Roman History Books and More

roman britain - charlotte higgins, roger tomlin

More background to our current read, The Edge of the Empire: A Journey to Britannia: From the Heart of Rome to Hadrian's Wall by Bronwen Riley. (May 3 & 17):

 Charlotte Higgins interviewed, in The New Yorker, Roger Tomlin, Chief Researcher, Roman Inscriptions of Britain III,  Fellow, Wolfson College. How to Decode an Ancient Roman’s Handwriting. This is very helpful as Riley cites him many times in the above book.

That led me to Higgins' own book on Roman Britain, which, upon inquiry in our Facebook group, was highly praised. With a little monetary windfall that I have reserved for buying books, I downloaded Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain.

The two books take a very different approach. Riley sets up an imaginary travelogue in the year 130 CE for the then newly appointed governor. Higgins takes a look at the entire Roman Britain – albeit with selected sites – and explores the sites, the related history and archaeology, and frequently delves into literary connections, ancient and modern. Did you know that Wilfred Owen, a "Shropshire Lad," was an enthusiastic boyhood archaeologist and might have well chosen this as a profession, had he survives the Great War?

I am halfway into Higgins' entertaining book and highly recommend it as a companion to our reading selection!

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Newcomers to the chats are always welcome! The Roman History Reading Group meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month except August at Skype IM (no video) from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. U.S. EDT (UTC/GMT -04). This means that in Asia and Australia/Pacific it's daytime.  Here is a world time clock to help you.

Chat room directions. Irene will assist you.

 

may 3 & 17 chats - background

Our current read, The Edge of the Empire: A Journey to Britannia: From the Heart of Rome to Hadrian's Wall
by Bronwen Riley, starts its travelogue in Rome and spends some time at Ostia and Portus. Thus you might want to make a virtual tour through Ostia Antica.

Image from above website

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On another note, Caroline Lawrence, whom many of you know, interviewed the author in 2015: The History Girls

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Newcomers are always welcome! The Roman History Reading Group meets on the first and third Wednesday of each month except August at Skype IM (no video) from 9:30 to 11:00 p.m. U.S. EDT (UTC/GMT -04). This means that in Asia and Australia/Pacific it's daytime.  Here is a world time clock to help you.

Chat room directions. Irene will assist you.

 

january book chats: 'household gods' by judith tarr & harry turtledove

We are starting the new year off with a well known time travel novel that gets us to 2nd century CE Carnuntum!

January 7 & 21
Household Gods
by Judith Tarr & Harry Turtledove
(eBooks only ouside the U.S.)

This is a great site to explore the ancient town:
Carnuntum, Reborn City of Emperors

Newcomers: Chat room location (with instructions) at Skype IM.

lacuscurtius and livius.org: informative sites about ancient rome

LacusCurtius - A Gateway to Ancient Rome, run by Bill Thayer, is one of the most informative websites on the subject. livius.org is operated by Jona Lendering.

Together, they have a blog with news about their respective websites: New at LacusCurtius & Livius, as well as book reviews and other news.

Enjoy!

Related articles

Roman Ruins HD for iPad is a terrific way to explore ancient Rome

Sarmatians on The Wall

Thanks to Irene for letting me do this guest post!

Our current read, “Island of Ghosts” by Gillian Bradshaw, sends Sarmatian cavalry to Hadrian’s Wall as a result of a treaty with Emperor Marcus Aurelius.  Ariantes and his men are assigned to Cilurnum, known today as Chesters Roman Fort.

Chester’s has a wonderfully preserved bath house, located outside the fort walls, on the riverbank.  The niches for storing clothes still survive and you can sit inside one of the baths!

I'm unsuccessful at uploading photos, so click on the link below for the English Heritage page on the fort.  Scroll down to the gallery and click on the photos - they are incredible.  At the administrative headquarters, you can even peer into the strong room where the money was kept.  The strong room still has its original roof!  You can also see the under floor heating system (hypocaust) in the commander's house.  He had a private bath house as well.

 Chesters Roman Fort

We visited Cilurnum (Chesters) in 2008 and in 2010 and 2011 I was lucky enough to take part in archeology digs at Vindolanda Roman Fort.  

Vindolanda

If Ariantes and his fellow Sarmatians had to be posted on the Wall, then Cilurnum was one of the better forts.  Although I think his fellow Sarmatian Prince, Arshak, got the best posting:  Eboracum (modern-day York)!

One of the most memorable things about my visit to Cilurnum was at the gift shop.  We asked the clerk to recommend a bed and breakfast.  He recommended one a couple of miles down the military road.  He said it was just past the Temple of Mithras.  My mouth hung open!   I made him repeat that there was a Temple of Mithras just down the road.   We visited it and I still can't believe I was there.   Here it is:

http://www.roman-britain.org/places/brocolitia.htm

 

column of marcus aurelius

Our current read, "Island of Ghosts," takes place during Marcus Aurelius' reign. Our friend Robert posted a page by Jona Lendering about the Column of Marcus Aurelius, one of the war monuments from ancient Rome. That page also leads to a link on LacusCurtius, Columna M. Aurelii Antonini.

The image is via Wikimedia Commons, from this page about the column.

Update: How did I miss this video?

reminder of upcoming book chat, may 16: 'the republic of vengeance' (uk title: 'of merchants and heroes')

Join us on Wednesday, May 16 to discuss
The Republic of Vengeance by Paul Waters.
(UK: Of Merchants and Heroes)
Also as eBook at other vendors.

I do enjoy not only the story but also the excellent prose!

