Roman History Books and More

common errors in ancient history (via jona lendering)

Browsing through New at LacusCurtius & Livius, I found Common Errors – actually, there is a "Common Errors" tab on top – which Jona begins as follows:

In 2009, I published a little book (in Dutch) in which I discuss more than fifty common errors about ancient history, Spijkers op laag water. Below are some examples, a couple of which are absent from the book. I have presented my subject matter in a sequence that allows the reader to read the book as a narrative history of Antiquity too, albeit a narrative history with some unusual digressions.

Listed are 27 errors. Lots of good stuff, including the Legio VIIII Hispana discussed earlier (#22).

There is a related page, Ancient History and Pseudoscholarship.

legio xiiii hispana

The storyline of the novel Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff, our discussion subject at the January 6 online chat (new members are always welcome!), is the attempt to recover the Eagle of the Ninth Legion, lost in Scotland around 117 CE. The novel follows the assumption that the entire legion was lost at the time.  However, recent research has shown that the legion still existed under Hadrian. Jona Lendering at livius.org has details: Legio VIIII Hispana.

In the U.S. there is a reenactment group: Legio IX Hispana.

video: rome reborn, an inside view

A video by Paladin Media about IATH's Rome Reborn project, premiered at Siggraph 2008. Provides technical and background information on the project, images of the model, and interviews with Director Bernard Frischer.  Lots of related videos are listed on YouTube. (see also Rome 2.0)

Hat tip Mary Harrsch.

Enjoy!

io, saturnalia!

 
Escultura "Saturnalia" en el Jardín Botánico de Buenos Aires, Ernesto Biondi

Here are some links to Rome's big December festival, some courtesy N.S. Gill:

• Saturnalia - Celebrate the Saturnalia
  
• Saturnalia (Roman Holidays)
• December (Fasti) 
• Saturnalia at Wikipedia => Macrobius: Saturnalia
• Image: Alma-Tadema's Ave, Caesar! Io, Saturnalia!

and a how to …

Pliny the Younger did not think much of the festivities:

"...especially during the Saturnalia when the rest of the house is noisy with the licence of the holiday and festive cries. This way I don't hamper the games of my people and they don't hinder my work or studies."  (Epistles 2.17.24)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

IO, SATVRNALIA!

our next book discussion: 'the eagle of the ninth' by rosemary sutcliff

On January 6.

A beloved author to several of our reading group members, Rosemary Sutcliff is new to me.

There are several blogs about her:

• Rosemary Sutcliff – For one of the world's greatest 20th Century historical novelists. Born 1920. Died 1992. Blogsite of Anthony Lawton, Rosemary Sutcliff's godchild and literary executor
• Rosemary Sutcliff: an appreciation
• Rosemary Sutcliff with a 1986 interview

And then there is an appreciation from the Historical Novel Society: SANDRA GARSIDE-NEVILLE looks at one of Britain’s best-loved historical novelists Personal Life. Unfortunately not easy on the eye!

The copy I got from the library is a very tattered one, and as I start reading, I can see why: Lots of suspense! More comments to come.

I would have liked to post a photo of the author, but there don't seem to be any that are in the open domain …

our upcoming read: ovid by david wishart

The second of our Mystery Month chats, on December 16,  is on the first book in David Wishart's Marcus Valerius Corvinus mystery series, Ovid.

I takes some doing to get accustomed to the highly anachronistic vernacular – "pukkah," I beg you! and no one had heard of a recent Vesuvius eruption either in Tiberius' times – but once one is past it, it's a good read.

The storyline is: what did Ovid do/not do that does not allow even have his ashes brought back to Rome? Corvinus, as substitute family patron, is asked by Ovid's stepdaughter Perilla to negotiate to get them back. Without success, he is stone-walled wherever he turns.  Since there are many guesses but no real answers to the cause of  Ovid's exile, all this is fair game for the novelist, and the author comes back with a real doozy. The reader knows more than the sleuth, as excerpts from Quinctilius Varus' "diary" are interspersed in the book. It's fun to follow Corvinus' internal reasonings, leading from red herring to red herring. And to a happy ending, in more ways than one.

Enjoy!