Roman History Books and More

the complete jane austen on PBS (and in print)

I'm a bit behind the curve here, but there is still plenty to watch on PBS at  The Complete Jane Austen.  I was reminded of this when I caught up with my New Yorker issues:  Everybody Loves Jane - PBS renews its vows with the author of “Pride and Prejudice.”

I watched a deliciously funny Northanger Abbey, pretty true to the original although greatly abridged, but gave up on Miss Austen Regrets.  I'm looking forward to the first installment this Sunday of  Pride and Prejudice.  (check your local station for day and time)

(Earlier blog entry: Classical Education c.1800, via Jane Austen)

review of ancient rome: the rise and fall of an empire

I've been watching the BBC's Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire on VCD. US Amazon has the book of the TV series, but the DVD is as yet only availabe from UK Amazon. With Mary Beard as one of its historical advisors, we can be reasonably certain that the programmes at least get the basic facts right.

The series is supposed to take us from the defeat of Carthage to Alaric's capture of Rome in 6 50-minute episodes but are not in chronological order. The order is: Nero, Julius Caesar, Tiberius Gracchus, the Jewish revolt and Vespasian and Titus, Constantine, and Alaric's siege and sack of Rome. Since the series does not assume much knowledge on the part of viewers, I can't help but wonder whether this chronological hopping about might not confuse them.

Continue reading my full review.

titter ye not

I didn't actually find A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum that funny. It had its amusing moments, but it wasn't really laugh out loud material. It did bring back fond memories of Up Pompeii!, though.

For those who haven't seen it, Up Pompeii! (usual wikipedia caveats apply) was a BBC sitcom starring Frankie Howerd (who was Pseudolus in the London version of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum) as Lurcio, slave to the Pompeii household of Ludicrus Sextus, Amonia, Nausius, and Erotica. Lurcio's attempts to bring the audience a bit of classical culture were always foiled by the fact that he never managed to finish the prologue to whatever story he wanted to tell because the complex machinations of various members of the household kept getting in the way.

To my 13-year-old self it was hilarious, and as I near 50, the clips on the BBC's page devoted to the programme (scroll down for the clips) are still pretty funny. What made it funny was, of course, Frankie Howerd's asides to the audience, which weren't so much asides as the whole point, and the situations forever teetering on the brink of disaster until he managed to get them back under control. Another favourite character, seen making a typical entrance at the end of the first clip, was Senna the Soothsayer. They should have made many more episodes, rather than the dire film version. Woe, woe and thrice woe, indeed.

DVDs of the series, together with other Frankie Howerd performances, are available from amazon.co.uk, but not it would seem from the American amazon.

the eruption of mt. vesuvius, 79 AD

In truly epic poem style, Anthony Burgess narrates the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD in his conclusion of The Kingdom of the Wicked.  He also places Domitian at the scene, which he successfully flees: “He had to live to become emperor; there were many hearts to be transfixed before he died.”

Eruption of 79 (Wikipedia, handle with care)
Official Pompeii Archaeology site  Lots of stuff!

The best known historic description of the horrifying event comes from Pliny the Younger in two letters to Tacitus:  6.16 and 6.20.   Pliny the Elder was praefect of the Roman fleet at Misenum at the time, and his adopted nephew Pliny the Younger and his mother lived with him or visited him at the time.  Pliny the Elder perished and Pliny the Younger and his mother barely escaped.

Memoirs of Hadrian - movie planned

Googling for 'Antinous', I discovered that there is a movie in pre-production in the UK:

Memoirs of Hadrian:  'In a daring adaptation of Marguerite Yourcenar's bestseller "Memoirs of Hadrian," John Boorman recreates the life of Roman emperor Hadrian which is written in the form of a letter from the aging emperor to his young successor, recounting the story of Hadrian's early political career in the second century A.D.'

Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar