Roman Republic

This was my second published article, in a graduate student journal called Past Imperfect (Vol. 15, 2009) out of the University of Alberta. The published version can be found at:
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/pi/index.php/pi/article/view/6634

The Roman calendar was first developed as a lunar calendar, so it was difficult for the Romans to reconcile this with the natural solar year. In 45 BC, Julius Caesar reformed the calendar, creating a solar year of 365 days with leap years every four years. This article explains the process by which the Roman calendar evolved and argues that the reason February has 28 days is that Caesar did not want to interfere with religious festivals that occurred in February. Beginning as a lunar calendar, the Romans developed a lunisolar system that tried to reconcile lunar months with the solar year, with the unfortunate result that the calendar was often inaccurate by up to four months. Caesar fixed this by changing the lengths of most months, but made no change to

During the past few years, systematic field survey has revealed an important regional variation within Roman Italy. The settlement pattern that emerges in the Marche-region along the Central- Adriatic coast has many points of similarity with other regions of Italy, yet the precise details are unique. For example, the region was clearly wealthier than Molise, where there was a striking decline in the number of sites inhabited between the late Republic and the second century AD. On the other hand, comparisons with Latium or South Etruria may be inappropriate, given the superior markets available to those areas. Rural settlement in the Marche reaches a peak in the first century BC, when land allotments were made to army veterans, and in the first century AD. From the second century on, there is a gradual reduction in the number of sites in occupation, and absorption of smallholdings by the larger estates, although the small farms continued to surpass the number of large villas in late Roman times. Some late Roman villas were excavated in the northern area near Emilia-Romagna, influenced by the city of Ravenna, capital of the Western Roman Empire since the early fifth century.

Ce livre offre un vaste panorama de l’histoire de la République romaine, saisie à l’époque de son apogée et envisagée dans son inexorable déclin. Embrassant ainsi une période qui va du milieu du IIè s. av. J.-C. à la mort de César, il ne s’interdit pas de rappeler quels furent les fondements de la République, comment elle naquit des cendres de la monarchie et comment elle se construisit sur le souvenir d’un passé auréolé de grandeur. Les rouages institutionnels, la mainmise aristocratique sur la vie politique ne peuvent en effet recevoir sens que de l’Histoire, telle que Rome l’a, sinon vécue, du moins recomposée.

Les étudiants de licence et des classes préparatoires littéraires, y trouveront une initiation à l’univers politique, civique et social des Romains à l’époque médio- et tardo-républicaine.
Enrichi de nombreux documents, textes ou illustrations, cet ouvrage obéit à une démarche pédagogique, où la lecture est facilitée par la mise en valeur de la problématique et des idées clés.
S'y ajoutent un lexique de plus de 250 entrées, les biographies des principaux auteurs, une chronologie, un rappel des connaissances essentielles, et une méthode présentant le commentaire de texte et la dissertation avec des exemples rédigés.

Warfare in the Ancient Mediterranean World, A Brill Companion to Classical Studies Series Series Editor: Lee L. Brice Aims and Scope The aim of the series is to publish high-quality, useful volumes each focused on a specific topic related to warfare in the ancient Mediterranean world. Where appropriate, volume coverage should include the eastern Mediterranean, including Assyria, Persia, Anatolia the Levant, and Egypt as well as Greece and Rome. The intended audience includes scholarly specialist and non-specialist students of the ancient world. Topics already published or in process include insurgency and terrorism, dealing with defeat, food and warfare, discipline/indiscipline, and Late Antiquity. We are seeking new volume proposals on a variety of topics covering a wide range of issues and methodologies. Specific topics we are interested in include: religion, topography/geography, reception of ancient warfare, medicine/death, Persia, Hellenistic world, archaeology/material culture and warfare, auxilia, the Pax Romana, navies, and peace, but we welcome proposals on any appropriate topic.

J.Linderski, Review of T.N. Mitchell, Cicero. The Ascending Years (1979), in Classical Journal 77, 1982, 275-177 = Roman Questions (Stuttgart 1995) 287-289 + addenda 654-655.
History and histories; history and philosophy; Wilhelm Drumann; a futile quest for democracy in Rome.

