Roman History Books and More

jane finnis, mystery writer

Our last novel of the season (December 15) will be Get Out or Die (Aurelia) by Jane Finnis.

Courtesy our friend and Jane's fellow mystery writer, Gary Corby, here is her blog:

Jane Finnis, Mystery Writer

mary beard: civilian casualties, leaks and the ancient view

Worth reading:

Civilian casualties, leaks and the ancient view

By and large, Greek and Roman military command had it relatively easy when it came to leaks, civilian casualties and the PR side of warfare. To put it at its crudest, the imperial Roman legions would go off to conquer some bit of foreign territory, they would do it any way they could and come back home and boast about it. Not many people in Rome knew or cared about war crimes. It was winning that mattered.

Of course, it looked different from the barbarian point of view, but the barbarians got very little chance to put their point of view at Rome.

But even in the ancient world, it wasn't quite so simple.

Read on

more on the pompejanum

Blogging Pompeii picked up on my earlier post and countered with two of their own:

• In Germany, an outpost of Pompeii shows its age
• Pompejanum Aschaffenburg
  Excellent photos!

And another one: Reconstructing the history of the Pompeia, Saratoga Springs. Very interesting!

book review: 'how to mellify a corpse: and other human stories of ancient science & superstition

Now in the stores, by our sometime group member Vicki Leòn:

How to Mellify a Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition

“… To limn a culture, history should attempt to capture the human stories, to squeeze the meaning from cascades of events instead of one thing in isolation. Rather than focus on the elite figures, I tend to stare a the messy, muddy, exhilarating, exasperating mass of humanity of long ago … To give you the true flavor of those times, I've salted this whole brew with little-known facts, Herodotean digressions, and absurdities, once firmly believed yet so outrageous that I could not have made them up. It's an iconoclastic mix, yeasty with names and deeds and beliefs you won't have heard much about. Meteorite worship; bean taboos; bizarre beliefs about women and their powers over hydrocarbons; it's all here."

Be ready for a lot of astounding facts! Readers who liked Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World will love this book. The stories take you from Athens & Attica to Greece & the Greek Islands to Asia Minor & the Middle East to Rome & Environs, and thereafter to Italy & Sicily and Egypt, Carthage & North Africa – from about 700 BC to 300 AD. They cover the range of physical science, then considered a “philosophy,” medicine, architecture, time keeping, astronomy, astrology & superstition, divination, religion … you name it.

A random opening of a page gets you to the chapter “Philosophical Fava Phobia” and, surprisingly to the unaware reader, to Pythagoras. The accompanying drawing is titled Decoding the Great Bean Taboo (and much else) of Pythagoras.

Complete Review

Follow her latest exploits at Vicki León, Historical Detective.

the view from my window, between storms

I posted this during our Pompeii chat tonight, and a group member thought this was apt, it looked like an ash cloud …

The view from my window, 8:10 PM

the pompejanum at aschaffenburg, based on the 'house of castor and pollux'

In 2002 I visited the German town of Aschaffenburg, where I cam across the Pompejanum. From my travelogue:

In the mid-19th century, King Ludwig I of Bavaria chose Aschaffenburg as his summer residence and left his mark on the city. One of his lasting legacies is the Pompejanum, built between 1843 and 1848. Here is a nice site of images, alas no descriptions. An ardent admirer of antiquity, and animated by the excavations at Pompeii, he commissioned an Architect, Friedrich von Gärtner, to build a Roman villa, not as a residence, but as an illustrative object for lovers of antiquity. Gärtner selected the house of Castor and Pollux at Pompeii as his model, and made some adjustments because the villa was to be situated in a vineyard on the slopes of the Main river. One can see the villa from various points at the river.

The building was heavily damaged in the bombings but was totally reconstructed and restored, and contains artworks from the Staatliche Antikensammlungen and Glyptothek München (Collections of Antiquities and Glyptothek at Munich). I was too early to be able to view the second floor, which was not reopened until July 25. The original building and restoration has not been without controversies, and I hope to write more extensively on this and the Saalburg project initiated by the emperor Wilhelm II at a later date.

In any case, it was an interesting visit. The villa was rather crowded though, so I had a bit of trouble taking photographs, and here – and in the museum downtown as well – I was dogged by watchful guards to make sure I didn't use a flash. Here is what little I could do.

Gärtner, Friedrich von

more 19th century literature on pompeii: 'pompeiana' by sir william gell

Another 19th century work that Mary Beard mentions in The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found is Pompeiana by Sir William Gell (1777 -1836) and John P. Gandy, Architect. (Gell portrait courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

It can be read online at the Internet Archive (with Kindle capacity): Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompeii, 3rd edition 1852, or as Google Book.

