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    If one is fortunate enough to actually live and work in one of the most famous cities of the world, what does one do when not hunched over a desk or negotiating Rome’s notoriously bad traffic? Mott LL Groom was one such lucky individual who lived in Rome for not one or five or ten years but a whopping twelve! A history major and Romanophile from an early age, Mott immediately set about pursuing his passion and wandering the ancient streets in his quest for all things Roman. Like a typical tourist Mott initially followed the well-established tour routes, but it wasn’t long before his chronologically-oriented mind began to rebel against the standard tourist tours. As Mott’s disenchantment grew, he decided to develop his own more logical tour...

     

    ...continue to the full review of A Walk With the Emperors: A Historic and Literary Tour of Ancient Rome by Mott LL Groom

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    Elagabalus the Emperor

    By Viggen, in News,

    Second part in our emperor series on Elagabalus` life. We know very little for certain about Elagabalus while he was emperor. There are two reasons for this. The first is that all palace politics are generally obscure, but when imperial policy is being made by women in an society deeply suspicious of women in politics, these women must necessarily work well behind the scenes. (Though the Julias did force through a decree allowing them to attend meetings of the senate.) Elagabalus himself had little interest in the minutiae of government and had little personal effect on the empire as a whole. In matters of imperial administration 'he was completely under the control of his mother', according to the historian Herodian...
     
    ...continue to Elagabalus the Emperor
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    Any biography of Vipsanius Agrippa has a huge obstacle to overcome, and that obstacle can be summarized in one word – Augustus. On the written page, just as in the reality, the life and deeds of Augustus tend to crowd Agrippa on to the sidelines. So closely were the fortunes of Agrippa tied to those of Augustus that any biography of Agrippa risks becoming merely another biography of Augustus, albeit written from a slightly different perspective.
     
    Thus, for all practical purposes, the life of Agrippa began when he met Augustus (then Octavius), for virtually nothing is known of Agrippa before then. Thenceforth for most of the next decade, we only hear of Agrippa because he was at Augustus' right hand when something interesting happened...
     
    ...continue to the review of Marcus Agrippa: Right-Hand Man of Caesar Augustus by Lindsay Powell
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    One of the major processes in the upsurge of interest in Late Antiquity is the translation of hard-to-access sources that are known only to specialists. One of the players in this process is Routledge’s Classical Translations Series. The latest in the series is this translation of the fragments of Peter the Patrician. Although little is known of Peter, he was a person of some importance, acting as a diplomat on behalf of the Eastern Empire and also serving as magister officiorum (Master of the Offices) and receiving the honorary title of patricius, hence the title of this book...
     
    ...continue to the review of The Lost History of Peter the Patrician by Thomas M. Banchich
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    We won’t ever see the glorious structures of Palmyra again. ISIL/Daesh destroyed the Temple of Bel, the Temple of Baalshamin and the Arch of Triumph in 2015, and beheaded the elderly head of antiquities, Khaled al-Assaad. Thank whichever god you serve for the photographs, the museums that hold ancient reliefs and inscriptions, and books such as Smith’s Roman Palmyra. The outrages of 2015 came after Smith had completed his work on the community that thrived in the Syrian desert, located at an oasis on the frontier between Rome and Parthia. Therefore it stands as a monument in its own right to a rich period (the first three centuries AD) that saw the pastoral settlement develop into an important trading city with influence throughout the Roman empire....
     
    ...continue to the review of Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community, and State Formation by Andrew M. Smith II
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    What does the Roman Republic mean to you? A few might admit they've never heard of it. For others it's merely a long period of ancient history before the Romans invented orgies and interesting tyrants. Yet it appears that the system of government adopted by the Romans between the rejection of monarchy and the acceptance of autocracy is something very inspiring to some of us. Time and again writers refer to the Roman world seeking some sort of guidance for their own goals and motives, something I find somewhat ironic because Roman Republicanism was never set in stone. Instead it was cast in bronze, malleable, demanding continual polishing, and ultimately good for material when the original vessel was no longer holding water....
     
    ...continue to the review of The Life of Roman Republicanism by Joy Connolly
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    Interview by Ian Hughes
     
    Ian Hughes for UNRV: Today we have the distinct pleasure to interview noted author and historian Professor Jonathan Harris about his latest book The Lost World of Byzantium.
     
    UNRV: The first question to ask concerns your research interests. On the Royal Holloway website it states that these lie in “Byzantine History 900-1460; relations between Byzantium and the west, especially during the Crusades and the Italian Renaissance; the Greek diaspora after 1453”. What made you focus on the Byzantine Empire rather than on the Crusades which appear to have remained far more popular amongst Western historians?
     
    ...continue to the Interview with Jonathan Harris on The Lost World of Byzantium
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    The young student many times begins his or her studies of ancient Rome by learning only about the famous personalities, the pivotal dates, and the crucial battles. This might leave the student with the sterile impression that the ancient history of Rome was only about shining marble buildings, clean tidy roads, great orators, conquering generals, countless decadent emperors, and innumerable grand monuments.
     
    Too often, the mud and the grime, the pungent and putrid odors, the deafening noise from the crowded bustling streets, the many foreign tongues heard at the busy markets, and the sounds and confusion of any major ancient city are forgotten. Only later the student might want to learn the true nitty-gritty of everyday life for the ordinary resident of Rome.
     
    ...continue to the full review of The Archaeology of Sanitation in Roman Italy by Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow
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    Book Review by Thomas A. Timmes 
     
    Following his widely acclaimed hit series, Marius’ Mules, noted author and historian S.J.A. Turney continues to research and write highly popular novels. With over twenty successful books to his credit, Praetorian: The Great Game is book one of a brand-new series. Book two, Praetorian: The Price of Treason, was released in December 2015, and book three should follow shortly.  Praetorian: The Great Game is not a book for the faint of heart! But if you enjoy reading non-stop action and breathtaking suspense, this book is for you. Written to please Romanophiles and historians alike, each chapter is a masterpiece of imagery, composition, and solid historical research...
     
    ...continue to the review of Praetorian: The Great Game by S.J.A. Turney
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    Review by Ian Hughes
     
    If a member of the public was to be asked the question of when the Roman Empire fell, the usual answer would be centred on events in the fifth century, and some may even give the specific date of 476 – the year when the last emperor in Rome was overthrown. For many scholars this is an unacceptable situation, as they know that the Roman Empire in the East continued into the next millennium, never mind the next century.
     
    Part of the reason for this state of affairs is a legacy of the historians of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries. For them the Eastern Roman Empire – now known as the Byzantine Empire – was a degenerate, money-loving, corrupt entity dominated by court intrigue and eunuchs: a far cry from the majesty of Rome in the first century AD. In his new book Byzantine historian Jonathan Harris asks the question of why, if the inhabitants were as lazy, corrupt and inefficient as usually depicted, could their empire have lasted for nearly a thousand years longer than its Western counterpart...
     
    ...continue to the review of The Lost World of Byzantium by Jonathan Harris
     
    p.s. interview with the author coming soon!
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