Se pretende abordar el estudio de los graneros romanos de ámbito militar en Hispania, mediante un análisis del emplazamiento que ocupaban en el interior de los campamentos legionarios y fuertes y, especialmente, de las técnicas de construcción de los edificios. Para ello, resulta necesario presentar la información relativa a los almacenes de grano desde un punto de vista crítico, con el fin de determinar cuáles son los graneros documentados hasta la actualidad en Hispania y señalar qué edificios fueron utilizados simplemente como almacenes. Para ello, se presenta una valoración crítica de la información relativa a los horrea excavados en Hispania para, a continuación, analizar detenidamente los graneros militares de época republicana e imperial documentados hasta la actualidad.

Пількевич А.Л. Деструктивні процеси в системі військової організації Риму та формування ранніх елементів професіоналізації армії в ІІ ст. до Р.Х. // Етнічна історія народів Європи. 2015. №45. С. 17-20.

В статті проаналізовано ключові прояви кризи військової організації Стародавнього Риму. Запропоновано розширену хронологію витоків професіоналізації римської армії. Ключові слова: Римська республіка, військова організація, професіоналізація армії, ценз, легіони, тріумф.

In the article author analyzed main manifestations of the crisis of the military organization of ancient Rome. Extended chronology of the origins of the professionalization of the Roman army is
studied.
Keywords: The Roman Republic, military organization, professionalization of the army, census,
legions, triumph.

Violence in Roman warfare is certainly not a myth. But until recently, historians have understood violence in terms of their own standards instead of considering the thresholds of Roman sensibilities. Within the framework of the “histoire des representations”, a discussion is made about the discourses that underly the violence in Roman warfare. We aim to reassess the methodological basis of such an analysis by close observation of its vocabulary. By scrutinizing the appearance of the terms uis and βία, we undermine their traditional relevance in war contexts. Then, we apply methods of correspondence analysis on the example of Latin verbs for killing. It reveals their meaning and stresses the strengths and flaws of text analytics, still not much employed in ancient history. In the end, returning to the texts and their contexts is necessary to qualify and refine this technique.

http://annalesdejanua.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=2003

La violence de Rome à la guerre n’est certes pas un mythe. Mais, jusqu’à très récemment, les historiens l’ont davantage évaluée à l’aune de leurs propres normes qu’ils n’ont abordé la question des seuils de sensibilités proprement romains en la matière. Dans le cadre d’une histoire des représentations, l’étude de la violence guerrière romaine implique par conséquent un examen des discours qui la sous-tendent. Cet article a ainsi pour ambition de repenser les fondements méthodologiques d’une telle analyse à travers l’observation serrée du vocabulaire de la violence guerrière. Un examen complet des contextes d’apparition des termes uis et βία permet de relativiser leur pertinence en contexte guerrier. Dès lors, le recours à d’autres méthodes est nécessaire. À travers l’exemple des verbes latins signifiant l’action de tuer, on entend montrer les atouts et les limites de l’analyse factorielle des correspondances, branche de la statistique textuelle encore peu mobilisée en histoire ancienne. Enfin, un retour aux textes et à leurs contextes est une démarche nécessaire afin de nuancer et d’affiner cette technique.

http://annalesdejanua.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=2003

This monograph uses literary and archaeological evidence to examine how farmers – from smallholders to the owners of large estates – bought and sold, lent and borrowed, and cooperated as well as competed in the Roman economy. After considering the demographic and environmental context of Italian agriculture, the author explores three interrelated questions: what goods and services did farmers purchase; how did farmers acquire the money with which to make those purchases; and what factors drove farmers’ economic decisions? This book provides a portrait of the economic world of the Roman farmer in late Republican and early Imperial Italy.

The genealogy of the Postumii Albini from the second half of the second century BCE onwards is uncertain and debated. This article attempts a new discussion of the evidence. Its main contention is that A. Postumius Albinus, cos. 99, should be distinguished from the homonymous legate, brother of Sp. Postumius Albinus, cos. 110; that the two moneyers A. Postumii Albini were, in all likelihood, not directly related to each other and were probably sons of the last two consuls of the family; and, as a consequence, that at least two lines of descent between the second and the first century BCE can be discerned. On the basis of these results, a new stemma of the ancient patrician family of the Albini is put forward.

But concerning friendship, all, to a man, think the same thing: those who have devoted themselves to public life; those who find their joy in science and philosophy; those who manage their own business free from public cares; and, finally, those who are wholly ...

