Roman History Books and More

adrian murdoch's 'bread and circus' is up and running again . . .

. . . fans may be happy to note:

Bread and Circuses

Enjoy!

the virtual museum of archaeology (mav)

BBC News has this:

Hi-tech future for ancient Roman town

Technology is often employed to bring exhibitions to life, but as David Reid found out, one museum has gone one step further by using it to replace all its displays.

The Virtual Museum of Archaeology (or MAV), which opened this summer, is based on the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum and is sited 100 metres from the ruins of the former settlement.

The creators of MAV aim to digitally reconstruct the destroyed town and recreate what life there was like.  read on

More on the subject on YouTube:

If one goes here, oen can find related videos.

roman boundary festivals

In Chapter Eight, The Power of Rome in the Sixth Century, of  The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.), T.J. Cornell discusses the walls and boundaries of Rome, and mentions three related festivals:  Terminalia, Robigalia, and Ambarvalia.

Terminalia, named after the god Terminus who protected boundary markers. (Wikipedia, as usual handle with care)

LacusCurtius has Smith's Dictionary:

TERMINAʹLIA, a festival in honour of the god Terminus, who presided over boundaries. His statue was merely a stone or post stuck in the ground to distinguish between properties. On the festival the two owners of adjacent property crowned the statue with garlands and raised a rude altar, on which they offered up some corn, honeycombs, and wine, and sacrificed a lamb (Hor. Epod. II.59) or a sucking pig. They concluded with singing the praises of the god (Ovid. Fast. II.639, &c.). The public festival in honour of this god was celebrated at the sixth milestone on the road towards Laurentum (Id. 682), doubtless because this was originally the extent of the Roman territory in that direction.

The festival of the Terminalia was celebrated a. d. VII. Kal. Mart., or the 23d of February on the day before the Regifugium. The Terminalia was celebrated on the last day of the old Roman year, whence some derive its name.

chapter seven of 'the beginnings of rome' n.s. gill's comments

Chapter Seven of  The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) by T.J. Cornell is titled The Reforms of Servius Tullius and deals with the history of the tribes, the early composition of the legions, and the comitia centuriata.  This chapter again teaches pitfalls when interpreting history from ancient sources, and even Cornell himself this time is largely forced into conjecture.  As so often, he makes sense, but it is probably not the last word on the subject.

Here are N.S. Gill's comments:  Chapter 7 - Reforms of Servius Tullius - To Thwart the Patricians?

(This is the last chapter for Wednesday's chat.)

a satisfying sunday at the met museum greek & roman galleries and a turner retrospective

… after which we declared ourselves mentally exhausted and headed home.

The new Greek and Roman Galleries are overwhelming!  More Greek than Roman objects though.  It is worthwhile perusing the preceding link down to two YouTube clips;  although the 45 artifacts shown online mostly do not include the ones I especially liked.  But not to despair, I found out that one is allowed to take photos, and on my next visit – all by my little self  – I will take my camera along and do some more reporting here.  I've taken copious notes already, so I will find them easily.  Then there is a mezzanine which displays Etruscan art, with a life-size bronze chariot – the colors in the above photo though are misleading, the chariot has the typical bluish-green patina, and in the current display it is dramatically preceded by two lions who seem to draw it.  The mezzanine also holds the amazing Greek and Roman Study Collection, containing 3,500 objects!   There are no labels;  instead there are computer screens along the wall where one can call up each item.  The windows of the Etruscan Art gallery overlook the central court of the galleries, the former fountain court, which older residents of the area may remember as the Fountain Court Café with the reflecting pool.

cornell on 'the myth of etruscan rome'

Chapter Six of  The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) by T.J. Cornell is titled The Myth of 'Etruscan Rome.'  N.S. Gill has discussed it already with helpful notes:  Cornell and the Etruscan Myth. (We will be discussing Chapters Five through Seven on Wednesday.)

These two paragraphs from Section 7: Conclusion, pp.171/172 give an indication as to what arguments to look for when reading this chapter:

"Let us now sum up the results of this discussion.  Rome was never an Etruscan city.  It was an independent Latin settlement, with a cosmopolitan population and a sophisticated culture.  Its material life was similar to (indeed often indistinguishable from) that of neighbouring Etruscan cities, but that does not make it Etruscan, nor does it imply any cultural supremacy or priority on the Etruscan side.

karl otfried müller, 19th century scholar, student of the greeks and the etruscans

In Chapter Six of  The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.), titled The Myth of Etruscan Rome,  T.J. Cornell refers to

"the pioneering study of Karl Otfried Müller, whose two volumes on Die Etrusker appeared in 1828 … and created the modern study of the Etruscans as we know it today.  The updated second edition of his book by W. Deecke is still required reading, and all subsequent books of any seriousness of 'the Etruscans' are basically new version of Müller."

I found this intriguing, considering the antiquity of the book.  However, further googling found this Bryn Mawr Classical Review of a book of essays: Calder III, William M., Renate Schlesier, Zwischen Rationalismus und Romantik: Karl Otfried Müller und die antike Kultur (Hildesheim:  Weidmann, 1998.  Pp. x, 478; 34 halftones.  ISBN 3-615-00198-2 (pb).), which shows how important Müller overall is still considered:

falco goes to alexandria

  … but you'll have to wait until 2009!

