tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51390212024-02-18T23:25:15.983-08:00Books and Novels of the Ancient WorldSubsection of <a href="http://ancientimes.blogspot.com/">Roman Times</a>:
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My personal book reviews and news about upcoming books and novels set in the ancient world.Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.comBlogger329125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-80659405314175782812011-06-23T11:28:00.001-07:002011-06-26T11:42:29.108-07:00Review: Master of Rome by John Stack<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007285272/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0007285272" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0007285272&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=0007285272&camp=217145&creative=399369" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
The glamor surrounding <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal">Hannibal</a> and his amazing trek through the Alps with a cadre of elephants during the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Punic_War" rel="wikipedia" title="Second Punic War">Second Punic War</a> has captivated history buffs for so long that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Punic_War">First Punic War</a> has been virtually overlooked by many historical novelists. Likewise, although many authors have written thousands of pages about Rome's fierce legions, Rome's first tentative efforts to build a navy and develop seamanship that would eventually rival Carthaginian mariners who had ruled the Mediterranean for centuries have been largely ignored as well. But Irish author John Stack has redressed both of these oversights in his "Masters of the Sea" series of novels. <br />
<br />
I was unaware of Stack's efforts until the third book in his series, "Master of Rome", popped up in the available titles on Audible.com. As I am always on the lookout for stories set in the ancient world, I immediately selected it as one of my choices and was pleased to discover that its story focussed on the naval battles of the last years of the First Punic War.<br />
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The story's protagonist, a Greek born Roman prefect named Atticus Perennis, has honed his seamanship fighting pirates (which I learned later is covered by the first book in the series, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007285248/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0007285248">Ship of Rome</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=0007285248&camp=217145&creative=399369" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />) and has learned to use the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvus_(weapon)">corvus</a>, a boarding ramp introduced by the Romans to allow them to take advantage of land-type assault maneuvers at sea, to deadly effect.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4IWCfycSQIB9DjliefosV5Ewf7zy05i08mrjSRZq_J4UAfKKC-hQX_Nxpqj1oV5qY6dFyY7BrLlTC7e0S6g6HXAYrA_MelenevGP50xf8wvNcHVjOWs3gIMRA_-l_qWiGvt4/s1600/romancorvus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho4IWCfycSQIB9DjliefosV5Ewf7zy05i08mrjSRZq_J4UAfKKC-hQX_Nxpqj1oV5qY6dFyY7BrLlTC7e0S6g6HXAYrA_MelenevGP50xf8wvNcHVjOWs3gIMRA_-l_qWiGvt4/s320/romancorvus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
The Roman corvus, a boarding ramp anchored to the enemy</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
ship by a sharp spike, is estimated to have weighed over</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
a ton causing severe instability in rough seas. Though </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
advantageous under the right conditions, it was ultimately</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
abandoned after the loss of an entire fleet in a storm following <br />
the battle of Cape Ecnomus during the First Punic War.</div>
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<div style="text-align: right;">
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I had known about the corvus from earlier studies but didn't realize that it was actually used for only a few years during the First Punic War because of the massive loss of ships in a storm following the brilliant Roman victory at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Ecnomus">battle of Cape Ecnomus.</a> <br />
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Perennis commands one of the few ships that survive the storm and is assaulted by charges of incompetence when he returns to Rome to report the loss to the senate. We learn that in earlier novels Perennis has apparently made a powerful enemy in the form of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Cornelius_Scipio_Asina" rel="wikipedia" title="Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina">Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina</a> who earned his cognomen "Asina" meaning "donkey" when, as the first Roman fleet commander, he led an ill-conceived rush to take possession of the Lipari Islands and was subsequently captured by the Carthaginians. Since I had read only about the glory of the Scipioni in regards to the Second Punic War and the ultimate defeat of Hannibal, I was surprised to learn that the family had someone in the family tree much less militarily successful. A little research revealed that he was actually a brother to Lucius Cornelius Scipio who begat the much more glorious line of descendants.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2282/1662796289_1eb655f3c3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2282/1662796289_1eb655f3c3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
Roman galley depicted in a fresco recovered from Pompeii, 1st century BCE -</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
1st century CE. Photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Archaeologico Nazionale </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
di Napoli in Naples, Italy.</div>
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<br />
Fortunately, Perennis has a powerful Senator in his corner, and he survives the spurious charges and is placed in command of a new fleet no longer equipped with the corvus. But this change brings the Romans back to their original problem. How do they overcome the supremely skilled Carthaginian seamen? To make matters worse, Scipio Asina is elected consul and ignores any advice Perennis offers to help the Romans achieve victory. <br />
<br />
Perennis trains his men furiously but even the most brutal training schedule cannot equal the skills acquired and handed down for centuries by generations of Carthaginian sailors. However, Perennis manages to maintain a blockade of the city of Panormus and Scipio's legions eventually breach the city's defenses. But the Carthaginian defense is spearheaded by Greek mercenaries so Scipio refuses to acknowledge Perennis' crucial contributions to the ultimate Roman victory.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilcar_Barca" rel="wikipedia" title="Hamilcar Barca">Hamilcar Barca</a> has hired another of Perennis' wily countryman from Rhodes to slip through the Roman blockade and keep Barca informed of Roman dispositions of ships and legions.<br />
This Rhodian, a real historical figure named <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal_the_Rhodian" rel="wikipedia" title="Hannibal the Rhodian">Hannibal the Rhodian</a>, was almost equal to Perennis in command seamanship and Perennis has to employ every ounce of his mariner's skill as well as a cuning ruse to finally overwhelm the Rhodian's sleek quadreme when the Rhodian attempts once again to run the Roman blockade. (I noticed in my research that the Rhodian's ship is thought to have been used subsequently as the model for faster Roman ships as the war progressed.)<br />
<br />
The Rhodian's capture yields valuable intelligence about the location of the main Carthaginian fleet at Drepana and Scipio Asini is once again, all too quick to jump on the opportunity to grab a fistful of glory and orders a night voyage to surprise the Carthaginians. <br />
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<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: left;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drepana.png" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Battle of Drepana" height="322" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Drepana.png/300px-Drepana.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 300px;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Drepana.png">Wikipedia</a></span></span><br />
<br />
For the sake of historical accuracy, I must point out that in history, Publius Claudius Pulcher, not Scipio Asini, was consul by then, and it is Pulcher who supposedly threw the uncooperative sacred chickens overboard when they refused to eat during the auguries before the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Drepana" rel="wikipedia" title="Battle of Drepana">battle of Drepana</a>, declaring "<i>Bibant, quoniam esse nolunt</i> " - "Let them drink, since they don't wish to eat!". Stack includes this bit of theater in his story although some scholars point out that it was only referenced indirectly by Cicero and not documented by Polybius, recognized as the definitive ancient source on the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punic_Wars" rel="wikipedia" title="Punic Wars">Punic Wars</a>, so whether it really happened is questionable. <br />
<br />
Some reviewers have criticized Stack's consolidation of some of the Roman commanders but I think he meant to streamline the story to improve pacing and allow the reader to focus on the actions of the main protagonist and antagonists. Stack also simplifies the Carthaginian command structure by having Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal's father, in primary command of all Carthaginian forces, including the fleet. In reality, Hamilcar Barca commanded the land forces and did not possess the level of naval acumen attributed to him by Stack in this story. However, since the story was so engaging I was obviously motivated to research the time period and battles covered further so I gained an understanding of the real details eventually anyway.<br />
