Roman History Books and More

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

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

strabo of amasia

In our current read, Augustus, the novel by John Williams, Nicolaus of Damascus writes letters to Strabo of Amasia, the ancient geographer and an exact contemporary of Augustus.  This Wikipedia page (as usual handle with care) has a link to a biography at Perseus Digital Library, and indeed the entire work can be found there:  Strabo, Geography

It is also at LacusCurtius: Strabo: The Geography. Bill Thayer writes:

As with most ancient authors, not that much is known of Strabo, and the Loeb edition's introductory material, by the translator Horace Leonard Jones, is about as good as one can get. The Loeb edition also provides a thorough bibliography, including a very summary discussion of the principal manuscripts of the Geography: that too will eventually find its way onsite, except for some few addenda made by the Loeb editors in the later reprintings and therefore still under copyright. Further good information, especially on editions and translations, may be found on Sarah Pothecary's site.

More editions can be found at the Internet Archive.

Loeb's Classical Library edition in print makes up 17 volumes with the Greek text and English translation side by side.

It certainly is an amazing work for its time.  Maybe we should put selections from The Geography on next year's reading list.

myths about roman road building laid to rest

In connection with our current book chats, I have been browsing through Travel in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson.

Casson devotes an entire chapter to Roman road building (Part Two, 10, "Roman Roads").  He takes handbooks to task that perpetuate conclusions made by a French scholar in the 17th century, namely that all road building was done in the same fashion:  a bed laid in more or less the same height and in three different courses, one of which was sealed with cement.  However, archaeological findings show that,

• Romans never used cement (one reads almost everywhere to this day about the cement claim);
• Romans never stuck to one type of road bed, but made decisions based on soil and terrain; and
• surfacing varied with soil and terrain, as well as by how much traffic a road had.

In other words, the Romans were clever road builders.  Casson digs deep into the subject and the entire chapter is a fascinating read.  It is followed by "On the Road," a description of land travel.  He also mentions that the Ancient Chinese were no mean builders of roads.

some background reading on travel to rome and occupations in the ancient world (II)

Lindsay Powell, who recommends Travel in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson which I listed yesterday, also likes Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome by J.P.V.D. Balsdon, London: The Bodley Head, 1969, which can be had very cheaply on the used book market in the paperback edition of 2004 by Phoenix Press.

There is also Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists (originally published as "Route 66 A.D.") by Tony Perrotett.

some background reading for our march chats on travel to rome and occupations in the ancient world for those who want to know more

Updated 2/20 to add another review of "Roman Woodworking."

On March 3 & 17 we will be reading Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day by Philip Matyzcak and Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World by Vicki Leon.

If you have the time and inclination, here are some other subject related books:

• Travel in the Ancient World
  by Lionel Casson
• A Taste of Ancient Rome
  by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa
• Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome
  by Lesley & Roy Adkins
• Roman Woodworking
  by Roger B. Ulrich  my review / N.S. Gill's review

        

And then there is Apicius (Wikipedia, handle with care) and the only current online translation, thanks to Bill Thayer.  Yahoo has an Apicius Group.

roman france, three articles in the new york times this weekend

(Hat tip Adrian Murdoch)

Photo Ed Alcock for The New York Times
The Pont du Gard, an aqueduct in southern France.

Travel
Roman France
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
Published: May 17, 2009
From amphitheaters and aqueducts to sarcophagi and statuary left behind by the conquerors, a hunt for what was once Gaul reveals traces of Roman civilization throughout the countryside.
With multimedia slideshow

roman trier, an update

My 1999 travelogue of Roman Germania included a visit to Trier, the Roman Augusta Treverorum.  At the time, I had excellent links to pages from the Universität Trier website.  I recently discovered that they had all disappeared into cyberspace and on inquiry was told that they will not be brought back.  I had it on my to-do list to look for replacements, but before I got to it, Jona Lendering on the blog New at LacusCurtius and Livius.Org last week pointed to pages about Roman Trier which he has created and is still adding to. 

Accordingly, and gratefully, I have updated my page TRIER — COLONIA AUGUSTA TREVERORUM and linked it to Jona's pages. 

For the (non-Roman) remaining links from the Uni Trier site that had gone missing I found similar information on Sacred Sites and Religious Places in Germany.  Though some people might not consider the Karl Marx House a "sacred" site …  And I wish I had the time to rescan my photos with today's improved equipment …

Basilica, Trier, 1999

berkshire mountains in early september, and the clark art institute

On Labor Day we took a couple of days off and drove to our favorite haunt, the Brook Farm Inn at Lenox, Mass., in the Berkshire Mountains, where I have been a guest for over 25 years.  And in perfect weather!

We spent most of one day at our favorite museum, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, better known as "The Clark."  This year's summer exhibit is Like Breath on Glass, "the first exhibition to examine 'painting softly,' a distinctive approach to painting exemplified in works by James McNeill Whistler and George Inness," as well as  others "emulating" Whistler, including Edward Steichen whom I only was aware of as photographer until now.

“Paint should not be applied thick. It should be like breath on the surface of a pane of glass.”
James McNeill Whistler

ruso and his world

Our next read is variously known as "Medicus", "Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls", and "Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls", and the author is known as R. S. Downie and Ruth Downie. Despite knowing this I still managed to buy the book twice, so do keep your wits about you in bookshops. The author has her own blog, on one page of which she explains how this curious situation came about.

