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    Augustus and the Success of the Empire

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    A special guest contribution from community member "Wotwotius"...

     

    "In my sixth and seventh consulships [28-27 BC], after I had extinguished civil wars, and at a time when with universal consent I was in complete control of affairs, I transferred the republic from my power to the dominion of the senate and people of Rome?After this time I excelled all in influence [auctoritas], although I possessed no more official power [potestas] than others who were my colleagues in the several magistracies." (Res Gestae Divi Augusti 34.1-3)[[1]]

     

    It is with these words that Augustus not only describes, but also justifies his unique political position. Although it is easy to see through his transparent veil, it is also easy to see how the above statement embodies both the subtly and political delicacy used by Rome?s first emperor. His political power is masqueraded as personal ?auctoritas?; his power achieved through his military supremacy passed off as rule by ?universal consent? ? to use a historical clich?, Augustus was the archetypal ?master of spin?....

     

    Continue with "Why Augustus was so successful in creating the Roman Empire"

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    From Alexander to Cleopatra

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    A comparative review by Ursus to "The Hellenistic World"
     
    "Michael Grant, one of the seminal giants of classical studies, provides a thorough examination of the Hellenistic world in From Alexander to Cleopatra. While 25 years old since its original printing, the tome still serves as a comprehensive and readable survey. It is similar to Walbank?s The Hellenistic World, only larger and more detailed. Indeed, having reviewed Walbank above, I would find myself repeating much of the basic information for this review if I stuck to the standard format. Fortunately, Grant does offer at times a distinct focus from Walbank, one that I found particularly insightful: the limits of Hellenization. For those that think Alexander initiated an age where everyone in the ancient world became students of Homer and Plato, Grant offers intriguing evidence that the depth of Hellenization in the Hellenistic world falls far short of universal reach"...
     
    Read the full review of From Alexander to Cleopatra Michael Grant.
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    The Hellenistic World

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    A review by "Ursus"...
     
    "The parochial Hellenic city-states had fought tooth and nail against Persia's unkind attempt to absorb them into a greater realm. Unfortunately for them, Alexander?s imperial ambitions would detach the Hellenic world from the quaint provincialism of the Classical Age and launch them into the cosmopolitan chaos of the Hellenistic Age. Even as Alexander's successors divided his vast realm amongst themselves, a new age dawned through the interaction of the Hellene and the so-called barbarian. This age, furthermore, would entreat and inform a Roman Empire waiting in the winds. F.W. Walbank in his The Hellenistic World judiciously identifies the commonalties and divergences of the various Hellenistic states."...
     
    Read the full review of The Hellenistic World by F.W. Walbank.
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    Persian Fire

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    A review by forum moderator "Ursus"...
     
    "If I told you that you could profit from reading the historical treatise of a writer of vampire novels, you might look at me askance. But what if the novelist in question were educated at Cambridge and Oxford, and had written extensively on the classics? What if he were the author of the unforgettable Rubicon? Yes, indeed, Tom Holland is back. Having offered us the fall of the Roman Republic, Holland now enmeshes us in even grander topics"...
     
    Read the full review of Persian Fire by Tom Holland
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    Justinian's Flea by William Rosen

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    A review by forum moderator "Pertinax"...
     
    "When I was sent this work I had initially supposed I would be receiving an account of the first of the Justinian epidemiological episodes in 541 CE (which re-appeared thereafter in various ?waves? of subsiding deadliness for nearly two hundred years). However the work is something wider than that, and therefore of greater interest to a more catholic audience. It could be recommended as a ? general view of the Justinian World? with its notable judicial and architectural excellence, or as a study of a great Chief Executive (perhaps equal or greater than Augustus dare I say?), his able wife Theodora and very able general Belisarius. It is a litany of geo-political triumphs engineered by these enormously important figures and others within their political and social orbit..."
     
    Read the full review of Justinian's Flea by William Rosen.
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    Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge

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    A review by "Ursus"
     
    "The legacy of Alexander the Great should be apparent to any Romanophile. While there had been cultural diffusion occurring between East and West for some time, Alexander?s politico-military schemes radically facilitated the trend. The subsequent Greco-Oriental fusion of the Hellenistic era penetrated Rome, and through it Western Europe. It is hard to think of Roman imperial era religion in general, and Christianity in particular, developing as it did without Alexander. Alexander?s legacy also created an imperial idea that influenced Romans such as Pompei and Caesar. Alexander?s former domains would later form the basis of the Eastern half, and many would say the culturally and financially richer half, of Rome?s vast dominion..."
     
    Read the full review of Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge
    Guest

    Roman Dog Names

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    Looking for the perfect classical name for your dog? Thanks to forum member "Nephele", the following article presents over 50 historical choices with their meanings and the source material from where they came.
     
    What did the ancient Romans name their four-legged best friends? Lucius Iunius Moderatus Columella gives us a few recommended names in the section of his work on agriculture dealing with the rearing and training of dogs. Other likely sources used by the ancient Romans for dog names may have come from literature, in much the same way that people today draw on literature for naming their dogs...
     
     
    Names for Roman Dogs
    Guest

    The Golden Ass by Apuleius

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    A modern review of a tale told long ago...
     
    To paraphrase Egyptologist Geraldine Pinch: all myths are sacred, but not all myths are solemn. Some myths are even laced with ribald perversions. The Golden Ass has not the timeless majesty of Homer, the dignified moralizing of Hesiod, or the conscious patriotism of Virgil. Its characters usually range from somewhere between agents of petty self-interest to despicable dregs of society. It is told not as an epic clash of heroes against monsters and gods, but as the absurd adventures of a hapless fool. The setting is not some archaic realm lost to history, but the Roman province of Greece...
     
    Read the full review of The Golden Ass by Apuleius translated by P.G. Walsh.
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    The Enemies of Rome by Philip Matyszak

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    A review...
     
    As this book has been previously reviewed by an esteemed colleague who is quite knowledgeable of the military history of Rome, I will not approach the book from the same vantage point. Instead, I will be reviewing the book as someone who is college educated with a basic knowledge of Roman history, one who recognizes the majority of the names and places mentioned in this book, but certainly is no expert is Roman history. In this light, Matyszak?s Enemies of Rome is a solid foundation for anyone who is beginning an interest in Roman conquest...
     
    The Enemies of Rome by Philip Matyszak.
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    Morrigan

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    An overview of the Celtic goddess Morrigan by a member of our discussion community "Lost Warrior"
     
    While there seem to be many differences of opinion with regards to the nature of the goddess Morrigan, the general consensus among sources is that she is a goddess of war, death and fertility. Some sources also attribute to her aspects of prophecy, the moon, and fresh water lakes and streams...
     
    More Morrigan...
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