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Hoping to surprise the Carthaginians, the Roman consul plans to sail under cover of darkness and trap the Carthaginians inside the harbor. But, Perennis feels his crews are not experienced enough to maintain battle formation at night. However, Perennis is once again ignored as orders are given to set sail for Drepana. As Perennis predicted, the ships are soon strung out in a long disorderly line and are spotted by the Carthaginians as they approach the harbor. The Carthaginians not only escape the trap but turn the tables on the Romans and destroy almost the entire fleet.<br />
<br />
But the ever tenacious Romans once again rebuild their fleet and exact their revenge at the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Aegates_Islands" rel="wikipedia" title="Battle of the Aegates Islands">Battle of the Aegates Islands</a>, the rousing climax of the novel.<br />
<br />
Although a relatively new author, Stack demonstrates a command of the history of the era and the cultures involved coupled with the crucial ability to people his stories with vibrant personalities as well. I have little doubt that Stack will eventually be ranked among such bestselling historical fiction writers as Conn Iggulden and Harry Sidebottom. <br />
<br />
Furthermore, I found Stack's ability to conjure up the terrifying ferocity of an ancient naval engagement with its splintering oars, screaming crewmen, shuddering timbers and gore-slickened decks absolutely riveting. I definitely plan to go back and read the other books in this series. <br />
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An excellent summary of the battles immediately preceding and including the events in this novel can also be read <a href="http://warandgame.com/2010/03/06/rise-of-rome-part-iii/">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007285272/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0007285272"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0007285272&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=0007285272&camp=217145&creative=399369" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007285248/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0007285248"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0007285248&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=0007285248&camp=217145&creative=399369" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0007351445/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399369&creativeASIN=0007351445"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0007351445&MarketPlace=US&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&tag=romtim-20&ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&l=as2&o=1&a=0007351445&camp=217145&creative=399369" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-40328926011656480092011-04-25T16:17:00.000-07:002011-04-25T16:42:12.266-07:00Review: Khan: Empire of Silver by Conn Iggulden<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ogadai_Khan.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Khan-Empire-Silver-Novel/dp/0385339542?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Khan: Empire of Silver: A Novel of the Khan Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0385339542&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385339542" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />It's been two years since Genghis Khan died and his heir, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96gedei_Khan" rel="wikipedia" title="Ögedei Khan">Ogedei</a>, has been consumed with the construction of his new capital city, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakorum" rel="wikipedia" title="Karakorum">Qaraqorum</a> (also spelled Karakorum). His older brother Chaghadai, who considers the Khanate his birthright despite his father's decree, has not been idle either. He meets in secret with the officers of his tumens (Mongol military units of 10,000 men) and plots to seize the throne before the people of the nations gather to swear their allegiance to the new Khan.<br />
<br />
Genghis' brothers, Kachiun and Khassar, have sworn to protect their brother's choice of successor. Their tumens along with those of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai" rel="wikipedia" title="Subutai">Subutai</a> are loyal but will they be enough to avert the slaughter of Ogedei and his family?<br />
<br />
We also learn that civil war is not the only catastrophe looming over the hard won Mongol Empire. We discover the young Khan suffers from episodes of severe chest pains and fears his body will betray him before his brother. Then who would lead the nation since Ogedei's son Guyuk is still but a boy?<br />
<br />
<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.conniggulden.com/" rel="homepage" title="Conn Iggulden">Conn Iggulden</a> brings the descendants of Genghis Khan vibrantly to life in his latest novel "Khan: Empire of Silver" and I was immediately invested in the outcome of the dynastic struggles between Ogedei and his rivals for the Mongol throne even though most of the thrilling action in the first few chapters of the novel are a tribute to Iggulden's imagination and not specifically documented in historical sources.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45JuVMuzM7eIRpM45HlpyQpT0SeCt56Ji1dG_vTzqHyGfo-giAJQcYRmrwiyEd0b6yDC4EA_AWiccrWWRwxm4w36BQYANNTrYmCRzAVsJNB6V_myJQT3AzXWdDKzk7kxErHdP/s1600/Ogedeimural.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi45JuVMuzM7eIRpM45HlpyQpT0SeCt56Ji1dG_vTzqHyGfo-giAJQcYRmrwiyEd0b6yDC4EA_AWiccrWWRwxm4w36BQYANNTrYmCRzAVsJNB6V_myJQT3AzXWdDKzk7kxErHdP/s400/Ogedeimural.jpg" width="368" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The enthronement of Ogedei from a manuscript of Rashid al-Din.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"Although Genghis had already decided upon Ogedei as his successor, it was two years before he actually assumed the title of Great Khan. Some suggest it was because Ogedei himself was reluctant, feeling that <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolui" rel="wikipedia" title="Tolui">Tolui</a> might perhaps have been better suited, while other sources suggest it was Tolui who was unhappy about being passed over. At any rate, a quriltai [kurultai] was called in 1229 at which the issue was finally settled." - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i> Storm from the East: from <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan" rel="wikipedia" title="Genghis Khan">Ghengis Khan</a> to Khubilai Khan</i> by Robert Marshall, University of California Press<i>.</i></span><br />
Other sources hint that, although Chaghadai may not have initially challenged Ogedei for head of the empire, his descendants in their subordinate khanate in central Asia wrangled with their royal relations in China in later years.<br />
<br />
Mongol leaders within the Chaghadai khanate vied with each other for territory and power. They also fought and engaged in political maneuvers against their Mongol relatives in China. Although the Chaghadai khanate was subordinate to the Great Khan in China, several Chaghadai khans rebelled against this inferior position and sought to assert their independence. - The Chaghadai Khanate - The Metropolitan Museum of Art<br />
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So, although the opening struggle did not appear to have occurred, it was certainly within the realm of possibility.<br />
<br />
I also could not find references to Ogedei's struggle with a heart condition. Most sources refer only to a drinking habit that earned the scorn of his older brother, Chaghadai. But, introducing the threat of imminent death as a major influence in Ogedei's life and the choices he makes as he molds the vast territories conquered by his father into a well-administered empire does add more humanity to the tale. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNl4CZ1ovNRC9RtZAbpKviFgMbsULdx6MHvczMA7HDNca76oN9wwdH13T7VecVs62s-k8Ep6G-DoWeFrqPyCuRGElF2cxjdXsbE4cGkKou3BHKBq7lpClDstO-VhkohkKo3qYe/s1600/mongolempiremapwithcapital.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNl4CZ1ovNRC9RtZAbpKviFgMbsULdx6MHvczMA7HDNca76oN9wwdH13T7VecVs62s-k8Ep6G-DoWeFrqPyCuRGElF2cxjdXsbE4cGkKou3BHKBq7lpClDstO-VhkohkKo3qYe/s400/mongolempiremapwithcapital.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br />
After the question of Great Khan is settled, Ogedei, along with his younger brother Tolui, march east to complete the conquest of the Chin while Subutai leads the young Mongol princes, including Batu, son of Genghis' dead eldest son Jochi, Guyuk, son of Ogedei, Baider, son of Chaghadai, and Mongke, Tolui's eldest son, on a qwest to conquer the lands west of the empire all the way to the sea. This is a small rearrangement of history on Iggulden's part as Subutai commanded part of the troops for Ogedei during the action against the Chin before turning his attention to the west but it helped to separate the two fields of operation for the reader.<br />
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<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ogadai_Khan.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Portrait of Ögedei Khagan (the 14th century). ..." height="304" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Ogadai_Khan.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="259" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 259px;">Ogedei Khan. Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ogadai_Khan.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span><br />
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[Spoiler alert] In the east, Ogedei comes up against some of the first devastating uses of gunpowder and his<br />
troops are mangled badly. In the book, it is here that Ogedei suffers what appears to be a devastating stroke that leaves him comatose. His shaman sacrifices 12 white mares in an effort to appease Tengri, the Mongol Sky Father. But the khan does not stir until the shaman suggests the sacrifice of a family member in his pleadings to the supreme deity. Taking the Khan's stirrings as an omen, the shaman requests a meeting with Khassar and Tolui and explains what he believes to be a clear sign of the type of sacrifice the gods have indicated. At the council, another event happens that points to Tolui as the designated choice.<br />
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The next passages were absolutely heart wrenching to me. After an emotional day of preparation, Tolui sacrifices himself, but not by drinking a sacrificial brew as described in the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_History_of_the_Mongols" rel="wikipedia" title="The Secret History of the Mongols">The Secret History of the Mongols</a>. Tolui performs an act of butchery on his own body as if he was a sacrificial animal. As I listened, tears actually streamed down my face. <br />
