, ca. 450–440 B.C.; Classical
Greek
Marble, Parian; H. 31 1/2 in. (80 cm)
Fletcher Fund, 1927 (27.45)

tanglewood music center: così fan tutte in modern garb & slapstick

Every year, the Tanglewood Music Center studies and performs one opera, in the old Theatre building, the only one at Tanglewood that has proper stage facilities and an orchestra pit.  This year it was Così fan tutte under James Levine, and I had secured the ticket early because the theatre is not very big.

But when I was there, I began to wonder, was it worth it?

The director was Ira Siff of La Gran Scena Opera Company, a “travesty group with falsetto ‘divas’ ”.  And so it should not have been much of a surprise that there was a lot of slapstick.  The question though is, how far can one go interpreting a Mozartean dramma giocioso?

classical concerts at tanglewood 2007

Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday in July and August, there are concerts in the Tanglewood Shed, mostly with the Boston Symphony playing, some memorable, some not.  So here are my impressions:

Kurt Masur conducting Prokofiev (Symphony No.1, Violin Concerto No.1 with Joshua Bell) and Beethoven (Symphony No,1, and two days later Mozart's last three symphonies, 39, 40, and 41.   Mr. Mazur turned 80 a couple of weeks earlier.  My impression is that the BSO always plays Mozart and Beethoven better under him.  (I didn't like their performing these composer at all when Seiji Ozawa was the orchestra's music director, but it has improved some under Levine.)  In any case, both concerts were great, and Joshua Bell his usual excellent self.

2007 festival of contemporary music – the generation of ‘38

The Festival of Contemporary Music (FCM) at Tanglewood this year had the theme “The Generation of  ‘38,” meaning most of the music performed was by (American) composers born in 1938 or thereabouts.  Almost all of them were present at the festival.  John Harbison, the festival director, is one of them.  (The FCM link above is accompanied by an audio portion describing  a photographic retrospective of the  festival in the Visitors  Center.)

Performers, with the exception of a few professional soloists, were the fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC),

“ Established in 1940 by former Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Serge Koussevitzky, the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) provides a unique, in-depth musical experience for emerging professional musicians of exceptional ability.”

Judith Tick, Consulting Scholar, conducted lively pre-concert talks, often with the composers themselves.

music and other arts in the berkshires this summer

Laptop finally works again ... and another summer in the Berkshires with music and other arts is over.

Greeted by baby finches on the front porch who managed to hide well in the hanging fern plant and weren't fazed at all by the constant traffic of guests, let alone by those sitting and chatting on the porch, I happily settled in familiar surroundings.

boethius

Boethius' most popular work is The Consolation of Philosophy, which he wrote in 524 AD while in prison, or possibly under house arrest, awaiting execution on charges of treason and black magic. He had been a philosopher, translating works of Aristotle and technical works on music and mathematics into Latin. He was consul in 510 under King Theoderic, the Gothic king of Italy, eventually reaching the post of Master of Offices (roughly, head of the civil service) and was so well thought of that both his sons became consul in the same year, 522. We do not know exactly what caused his fall from favour, but it may have had something to do with Theoderic's annoyance at the policies of Justin, the Emperor in Constantinople, who was persecuting Theoderic's fellow Arianists. Boethius himself claims in The Consolation of Philosophy that it was due to enmity he had aroused in corrupt court officials by his own upright behaviour. Not that the two explanations are incompatible, of course.

gibbon and effeminacy

Judith Weingarter of Zenobia: Empress of the East and David Derrick of The Toynbee Convector are discussing ancient stereotypes of effeminacy and how Gibbon bought into them. 

breaking news of a broken statue

The BBC reports on a giant statue of Hadrian found in  pieces by archaelogists excavating the Roman baths in Sagalossos in modern-day Turkey. The sidebar links to the excavation's website .