Roman History Books and More

unexpected sequential readings

Reading Martial for our chat on Wednesday, it occurred to me that the Epigrams nicely fit in with our recent discussions:

Working IX to Five and The Roman Way.

new blog: vicki león, historical detective

Vicki León, whom the group knows from our recent enjoyable author chat, has a new blog:

Vicki León, Historical Detective.

Enjoy!

Meanwhile, Vicki's latest book, How to Mellify a Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition, will be in the stores in July.  Review forthcoming.

checking martial on jstor

Checking JSTOR on Martial, there is a long list of items.  I can't find a good way to drill down, except excluding reviews;  however, scrolling down the pages, there is some good stuff.  And rather esoteric titles, such as "Martial's Christmas Winelist," and *Was Martial Really Unmarried?" with a couple of responses …

more access to martial: open library

Martial at Open Library:

Martial.

cleopatra in philadelphia

In our online book chats, we are scheduled to read Kleopatra by Karen Essex on September 1.

There is a new exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Cleopatra, the Search for the Last Queen of Egypt, through January 2, 2011.  The New York Times has a review:

Arts

Cleopatra’s Underwater Kingdom
By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
Published: June 3, 2010

"Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt,” at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, is a powerful exhibition.  But that’s not really because of Cleopatra.  read on

slide show

 
   Ryan Collerd for The New York Times

Today, The Telegraph has a related article:

Cleopatra papyrus goes on display
Hat tip: Lindsay Powell

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On our novel, Kleopatra, there is N.S. Gill's review & my own. I'd love to make a field trip together with any chat members living close by before September 1, but I'm not sure the timing works for me.

next online book chat: epigrams by martial

Our next read, on June 16, are the Epigrams by Marcus Valerius Martialis aka Martial (Wikipedia, handle with care).

There are various print editions which you might find in your local library.

Online there are:

• The Epigrams at the Early Church Fathers site, as well as On the public shows of Domitian.
• At the Internet Archive
• Google Books

Background:

• Martial information at Ancient/Classical History at About.com.
• Another page about Martial:  Translating Martial.
• JSTOR has a number of articles on the subject.

A book review of Martial’s Epigrams: A Selection (Gary Wills) in the New York Review of Books by Glenn Bowersock titled "Court Poet & Pornographer."

Marcial. Epigrammata. 1490.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

wednesday's read: the roman way by edith hamilton

Time has gotten way from me!  And the library was closed Saturday for the holiday weekend, so I didn't get the book until today and am furiously reading now.

The Roman Way by Edith Hamilton.  Edith Hamilton (1867–1963) didn't start writing until the age of 62!  "The Greek Way" was her first book (1930).  "The Roman Way" was published in 1932.

Edith Hamilton on Wikpedia (as usual handle with care).

[The Roman Way] is in no sense a history of Rome, but an attempt to show what the Romans were as they appear in their great authors, to set forth the combination of qualities they themselves prove are peculiarly Roman, distinguishing them from the rest of Antiquity.  A people's literature is the great text-book for real knowledge of them … The force Rome had to mould her people is evident on every page of her literature.

So Hamilton writes in her Preface.  This promises to be an excellent discussion.  From Plautus to Juvenal.  No Apuleius?

   

Hamilton circa 1897, Dresden. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.