Amply illustrated, presumably by John Gandy.

"The name of the owner or occupier is constantly found upon the door post"

An optimistic assessment!  ;-)

blogging pompeii – a great blog

Blogging Pompeii

"This blog is for all those who work on Pompeii and the other archaeological sites of the Bay of Naples. Here we share news and information about Pompeii and the other sites, and we discuss current research."

Enjoy!

There is also a related Facebook page.

pompeii as seen by a friend: 'the little house in pompeii'

Sometime book chat member Judith Geary wrote this on my website in 2001:

the little house in Pompeii held a grand illusion

Note the photo link to John Hauser's Pictures of History – Pompeii.

pompeii companion book recommendation, 'pompeii: a guide to the ancient city'

Group member Vicki C. recommends

Pompeii: A Guide to the Ancient City
by Salvatore Ciro Nappo 

"I'm reading this along with Beard's book. Great photos and drawings!"

Excellent used book deals!

19th century handbook for travelers in southern italy, john murray, online

To show what Pompeii looked like in 1853, Mary Beard in her introduction to The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found points to "A Handbook for Travellers in Southern Italy by John Murray, Albermarle Street,  "… to cater for the beginning of mass tourism (rather than Grand Tourists) to [Pompeii]."

Again, the book can be found on both at the Internet Archive (with Kindle capacity), A handbook for travellers in southern Italy; being a guide for the provinces formerly constituting the continental portion of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, and on Google Books.

Pompeii starts at page 208.

The House of Pansa

edward bulwer lytton's 'the last days of pompeii' online

For those who like to read curiosities, here is Edward Bulwer Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii at the Internet Archive. (Also downloadable to Kindle.)

Or at Google Books.

Wikipedia has the movie and TV history in a stub.

'the fires or vesuvius' vs. 'pompeii: the life of a roman town'

As Robert pointed out to me, Mary Beard's The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found is sold (at least in some versions) in the UK as Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town.

Re-reading the fascinating book, the latter title, though not as catchy, makes eminent sense to me:  Indeed the author largely describes life in a Roman town, glimpsed from the archaeological findings and supporting historical evidence.

What I really like about the book is that Mary Beard applies her usual skeptical attitude against hasty, gratuitous, or probably outright false, assumptions – in other words, no nonsense and diligent scholarship.  Yes, we know a lot, but we also don't know a lot, and we better look at all of it very carefully.

(Wikimedia Commons has quite a few images of ancient Pompeii, which can be found here, organized by subject.)

two earlier posts on the eruption of vesuvius and mary beard's book

In connection with our current read, The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found by Mary Beard, here are two earlier posts of interest:

• the eruption of mt. vesuvius, 79 AD
• did you know that …

upcoming book chat: 'fires of vesuvius' by mary beard, july 21

The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found
by Mary Beard

In the UK, this book is also published under the title Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town.

As the book is quite a tome, I'm looking for a way to have a second chat for this, despite our usual August recess. I myself am away the first two weeks or so of August.

Stay tuned …

more sources on the bona dea scandal, via jeffrey tatum's 'patrician tribune'

Yesterday, in connection with our current read, John Maddox Roberts' SPQR III: The Sacrilege, I mentioned The Patrician Tribune: Publius Clodius Pulcher by W. Jeffrey Tatum.

Tatum deals with the Bona Dea scandal in Chapter Three, and below are some accessible sources listed in endnote 18 of that chapter:

18. Sources for the Bona Dea scandal (excluding incidental references by Cicero):  Cic. Att. 1.12,1.13, 1.14, 1.16, 2.1.5;  Fam. 1.915;  … Val. Max. 8.5.5, 9.1.7; Suet. Iul. 74; Plut. Caes. 9-10; Cic. 28-29;   App.Sic. B.Civ. 2.14; Dio 37.45-46.

Cicero can be found on the Internet Archive:

• Letters to Atticus Book I. 
• Letters to Several Friends Book I.

You may search for 'clodius', and you get to the relevant pages.

Plutarch's Lives:

• Caesar
• Cicero

Suetonius: The Life of Julius Caesar.
Cassius Dio's Roman History: Book 37.
Appian, Civil Wars: Book 2.

As can be expected, there are an number of related articles on JSTOR too.

reminder: upcoming book chat on "SPRQ III: the sacrilege" by john maddox roberts

Our chat on SPQR III: The Sacrilege, mystery novel by John Maddox Roberts, is coming up on Wednesday.  The bona dea scandal with a Robertsian twist, as usual.

• Plutarch - Bona Dea Scandal, at Ancient/Classical History at About.com
• Plutarch Lives: Julius Caesar
  

The Patrician Tribune:
Publius Clodius Pulcher
by W. Jeffrey Tatum.