Review by Mary Harrsch

a friend at hadrian's wall

Our book club member Beverly is currently digging at the Hadrian's Wall and keeps a blog:

Cats on the Wall

ara pacis augustae

An In-depth Visual Documentation of the Ara Pacis Augustae.

Enjoy!

Now, if only I remembered who posted this on Facebook so I could give credit …

coincidences: dura-europos

As I am reading, in How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy, about the 1920 discovery of the ruins of Dura-Europas – the Roman Fort and Temple (88ff), and the Synagogue and the House Church (95ff) – and doing some googling, up comes Judith Weingarten's blogpost Gods At the Crossroads.

The famous soldier fresco can be seen there in color.

But not only that, she also links to the current exhibit at Boston University, Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity, Feb. 5 – Jun. 5.  Those of you who live in the Boston area, don't miss this!

And in a further coincidence, just hours ago, Migistra Ginny Lindzey posted Buried with Secrets: Skeletons Likely Victims of Chemical Weapon | Rome, Persia and Ancient Warfare on Facebook, also featuring Adrienne Mayor:

Almost 2,000 years ago, 19 Roman soldiers rushed into a cramped underground tunnel, prepared to defend the Roman-held Syrian city of Dura-Europos from an army of Persians digging to undermine the city's mudbrick walls. But instead of Persian soldiers, the Romans met with a wall of noxious black smoke that turned to acid in their lungs. Their crystal-pommeled swords were no match for this weapon; the Romans choked and died in moments, many with their last pay of coins still slung in purses on their belts.

read on

The relevant section in Goldsworthy's book is at page 101.

Judith Weingarten has all about Zenobia in her blog, Zenobia: Empress of the East,Exploring Zenobia's World. The Incredible Rise and Fall of the City of Palmyra.

Postscript:

For those lucky people who have access to ARTSTOR, there are the Dura-Europos and Gerasa Archives (Yale University).

lod mosaic at the metropolitan museum in new york

Via an article by  G.W. Bowersock in the New York Review of Books I was reminded that I haven't been to the Met lately.

Image courtesy MetMuseum, click here or on image to enlarge

Here is more directly from the Met, including a video about the discovery of the mosaic and a link to this page.

For those living in the area, how about a field trip before April 3? Contact me at irenesbooks at optonline.net.

images of ancient petra

Quest for Solomon's Mines on Nova tonight (though not entirely satisfactory as a documentary) has some nice images of Ancient Petra, the beginning of Falco and Helena's adventure in our current read, Last Act in Palmyra.

Petra (Wikipedia)

the metropolitan museum online: roman games: playing with animals

Tangentially related to our current book chats, i.e., games and gladiators, this was posted on the Met Museum's Facebook page today:

Roman Games: Playing with Animals

Public games were a major part of Roman culture, playing an important role in the social and political life of the city and its empire. Although the games had their roots in funeral or religious rites, by the late Republican period (ca. 70–31 B.C.), they had become a hugely popular form of public entertainment. They took several forms but all were essentially either races or fights. Known as ludi and munera, games could be staged in purpose-made arenas, most notably the Colosseum (L.2007.9.46) and Circus Maximus (L.2007.9.68) in Rome, either separately or combined in lengthy festivals.

Above Image: Gladiator cup, ca. 50–80 a.d.; Neronian–Early Flavianic; Roman; Found at Montagnole, suthern France Glass

From the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

Enjoy!

late-third century urban defenses in south Languedoc

Thanks to Lindsay Powell for finding this!   (History of the Ancient World)

Writing on the wall: late-third century urban defenses in south Languedoc
By Douglas Underwood
PhD Dissertation, University of Missouri–Columbia, 2009

This thesis takes the three largest cities in Roman south Languedoc-Narbonne, Carcassonne and Toulouse -and reexamines the evidence, both archaeological and literary, about the city walls. I conclude that these walls, indeed built in the late third or early fourth century, were not hastily constructed and did not only enclose a small portion of the city. Further, the construction of monumental walls at this date shows a level of economic vitality. This argues against the commonly assumed dismal situation and suggests that the problems of the “third-century crisis” did not affect south Gaul in ways previously thought.

City of Narbonne in south of France, and the Saint Just cathedral
viewed from the Gilles Aycelin dungeon.
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

the phoenician ship expedition

Phoenicia, the Phoenician Ship Expedition

Hat tip: Judith Weingarten

The Phoenician Ship Expedition launched from Arwad, Syria in August 2008, to sail through the Suez Canal, and into the Red Sea. Phase One of the expedition was completed in January 2009 when Phoenicia reached the Republic of Yemen.

Phase Two launched in August 2009 to sail round the Horn of Africa and down the east coast.  Negotiating the dangers of the Cape of Good Hope was a critical point in the expedition.  The voyage continued up the west coast of Africa, through the Straits of Gibraltar and across the Mediterranean to return to the Lebanon and Syria in October 2010.

Follow the ship's blog.

using iPad in archaeology

Apple - Discovering ancient Pompeii with iPad

This is awesome.

Ellis, who estimates that iPad has already saved him a year of data entry, plans to increase the number of iPad devices from one to two per trench. “The recovery of invaluable information from our Pompeian excavations is now incalculably faster, wonderfully easier, unimaginably more dynamic, precisely more accurate, and robustly secure,” he says.

read all

Hat tip: Desiree G.

new website: pompeiviva

POMPEIVIVA website now complete.

The site is in Italian, English and Spanish, and includes information about how to get to Pompeii, Herculaneum, Boscoreale, Stabiae and Oplontis, how to buy tickets, suggested tourist itineraries, opening hours, events and exhibitions and even rules for visiting.

An excellent interactive site.

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!

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!  ;-)