Alexandria by Lindsey Davis, St Martin’s Minotaur 2009. UK: Century, February 2009.

Lindsey Davis has a brief peek.  " … This is the one with the crocodile."

reading schedule for "the beginnings of rome" revised

Originally, we had planned to read the complete  The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) by T.J. Cornell in our three scheduled chats.

However, it has become apparent that the book is very complex and densely written, and that we need more time.  It therefore has been decided that we split the reading between now and the next year, similar to what we have done with Gibbon in the past.

Thus, the current schedule has been revised:

September 17: Chapters 5, 6, and 7 (most of us had not gotten to Chapter 5 for our first chat)
October 1:  Chapters 8, 9. and 10.

The rest will be scheduled for 2009.  The proposed reading list for 2009 will follow soon.

books as housewares?

All I can say is "yuk"!

Books as Housewares

The always informative Lifehacker posted an item today about a designer who turns old books into "gorgeous and unique vases and coffee tables." And, readers have responded, in a fiery discussion. My favorite comment is "you can also burn them for heat".

metropolitan museum chooses new director

Arts / Art & Design

Met Chooses Tapestries Curator to Lead Museum

By CAROL VOGEL

Published: September 10, 2008

Thomas P. Campbell is slated to succeed Philippe de Montebello as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Ending months of fervid speculation, the Metropolitan Museum of Art reached into its ranks on Tuesday and chose Thomas P. Campbell, the 46-year-old British-born tapestries curator, to succeed Philippe de Montebello as director and chief executive.

Photo: The Metropolitian Museum of Art

more on the antonine dynastic gallery at sagalossos

Archaeology Magazine has more on the The Antonine Dynastic Gallery at Sagalassos:

"Archaeologist Marc Waelkens describes the colossal statues of Antonine emperors and their wives found in the Roman Baths at Sagalassos. So far, they have unearthed Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius, along with Faustina the Elder and Sabina (her toes, anyway)."

Nicely illustrated.

above: Newly found head of Marcus Aurelius

n.s. gill blogs t.j. cornell and the roman kings

Unusual Roman King-Makers at http://ancthist-nsgill.blogspot.com/

The first Roman History Books and More book chat of the academic year 2008-9 was supposed to cover through the 5th chapter of Cornell's The Beginnings of Rome. Of those of us in attendance, I don't think one of us had recently made it beyond Chapter 4.  Cornell is dense, filled with information and theories.  read on

the seven hills of rome

At Wednesday's chat, the question came up:  "How far apart are the seven hills?  Would villages of 150 people spill over into each other?"  I thought and do think they wouldn't (someone also made the argument that a hut might contain five or more people):

Here is a Wikipedia article (as usual handle with care) on the seven hills, with this map from Wikimedia commons (click to enlarge):

berkshire mountains in early september, and the clark art institute

On Labor Day we took a couple of days off and drove to our favorite haunt, the Brook Farm Inn at Lenox, Mass., in the Berkshire Mountains, where I have been a guest for over 25 years.  And in perfect weather!

We spent most of one day at our favorite museum, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, better known as "The Clark."  This year's summer exhibit is Like Breath on Glass, "the first exhibition to examine 'painting softly,' a distinctive approach to painting exemplified in works by James McNeill Whistler and George Inness," as well as  others "emulating" Whistler, including Edward Steichen whom I only was aware of as photographer until now.

“Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like breath on the surface of a pane of glass.”
James McNeill Whistler

the capitoline she-wolf and the praenestine mirror

Also in our chat this week, the subject of the recent news about the presumably fake Capitoline She-Wolf came up, see Rome's She-Wolf Younger Than Its City.

However, not to despair, there is at least one other artifact representing the she-wolf and suckling twins: The fourth century BCE Preanestine Mirror.  The imagecan be seen, though not well, in the – incomplete due to copyright –  online Google Book version, chapter Italian evidence, Page 68, of T. P. Wiseman's Remus: A Roman Myth.  Wiseman writes that the mirror long had been considered a fake, but that new evidence shows otherwise. More about this on page 67, which also gives a description of the mirror – but wait, read on!  Which twins are they really?

t.p. wiseman's 'remus: a roman myth'

During our first chat on The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) by T.J. Cornell, when we talked about the foundation legend,  I mentioned Remus: A Roman Myth by T. P. Wiseman, Cambridge University Press, 1995, and promised to look further into it.

I've started reading the book and find it very readable and interesting.  Wiseman's general approach to legend within historiography is very similar to Cornell's.  Coincidentally, he cites Cornell as one of his "readers."

Some pages may be read as Google Book.

a post by n.s. gill prompted when reading "the beginnings of rome"

Plutarch's Roman Questions

"Tomorrow is the first night of Irene Hahn's Roman History books chat for the school year 2008-9. [Here's the agenda.] The first selection is from Cornel's The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars.

"While I've read the whole book from cover to cover, I usually use it for background on specific areas and I certainly haven't digested it in its entirety (or even half of it). Just today I read the introductory chapter again and noticed that Plutarch has a "Roman Question" on the naming days of boys vs. girls."

Read all