Roman History Books and More

another lament: literary criticism and me

… don't get on too well with each other, going back to my German Lit. teacher in high school.

I'm having a bad case of criticismophobia right now, reading all these essays on Ovid, and two separate introductions to the Metamorphoses.  'foregrounded,' 'closurally,' and 'gendered' are bad enough, but what about this?

"… In particular, a return to Kristeva's notion of intertextuality as a way of 'orienting the text to its sociohistorical signification' via the ideologeme, i.e. 'the communal function that attaches a concrete structure (like the novel) to other structures (like the discourse of science) in an intertextual space' would seem a healthy antidote to the enervated concept of intertexuality as a kind of glamorous but non­-political version of literary history that prevails in Latin literary studies."  (Thomas Habinek, Part III of "Context and History," chapter "Ovid and empire" in The Cambridge Companion to Ovid.)

the metamorphoses: some general resources

Ovid's "Metamorphoses" has been an inspiration to many artists down the centuries.

Larry A. Brown calls the pages from his site devoted to the "Metamorphoses":

An introduction and commentary with discussion of myths and links to sources and influences in art and literature.

This German high school site has the Latin text, broken down into sections with German, English, and Spanish headings, and copiously illustrated with artworks, mostly but by no means all, prints from early printed editions of  Ovid. In the side panel click on Ovidius Naso Edition, and then scroll down to the index of the 15 books. Those with slower connections may need to be patient.

Not specifically linked to the "Metamorphoses" but with further information about the characters, with citations from ancient sources and illustrations, are: theoi.com and Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link.

syllepsis

syllepsis (from Silva Rhetoricae, an interesting site with a complete index of rhetorical terms)

When a single word that governs or modifies two or more others must be understood differently with respect to each of those words.  A combination of grammatical parallelism and semantic incongruity, often with a witty or comical effect.  Not to be confused with zeugma.
read on

Ovid practiced syllepsis, especially in the Metamorphoses, together with personification, as is discussed by Philip Hardie in the chapter "Ovid and early imperial literature" (Part II of "Context and History") in The Cambridge Companion to Ovid.

more cavafy from the toynbee convector

Antony's Ending. See also the posts before and after this one.

'poets are fascinated by literary history'

"Poets are fascinated by literary history, above all by their own place in it."

So writes Richard Tarrant in the chapter "Ovid and ancient literary history" (Part I of "Context and History") in The Cambridge Companion to Ovid.  He continues, "In that respect Ovid is like his Roman predecessors and contemporaries, only more so:  his references to other writers, and to his work in relation to theirs, are more numerous than those of any other Roman poet."  Tarrant later (I've got a little list) discusses Ovid's "characteristic literary-historical gesture" of lists, and catalogues of poets, in the works outside the Metamorphoses – and how he also lists is own works occasionally.

Not knowing much of poets, and in view of Mr. Tarrant's seemingly generalized statement, I pose this question:  Do modern day poets display a similar fascination with literary history?

to get the characters straight in ovid's metamorphoses . . .

. . . go to A.S. Kline and scroll down to the bottom to the Mythological Index. Poem text and index are fully hyper-linked with each other.

                                  

A

BCD

EFGHI

LMN

OP

QRSTUVXZ

Also, Wikipedia (as usual, handle with care) has a page Metamorphoses with detailed mythological background of the Main Episodes.

another garden sculpture

This one's a 'natural' one (click on images to enlarge):

Forget-me-nots

Images © Irene B. Hahn

earlier

the library in the new age – what will become of research libraries?

From The New York Review of Books a free article:

Volume 55, Number 10 · June 12, 2008
The Library in the New Age
By Robert Darnton

"Information is exploding so furiously around us and information technology is changing at such bewildering speed that we face a fundamental problem: How to orient ourselves in the new landscape? What, for example, will become of research libraries in the face of technological marvels such as Google?

"How to make sense of it all?"  Read the answer

springtime garden sculptures

Yesterday we ambled through a garden in nearby Westchester County, designed in a rocky hill area – rocks are the hallmark of New England.  It was a lovely spring day, and there was a riot of colors.  Here is a preliminary sampling, including two sculptures which we almost missed (click on images to enlarge):

      

The little Forget-me-nots were running rampant,
sometimes there was a sea of pale blue!

to be continued …

Images © Irene B. Hahn

a quick note: book by karl galinsky on ovid's metamorphoses

While searching my public library's online catalogue for copies of "Metamorphoses," I came across this book (currently out of print):

Ovid's Metamorphoses: An Introduction to the Basic Aspects
by Karl Galinsky
University of California Press, 1975, 285 pages
ISBN: 0520028481

I ordered the book from another branch, so I won't get it for another couple of days.  However, if one goes by Galinsky's Augustan Culture which I own (Bryn Mawr Review), the above-mentioned volume is probably a good introduction to the Metamorphoses.  I will report more later.

appius claudius caecus, "the first living personality in roman history"

"What would have happened if Augustus – like that great politician, the censor Appius Claudius – had been blessed with five daughters for dynastic matches may inspire and baffle conjecture."

