Reasoning: Roman History Resources

I'm back to the land of the living!

I've just finished up my first term of teaching undergrads Roman history and just completed my first set of PhD exams (including a Roman history exam-- which I passed with very high marks!). For those of your who have read the blog at all, you know that this is not even close to my area of expertise. As such, this was quite the victory for me.

So, I thought I'd list, with some comments, the resources I used for studying. Some are from my reading list, some are my own additions.

Textbooks:

• Boatwright, Mary, Daniel J. Gargola, Noel Lenski, Richard J. A. Talbert. The Romans: From Village to Empire. 2nd edition, 2012. (The second edition has a shorter section on early Rome, which is sad, but it expands so that it has information on the end of the Western empire and a little bit on the Byzantine empire, which I think is something that was extremely necessary). Many of the sections were far too short, but it's a fairly decent overview of everything.
• Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity. I think this book is mostly useless. It is far too broad an overview. However, the pictures are really fantastic and it gives some idea of the broad strokes of what Late Antiquity looks like.
• Cameron, Averil. The Later Roman Empire. This is a good introduction to Late Antiquity.
• Cornell, T.J. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars, 1000-264 BCE. This book is an absolutely fantastic resource on early Rome. However, it is heavily academic, so I would suggest another introduction first, or perhaps even ignoring it altogether if you don't have to know this pre-Punic War period thoroughly.
• Crawford, Michael. The Roman Republic. 2nd edition. 1993. I read this because it was on my reading list but I think it is absolutely terrible. It assumes that you already know this period in history with some degree of competence, so it fails to explain a lot of the important events. Beyond this, it spends the entirety of the post-Gracchi period with a seriously Marxists interpretation of history (specifically that the Gracchi excited the class tensions between the senatorial and the lower classes). Moreover, I found that the earlier half of the book completely useless and rather antiquated.
• Wells, Colin. The Roman Empire. This book was quite good. The explanation of the political system of the Roman Republic in the Introduction is quite fantastic. Also, although this book is also a short introduction to the empire, I found it was quite useful.

Popular History:

• Everett, Anthony. The Rise of Rome. I used this for information on early Rome. It had a lot of detail. I listened to the version from Audible.
• Gwynn, David. Roman Republic: A Very Short Introduction. I thought this was a really great introduction to the subject and a nice synthesis of Republican history. 
• Holland, Tom. Rubicon. This was an incredible helpful and detailed portrait of the Late Republic. I listened to the Audible edition.

Podcasts and Lectures:

• Duncan, Mike. The History of Rome. (or iTunes). There are small errors scattered throughout the history.
• Fagan, Garrett G. The History of Ancient Rome. From the Great Courses. Helpful, especially for the Republic. However, it cuts off right after the accession of Vespasian and then goes onto thematic history.
• -----------. The Emperors of Rome. From the Great Courses. This lecture series is very helpful, especially when paired with Fagan's other series. However, Fagan has a taste for the sensationalist.
• Noble, Thomas F.X. Late Antiquity: Crisis and Transformation. From the Great Courses. Most of this is rather late material-- far beyond the scope of most Classics courses. Much of it, also, is out of chronological order so it can be hard to follow at points. However, I found it really helpful when I took my Late Antique education class.

I'm considering posting some timelines and other resources as well, but I haven't gotten around to fixing my paper versions.

Spirtited: Horace 2.13

I decided provide my translation of another Horace poem. Horace's ode 13 in his second book is not an ode that is traditionally translated. I picked it because I saw that it mentioned Alceus and Sappho. It turned out to be quite funny and I really enjoyed it.

Ille et nefasto te posuit die
Quicumque primum, et sacrilega manu
Produxit, arbos, in nepotum
Perniciem opprobriumque pagi;


Illum et parentis crediderim sui
Fregisse cervicem et penetralia
Sparsisse nocturno cruore
Hospitis; ille venena Colcha


Et quidquid usquam concipitur nefas
Tractavit, agro qui statuit meo
Te, triste lignum, te, caducum
In domini caput inmerentis


Quid quisque vitet, numquam homini satis
Cautum est in horas: navita Bosporum
Poenus perhorrescit neque ultra
Caeca timet aliunde fata,


Miles sagittas et celerem fugam
Parthi, catenas Parthus et Italum
Robur; sed inprovisa leti
Vis rapuit rapietque gentis.


Quam paene furvae regna Proserpinae
Et iudicantem vidimus Aeacum
Sedesque discriptas piorum et
Aeoliis fidibus querentem


Sappho puellis de popularibus
Et te sonantem plenius aureo,
Alcaee, plectro dura navis,
Dura fugae mala, dura belli.


Utrumque sacro digna silentio
Mirantur umbrae dicere, sed magis
Pugnas et exactos tyrannos
Densum umeris bibit aure volgus.


Quid mirum, ubi illis carminibus stupens
Demittit atras belua centiceps
Auris et intorti capillis
Eumenidum recreantur angues?


Quin et Prometheus et Pelopis parens
Dulci laborem decipitur sono
Nec curat Orion leones
Aut timidos agitare lyncas.

He planted you on an inauspicious day, 
whichever [day you were] originally [planted],
and by a profane hand, Tree, lead forth into destruction
of future generations and the scandal of the neighborhood.


I would also believe he crushed 
the neck of his father and by night 
scattered the blood of guests
on the hearthstone; he has handled Colchian drugs


and [has engaged in] whatsoever evil
is conceived of in any place, he who planted
you on my farm, Wretched Stump, you,
destined to fall on the head of the innocent master.


Why does one shun everything, a man is never
aware enough from hour to hour: a Punic sailor
dreads the Bosphorus but does not fear
blind fate from other placed beyond.


A soldier dreads arrows and the quick flight
of the Parthians, and a Parthian fears
Italian captivity and military might.But the unforeseen 
power of death has seized and will seize [both] races.


How nearly did I see the realm 
of dark Proserpina and Aecian judgemnts 
and the seats assigned for the righteous 
and with her Aeolic lyre,


Sappho, grieving concerning the women
of her village and you, Aleceus, singing
loudly with a golden instrument of the hardships
of ships, the hardships of exile, the hardships of war.


And it is a wonder that both  speak
in sacred silence worthy of shades; but to a greater extent
the crowd, shoulder to shoulder, drinks in
with their ears the expulsions of tyrants and battles.


What wonder [is it] when the hundred-headed 
monster, beguiled by the songs, lets his black 
ears droop and the writhing snakes in the hair
of the Eumenides refresh themselves?


And also Prometheus and Pelops' father
are lured from their labor by the sweet sound
and Orion does not care to agitate
the lions and the wary lynxes.

I used some help from the commentary come's from Bennett's edition of Horace as well as from translating with Propertius II. I took a few liberties with the literalism in order to try to capture the spirit of the utterance in English-- or at least how I interpreted that spirit. I would be happy for people to comment on my translation and offer suggestions.

On the subject of trees, BBC News recently posted an article about how scientific data on tree growth is applied to history to help explain certain migratory patterns. I found this article through a post on The Campvs, which encourages scientists to apply the tree data to more specific periods such as changes in climate during the years of the Social War.