Roman History Books and More

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

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).

for alma-tadema fans

Alma-Tadema fans will enjoy this from the Three Pipe Problem blog:
Visual inspiration & the rehabilitation of Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema – The Complete Works

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.

book review: the pericles commission by gary corby

or: The Education of Nicolaos, Son of Sophroniscus

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A dead man fell from the sky, landing at my feet with a thud. I stopped and stood there like a fool, astonished to see him lying where I was about to step. He lay facedown in the dirt, arms spread wide, with an arrow protruding out his back. He'd been shot through the heart.

Thus begins this entertaining mystery novel. Barely has Nicolaos recovered from this shock, down walks Pericles, identifying the body as his friend Ephialtes, who brought real democracy to Athens. One word leads to another, and Pericles commissions Nicolaos to investigate the murder. Nicolaos, recently returned from military service, is unwilling to follow in his father's footsteps as a sculptor and rather dreams of a career in politics, so he jumps at the offer. Little does he know what he is getting himself into.

The year is 461 BCE, and Ephialtes, the leader of the Democrats, has been at loggerheads with the Areopagus, the ruling council of oligarchs, whose function he has largely emasculated. One of these is Xanthippus, Pericles' father. Except for our protagonist, almost all major characters in the novel are historical figures, from his parents Sophroniscus and Phaenarete and his pesky and irritating little brother Socrates (yes, the Socrates) to the various political movers and shakers, and Diotima, a priestess of Artemis. Mr. Corby paints a large canvass of Ancient Athens, the city, its markets, its mob, its laws and mores.

Read full review

The Pericles Commission by Gary Corby hits the stores on October 12.

A dead man fell from the sky, Gary Corby's blog.

Spoiler alert! Do not, repeat not, read the Author's Note before finishing the book.

Update: The author advises that the final print run does include a spoiler alert of its own.

author interview with vicky alvear shecter – 'cleopatra rules'

Here is an interview with our friend and book chat member, Young Adult author Vicky Alvear Shecter, whose latest book, Cleopatra Rules!: The Amazing Life of the Original Teen Queen has just been published.

3PP: What lead to the decision to write a book for younger audiences about Cleopatra VII?

VAS: I think the larger question here is why did I want to write for younger audiences about ancient history? The answer is simple: because I never “outgrew” my fascination with the ancient world. I wanted to write books about fascinating people in a style I would have loved as a kid.

Read the full interview at "three pipe problem"

Alexander the Great Rocks the World

Read Vicky's blog: History with a Twist.

upcoming book chat: 'kleopatra' by karen essex

On Wednesday, September 1, we will discuss Kleopatra by Karen Essex, the first of a two-volume novel.

Irene's review
N.S. Gill's review

The author would have liked to join us, but "middle of the night" is not a good idea ...

More blogging to come. Meanwhile, look at chat member Vicky Alvear Shecter's blog, History With A Twist.

It is too bad that Adrian Goldworthy's new biography, Antony and Cleopatra, is not yet on the market (publishing date September 28). I just did my first read-through, and it is excellent!

 

 

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

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.

five books on enemies of ancient rome

Adrienne Mayor, author of the Mithridates biography The Poison King, is interviewed on Five Books about her choices for Enemies of Ancient Rome.

Two books are new to me.  Of the rest, Winter Quarters we read last year, The Spartacus War, which I like very much, we will read in November.

Here is more on Roman & Aliens.

our next book: 'lavinia' by ursula le guin and plenty of food for thought

Our next book is Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin, at the April 7 chat.  It's not an easy read, so I appreciate all the help we can get.  My thanks to Robert for finding this 2009 entry in Tony Keen's  Memorabilia Antonina, called Lavinia:

I've just this week finished and sent off to Vector, the British Science Fiction Association's critical journal, a review of Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin. Almost immediately, a large online discussion of the novel, conducted by Niall Harrison, Adam Roberts, Abigail Nussbaum, Nic Clarke and Jo Coleman, has appeared, in four parts spread across four separate blogs:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

There are a couple of other links that will be relevant: Adam Roberts' original review on Strange Horizons, and another interesting discussion of the book by Andries du Toit. 

Read on, there is a lot of food for thought.  And we all might as well start reading the book as soon as possible …

on 'credentials' and the 'credulity of men'

Yesterday, I posed the question on Facebook: 'Do you tend to look for the "About Us" page when visiting a website?' (This in connection with web design.) All respondents did, and there was concern about quality and credentials of a website.

So here comes David Powell with a note by Bill Thayer about credentials, which leads into Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors, Chapter V, Of Credulity and Supinity, at the same site.

Enjoy the read!  (image courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

good historical fiction creates a 'hallucination of experience'

Children's books author Vicky Alvear Shecter added some further thoughts to our discussion of Eagle of the Ninth:

You asked me to share my thoughts on EAGLE OF THE NINTH from last week's book club.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book for many reasons, including the presence of a likeable, imperfect but brave main character; as well as rich descriptions, and excellent suspense. I read somewhere that good historical fiction creates a "hallucination of experience," which I thought perfectly described Sutcliff's mastery.  I really felt like I was marching with the legions or hiding from enemies near mist-covered bogs. As a result, I didn't really get tripped up by the occasional credulity-stretching coincidence and the too-tidy, happy ending.  By the way, I think the master of creating "hallucinatory experiences" of the ancient world is Steven Saylor. When will we discuss one of his works?

