Also Seen

I hope this exercise is at least useful for collecting some resources and cutting down on search time. Thanks to Dennis for his contribution. Just saw a couple of other books I thought I'd link to.

Vergil in the Middle Ages by Domenico Comparetti (Benecke translation)

Vergil: A Biography by Tenney Frank

And while we're on the subject of former Bryn Mawr faculty, here is Tenney Frank's Roman Imperialism.

The Cults of Ostia, Lily Ross Taylor's doctoral thesis

And a couple from Paul Shorey:
The Unity of Plato's Thought

Horace: Odes and Epodes

Byzantinistik on Google Books

Following Eric's lead I thought I'd link to some useful old works in my hobby area, Byzantine studies. Some of these may be outdated, but still useful.

First up, Karl Krumbacher's Geschichte der byzaninischen Litteratur von Justinian bis zum Ende des Oströmischen Reiches. This is the expanded second edition of 1897, and an incredibly important work.

I was interested also to find Immanuel Bekker's edition of the histories of Nicetas Choniates. Bekker was so prolific as an editor and collator of manuscripts that, it was said, 'he could be silent in seven languages' (Sandys iii 87). Har har.

I then started in trying to catalogue the rest of the 50 volumes of the Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, but really should have guessed that Mischa Hooker had already done it.

But there are still many important works to be found. (The legendary Du Cange's Histoire de l'empire de Constantinople sous les empereurs francais, for instance.) The rest of this list will be heavily indebted to the introduction to Ostrogorsky's History of the Byzantine State.

What about both volume 1 and volume 2 of John Jacob Reiske's text and commentary on the De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae by Constantine Porphyrogenitus? Ostrogorsky called the discovery of this manuscript 'without doubt one of the greatest events in the history Byzantine studies.'

Though incomplete overall, a certain volume of George Finlay's comprehensive history of Greece is available that includes all of the chapters on Medieval Greece and the Trebizond, covering the years 540-1453. Finlay is described as a philhellene and a friend of Byron. He consciously states in his preface that he has written a supplement to Gibbon, 'until something more worthy to be placed beside the writings of the great historian shall replace it,' and we can infer from this that he intended to be fairer to his subject than Gibbon was while acknowledging Gibbon's labor and achievement.

Then there's Alfred Rambaud's L'empire grec au dixième siècle: Constantin Porphyrogénète, which Ostrogorsky calls 'epoch making.'

Both volume 1 and volume 2 of Sabatier's Description des monnaies byzantines are available.

Karl Neumann's Die Weltstellung des byzantinischen Reiches vor de Kreuzzügen is there too, which Ostrogorsky calls 'stimulating' and describes as 'a masterpiece of research and presentation.'

If Karl Eduard Zachariä von Lingenthal's seven volume Jus graeco-romanum is not available, then at least his Geschichte des Griechisch-römischen rechts is.

That does it for now.

Primary Texts/Late Antiquity

I don't have time for anything substantive at the moment, but I'll post a few more links to Google Books. Today's topic is primary sources from Late Antiquity.

Avitus (ed. Chevalier [LIBRAIRIE GÉNÉRALE CATHOLIQUE ET CLASSIQUE ])

Heptateuch-poet/Cyprianus Gallus (ed. Peiper [CSEL])

Juvencus (ed. Huemer [CSEL])

Nonnus--Paraphrasis S. Evangelii Ioannei (ed. Scheindler [Teubner])

Sedulius (ed. Huemer [CSEL])

The centaur at the forest's edge

As I work on making my first pot roast and in the lull before my daily workout (summers off are a nice perk for the teacher) I'm reading a bit of Jacob Burckhardt's Weltgeschichtliche Betrachtungen (translated inexplicably as 'Force and Freedom' and later republished by the Liberty Fund as 'Reflections on History'). Burckhardt is perhaps most famous today for the Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. He was a friend of Friedrich Nietzsche and an accomplished art historian who was lampooned by the likes of Wilamowitz for his views on the Greeks, but whom modern historians have followed and vindicated (cf. Oswyn Murray's edition of Burckhardt's The Greeks and Greek Civilization published by St. Martin's).

Early in the introduction to WB he uses the following image in rejecting Hegel's philosophy of history:

Diese ist ein Kentaur, eine contradictio in adjecto; denn Geschichte, d.h. das Koordinieren, ist nicht Philosophie und Philosophie, d.h. Subordinieren, ist Nichtgeschichte.

For the Deutchless (and perhaps the unLatined) among us:

This ('philosophy of history') is a centaur, a contradiction in terms; for history, i.e., that which coordinates, is not philosophy, and philosophy, i.e., that which subordinates, is unhistorical.

Burckhardt objects to the attempt of imposing a system onto something non-linear and unsystematic, and considers the first principals of the philosophy of history to lead necessarily to contradictions, and sees the obsession with origins as futile and necessitating predictions of the so-called progress of history.