<br />
The sacrifice of Tolui has actually been the focus of an interesting analysis by University of Leeds scholar, Geoff Humble in his paper "<a href="http://leeds.academia.edu/GeoffHumble/Talks/21708/A_Princely_sacrifice_The_Death_of_Tolui_in_Imperial">A Princely Sacrifice? The Death of Tolui in Imperial Mongol Historiography</a>". He expresses his opinion that various versions of the story were used by the descendants of Tolui, most notably Kublai Khan, to reinforce their political legitamacy.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Subutai and the princes conquer Russia, Bulgaria and Hungary. The dynastic complications include friction between Ogedei's designated warlord Subutai and young Prince Batu. In "<a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Bones-Hills-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0385339534%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dromtim-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0385339534" rel="amazon" title="Genghis: Bones of the Hills">Genghis: Bones of the Hills</a>" Iggulden had imagined that Genghis Khan ordered Subutai to track down his son Jochi and dispatch him for disobeying his father and taking his tumens back to Mongolia while his father was mopping up his conquest of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khw%C4%81razm-Sh%C4%81h_dynasty" rel="wikipedia" title="Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty">Khwarezmian Empire</a>. (Some scholars speculate that Genghis actually ordered the poisoning of Jochi but there is no conclusive evidence). Before Subdutai found Jochi, Genghis' son had fathered a child without a formal marriage ceremony and the boy, Batu, as a bastard, had endured much abuse outside of the Mongol's tribal social structure.<br />
<br />
When Ogedei becomes Khan, he orders Batu to join the tumens and undergo military training then take his rightful place in command of a tumen as a prince of the nation. But Batu has not forgotten who slaughtered his father in the snow and he can barely control his hatred for his superior commander Subutai. <br />
<br />
Much of this part of the story is embroidery as there is no evidence of such a connection between Subutai and Batu but again it added tension to the narrative.<br />
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</div>In eastern Europe, the Mongols meet heavily armored knights including the fearsome Templars and Hospitallers of Crusade fame. But, as scholar Robert Marshall points out, knights of the 13th century were used primarily as "head-bashers" supported by infantry composed of untrained and badly equipped peasants forced to fight for their liege lords. In the battle for Moscow, Iggulden describes how the peasant infantry are actually whipped into battle by troop handlers commissioned by the ruling noblemen. Furthermore, the knights, although expensively equipped, were also not trained as line officers and offered little in the way of a formal chain of command once the battle was joined.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh67MlF_Eknn1lWBQPi8lL-Kt4qdO1u5pflH3L5W_ERXTm76i5Lcmra3ChbCOLN26CjjXkoUGQQHpXXtsPyKYZRIWcj2GcwHWJfqgJMqQWK6xATiR7KqA8lXNGFbQaD7pabqLRI/s1600/hospitallerorder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh67MlF_Eknn1lWBQPi8lL-Kt4qdO1u5pflH3L5W_ERXTm76i5Lcmra3ChbCOLN26CjjXkoUGQQHpXXtsPyKYZRIWcj2GcwHWJfqgJMqQWK6xATiR7KqA8lXNGFbQaD7pabqLRI/s400/hospitallerorder.png" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Examples of 13th century Hospitaller armor. Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.totalwar.com/medieval">Medieval: Total War</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
"By contrast the Mongols were a tightly disciplined fighting machine, in which each soldier knew his place and his responsibilities. He did not fight as an indiivdual, but as part of a massive formation that was led in and out of well-drilled manoeuvres. When the Mongol army advanced they approached as a series of long single ranks, made up of a number of units. The first two consisted of heavy cavalry, followed by three ranks of light cavalry. Out on either flank and up front were further, smaller detachments of light cavalry."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqeDBzcgYaXyVb-DylLyW8BK_25IsqHJ-zmauyJY2N-T3IM9kd7jPc40mXR7J1Knghk6jKQ0sWKXM0b48CRyE_0cHnbE3PI-xNCFUM9bJmgJBLsYdXzTayWpuWQCFx62vrFBo/s1600/Mongolwarrior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqeDBzcgYaXyVb-DylLyW8BK_25IsqHJ-zmauyJY2N-T3IM9kd7jPc40mXR7J1Knghk6jKQ0sWKXM0b48CRyE_0cHnbE3PI-xNCFUM9bJmgJBLsYdXzTayWpuWQCFx62vrFBo/s320/Mongolwarrior.jpg" width="242" /></a>"An encounter with the enemy was rarely a surprise because there were scouts out in the field who were able to communicate with the main body through a system of flags and messengers. When the enemy had been engaged, either on the flank or in front, the outer detachments quickly became the vanguard and were soon reinforced from the rear. Once the enemy's position and disposition had been discovered, the three rear ranks of light cavalry would move up through the ranks of heavy cavalry and gallop up to the line. Rarely would any of these detachments engage the enemy in close combat. Instead they would detach small squadrons of some ten or twenty riders to gallop across the enemy's line, pouring in a deadly shower of arrows."<br />
<br />
"The Mongols also preferred to manoeuvre the enemy's ranks to exactly where they wanted them. They did this by deploying the manudai, a corp of 'suicide troops' that charged straight at the enemy line. As they approached within range of the engemy, they would suddenly break ranks, turn and flee. The sight of the Mongols in flight was a tempatation that most enemy commanders could not resist. With the enemy cavalry in hot pursuit, the mangudai galloped to a prearranged spot - where the rest of the army lay in wait." - Storm from the East: from Ghengis Khan to Khubilai Kahn by Robert Marshall, University of California Press, 1993.<br />
<br />
The Mongols also employed sophisticated siege weapons in their European campaigns illustrated below in a manuscript by Rashid al-Din:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHnjbanEv2K94XKF-77umbYulSf8QEsa11HdKBj02UAa2ZRPMY1a4WKdov9MSGJtI4rFa4H0BWgROaik8hotAbK9b5tYWVE-heMbAqpcBDIpPDHiN2kYWXiaSEN7tHD7EXCrj/s1600/Mongolsiege.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHnjbanEv2K94XKF-77umbYulSf8QEsa11HdKBj02UAa2ZRPMY1a4WKdov9MSGJtI4rFa4H0BWgROaik8hotAbK9b5tYWVE-heMbAqpcBDIpPDHiN2kYWXiaSEN7tHD7EXCrj/s320/Mongolsiege.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><br />
<br />
The graphic description of the hard-fought battles Iggulden splashed across the closing pages of the novel kept me listening raptly and more than once I went well past the time needed for my morning exercise routine.<br />
<br />
There seems little doubt that Subutai and the Mongol Princes could have swept the rest of Europe and only Ogedei's sudden death (in the book from an apparent heart attack while history attributes it to a protracted drinking bout) saved the rest of Europe from total defeat. I can't help but wonder what political differences there would be today if that defeat had, in fact, happened. Would the current East-West schism have been totally avoided if the ill-timed death of one man had not occurred at that moment in history?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Khan-Empire-Silver-Novel/dp/0385339542?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Khan: Empire of Silver: A Novel of the Khan Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0385339542&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385339542" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Storm-East-Genghis-Khan-Khubilai/dp/056336338X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Storm from the East: From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=056336338X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=056336338X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Birth-Empire-Conqueror-Iggulden/dp/B004HSLA2I?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Birth of an Empire (Genghis Khan: Conqueror Series #1) by Conn Iggulden" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B004HSLA2I&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004HSLA2I" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Lords-Bow-Conn-Iggulden/dp/B002XULY00?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Lords of the Bow" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002XULY00&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002XULY00" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Bones-Hills-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0385339534?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Bones of the Hills" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0385339534&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385339534" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div><br />
</div><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=4ebe1015-e670-4d2e-82fd-969ae59a3d75" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-42042134016320469422011-02-27T15:57:00.000-08:002011-02-27T16:34:18.057-08:00Review: Roman Games by Bruce MacBain<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Games-Plinius-Secundus-Mystery/dp/1590587774?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Roman Games: A Plinius Secundus Mystery" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590587774&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590587774" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Sextus Ingentius Verpa, imperial informant to the vicious <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitian" rel="wikipedia" title="Domitian">emperor Domitian</a>, was a real piece of work, having clawed his way to imperial favor by turning in even the emperor's cousin, Clemens, for atheism. Now, the disgusting thug lay tangled in his bedsheets in a pool of blood, gripping his "member virilus" and clutching his throat.<br />
<br />
But, just as in life, Verpa's death sends terror through his household as troopers of the city prefect round up the household slaves and herd them into a small windowless chamber where they will await the foregone conclusion of the official investigation before being executed in a most hideous manner in the arena.<br />