The theme that unites the first four papers in this collection (counting the two elements of the second paper as two separate papers for the purposes of this summary only) is the view of Geta as very much the nexus-figure for three different aspects of the play: he is by turns the willing and unwilling trickster of Demipho (with Phormio as his principal ally); he is also a devotee of the goddess Fortuna (his piety sits comfortably alongside that of Demipho: they may profitably be viewed as a composite character) to whom good luck deservedly accrues (in contrast to Phormio and Chremes, who personify those who either enjoy unmerited success – Phormio – or like Chremes get found out); and, finally, Geta is co-principal architect of the resolution of the two cousins' love entanglements (although he once more needs the assistance – this time unsought - of another character: Nausistrata). All four papers, looking at the play from the varied perspectives of plot, structure and linguistic choices, present mutually-supportive evidence for this interpretation.
The fifth (summarising) paper gathers together the specific evidence to substantiate the claim that the intention of Terence was to create a play to showcase the comedic potential of a parasite let loose in a plot dominated by chance and where all intrigues are ultimately confounded. It further develops the idea that the prologue and last scene of the play were tailored to one another so as to draw direct parallels between the alleged behaviour of Luscius Lanuvinus and Phormio. The sixth paper speculatively explores an obscure element of Terence's attack upon Luscius that continues to puzzle modern commentators. The seventh paper expands the examination of pietas beyond the religious aspect analysed in the third paper (the second part to the second paper listed above) to encompass familial and wider social pietas. It seeks to demonstrate that Terence handled this theme in a wholly consistent manner, with the parasite unequivocally depicted as a vir impius - rendering it implausible that Terence, apparently so dependent himself upon patronage, should have cast Phormio as anything other than a comic rogue who got lucky.
The principal conclusions from my analysis of Phormio can be summarised thus:
1. Terence employs ring-composition as a fundamental organising technique, founded upon the stage entrances at regular intervals of four of the characters: Demipho, Phormio, Chremes and Sophrona (see the summarising table at the end of the collection).
2. Terence uses word-tags to link connected themes/ideas. These include: postilla, ire pergam, ipse (with the specific meaning of dominus), heia, eu, attat & (when used by a male) pol. Also (integrating the prologue with the remainder of the play-text): lacesso and aequo animo.
3. The theme of pietas (or its lack) leading to both deserved and undeserved felicitas is another organising principle of the play: references to the gods and to religious observance are most certainly not just incidental add-ons.
4. There are several plausible explanations for the parasite Phormio getting star-billing in the prologue. He need not be - and in this play is not - the master of intrigue portrayed by some (most?) other commentators.
5. This play provides an excellent example of how the translation choices for just a few lines can transform the overall interpretation. And why translators need to situate their decisions within the wider academic debate, failing which they run the risk of misleading their audience.
6. It is a valid approach to interpret each of Terence's plays on an individual basis, given the small number he wrote and the insistence in the prologues upon originality. To focus on elements common to his corpus - or common to the even wider concept of a comoedia palliata - can lead to unwarranted (or at least unduly restrictive) conclusions.
7. In this specific play the prologue does form an integral part of the overall play-text (both in terms of the fundamental architecture of the play and as regards important thematic elements).
8. The structuring of this play raises fundamental questions as to the basis upon which Terence selected, and the degree to which he subsequently modified, his Greek original in this specific instance and, more generally, as regards his wider approach to his Greek source material. Terence did more than merely translate: he seems actively to have sought out plays, and (where appropriate) specific scenes from other Greek works where he deemed it appropriate, so as to develop various stock-characters from play to play and thereby to put his own stamp on a particular comedy. Modern scholarship generally supports the idea that Shakespeare adopted a somewhat similar approach to his source material in a number of plays.

The kneeling figure with camel on the reverse of the denarius of A. Plautius has generally been identified as Aristobulus II. It is argued here that he is identifiable as his brother Hyrcanus II instead. In addition to the argument of Hollstein in support of this identification, it is noted that the legend BACCHIVS facilitates a pun upon the name of Hyrcanus, literally meaning ‘Hyrcanian’. As a ‘Bacchic Hyrcanian’, Hyrcanus is implicitly compared to the tamed Hyrcanian tigers used by Bacchus to draw his triumphal chariot, a fitting comparison because of his submission to Roman authority.