The novel tells the story of a murky affair involving the death of prostitutes which Gaius Petreius Ruso reluctantly gets involved in after being posted as doctor to the XX Legion at Deva in Britannia as the empire passes to Hadrian on Trajan's death.

Deva is now called Chester, and you can see its location on this map.

goethe's italian journey

More from David Derrick's The Toynbee convector, on one of my favorite reads: Goethe’s Italian Journey.

The book itself in translation:  Italian Journey: 1786-1788 (Penguin Classics)

Online, it's available in German only:

• ItaIienische Reise, vol. 1
• Italienische Reise, vol. 2
• Italienische Reise
• Wiedergeburt in Italien

on holy ground

Toynbee's reflections on his preference as a young man for the historically significant sites of the Hellenic civilization rather than those of his own Western Christian civilization.

Courtesy David Derrick, The Toynbee convector

house of augustus opens to the public

From the BBC:

Treasures revealed
The house of Roman Emperor Augustus opens to the public

And here is Mary Beard on this:   The house of Augustus: all mod cons?

roman forum no longer free

via About.com:  Roman Forum no longer free

The current Colosseum and Palatine Hill combination ticket will also include admission to the Roman Forum and will now be valid for two days.

What is the world coming too?  <SIGH>

From my experience, one needs more time, i.e., being able to go back at will would be a nice idea.

a visit to fishbourne

Bingley, who kindly helps me with this blog, recently went home and along the way visited Fishbourne (Wikipedia, handle with care).   He brought back his impressions and a few photos.

Enjoy his Visit to Fishbourne!
_________

Fishbourne Roman Palace
(Tempus History & Archaeology)
by Barry Cunliffe

A Body in the Bathhouse
A Falco mystery by Lindsey Davis which takes place at the Palace of Fishbourne, with King Togidubnus in residence.

mosaic makers and their craft

Longinus Flavius Libertus, the freedman sleuth of Rosemary Rowe’s  The Legatus Mystery (from the Libertus Mysteries Series), is a pavement maker, a designer and maker of mosaics.

Roman mosaics were usually made of small square tesserae of 10mm x 10mm (3/8" x 3/8") size.

Below are a number of links/images of extant Roman mosaics, most of them quite elaborate.  It seems doubtful that our Libertus did much more than geometric patterns –which could be very intricate though – but may have had other design templates.  Occasionally, the mosaicist would sign his work, for example, The artist at work. 

In my travels in 1999 through Germany, I went to Bad Kreuznach near Mainz, where two mosaic floors were discovered in the remains of a Roman villa, in 1893 and 1966, and are now preserved in a museum barn.  They are presumed to be from the 2nd century AD, the period in which the Libertus mysteries are set.  So they are quite appropriate for our upcoming chat on February 7.

The better known is the Gladiator Mosaic, the other the Oceanus Mosaic, a favored theme.  (Click on the images below. Oh dear, old software, I have to re-edit those!)

roman knowledge of britain

Although Pytheas of Massilia voyaged to Britain and probably circumnavigated the island in the 4th century BC, his account of his travels was not well received by his contemporaries. My review of Barry Cunliffe's account of Pytheas' voyage can be read here.

So what did Romans know of the geography of Britain? Julius Caesar visited the island twice, and left us with this account of its geography. Strabo included this information about Britain in his Geography, which Sarah Pothecary dates to 17 - 23 AD.

Tacitus includes some incidental information about the geography of the island in his biography of Agricola, who had been governor of Britain. During his governorship Britain was circumnavigated. One of Plutarch's philosophical dialogues, has a character named Demetrius who had come from Britain where he had been sent on a voyage of exploration by the emperor's order (see Chapter XVIII).

Ogilvie and Richmond in their commentary on the Agricola suggest that the information in Ptolemy's Geography about northern Britain derives from Agricola's time in Britain. For what Roman maps of Britain would have looked like, see romanmap.com and have fun with the maps and place names.

gone fishing again . . .

I'll be out of town for a few days this week, enjoying fresh ocean air and sans laptop, so blogging may be sporadic, depending on what Bingley can do. 

tangentially: the blind traveler

Long before a blind man went up Mt. Everest, there was John Holman (1786–1857).   In  A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History's Greatest Traveler, Jason Roberts narrates the astounding story of Lieutenant John Holman, who as a blind man traveled through much of the world on his own, and on very modest means.  Holman's service in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars had been cut short by a very painful form of rheumatism, and soon thereafter he was stricken by a sudden onset of total blindness.  He achieved an astonishing adjustment to his affliction, considering the times he lived in:  he went to university, even studying medicine;  and when his rheumatism flared up again, he went to the Continent on the advice of his doctors, the first of his several travels, which included a circumnavigation of the world.  With his utmost desire of independence, he succesfully evaded his younger brother who was supposed to accompany him, and from then on, he mostly traveled alone.

philadelphia orchestra at tanglewood

Yesterday, on a perfect day – sunny, absolutely blue sky, and pleasantly cool – I did another trip up to Tanglewood to listen to the Philadelphia Orchestra under its music director Christoph Eschenbach playing  Beethoven  (The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, Ballet Music and Symphony No. 8 in F major);  and Tchaikovsky's  Symphony. No. 5 in E minor.

It was loud!  I'm kidding …  It was a great performance.   After a nice and briskly played Prometheus, we got to the meat with Beethoven's Symphony No. 8, which is somewhat of a tour de force of exuberance, jests and jokes. I found some online program notes.