<br />
After all, Roman law was clear. If any slave should murder his master, all slaves, considered complicit because the murder was not prevented, are deemed equally guilty.<br />
<br />
But, this time, the outcome was not going to be as predetermined as in cases in Rome's past. The city prefect has appointed <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Younger" rel="wikipedia" title="Pliny the Younger">Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus</a>, temporary vice-prefect, to investigate, and the thriving young lawyer, known to history as Pliny the Younger, will not be content to simply go through the motions.<br />
As the case begins to unravel, we find Pliny snared in not only a complicated murder investigation but an assassination plot woven about the imperial throne as well.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/4/8005583_22fde54d55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/4/8005583_22fde54d55.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosaic of a Charioteer at the Palazzo Massimo<br />
Photographed by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://brucemacbain.com/">Bruce MacBain</a>, with a PhD in ancient history, does an excellent job of conjuring daily life in Rome of the late first century CE. I did not detect a single misstep in his descriptions of Roman housing and decor, Roman law, religion, social obligations, leisure pursuits or entertainments. He even got the numbers and colors of chariot teams correct for the period, the whites, blues, greens, reds, purples and golds. Thankfully, I had just finished the Teaching Company course, The Visual Exploration of Rome: Antiquity's Greatest Empire by Dr. Steven Tuck in which Dr. Tuck explained that throughout most of the imperial period there were four official chariot team colors. But, Domitian introduced two more colors, the purples and the golds. So, I was gratified when Dr. MacBain mentioned the purples and golds in his novel when Pliny attends the races one day!<br />
<br />
Although I was only slightly familiar with the historical Pliny the Younger from my study of Pompeii and the Vesuvian disaster that claimed his uncle, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pliny_the_Elder" rel="wikipedia" title="Pliny the Elder">Pliny the Elder</a>, I found Pliny to be an interesting man in his own right and plan to read more of his letters as time permits. From what I found in my research, Dr. MacBain's portrayal of Pliny closely follows his real persona as discovered in the study of his own writings, the Epistulae (Letters), a series of personal missives directed to his friends and associates that were published in Pliny's own lifetime.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; padding-bottom: 6px; padding-left: 6px; padding-right: 6px; padding-top: 6px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Pompeii_the_last_day_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Pompeii_the_last_day_1.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Pliny the Younger's descriptions of the eruption<br />
of Vesuvius have been invaluable to modern volcanologists<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-style: italic; line-height: 19px;">From the Discovery Channel's ''Pompeii'', courtesy of Crew Creative, Ltd</span> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><blockquote>"We know more about Pliny as a person than we do about most figures from antiquity," MacBain obeserves, "because he was a great letter writer. Through his letters we see many facets of the man. He was a Roman senator and a lawyer with a successful, if not brilliant, career in the imperial administration. He was a landowner with a beautiful villa on the Italian coast. He was a literary dilettante. He was rather vain, rather fussy. At the same time, conscientious and honest. He was curious about the natural—and supernatural—world. He was a very social animal, he had hundreds of friends. His most endearing qualities are his love for his young wife, Calpurnia; his generosity—he endowed a scholarship fund for the boys and girls of his home town; and his humanity towards his slaves and freedmen in an age when that was not common."</blockquote><br />
Calpurnia was actually Pliny's third wife. Childbirth was a hazardous undertaking in the 1st century CE and Pliny had already been widowed by it earlier in his life. So, we can certainly understand his worry over his young wife's advanced pregnancy as the story progresses.<br />
<br />
MacBain also introduces us to the flamboyant poet Martial. This hairsute Spaniard is a pungent blend of crude comedy mixed with sudden, unexpected flashes of introspection. Although he was known for his ribald epigrams he could also pen verses that encouraged reflection on what was really important in life.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/468748624_ddc92381f9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/173/468748624_ddc92381f9.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bronze applique depicting two togate men.<br />
Roman 50 - 75 CE. Photographed at the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.getty.edu/" rel="homepage" title="Getty Villa">Getty Villa</a> by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>An example:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"This is that toga much celebrated in my little books, that toga so well known and loved by my readers. It was a present from Parthenius; a memorable present to his poet long ago; in it, while it was new, while it shone brilliantly with glistening wool, and while it was worthy the name of its giver, I walked proudly conspicuous as a Roman knight. Now it is grown old, and is scarce worth the acceptance of shivering poverty; and you may well call it snowy. What does not time in the course of years destroy? this toga is no longer Parthenius's; it is mine." - <i><a href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book09.htm">Martial, On a Toga Given Him by Parthenius, Book IX, XLIX</a></i>. </blockquote><br />
We meet Parthenius, a portly and scheming chamberlain of Domitian who acted as gatekeeper to the emperor as the story progresses and learn that even he has joined the inner circle of conspirators plotting Domitian's death. The chambelain was probably the recipient of many gestures offered to secure a position in the imperial court and someone who an aspiring poet would have had to flatter with verse if he sought to have a copy of his work reach the eyes of the emperor. Parthenius may have reciprocated with the gift of a toga that could have been worn by the poet to disguise his rather common upbringing and tout his court favor. But life takes a toll on togas as well as men and Martial confides at the end of the passage that now the toga is more worn and threadbare, it is much more suitable for the real man it now covers.<br />
<br />
Martial actually was a friend of Pliny the Younger, who, like many young aristocrats, dabbled in poetry himself and enjoyed socializing with literary celebrities. I appreciate the inclusion of this aspect of Pliny's nature in MacBain's portrayal of Pliny and the opportunity to gain insight into the life of one of Rome's celebrated grammarians living on the precarious edge of imperial patronage.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/2955090582" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bust of the Roman Emperor Domitian 1st century..." height="240" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2955090582_8cd6c50e86_m.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="180" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/2955090582">mharrsch</a> via Flickr</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bust of Domitian 1st century CE</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Of course, we also get to meet one of Rome's most sinister emperors, Domitian. Our first encounter occurs when Pliny is invited to a strange dinner party where the guests are first ushered deep into the bowels of the palace and a bizarre charade takes place where an encounter with Hades himself is reenacted without the guests being forewarned, in an effort to elicit damning confessions from them. This scene is very reminiscent of a similar audience with Domitian described by Steven Saylor in his novel "Empire".<br />
<br />
Domitian's pleasure derived from tormenting Rome's social elite is chilling. I know Professor Tuck related that he felt many of Domitian's more "transgressive" activities reflected the emperor's efforts to redefine Roman virtus but I can't help but assign a proclivity to sadism to Domitian's psychological profile.<br />
<br />
At one point in the novel, Pliny watches as Domitian squashes flies in a prelude to a petulant diatribe against first, Pliny, then Roman society as a whole. As Domitian veers wildly from condemnation to bestowing favor upon his hapless visitors and demanding kisses, we can easily understand the fear that must have permeated Domitian's inner circle. We also gain sympathy for Domitian's wife, one of the co-conpirators, who is described as bruised so severely even heavy makeup cannot conceal her condition.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; line-height: 19px;"><i><br />
</i></span></span></div>Understandably, Pliny offers to resign his position but the prefect and emperor make it clear that is not an option. So, he plows ahead, investigating as best he can, at one point searching through piles of scrolls that comprise his uncle's <i>Naturalis Historia</i> for clues (a respectful nod to the prodigious scholarship of Pliny the Elder).<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/9943126_e1eae86556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/9943126_e1eae86556.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The emperor Nerva photographed at the<br />
Capitoline Museum by Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The plot takes many twists and turns as Pliny gets closer to the truth. Will Pliny as an upright officer of the court denounce the killer and expose the imperial treachery even though it may mean the deaths of family friends and some of the most conscientious people in Roman society? Will the emperor's death ignite a civil war with the emperor's loyal legions in Germania who Pliny fears will swoop down on the eternal city and wreak revenge on its citizens? What will happen to Pliny under the rule of someone like Nerva, the conspirators' less than enthusiastic designate?<br />