The centaur soon reemerges, though, and we find that he isn't all bad:

Immerhin ist man dem Kentauren den höchsten Dank schuldig und begrüßt ihn gerne hie und da an einem Waldesrand der geschichtlichen Studien. Welches auch sein Prinzip gewesen, er hat einzelne mächtige Ausblicke durch den Wald gehauen und Salz in die Geschichte gebracht. Denken wir dabei nur an Herder.

And again a translation:

Still, we are very grateful to the centaur and gladly welcome him now and again at the edge of forest of historical studies. Whatever his principles have been, he has hewn several powerful vistas through the forest and added salt to history. We need only think of Herder.

Herder is best remembered today for his devotion to the notion of die Völker, or peoples, which may have helped pave the way to German nationalism. It's interesting though that Herder was reacting against the nationalism of his own day and was interested in elevating all 'peoples' of the world equally. He did shake things up to say the least.

Bruce Lincoln's Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship, which is concerned with what scholars have done with myth throughout history, contains a lot of useful and insightful information on Herder. Not that I endorse Lincoln's conclusions, his own theoretical framework, or especially his shoddy treatment of historical linguistics in the epilogue, but it is definitely worth reading and generally fair (if sometimes bordering on sensational).

More Google Books

Today we'll feature some full-view volumes by Gilbert Murray.

The Rise of Greek Epic

A History of Ancient Greek Literature

Anthropology and the Classics (Murray is the author of one of the six lectures; other authors include Andrew Lang and Arthur Evans)

The Stoic Philosophy (Conway Memorial Lecture, 1915)

Our Great War and the Great War of the Ancient Greeks (Creighton Lecture, 1918)

A Couple of Notes

I was happy to find that Eduard Norden's book Die Antike Kunstprosa is readable and fully downloadable at Google Books. I was hoping that they would have his commentary on Aeneid 6, but alas.

Also available is the 1908 edition of Richard Heinze's Virgils epische Technik, which you can find here.

For those interested in the history of classical scholarship, volume 2 of Sandys is available here, though I haven't been able to find the other volumes on Google Books.

Some volumes of Mommsen's Römische Geschichte are available in English translation here.

Also seen was Gilbert Murray's translation of two lectures by Wilamowitz. But they don't have his Geschichte der Philologie.

Finally, I saw Eleanor Dickey's new book Ancient Greek Scholarship (APA/Oxford, 2007) on the new books shelf today. It looks interesting and includes a 'reader' (chapter 5), the purpose of which is 'to provide practice in reading scholarly Greek' (p. 141). That seems to me to be a very good idea indeed. A review by William Slater is here.

The Last Legion trailer

I've mentioned the movie poster with some notes on the story, and now you can see the trailer:

Museum Exhibition + Website

The Indianapolis Museum of Art will be the first U.S. city to host a travelling exhibition of Roman Art from the Louvre. Here are the first three paragraphs of the press release:

INDIANAPOLIS – In preparation for hosting the United States premiere of the Roman Art from the Louvre exhibition, the Indianapolis Museum of Art has launched www.theRomansareComing.com , a special web site that features exhibition information, images, a calendar of events and a series of 10 IMA-produced downloadable videos that will bring to life various themes in the exhibition. Roman Art from the Louvre is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the Musée du Louvre and will be on view from September 23, 2007 to January 6, 2008.

Earlier this year, a team of five IMA staff members traveled to Rome and Paris to conduct interviews with Louvre representatives and to gather footage of historic monuments, buildings, and examples of Roman and Parisian culture. The IMA team then transformed the HDV footage into engaging, two- to three-minute videos called “webisodes” that will be available on www.theRomansareComing.com . The first video currently is available and more will be posted during the course of the exhibition. Upcoming video topics include the city of Paris, which is home to the Musée du Louvre; conservation techniques for antiquities; the art’s journey from Italy to the Louvre; and an analysis of the Roman influence on architecture throughout Indianapolis. An episode titled “I Love the A.D.s” investigates Roman pop culture and is patterned after the VH1 show “I Love the 80s.”

To further explore Rome and its culture, the web site also will feature lists of books and movies, a glossary of terms used in the exhibition, a calendar that includes upcoming programs and events at the IMA and teacher and school resources. Visitors may purchase advanced tickets to Roman Art from the Louvre on the web site as well. Exhibition admission is $12 for adults (ages 18-64); $6 for children (ages 7-17) and college students; $10 for seniors (65+) and groups of 10 or more. The exhibition is free for children six and under and for all school groups booked through the IMA Education Division.

You can read the rest here.

To go to the website mentioned in the release, just click.

Quintus Servilius Pudens

I've been trying to track down the Quintus Servilius Pudens (or 'Mr. Modest') mentioned in the article below. As he is said to have been a friend of Hadrian, the following is the individual closest to the necessary dates I've been able to find. The only year mentioned in the entry is 111, still during the reign of Trajan, so if this is our Servilius, he must have lived on into the reign of Hadrian. Is this he?