The ancient sources offer clear and unambiguous evidence that Sulla’s civil war victory at the battle of the Colline Gate was followed first by a wave of indiscriminate urban violence and then by the publication of the first proscription lists. Hinard sanitises the evidence and denies that there was a wave of violence prior to the genesis of the proscriptions. A key source is Orosius, whose testimony is rejected on the grounds that he describes bounty hunters bringing chaos to the streets of Rome before the publication of the first proscription list. Orosius refers to percussores, and Hinard claims that this was a technical term for the freelance killers who responded to the proclamation of an official bounty on the heads of the proscribed. My aim in this article is to show that this definition is without basis. It is also my intention to stress that the violence of Sulla’s victory was not exclusively official or state-sponsored.

The scholarly community has become increasingly aware of the differences between Roman myths and the more familiar myths of Greece. Early Rome: Myth and Society steps in to provide much-needed modern and accessible translations and commentaries on Italian legends.

This work examines the tales of Roman pre- and legendary history, discusses relevant cultural and contextual information, and presents author biographies. This book offers updated translations of key texts, including authors who are often absent from classical mythology textbooks, such as Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Servius. Jaclyn Neel debunks the idea that Romans were unimaginative copyists by spotlighting the vitality and flexibility of Italian myth — particularly those parts that are less closely connected to Greek tales, such as the story of Caeculus of Praeneste. Finally, by calling attention to the Italian rather than Roman nature of the collection, this book suggests that Roman culture was broader than the city itself. This important work offers:

    * Up-to-date and accessible translations of Roman and Italic legends from authors throughout antiquity
    * Examination of compelling tales that involve the Roman equivalent of Greek “heroes”
    * Unique view of the strength and plasticity of Roman and Italic myth, particularly the parts less closely connected to familiar Greek tales
    * Intelligent discussion of relevant cultural and contextual information
    * Argument that Roman culture reached far beyond the city of Rome

Fresh and readable, Early Rome: Myth and Society offers essential reading for students of ancient Rome as well as those interested in Roman and Greek mythology.

http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1119083796.html

http://earlyrome.omeka.net/

Appians Keltiké, das vierte Buch seiner vierundzwanzig Bücher umfassenden Römischen Geschichte, behandelt die kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen zwischen Römern und Kelten, beginnend mit dem von Brennus geführten Angriff auf Rom bis hin zur Eroberung Galliens durch Caesar. Die Keltiké, obgleich nur bruchstückhaft erhalten, stellt eine wertvolle Quelle für die Geschichte der Kelten sowie der römischen Republik dar, denn sie bietet eine Reihe von Informationen, die entweder sonst nirgends belegt sind oder die sich deutlich von den bei anderen Autoren überlieferten Traditionen unterscheiden, da Appian für seine Darstellung auf heute weitgehend verlorene Historiker zurückgegriffen hat. Um so verwunderlicher ist es, daß bislang noch kein Kommentar zur Keltiké veröffentlicht wurde. Dieses Defizit will die vorliegende Publikation beheben: Nach einer kurzen Einleitung folgt der eigentliche Kommentar, in dem zunächst von jedem Fragment der Originaltext und eine Übersetzung geboten wird. Daran schließt sich eine Analyse, die die einzelnen Zeugnisse in möglichst umfassender Weise auswertet. Dabei wird nicht nur die Überlieferung für jedes Fragment diskutiert, wozu die Eigenheiten und die Arbeitsweise der verschiedenen byzantinischen Exzerptoren genauestens untersucht wurden, sondern auch die sehr kontrovers verhandelte Quellenfrage. Ferner wird der historische Zusammenhang, in den das jeweilige Bruchstück gehört, vorgestellt, wofür die gesamte antike Parallelüberlieferung herangezogen werden mußte. Die Übereinstimmungen wie auch die Abweichungen zur übrigen literarischen Evidenz wurden herausgearbeitet, um Appians Position innerhalb der historiographischen Traditionen besser bestimmen zu können. Schließlich wurden mehrfach Überlegungen zum Inhalt der verlorenen Teile der Keltiké angestellt. Der vorliegende Kommentar erfüllt zunächst ein Desiderat der Appianforschung, indem er eine Lücke in der wissenschaftlichen Aufarbeitung dieses Autors schließt. Aber auch die Forschung zur römischen Republik und den antiken Kelten kann von der Arbeit profitieren, mit der eine wenig beachtete Quelle erstmals gründlich erschlossen wird.