<br />
Nerva was Domitian's immediate successor and he is portrayed in the book much as he was thought to have been in life - a reluctant Caesar who other conspirators selected mainly because of his age, with the thought that he could be a placeholder for a short time until someone more suitable could be found. But there was more to Nerva than the conspirators may have realized. If we examine another passage from Martial, we see that the poet, experienced in assessing the motivations of others, lends insight into this "man who would be king":<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"He who ventures to send verses to the eloquent Nerva, will present common perfumes to Cosmus, violets and privet to the inhabitant of Paestum, and Corsican honey to the bees of Hybla. Yet there is some attraction in even a humble muse; the cheap olive is relished even when costly daintiest are on the table. Be not surprised, however, that, conscious of the mediocrity of her poet, my Muse fears your judgment. Nero himself is said to have dreaded your criticism, when, in his youth, he read to you his sportive effusions." -<i> <a href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book09.htm">Martial, To Nerva, Book IX, XXVI</a></i>.</blockquote>Martial, at least, has more than just a little trepidation about Nerva's accession and, as the novel concludes, Pliny soon discovers himself that the new emperor has an edge of ruthlessness about him that Pliny will be unable to deflect.<br />
<br />
So we leave Pliny, sobered by his new reality, and must say goodbye to Martial as he leaves for his childhood home in Hispania. Although Pliny has more adventures ahead of him, Martial will no longer share them and, historically, dies within a few years of his return to Spain. <br />
<br />
I look forward to Pliny's next adventure as we fast forward ten years and Pliny embarks on a new career as governor of the province of Bithynia-Pontus in Asia Minor. I see that his new side-kick will be that salacious gossip-monger Suetonius so I'm sure that will make for a wild ride! <br />
<div><br />
</div><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Games-Plinius-Secundus-Mystery/dp/1590587774?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Roman Games: A Plinius Secundus Mystery" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590587774&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590587774" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Letters-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538948?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Complete Letters (Oxford World's Classics)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0199538948&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0199538948" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ashen-Sky-Letters-Eruption-Vesuvius/dp/0892369000?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Ashen Sky: The Letters of Pliny The Younger on the Eruption of Vesuvius" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0892369000&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0892369000" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Domitian-Tragic-Tyrant-Pat-Southern/dp/041555506X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Domitian: Tragic Tyrant" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=041555506X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=041555506X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </div><br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=88244521-1892-4013-b89c-df843919ac88" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-69314742678563768162011-02-26T16:19:00.000-08:002011-02-26T16:54:49.459-08:00Review: Genghis: The Trilogy by Conn IgguldenI’m about to begin reading <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.conniggulden.com/" rel="homepage" title="Conn Iggulden">Conn Iggulden</a>'s latest saga about the descendants of Genghis Khan and realized that, although I read the first three books in the series fictionalizing the life of legendary conqueror Genghis Khan, I hadn’t written a review about them yet. So, I will strive to cover the opening trilogy which, hopefully, will serve as a refresher on the series before I write a review for the latest book.<br />
<br />
I have found Iggulden's stories so dynamic with characters so psychologically intricate that they must surely embody the cultural ideal of the nomadic warriors I have read about in my studies.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Birth-Empire-Conn-Iggulden/dp/038534421X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Birth of an Empire: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=038534421X&tag=romtim-20" /></a>The first book of the series, "Birth of an Empire", intimately explores not only the daily life of the hardy people of the Asian steppes, but the warrior ethos and competitive drive that shaped the future conqueror and his kinsmen. We first meet <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan" rel="wikipedia" title="Genghis Khan">Timujin</a> as a nine-year-old boy racing wildly across the steppes, fiercely challenging his older half-brother for leadership of the small cadre of his siblings who gallop behind them. It’s as if this scene echoes the pattern we will see repeated throughout his life as he challenges other men, for leadership of, first, the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongols" rel="wikipedia" title="Mongols">Mongol</a> families, then, later, dominion over the cities and people of the Jin and the desert dwellers of the Middle East.<br />
<br />
We meet Timujin's father, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes%C3%BCgei" rel="wikipedia" title="Yesügei">Yesugei</a> - not a khan, but a respected war band leader of a tribe considered one of the noble houses of the steppe. With his cold face and wolf's head sword, Yesugei is the epitome of a Mongol warrior. He emanates power and it is clear he has inspired his sons to follow his example - at least all but little Timugei, who seems misplaced on a horse and headed for a totally different destiny.<br />
<br />
But Yesugei's guidance is cut short when he is poisoned by a band of Tartars and another warrior takes over leadership of the clan, wrenching away Timujin's birthright. Timujin's mother and siblings are left abandoned on the plain without even the shelter of their family ger, a felt-covered refuge from the biting winds, for comfort.<br />
<br />
He and his brothers must use all of the skills their father taught them just to survive the next few years and keep their mother and infant sister fed. The boys spend their days desperately trying to snare marmots or snag fish in the mountain streams, each day fearfully avoiding other tribesman who might kill them on sight to protect their precious flocks. They also nervously eye a darkening sky, the first signs of the rapidly approaching winter. The little family grows thin and weak with only occasional mouthfuls of food - all except Timujin's half-brother Bechter. Timujin suspects Bechter is not sharing all of his catches and follows him to confirm his suspicions. When he sees Bechter catch a fish then disappear and return without it, Timujin knows what he must do. The family will not survive intact if one member is consuming resources but not contributing to the well-being of the whole.<br />
<br />
The Secret History of the Mongols tells us that Timujin expresses his frustration to his mother who rebukes him saying:<br />
<blockquote>"Apart from our shadows we have no friends! Apart from our horse tails we have no whips!" </blockquote>But Timujin will not let the transgression pass and recruits his brother <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6chi_Khasar" rel="wikipedia" title="Jöchi Khasar">Khasar</a> to help him stalk and kill their older half-brother. Iggulden diverges from history a little replacing Khasar with Kachiun, the more thoughtful brother. Iggulden portrays Kachiun throughout the trilogy as more clever and strategically minded than Khasar, a bold but at times reckless warrior, so I think he made this switch to keep his portrayals consistent.<br />
<br />
Timujin takes no pleasure in the death and must suffer the wrath of his mother for the hard decision he had to make. The Secret History relates to us <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoelun" rel="wikipedia" title="Hoelun">Hoelun</a>'s rage:<br />
<blockquote>"You destroyers!" she yells, "Like a wild dog eating its own afterbirth, you have destroyed!"</blockquote>Whether Hoelun would have been that angry over the death of a son of one of Yesugei's minor wives may be questionable but it demonstrates the strong bond all members of a clan group have for each other, regardless of direct blood ties. Timujin never lost respect for his mother and this incident is often viewed as a valuable lesson that instilled the need to forego vengeance and cultivate cooperation and loyalty. Timujin's dedication to his family is a quality we see surface again and again throughout his life as each novel unfolds.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Genghis_Khan.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Genghis Khan's Mongols spread Chinese technology" height="399" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Genghis_Khan.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="269" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Genghis_Khan.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Genghis Khan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>I think Iggulden does an excellent job of crafting Timudjin's character, a unique blend of innate leadership coupled with a boldness and vision, rare in a man so young but with an edge of ruthlessness. You easily find yourself respecting the man if not outright admiring him although in this novel, he is still young and not yet hardened by years of war and the inevitable betrayals that plague ambitious men.<br />
<br />
Bechter's death is the first of many that will follow as Timujin is propelled towards his destiny. The family survives the deadly winter and actually begins to slowly rebuild their lives by stealing livestock that wander past their makeshift home. But Timujin burns to revenge his father and reclaim his birthright at the head of his ancestral tribe. His father achieved prominence through strategic alliances and this lesson was not wasted on Timujin. He begins to gather a group of followers. He also returns to the Olkhun'ut to retrieve his promised bride. Iggulden's version of this event in Timujin's life is certainly exciting. But, the Secret History does not record the event with any bloodshed.<br />