The entry is from Paulys Realencylopädie Supplement IX, entry 77a.

Q. Servilius Pudens, ein Legat, der mit Plinius im Dez. 111 in Nicomedia zusammentraf (Plin. epist. X 25), vielleicht Vater des cos. 166 (s.u. 77b). Er wird auf den Ziegeln CIL XV 346. 349-50. 1429-41 erwähnt.

The (possible) son mentioned was also named Q. Servilius Pudens, consul ordinarius in 166 with L. Fufidius Pollio and proconsul of Africa around 180 or shortly thereafter.

Bath Complex Discovered

Apologies if this has already been noted elsewhere:

Archaeologists Dig Up Roman Bath Complex
Staff and agencies
19 July, 2007

By MARTA FALCONI, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago

ROME - Archaeologists said Thursday they have partly dug up a second-century bath complex believed to be part of the vast, luxurious residence of a wealthy Roman.

Statues and water cascades decorated the interiors, American archaeologist Darius A. Arya, the head of the excavation, said Thursday during a tour of the digs with The Associated Press. Only pedestals and fragments have been recovered.

"The Romans had more leisure time than other people, and it‘s here in the baths that they typically spent their time," Arya said. "Because you could eat well, you could get a massage, you could have sex, you could gossip, you could play your games, you could talk about politics ? you could spend the whole day here."

The complex is believed to be part of a multiple-story villa that belonged to the Roman equivalent of a billionaire of today, a man called Quintus Servilius Pudens who was friends with Emperor Hadrian, Arya said. It is not clear if the baths were open to the public or reserved to distinguished guests of the owner.

Excavations at the Villa delle Vignacce park lasted a total of 10 weeks, and it is planned to continue, he said. Future decisions, including whether the site will be opened to the public, are still to be made.

Meeting at communal bath houses, they would go through a series of rooms of alternating temperatures at a leisurely pace, dipping themselves in hot and cold baths. It was a social event, but also a way to purify their bodies of toxins and a form of relaxation.

Twain, Vergil, Homer, Dante, etc.

Recently in the Muskogee Phoenix by a Food columnist. As the introduction to an Italian recipe, the author, who evidently utilizes an optimistic reading of Vergil, we find the following:

Mark Twain leads us to the topmost topaz of an ancient tower in his short story “A Cure for the Blues.”

This little gem is a witty literary criticism of a leading author of his day, fictionalized as the so-called McClintock, putting forth Twain’s belief that good writing comes from the writer’s own experience and the avid reading of books. He knew that a passionate writer must first be a voracious reader.

I mention Twain’s short story because it is through the reading of books that ideas are transmitted from one writer to another, from the ancient tower to the modern one. Four works can illustrate this point. Starting with Vergil’s “Aeneid,” the epic poem of the Romans, we can easily move between centuries.

Vergil wrote the “Aeneid” to glorify Rome for Emperor Augustus. Aeneas, the Trojan hero who escaped the fall of Troy to the Greeks, is given the profound mission of establishing a new Troy in a land to the West which will become Rome.

There, the oracle has told him, he will find a troia, a white pig with baby piglets, but not before visiting the Underworld, escaping perils, and jilting Carthaginian queen Dido to fulfill his glorious mission.

If we follow this thread backwards eight centuries we arrive at Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” the prototype for Vergil’s “Aeneid.” But, if we follow it forward to the late Middle Ages, we come to Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” In the first part of the work Vergil serves as Dante’s guide through the Inferno.

There they encounter nine circles increasing in severity where sinners receive a punishment befitting their transgressions. Dante’ influence continues to affect literature, his dialect setting the standard for the Italian language.

Move ahead several centuries into our time and we arrive at Daniel Pearle’s “The Dante Club.” In this well researched historical thriller three friends, Longfellow, Lowell and Holmes are furtively translating Dante’s Inferno into English when murders imitating the punishments in the nine circles begin cropping up in Cambridge just as the translators reach that point in the translating.

The men scramble to find the killer and help a widowed Longfellow finish the poetic translation.

And we can move beyond the ninth circle to Jodi Picoult’s “The Tenth Circle.” Comic book artist Daniel Stone and his wife Laura, a Dante scholar, struggle to save their 14-year-old daughter, Trixie, who has accused her boyfriend of rape. When Trixie runs away to Alaska, Daniel stops at nothing to save his daughter.

The novel raises the issue of not only how well we can ever know another person, but how well we are able to know even ourselves. Picoult has a devoted following; her latest novel is “Nineteen Minutes.”

These books offer a diversion from this deluge of rain. With the Romans as a foundation, they also give us an excuse to try an Italian-based menu this week, always a good cure for weather-induced blues.

Polytheism and Society in Ancient Athens

Dennis recently mentioned a review of Robert Parker's recent book Polytheism and Society in Ancient Athens. BMCR, too, now has a review (in French), this one by Corinne Bonnet.