The Best Book NEVER written???

[Ursus]

I would also love a detailed study of Sejanus, spittle. Fascinating figure.

 

I think a definitive book on the confluence of Roman and Celtic culture & history (the Romano-Celts of the Western Empire) has yet to be written, and would make an interesting counterpoint to the endless examinations of Greco-Roman fusions of cultures. Most of what is written on the Celts these days is so hopelessly revisionist that an honest book on the subject would be worth its weight in gold.

 

By the same token, I am not sure if there are any substantial works on Roman Africa and Romano-Punic culture, which I also think would be fascinating.

[vespasian70]

Now I do not mean this is any frivolous way at all - but I would love to see some research done and a book produced on how the Romans interacted with the animal world. (If anyone knows of any good works that may already be in existence, please alert me.) I mean everything from pets - what creatures were kept as pets, how they were treated etc. - all the way through to cavalry horses and the vast amounts of animals used for sacrifice. How were the sacrificial victims treated, for instance, before the ceremony? Farm animals such as oxen etc. (I'm sure Cato's treatise may give a hint there, so I will reread that.) I should imagine such a study would make alarming reading to a person of our modern sensibilities and sentimentalities, but it would be interesting nonethless, and for me it is a whole area that has been neglected.

 

Just a thought.

 

There actually is a book along that line: Animals In Roman Life And Art by J.M.C. Toynbee.

An excellent read that goes into some detail how the Romans treated the animals they came in contact with.