<br />
Iggulden's tale also contains a rather startling omission, Timujin's "blood brother" Jamukha. Jamuka had been a friend since childhood and had risen to become the khan of the Jadarans. When Timujiin's wife is stolen by the Merkits (not the Tartars as portrayed in the novel), it is Jamukha and Togrul, a blood brother of Timujin's father, who help Timujin retrieve her. Although the Merkits are scattered by the attack, they are not hunted down to the last man. The eerie scene of human sacrifice Iggulden used for a climax to the chase did not occur either although such rituals were, apparently, occasionally practiced by nomadic peoples in the region according to Iggulden's author's notes.<br />
<br />
The successful mission against the Merkits (Tartars in the novel) seems to reinforce the widespread rumors that Timujin is the promised one who will unite the Mongol people.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"...rumour strengthens into hope and hope into prophecy. Later arrivals report signs and omens. One man says he has heard an ox bellowing, 'Heaven and Earth agree, let Temujin be the nation's master!' - <i>Genghis Khan, Life, Death and Resurection by John Man.</i></blockquote><br />
But fifteen years and many more intertribal conflicts are fought before Genghis claims title to all the nations.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Lords-Novel-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0385342799?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Lords of the Bow: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0385342799&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385342799" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385342799" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />As we begin “Lords of the Bow”, book two in the trilogy, we find the proud warrior has been a bit corrupted by absolute power. He now clearly sets himself apart from others in the nation. His ger is now so big it can no longer be quickly disassembled like an average Mongol structure and instead, must trundle along fully assembled on a cart.<br />
<br />
Genghis completes his unification of the Mongol tribes and now sets his sights on conquest of the Jin, beginning in the west with Xi Xia. The leadership of Xi Xia had a rocky past with the ruling Jin, sometimes supporting the ruling Jin emperor and at other times, proclaiming their own. By the time Genghis and his Mongol hoard arrive on the scene, Xi Xia is ruled by <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Xiangzong (Li An-chuan)</span>, a self-proclaimed emperor who had led a brutal coup d'état</span> against the previous emperor. Xiangzong had no love for the dynasty ruling the Jin at that time even though Xi Xia was considered a vassal state. Not wishing to risk his own power base, Xiangzong negotiates a settlement with Genghis and gives his daughter to Genghis as a wife to seal the bargain.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gengis_Khan_empire-en.svg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Genghis Khan empire, 13th century" height="195" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Gengis_Khan_empire-en.svg/300px-Gengis_Khan_empire-en.svg.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gengis_Khan_empire-en.svg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Genghis Khan's conquests</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><br />
Although Genghis finds her beautiful and cultured, the marriage disrupts his domestic life. We also see that Genghis is struggling with doubt about the paternity of his firstborn as well and sadly, cannot bring himself to praise or show affection to young Jochi. To make matters worse, Genghis’ second son torments his older brother mercilessly and does everything he can to undermine his brother in the eyes of the nation.<br />
<br />
Genghis’ personal relationships are also complicated by a scheming shaman Kokchu. Kokchu, in an effort to gain control over Genghis, introduces Genghis’ brother Timugai to opium and soon has the young man hopelessly addicted.<br />
<br />
The highlight of this novel is a thrilling description of Genghis’ battle with the Jin at the pass known as Badger’s Mouth. There, Genghis’ Mongols met between 400,000 and 500,000 Jin warriors arranged in a defensive position that funneled the Mongols into the narrow opening of the pass to neutralize the advantage of the Mongol’s mounted cavalry. History tells us that Genghis secretly split his forces sending men around the opening of the pass and scaling the peaks surrounding the Jin fortifications. Thus when the Mongols finally attacked, they assaulted the unsuspecting Jin from two sides. In the novel, Iggulden has the advance troops commanded by Kachiun and Khassar who each demonstrate their respective strengths of cunning and warrior prowess. <br />
<br />
Iggulden is masterful at character development and by now I felt as proud of Kachiun and Khassar as if they were my own brothers.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Bones-Hills-Conn-Iggulden/dp/B004JZWKCS?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Bones of the Hills" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B004JZWKCS&tag=romtim-20" /></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004JZWKCS" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004JZWKCS" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
In book three, “Bones of the Hills”, Genghis has turned his hungry eyes westward toward the heart of central Asia and the lands ruled by Shah Mohammed of Khorezm. The vast Empire of Khorezm extended all the way from the Aral Sea down to the Gulf and from Iraq to India. But the Shah was not content with his holdings and coveted the empire of the Jin. However Genghis beat him to the prize. Genghis sends a delegation to the Shah as a gesture towards establishing peaceful relations but the Shah’s governor of Utrar, greedy for the valuable goods in the Mongol caravan, executes them. When Genghis hears of the slaughter of his enoys, he gathers over 150,000 of his people and begins marching toward Utrar.<br />
<br />
<br />
Genghis cuts a cruel swath through what is now modern day Uzbekistan, the battles thrillingly rendered by Iggulden. But enemies plague Genghis within as well as outside his realm.<br />
<br />
</span></span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GhinggisKhanStatue.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Genghis Khan statue before his Mausoleum in Or..." height="400" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/GhinggisKhanStatue.jpg/300px-GhinggisKhanStatue.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GhinggisKhanStatue.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-transform: uppercase;">GENGHIS KHAN STATUE BEFORE HIS MAUSOLEUM IN ORDOS, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-transform: uppercase;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-transform: uppercase;">INNER MONGOLIA, CHINA.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Iggulden adds a plot twist that includes the scheming shaman Kokchu’s rape and murder of Genghis’ sister during a raid on the camp of the women and children by forces led by Jallalhadin, the son of the Shah.<br />
<br />
Thinking he has escaped detection, Kokchu continues his role as advisor to the Khan. But he was seen coming out of the sister’s tent during the melee and his crimes are finally pieced together. The creepy shaman is finally put to death by Genghis himself who, with his mother and brothers, takes the shaman for a ride into the wilderness. The party stops and all dismount. Genghis reveals his knowledge of the man’s heinous crime and before the shaman can plead for his life, Genghis lifts the man off his feet and snaps his spine, leaving him paralyzed and contemplating a slow death by ravenous wolves as Genghis and his family ride away.<br />
<br />
Although this incident was much embellished by Iggulden, the Secret History relates that one of Genghis’ shamans named Teb-Tengri attempted to build a power base of followers in an apparent challenge for tribal leadership and Genghis laid a trap for him in which the shaman was killed by having his spine broken.<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #660000; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>(Source: Animal and shaman: ancient religions of Central Asia By Julian Baldick) </i><br />
<br />
By the end of the Khorezm conquest, the slaughter of hundreds of thousands has wearied even Genghis’ faithful brother Kachiun who yearns for peace as he sees age overtaking the warrior family. Genghis seems drained of what mercy he may have once possessed. When Genghis hears that his second wife’s father back in Xi Xia has refused to send the annual tribute, he plans to reinvade Xi Xia and raze it to the ground.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, his oldest son Jochi, tired of his father’s refusal to acknowledge his achievements and leadership potential, deserts with his own loyal forces back to the grasslands of the north. In a fury Genghis orders his friend and famous general Subutai to track Jochi down and “deal” with him. <br />
<br />
In the Mongol’s Secret History, Jochi does die during his father’s lifetime but no definitive description of his death is given. <br />
<br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rashid al-Din reports that the great Khan sent for his sons in the spring of 1223, and while his brothers heeded the order, Jochi remained in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Khorasan" title="Greater Khorasan">Khorasan</a>. Juzjani suggests that the disagreement arose from a quarrel between Jochi and his brothers in the siege of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgench">Urgench</a>. Jochi had attempted to protect Urgench from destruction, as it belonged to territory allocated to him as a fief. He concludes his story with the clearly apocryphal statement by Jochi: "Genghis Khan is mad to have massacred so many people and laid waste so many lands. I would be doing a service if I killed my father when he is hunting, made an alliance with Sultan Muhammad, brought this land to life and gave assistance and support to the Muslims." Juzjani claims that it was in response to hearing of these plans that Genghis Khan ordered his son secretly poisoned; however, as Sultan Muhammad was already dead in 1223, the accuracy of this story is questionable. – <i>Wikipedia</i></span></span></span></span></blockquote><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Although Subutai faithfully follows the order of his Khan, the act is a death blow to their friendship. However, history tells us that Subutai continued to serve the Khan until Genghis dies, then serves Ogedi until Ogedi’s death as well.<br />
