Roman History Books and More

plutarch: roman questions (and the velia & septimontium)

I got to the subject title of this blog in a roundabout way (or as the Germans say, "from Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen"):  Starting out with Bill Thayer blogging an article The Velia: a Study in Historical Topography as well as Velia and Septimontium – which all apply to our current read Roma, the Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor – I somehow arrived at

90 Why is it that, when the sacrifice to Hercules takes place, they mention by name no other god, and why is a dog never seen within his enclosure,²⁰⁶ as Varro has recorded?

Do they make mention of no other god because they regard Hercules as a demigod?  But, as some ²⁰⁷ relate, even while he was still on earth, Evander erected an altar to him and brought him sacrifice. And of all animals he contended most with a dog, for it is a fact that this beast always gave him much trouble, Cerberus, for instance.  And, to crown all, when Oeonus, Licymnius's son, had been murdered by the sons of Hippocoön ²⁰⁸ because of a dog, Hercules was compelled to engage in battle with them, and lost many of his friends and his brother Iphicles.

which is part of Plutarch's Roman Questions … which we probably will come back to several times as we talk about the above novel.

more on hercules and cacus via n.s. gill

Which Cacus Did Hercules Kill?

"Somewhat late to the Steven Saylor Roma (2007) bandwagon, I now can't get the story of Cacus and Hercules out of my mind. The Augustan writers had two traditions about Cacus, one that he was human (Livy and Dionysus) and the other that he was superhuman (Vergil, Ovid, Propertius)."  Read all

notes to 'roma, the novel of ancient rome' numen, hercules and cacus

This is more or less a dictionary, covering the first chapters of Roma,the Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor.

numen (veneration of objects)

Before gods, there were numina, see Roman religion » History » Early Roman Religion » Veneration of objects (Britannica Online). 
One of such 'objects' is Fascinus, whose amulet has a special meaning to the Potitii and Pinarii in the novel.

Hercules and Cacus

Cacus is monster that terrorizes the villagers and kills a Pinarius.  Hercules appears with his oxen and dog and manages to slay Cacus.  In the novel, Hercules becomes the first god to be worshiped.  Ara Maxima Herculis (Platner).

The story is narrated in Aeneid 8.195ff., Book 8  (Dryden translation, Gutenberg) and Ovid's Fasti, Book I, January 11: The Carmentalia (Tony Kline).

Beham, (Hans) Sebald (1500-1550): Hercules killing Cacus at his cave, from The Labours of Hercules (1542-1548). Engraving, 1545. (Wikimedia Commons)

next book chat: roma, the novel of ancient rome by steven saylor

Our next two chats will be on Roma, The Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor, February 18 & March 4.  Dividing the book into equal parts, in the first chat on February 18 we should cover the novel through the chapter The Vestal.

For background, it's worth reading the AUTHOR'S NOTE first.  Ironically, from the reading group's POV, Saylor writes that he began his research with T.J. Cornell's The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C., the book we finished discussing tonight.

One source one might want to look at is Ovid's Fasti, another Plutarch's Lives.  LacusCurtius has Dio Cassius, Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, and Platner's Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome.

My 2007 review of the novel

new rosemary rowe libertus mystery out: death at pompeia's wedding

Death at Pompeia's Wedding (Libertus Mystery of Roman Britain)
by Rosemary Rowe
Hardcover, 213 pages
Severn House Publishers (January 1, 2009)

The paperback version is scheduled to come out in August.

n.s. gill on cornell's chapter 14: the roman conquest of italy

The Beginnings of Rome: Italy From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (Circa 1,000 to 264 B.C.) by T.J. Cornell
Chapter 14, to be discussed this Wednesday:

Here is N.S. Gill's summary: 

Cornell 14: The Roman Conquest of Italy.

exhibit: pompeii and the roman villa

Thanks to Mary Beard's blog post of today, Pompeii in Washington DC, we have word of an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art which I overlooked and which will end March 22, only to move to on to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, May 3–October 4, 2009, so readers out there will be able to see it.

Here is the related website, Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the bay of Naples.  An exhibition brochure can be downloaded as PFD file.  It's nicely illustrated, including a painting by the inevitable (?) Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, titled "A Sculpture Gallery."

And here is Mary Beard's book:  The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found, December 2008, Belknap Press.