Roman History Books and More

florus 'epitome' and poems now online at lacuscurtius

Jona Lendering reports that Florus: Epitome of Roman History is now available at LacusCurtius, both in the Latin text and 1929 Loeb's translation by E.S. Forster!

Correction & Update:

It's Bill Thayer's post, not Jona's  (missed that one)

… and they've added "The poems of Florus: original Latin, and English translation from the Loeb edition, 1934/35. Just a few pages."

coriolanus

Update 2:  Here you can listen to the Coriolan Overture.

Update 1:  Bingley wrote about Coriolanus on About.com:

• Coriolanus Biography
  Bingley's Biography of Coriolanus Who Was Originally Known as Cnaeus Marcius
• Coriolanus
  Plutarch's Biography of Coriolanus and Shakespeare's Coriolanus Play

Last Sunday we went to the opening concert of the 2008/2009 season of the Stamford Symphony Orchestra.  After the National Anthem, the first order of business was the Coriolan Overture by Beethoven (followed by Symphony No. 9 in C major (D.944) – The Great for big as opposed to little and better known to me as Symphony No. 7 – by Schubert;  and the Emperor Concerto No. 5 for Piano & Orchestra in E flat major by Beethoven, soloist Vladimir Feltsman).  The program note for Coriolan says,

No doubt the protagonist’s temperament—iron-willed, passionate, uncompromising and moved to reckless bravery—resonated deeply in Beethoven’s psyche; he saw in Coriolanus a mirror of himself.

n.s. gill gives credit to a politician showing familiarity with the classics

Does Biden Envision Obama as A Second Hercules?

About.com's Guide to Greece, deTraci Regula, alerted me to the fact that Joe Biden, U.S. Democratic Vice Presidential candidate, referred to Obama as cleaning out the Augean Stables if and when he enters the Oval Office.  See So, Just Where Are the "Augean Stables"?.

Had I heard Biden's use of the term, it would probably have passed me by because the "Augean Stables" are a staple of my vocabulary, but deTraci is right that we should give credit when politicians show a familiarity with the Classics.

read on

the view from my window

October 28, 4:45 pm

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

book chat on "eagle in the snow" postponed to october 22

Due to the presidential debate tomorrow night, the book chat on Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem has been postponed by one week, to October 22.

It will also help at least one chatterer who is still waiting for the intra-library loan to arrive …

barbarian invasion across the rhein, 406

Our current read,  Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem, centers around the barbarian invasion of 406 CE across the Rhein river, which our fictitious hero Paulinus Gaius Maximus is tasked to stave off by Stilicho, magister militum of the Western Roman Empire. (Note also Claudian at LacusCurtius re Stilicho.)

The Cambridge Medieval History by By J.B. Bury, Macmillan, 1911, page 266, gives a concise description.  (The book may also be read at the Internet Archive.)

book chats: 2009 calendar

The 2009 calendar for our book chats is now complete:  2009 Reading Calendar.

Some suggestions could not be used as we have to consider availability.  There is a new feature:  Discussing literary treatment of a historical figure or event, in this case Catiline and the conspiracy, which, apart from Sallust and from discussions by modern historians, has been widely adapted in novels.  No better way to trash Cicero!  <grin>

So get your holiday wish list ready!

plutarch's 'on exile' now on lacus curtius

Plutarch: de exilio in English and Greek cross-linked.

Comment from Bill Thayer:  "Exile, a common legal penalty in Roman times, not as bad as all that — philosophical and practical reasons."

n.s. gill was reminded of the purchase of sibylline books . . .

. . . when the Wall Street bail-out was originally rejected by the House of Representatives:

How They Bought the Sibylline Books

bingley blogged about mithraism (ref. eagle in the snow)

The protagonist in our current read, Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem, Paulinus Gaius Maximus, is still a Pagan in a by now largely Christian world.  Like many soldiers in an earlier Rome he worships the God Mithra. 

Our friend Bingley tells us all we wanted to know and more:  Mithraism.

To add to this, Britannica online has this to say: Mithraism.

The image on the right from Wikimedia Commons represents  Mithras as the Sun god banqueting with Selene (the Moon) and the twin divinities Cautes (Dawn) and Cautopates (Twilight), his attendants. Marble, side B of a two-faced Roman relief, 2nd or 3rd century AD. (The Louvre).  Bingley's post shows side A, Mithras killing a sacred bull (tauroctony).

assists from bingley on 'eagle in the snow' (1)

In Matters Arising, Bingley discusses

Eagle in the Snow

… The book is set in 406 AD and is narrated by Paulinus Gaius Maximus, a Roman commander stationed on the Rhine frontier.  First published in 1970, it has been re-issued recently, and is reviewed here by Archaeology magazine and here by the italophiles site, which also includes a profile of the author.  read on

Chapters I and II

I must admit I find the chronology of the first two chapters of 'Eagle in the Snow' quite confusing.  We are told that Maximus was thirteen when his father was sent to Britain by the Caesar Julian.  Julian was Caesar from 356 to 360, when he became Augustus. The oldest Maximus could therefore be by the time of the great barbarian incursion of 367 would be 24, which, working backwards, would make him no more than about 16 or 17 when he was serving as equestrian tribune and quite probably younger …  read on

where the story takes place in 'eagle in the snow'

I have begun reading our next chat subject, the novel Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem, luckily having found it in a neighboring town's library.  The story begins in Britannia and on Hadrian's Wall – of which we will be hearing  soon from Heloise.  But it really centers on the Roman provinces west of the Rhein river where our hero Paulinus Gaius Maximus is given the task to try and hold off invasion from the beyond the river, with one puny legion, beginning around 400 CE according to the timeline from the novel.

When Maximus and his soldiers arrive in Augusta Treverorum (Trier) they are briefly quartered within its massive gates.  One of those gates, now known as Porta Nigra, still exists.

please welcome our new guest author, heloise

We have a new guest author, Heloise, who kindly has agreed to replace our friend Bingley.

She will soon start blogging and sharing images and videos from her recent trip to Hadrian's Wall.

Welcome, Heloise!

the denseness (in the positive sense) of t.j. cornell's writings and more

Either I've become older and wiser or older and denser:  this time around I have to spend much more time on our current read,  The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) by T.J. Cornell than in the past.

Tonight's assignment is Chapters 8, 9, and 10, before we adjourn this discussion and the rest of the book to 2009.  I have the sinking feeling that we won't get to Chapter 10 …

annotated justinian code online

Courtesy Adrian Murdoch:

Annotated Justinian code at the University of Wyoming. (by Fred H. Blume, edited by Timothy Kearley). Mostly as PDF files, except the Novellae Constitutiones or Novels which are scanned images.

Introduction