<br />
When death finally comes for Genghis Khan at the end of the novel, it is at the point of a dagger wielded by a woman. Although the actual facts surrounding the great Khan’s death are shrouded in mystery, his death at the hands of a woman is a persistent legend that has been handed down through oral tradition among the Mongol people so Iggulden capitalizes on it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001C0JCNS?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001C0JCNS" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61dBgLiLv4L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" /></a> Conn Iggulden truly has a gift for bringing the lives of famous people from the past to life. I’m anxious to begin reading his latest installment in the Mongol saga, Khan: Empire of Silver: A Novel of the Khan Empire. Ogedi wrests control of his father’s empire from the clutches of his two remaining brothers and his father's four scheming grandsons while Subutai scorches a path through Europe up to the gates of Vienna!<br />
<img algin="right" alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001C0JCNS" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
<br />
If you find this period of history as fascinating as I did, you may also enjoy the film "Mongol". There is also a marvelous Chinese miniseries "Genghis Khan". I was able to get it through Netflix. <br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=80b97362-0444-4b88-af94-c089efc47c28" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Birth-Empire-Conn-Iggulden/dp/038534421X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Birth of an Empire: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=038534421X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=038534421X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Lords-Novel-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0385342799?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Lords of the Bow: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0385342799&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385342799" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Bones-Hills-Conn-Iggulden/dp/B004JZWKCS?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Bones of the Hills" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B004JZWKCS&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B004JZWKCS" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Khan-Empire-Silver-Novel/dp/0385339542?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Khan: Empire of Silver: A Novel of the Khan Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0385339542&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385339542" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0385342799" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></span></span></span>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-39286593539747639332011-02-25T13:31:00.000-08:002011-02-25T13:32:24.421-08:00Review: The Green Bronze Mirror by Lynne Ellison (Young Adult)<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Green-Bronze-Mirror-Lynne-Ellison/dp/0956347509?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"> <img alt="The Green Bronze Mirror" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0956347509&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0956347509" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />This time travel tale by a 14-year-old author was sent to me quite some time ago and I read it but got so swamped with other committments, I never got around to writing my review of it. My apologies to CnPosner Books who were kind enough to send me a review copy.<br />
<br />
Karen is a young British girl, about the same age as the author, with a talent for art. One day she is swept back in time to the age of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire" rel="wikipedia" title="Roman Empire">Roman Empire</a> under the reign of Nero when she finds an old bronze mirror on a deserted beach and gazes into its corroded surface. She is discovered by a Roman patrol whose Centurion takes her for a runaway slave and places her temporarily in his household until inquiries can be made.<br />
<br />
When no one claims the girl, she is sold to a slaver and placed aboard a ship destined for Rome. There, she befriends other young slaves and wonders what will happen to her once they reach their destination.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/451436408_fd0aa37fc4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/451436408_fd0aa37fc4.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman coin bank depicting a beggar girl. 25-50 CE.<br />
Photographed at the Getty Villa by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In Rome, she is purchased by a wealthy Roman family and is charged with the care of the family's children. When the mistress of the house later discovers Karen's talent for art, she orders Karen to paint murals on the walls of the villa in addition to her child care duties. Karen enjoys her work so doesn't seem to mind her role in ancient society and befriends some of the other household slaves, discovering one of them is a member of the new Christian cult. She asks to attend some of their meetings and she is welcomed into the group. She then falls in love with one of the other young Christian slaves named Kleon.<br />
<br />
One day a fire erupts in the city and soon many of the buildings surrounding the villa where Karen lives are threatened by flames. Karen, remembering her Roman history, is terrified because she knows the Christians will be blamed for the fire and brutally persecuted.<br />
<br />
She warns her friends that they will be blamed for the conflagration but, as slaves, they fear severe punishment if they are caught trying to flee. Finally, she convinces them to flee to the catacombs. But an angry mob discovers the entrance to the catacombs and begins searching its dank recesses looking for the "arsonists".<br />
Will Karen escape persecution and find her way back to Britain and her own time?<br />
<br />
Reading this book, I was impressed with this young author's skilled handling of dialogue. She also seemed to have a good grasp of Roman culture and seemed to know quite a bit about the layout of ancient Rome, too, as evidenced by references to particular gates of the ancient city. <br />
<br />
Her primary shortcoming, as an author, was her naivete about the brutality of daily life for slaves and other members of the lower classes in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome" rel="wikipedia" title="Ancient Rome">Roman society</a>. Her heroine was actually considered a fully mature woman at that point in time and it would be quite a stretch to believe that she could be found by a group of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_legion" rel="wikipedia" title="Roman legion">Roman legionaries</a> and deposited untouched into the care of her new master's household slaves. Furthermore, she manages to remain chaste despite her sale to a slaver, a long sea voyage, and purchase by a Roman master, seemingly content with the attentions of his own wife.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/243/450072297_9eee35bb00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/243/450072297_9eee35bb00.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Bronze Bust of a Gallo-Roman Youth </div><div style="text-align: left;">wearing a hairstyle fashioned after the </div><div style="text-align: left;">emperor Nero 60-70 CE. Photographed</div><div style="text-align: left;">at the Getty Villa by Mary Harrsch.</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
But, I can vaguely remember being 14-years-old myself and innocent about gender relations at that age, so I can certainly understand this aspect of the story.<br />
<br />
The "Ben-Hur" approach to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Christianity" rel="wikipedia" title="Early Christianity">ancient Christianity</a> is also understandable since this book was written in 1966 by an imaginative young girl who was probably as enthralled with Charlton Heston's portrayal of the Judean prince at that time as I was.<br />
<br />
She also unknowingly compressed historical events surrounding the Great Fire. The Christians were not immediately blamed for the disaster. They were eventually selected as probable perpetrators after the populace began voicing their suspicions that Nero himself started the fire to clear out the center of Rome for his new <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.8913888889,12.4952777778&spn=0.01,0.01&q=41.8913888889,12.4952777778%20(Domus%20Aurea)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Domus Aurea">Golden House</a>.<br />
<br />
Still, I think young Lynne Ellison could have blossomed into a very good author with more experience. Sadly, I understand this was her one and only published effort.<br />
<br />