We did, some years back, and should do so again, Steven Saylor is a favorite of most of our book chat members. And he could join us for the chat ... we are fully booked this year, but there is always the next year.

Comments on "hallucination of experience"  historical fiction are welcome.

common errors in ancient history (via jona lendering)

Browsing through New at LacusCurtius & Livius, I found Common Errors – actually, there is a "Common Errors" tab on top – which Jona begins as follows:

In 2009, I published a little book (in Dutch) in which I discuss more than fifty common errors about ancient history, Spijkers op laag water. Below are some examples, a couple of which are absent from the book. I have presented my subject matter in a sequence that allows the reader to read the book as a narrative history of Antiquity too, albeit a narrative history with some unusual digressions.

Listed are 27 errors. Lots of good stuff, including the Legio VIIII Hispana discussed earlier (#22).

There is a related page, Ancient History and Pseudoscholarship.

our next book discussion: 'the eagle of the ninth' by rosemary sutcliff

On January 6.

A beloved author to several of our reading group members, Rosemary Sutcliff is new to me.

There are several blogs about her:

• Rosemary Sutcliff – For one of the world's greatest 20th Century historical novelists. Born 1920. Died 1992. Blogsite of Anthony Lawton, Rosemary Sutcliff's godchild and literary executor
• Rosemary Sutcliff: an appreciation
• Rosemary Sutcliff with a 1986 interview

And then there is an appreciation from the Historical Novel Society: SANDRA GARSIDE-NEVILLE looks at one of Britain’s best-loved historical novelists Personal Life. Unfortunately not easy on the eye!

The copy I got from the library is a very tattered one, and as I start reading, I can see why: Lots of suspense! More comments to come.

I would have liked to post a photo of the author, but there don't seem to be any that are in the open domain …

for military history buffs: the roman legions …

… all you wanted know and more

Just a few days ago I came across these excellent pages at livius.org:  The Roman Legions, and Geographical Overview of same.  Jona Lendering has put together an extensive catalog:

On this site, you will find an alphabetical and chronological catalogue of the imperial legions. An overview of the armies in certain provinces is here.

Don't miss the New at Lacus Curtius & Livius blog by Jona Lendering and Bill Thayer.

Irene's photo:

Titus Flavius Bassus Stele 2nd half of 1st century CE
Top section of the funerary monument for T. Flavius Bassus Mucalae, an eques of an auxiliary troop from Noricum Province, of the tribe of the Desenter. Romano-Germanic Museum, Cologne.

helping cure juvenile dermatomyositis, october 2

Stamford fellow blogger Kevin of Always Home and Uncool has asked me to post this as part of his effort to raise awareness in the blogosphere of juvenile myositis, a rare autoimmune disease his daughter was diagnosed with on this day seven years ago. The day also happens to be his wife's birthday.

*

Our pediatrician admitted it early on.

The rash on our 2-year-old daughter's cheeks, joints and legs was something he'd never seen before.

The next doctor wouldn't admit to not knowing.

new at lacus curtius: plutarch on talkativeness

Bill Thayer: It's bad.

de garrulitate by Plutarch

It is a troublesome and difficult task that philosophy has in hand when it undertakes to cure garrulousness. For the remedy, words of reason, requires listeners; but the garrulous listen to nobody, for they are always talking. And this is the first symptom of their ailment: looseness of the tongue become impotence of the ears.  For it is a deliberate deafness, that of men who, I take it, blame Nature because they have only one tongue, but two ears. If, then, Euripides was right when he said with reference to the unintelligent hearer,

          I could not fill a man who will not hold
          My wise words flooding into unwise ears,

it would be more just to say to the garrulous man, or rather about the garrulous man,

          I could not fill a man who will not take
          My wise words flooding into unwise ears,

or rather submerging, a man who talks to those who will not listen, and will not listen when others talk. For even if he does listen for a moment, when his loquacity is, as it were, at ebb, the rising tide immediately makes up for it many times over.

They give the name Seven-voiced to the portico at Olympia which reverberates many times from a single utterance; and if but the least word sets garrulousness in motion, straightway it echoes round about on all sides,

          Touching the heart-strings never touched before.

read on

Mestrios Plutarchos (Plutarch)

alex munthe on capri (in re tiberius)

 … take a look at the photo below, one can imagine Tiberius there.

Robert of Matters Arising blogs:

Axel Munthe's The Story of San Michele is briefly mentioned in the introduction to Allan Massie's "Tiberius: The Memoirs of the Emperor", the Roman History Reading Group's current read.  Munthe was a Swedish doctor who built a villa on Capri, on what was allegedly the site of one of Tiberius's villas, in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century.
read on

Villa San Michele

Courtesy Wikimedia Commons