Jump to content
UNRV Ancient Roman Empire Forums
  • Viggen

    In Questioning reputations: essays on nine republican politicians (2003) we find a book whose main goal is to invite us to re-evaluate what we know of nine iconic personalities of the first century B.C., three of them major actors of the period and six of them, analyzed in pairs, being considered as minor personages in our sources despite their undeniable importance in the events of the time. This is done by a close analysis of the ancient sources, each of which being searched for bias or hidden agendas that might make their historical authors distort the facts. First looking at specific aspects of the lives of Marius, Pompey and Caesar, R. J. Evans continues by comparing the lives of Saturninus and Glaucia, Drusus and Sulpicius and then Clodius and Milo...

     

    ...read the full review of Questioning Reputations: Essays on Nine Roman Republican Politicians by R. J. Evans

    Viggen
    Lindsay Powell conducted for us the following interview with Mathew Dennison author of the recently reviewed book, Livia, Empress of Rome: A Biography
     
    UNRV: Thanks for giving us this interview. First, congratulations on your book, Livia, Empress of Rome. Your first biography was an account of the life of Queen Victoria`s ninth and last child, Princess Beatrice, and of their extraordinary relationship. What attracted you to Livia, a personality from 1,800 years earlier?
    MATTHEW DENNISON:At first glance the subjects of ‘The Last Princess’ and ‘Livia, Empress ofRome’ appear widely divergent. Closer inspection shows that both are concerned with the nature of power, in particular access to power and the exercise of power. Both Livia and Princess Beatrice occupied positions close to the centre of power......read the full interview with Mathew Dennison
    Viggen
    A scientist will tell you that there is always change. A philosopher will say that nothing ever changes. North Africa feels as if it has both properties at the same time, a region apart from the continent it belongs to, almost like an island, a unique environment that persists in arid stasis and hosts mighty conflicts upon the sand.
     
    As I write the region is struggling with civil unrest that borders on open warfare. Two generations ago, the Rats and the Fox fought across the desert in the sweeping battles of World War Two. Before that, the colonial wars and the romance of the Foreign Legion. The domination of the Ottoman Empire. The Spanish revival. The Arab conquests. The barbarian migrations. And finally, at last, we come to the era of Roman domination...
     
    read the full review of Roman Conquest - North Africa by Nic Fields
     
     
     
    Viggen
    Who can forget Livia, the scheming villainess of BBC TV/PBS Masterpiece Theater`s I, Claudius? Based on Robert Graves`bestselling novels I, Claudius and Claudius the God, Jack Pullman interpreted the author`s pastiche of Tacitus and Suetonius into entertaining television for a modern audience. Produced in 1976, remarkably, its influence still haunts students of the history of the early Roman Empire. Welsh actress Siân Phillips delightfully interpreted her role of Livia with her compelling and memorable performance. In a testament to the power of great acting and of mass media, the result is that in the popular imagination today, the wife of Augustus remains a role model for female wickedness, a Roman Lady Macbeth....
     
    ...read the full review of Livia, Empress of Rome: A Biography by Matthew Dennison
     
     
    Viggen
    You would perhaps expect the Parthenon, towering over the city from the top of its cliff, to be the first thing you notice when you get up from the Athenian metro station called Acropolis. But it probably isn't. I am willing to bet almost anything that your eyes will fall on the (New) Acropolis Museum instead. The background to why the new museum was built is complicated and cannot be discussed in detail here, but it is safe to say that the old museum had been insufficient for a long time. It is also quite obvious that the Greek authorities wanted to prove to the UK that they could provide a safe environment for the Elgin marbles, thus rendering that argument against repatriation invalid....
     
    ...read the full review of the Acropolis Museum in Athens
     
     
     
     
    Viggen
    The author remarked about this book 'everyone knows of Antony and Cleopatra, but they see the story as they think it should have been'. We know that story. It's the one from the theatre of Shakespeare, or Elizabeth Taylor's career-defining role in film. It's where the dashing and impetuous Antony is seduced by the decadent beauty of Cleopatra and ends up throwing the world away for love. 'The triple pillar of the world transform'd into a strumpet's fool' as Shakespeare himself puts it (with more than a little help from Plutarch). In the end the star-crossed lovers die tragically but heroically, leaving their cold, scheming nemesis with his victory...
     
    ...read the full review of Antony and Cleopatra by Adrian Goldsworthy
     
     
    Viggen
    Many years ago I stood on the other side of the world. On the face of it, that's nothing unusual. There are people from that faraway land living in my home town. The ease of transport in our modern world is something we take for granted. Travel agents offer exotic destinations for those who wish to sample the delights of foreign climes. All a matter of cash and some unavoidable bureaucracy. Having a great time. Wish you were here. How different it must have been two thousand years ago...
     
    ...read the full review of Travel and Geography in the Roman Empire by Colin Adams and Roy Laurence
     
     
    Viggen
    Europe as a geographical construct is a rather easy concept to digest: it's that stretch of land from the Straights of Gibraltar to the Ural Mountains. Europe as a historical and cultural construct is a little more difficult to pin down. What really defines Europe? The Roman Empire enjoined Europe to Asia and Africa; indeed, there was a time when the residents of North Africa might have been considered more a part of Western Civilization than their contemporaries in what is now Great Britain. The question is no longer just an academic exercise; the possible growth of the European Union beyond the aforementioned geographic definition of Europe is a pressing political debate. The Birth of Classical Europe may offer some insights as to how Europe defined itself in ages past...
     
    ...read the full review of The Birth of Classical Europe: A History from Troy to Augustine
     
     
    Viggen
    Stop for a moment, sit back, and dream of the Roman arena. Rows of armoured men standing on the sand before one man among thousands sitting expectantly around them, saluting him as their final hour approaches, in which they must fight for their llives, honour, glory, and the entertainment of the crowd. It is, without doubt, a compelling image, one that has sustained a genre of historical literature all of its own. In these moments of idle reflection I wonder how much of this image is dramatic license? Are we guilty of exaggerating the legend of the Roman arena to epic proportions...?
     
    ...read the full book review of Spectacle in the Roman World by Hazel Dodge
     
     
    Viggen
    What you get inside this book is much more than what it says on the cover; it contains a detailed investigation into the probable directions of planning and building of Dere Street, the major Roman road on the Eastern side of the Roman frontier, plus Hadrian`s Wall, the Stanegate and the vallum as well as the Antonine Wall. All this is done in a systematic way which effectively overturns, or at least calls into question, much of the previously generally accepted theories on the direction(s) in which this was done by the Roman`s...
     
    ....read the full review of The Planning of Roman Roads and Walls in Northern Britain by John Poulter
     
×
×
  • Create New...