(Ronald Syme: The Roman Revolution, Chapter XXV, The Working of Patronage.)

And what a conjecture that would be!

Appius Claudius Caecus, "the blind" (ca. 340 - 273 BC), was a formidable character.  As censor he attempted reforms but is better known to us for building the Via Appia (Appian Way) and the first aqueduct to Rome, the Aqua Appia.

final chat on 'the roman revolution' by ronald syme, may 21

The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme:  May 21 is our last chat and covers Chapter XII through the end.

CHAPTER XII: PRINCEPS  covers the period from January 13, 27 to the settlement of 23 BCE and discusses the new powers of Octavian, now transformed into Caesar Augustus, at length.  We talked about it last time but ran out of time.

CHAPTER XXIII: CRISIS IN PARTY AND STATE shows that Augustus still has some problems, with Agrippa coming to the rescue.  This leads to CHAPTER XXIV: THE PARTY OF AUGUSTUS, which shows the resultant consolidation.

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.

the correspondence of marcus cornelius fronto online

I just stumbled over this online Loeb's copy (Internet Archive: New York Public Library)

The correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto with Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Lucius Verus, Antoninus Pius, and various friends; (1919-20)

Can be downloaded as PDF or read online as Flip Book. Apparently requires a "Library Card" (free sign-up) for multiple viewing. This is probably old hat for most of you. I wonder what other goodies I'm missing and where one can find a list.

a don's life: the face of julius caesar? come off it!

And right Mary Beard is!

The face of Julius Caesar? Come off it!

What do you do if you are an archaeologist and you find a nice Roman portrait bust in the bottom of a river?

The answer is simple. You go through every book of Roman portraits and coins until you find some famous figure in Roman history who looks vaguely likely your man. It is laborious and time-consuming. But the principles are simple – it’s like a game of snap.  read on

new julius caesar biography out

Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman, Simon & Schuster, May 2008, 416 pages.

Mr. Freeman writes on his website:

Julius Caesar was one of the greatest heroes of human history-or one of its most pernicious villains, depending on who you believe. Many of the American Founding Fathers despised Caesar as the evil genius who overthrew their beloved Roman Republic. The medieval poet Dante assigned him a blessed afterlife among the most virtuous pagans while sentencing his two leading murderers, Brutus and Cassius, to the lowest levels of Hell. Shakespeare tried to have it both ways, praising both Caesar and the conspirators who slew him. Modern scholars have been equally divided concerning Caesar's legacy. Some have seen him as a paradigm of the just ruler, but in the wake of twentieth-century dictators and devastating wars, other historians have turned a cold eye on a man who caused the death of so many and established the rule of emperors over elected magistrates.

goethe's italian journey

More from David Derrick's The Toynbee convector, on one of my favorite reads: Goethe’s Italian Journey.

The book itself in translation:  Italian Journey: 1786-1788 (Penguin Classics)

Online, it's available in German only:

• ItaIienische Reise, vol. 1
• Italienische Reise, vol. 2
• Italienische Reise
• Wiedergeburt in Italien

the cambridge companion to ovid

The Cambridge Companion to Ovid seems to be a book worth reading, according to this Bryn Mawr Classical Review:

"The editor of this volume, Philip Hardie, is one of those responsible for the rise in Ovid's fortunes, and many of the contributors that he has recruited for this volume have done their parts as well.  But the essays on the whole do not merely reprise earlier themes;  and Hardie has also recruited some less obvious but highly suitable collaborators, with the result that the collection makes a striking impression and succeeds on two separate fronts.  As a summary of where Ovidian scholarship has been, it is, with perhaps one or two caveats, very successful indeed;  and as an effort to indicate fruitful directions for future work, the volume should have a stimulating effect."

on holy ground

Toynbee's reflections on his preference as a young man for the historically significant sites of the Hellenic civilization rather than those of his own Western Christian civilization.

Courtesy David Derrick, The Toynbee convector

ovid: reading schedule for june

We have two chats planned for June about the works of the poet Ovid (Wikipedia, handle with care).  With the limited time we have, I think it's best to concentrate on his two major works:

June 4	The Metamorphoses the creation and history of the world
June 11	(optional) other works*
June 18	Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) plus Amores, Remedia Amoris?

*If anyone wishes to discuss the other works, I offer another chat in between, on June 11. I'm especially interested in the poems and letters from exile (Tristia, Ex Ponto, Ibis).  And there are also the Fasti.