"Una volta finita la battaglia, allora sì che avresti potuto comprendere con lo sguardo quanto grandi fossero state l’audacia e la forza d’animo nell’esercito di Catilina. Infatti, quasi la stessa posizione che ognuno, da vivo, aveva assunto nello schieramento, anche ora, da morto, la ricopriva con il proprio corpo; e quei pochi, al centro, che la coorte pretoria aveva allontanato, erano caduti poco più in là, e tutti con ferite frontali; Catilina, invece, fu trovato lontano dai suoi, in mezzo ai cadaveri dei nemici, che ancora rantolava, serbando però sul volto la fierezza avuta in vita. Infine, in  tutto quello che era stato il suo esercito, nessun concittadino libero fu catturato, né in battaglia né in fuga: tanto poco tutti avevano risparmiato, alla stessa maniera, la vita propria e quella dei nemici. Né l’esercito del popolo romano aveva ottenuto una vittoria lieta o poco cruenta. I più valorosi, infatti, erano caduti in battaglia o ne erano usciti con gravi ferite; molti, spintisi fuori dall’accampamento per curiosità o brama di saccheggio, rivoltando i cadaveri dei nemici, trovavano chi un amico, chi un ospite, chi un parente; ci fu anche chi trovò nemici personali. Così, per tutto l’esercito, si agitavano la gioia, la tristezza, il lutto e l’allegria." (Sallustio, La congiura di Catilina, 61)

Così lo storico Gaio Sallustio Crispo chiude la narrazione della congiura di Lucio Sergio Catilina; il patrizio, che non era riuscito a sovvertire il governo di Roma, trovò infatti la morte alla testa della sua armata di ribelli, annientata dall’esercito regolare nello scontro all’ultimo sangue combattuto agli inizi del 62 a.C. presso Pistoia.
La vicenda della congiura, tra le più menzionate dell’intera storia antica, ci è stata tramandata principalmente dalla narrazione di Sallustio e dalle orazioni di Marco Tullio Cicerone, il console che la combatté con molta – e, per alcuni, troppa – determinazione. Entrambi gli autori, tratteggiandone il protagonista come uomo depravato e sanguinario, hanno influenzato l’intera tradizione. La critica storica, quindi, persino nei relativamente recenti tentativi di ‘rivalutazione’, si trova a fare i conti con un impianto che nasce con impostazione ‘manichea’.
Anche per questo motivo, gli ingredienti in grado di attirare l’attenzione non sono mai mancati. Un aristocratico, la cui malvagità resta dipinta in immortali ritratti letterari, si era rivolto alla parte più scontenta del popolo per tramare nell’ombra la rovina della maggiore repubblica mai conosciuta. Il tutto, quasi non bastasse, racchiuso in una cornice di orge, scandali e tradimenti, perpetrati da personaggi dediti a vizi di ogni genere. E, ancora, la repressione ciceroniana, avallata dal senato ma irrituale, resa possibile dalla sospensione delle garanzie ‘costituzionali’ del cittadino, difese – nel più noto dibattito senatorio di cui siamo a conoscenza – dal ‘popolare’ Gaio Giulio Cesare e invece sminuite dall’‘ottimate’ Marco Porcio Catone, il futuro ‘Uticense’, eroe repubblicano di ogni tempo.
Pare superfluo accennare alla varietà di letture e di passioni che tale materia ha sollevato. A livello retorico, dare del ‘Catilina’ agli avversari politici divenne da subito, già sulle labbra di Cicerone, un’offesa. Ma il nostro impersonò anche, in virtù della propria vicenda, una figura tragica, e in quanto tale fonte d’ispirazione per artisti e pensatori. La congiura stessa, intesa come tentativo di rovesciare la repubblica, è stata poi fertile terreno d’indagine politica, storiografica e, in tempi più recenti, economica e sociologica.
Chi fu Catilina? Come giunse a progettare e pianificare la sovversione? Quali furono i suoi obiettivi e le sue forze? Quali invece quelli di Cicerone, il grande ed eloquente avversario? Quale la posizione di Cesare? Come Roma e, in seguito, la cultura occidentale, hanno rielaborato l’inquietante vicenda?
A ognuna di queste domande il presente volume proverà a suggerire possibili risposte. Lo farà ripercorrendo la vita di Catilina – assai misteriosa sino alla ‘scoperta’ della congiura –, e ricostruendo le principali direttrici della successiva ‘fortuna’ del personaggio.