I would recommend to the publisher, however, that more care be taken with proofing future releases. The copy I received, although a commercial release complete with cover and illustrations, was filled with typos and even missing words and phrases. It was as if an old manuscript was simply scanned, OCRed and sent to press without any human intervention. Even young authors deserve a publisher's respect for quality in the output of the final product.<br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Green-Bronze-Mirror-Lynne-Ellison/dp/0956347509?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Green Bronze Mirror" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0956347509&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0956347509" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/D-62-Pompeii/dp/059526882X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="A. D. 62: Pompeii" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=059526882X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=059526882X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gladiators-Capua-Roman-Mysteries/dp/1596430745?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Gladiators from Capua (Roman Mysteries)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1596430745&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596430745" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thieves-Ostia-Roman-Mysteries/dp/1842550209?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Thieves of Ostia (The Roman Mysteries)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1842550209&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1842550209" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Vesuvius-Roman-Mysteries/dp/1842550217?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Secrets of Vesuvius (The Roman Mysteries)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1842550217&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1842550217" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596430850" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1842550225" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1444000985" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1842555723" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1842550233" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> </div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=630eb765-424b-4d59-aa0a-244836b33c3d" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-21852520953374978462011-02-24T14:15:00.000-08:002011-02-25T08:06:38.709-08:00Review: The Hittite by Ben Bova<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hittite-Ben-Bova/dp/0765324024?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Hittite" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0765324024&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0765324024" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.0197222222,34.6152777778&spn=1.0,1.0&q=40.0197222222,34.6152777778%20(Hattusa)&t=h" rel="geolocation" title="Hattusa">Hittite capital</a> of Hattusa was a smoldering ruin by the time Lukka and his squad of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Hittites" rel="wikipedia" title="History of the Hittites">Hatti</a> soldiers arrived to rescue their families. Lukka found his dying father in the ruins of his ancestral home but could not find his wife or two young sons. His father gasps that Lukka's wife has taken his sons and fled the city and makes Lukka promise him that he will find his grandsons so they will not end their days as slaves.<br />
<br />
Lukka learns that the king has been killed and civil war has broken out between the two heirs to the throne and the empire that has dominated Asia Minor since the 18th century BCE is in its last death throes. He gathers his men, pointing out to them that they stand a better chance of survival if they stay together, then strikes out on the trail of his wife and sons.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hattusa.liongate.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Lion Gate at Hattusa, Turkey. This was one..." height="196" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Hattusa.liongate.jpg/300px-Hattusa.liongate.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hattusa.liongate.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE LION GATE AT HATTUSA, TURKEY. </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Lukka discovers, however, that his family has been captured by slavers who seem to be headed toward the great city of Troy, near the fabled Hellespont. So, he and his men press on until they find themselves standing on the plain before Troy and discover that it is beseiged by a rather disorganized rabble of Greeks still armed with soft bronze weapons while Lukka's Hatti soldiers have the latest iron swords, helmets and studded armor.<br />
<br />
The Hatti are also skilled in fighting in disciplined formations and soon draw the attention of both <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agamemnon" rel="wikipedia" title="Agamemnon">King Agamemnon</a> and the legendary Odysseus when they bravely face down a chariot charge by Hector himself. Lukka and his men are invited to join the household of Odysseus and soon Lukka learns that his wife and sons are indeed in the Greek camp but have been sold to King Agamemnon. Odysseus tells Lukka that Agamemnon won't give up his slaves willingly and relates the latest dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles. He advises Lukka to be patient and Odysseus will help him secure the return of his family when the opportunity presents itself.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RomanVirgilFolio188v.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Trojans and Greeks from the Vergilius Romanus" height="294" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/RomanVirgilFolio188v.jpg/300px-RomanVirgilFolio188v.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RomanVirgilFolio188v.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-transform: uppercase;">TROJANS AND GREEKS FROM THE VERGILIUS ROMANUS</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>He then asks Lukka if he will serve as an envoy to the Trojans to carry the latest peace offering from the Greeks. Lukka agrees and is taken into the city of Troy where he meets King Priam, Prince Hector, Prince Paris and, of course, the beautiful Helen. He presents the Greek's offer to withdraw if Helen is returned to Menelaus and the Trojans are surprised that the Greeks are no longer demanding the return of Helen's dowry that she brought with her from Sparta. <br />
<br />
Lukka is asked to remain in a guest room while the new offer is considered by the council and while there he is summoned into a private audience chamber where he finds Helen alone except for her servant, her nurse since early childhood. Helen is impressed with his forthright integrity and questions him about the Greeks' true motivations. Lukka fights to control his attraction to her and discovers she is both thoughtful and practiced in<br />
statecraft herself.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, the Trojans reject the peace treaty, though, and Lukka returns to the Greek encampment. The events of the Iliad unfold before Lukka's eyes - the death of Patroclus, the death of Hector and finally the death of Achilles, though a suicide and not because of any mythical vulnerability near his heel. <br />
Lukka meets with Odysseus and explains that his men are skilled in the construction of siege towers that they have used many times in sieges prosecuted by the Hatti. So Odysseus convinces Agamemnon to authorize the construction of one of the Hatti siege towers that they will cover with wet horsehides to protect the men inside from flaming missiles.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoigKHgbSSAUyDDA7uURYIQf8T5L_CRrXSZwacFlz9jtXRILpvgkxjQQsF7roybdbXP70F-6WHWiuxfEU97Mp2QxRh_cAlaE0F2MVbP9oC18ZBtG-2mmawgBcnFxHBWMwfKVg9/s1600/SennachNinivehseigeJudah_seige_machine_and_tower_ca._705-680.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoigKHgbSSAUyDDA7uURYIQf8T5L_CRrXSZwacFlz9jtXRILpvgkxjQQsF7roybdbXP70F-6WHWiuxfEU97Mp2QxRh_cAlaE0F2MVbP9oC18ZBtG-2mmawgBcnFxHBWMwfKVg9/s400/SennachNinivehseigeJudah_seige_machine_and_tower_ca._705-680.jpg" width="377" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An early seige tower used by King <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Sennacherib against <br />
the walls of Lachish. Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.bible-archaeology.info/war.htm">Archaeology of the Bibl</a>e.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Book Antiqua';"> </span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
Using the siege tower, Lukka and his men scale the walls of Troy and open the gates to let in Odysseus' waiting men and the rest, as they say, is history (or myth?).<br />
<br />
But when Lukka returns he learns that the high king has ordered a celebratory sacrifice of not only prisoners but slaves that have served the Greeks but are no longer needed now that the Greeks are readying their ships to return home. Lukka races to find Odysseus to ask him to plead for the return of Lukka's family before it's too late.<br />
<br />
Author Ben Bova recounts the hellish scene as prisoners and slaves are lashed towards a waiting cadre of priests, bloodied up to their elbows before gore-covered altar stones.<br />
<br />
Will Lukka rescue his family? And what of Helen's fate?<br />
<br />
Award winning science fiction writer, Ben Bova has written more than 120 science fiction and non fiction texts over the course of a career than spans six decades. I was unaware of his background in science fiction when I ordered The Hittite on Audible.com, which was listed under historical fiction. <br />
<br />
So, as an historical fiction enthusiast who enjoys learning about ancient cultures through characters in a fictional narrative, were my expectations met? Surprisingly, I found Bova's novel as pragmatic as any other historical drama I have read. I found it carefully researched, unfolding without any fantasy elements, despite the fact that it was a retelling of Homer's Iliad through the eyes of a Hittite officer.<br />
<br />
Greeks and Trojans alike referred to their beliefs in gods and goddesses but no dieties actually made any physical appearances in human or even non-human form, much like Peterson's film version, "Troy".<br />
<br />
I also learned more about the Hittite civilization, my original purpose for selecting this book.<br />
Although I have studied the battle of Kadesh between the Hittites and the Egyptians and have listened to Professor <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_W._Harl" rel="wikipedia" title="Kenneth W. Harl">Kenneth Harl</a>'s course, <a href="http://www.teach12.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=36">Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor</a> some years ago , I knew relatively little about the Hatti (the real name of these people) except that they were fierce warriors from Asia Minor and the northern Levant who used heavily armored chariots in battle. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7TLvKRQCaokCBGlS8AwBk18LlBCcz0e5yJbE6imnG3j4Jf2BTxakD9nAGCyQJSQVlpd-ij5uvAAz-GDTm-XabPZgDofGqeJ_qFYNRckqzLwEAo5Y4CQzjYgwHU63gnNYirvpz/s1600/Hittites.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7TLvKRQCaokCBGlS8AwBk18LlBCcz0e5yJbE6imnG3j4Jf2BTxakD9nAGCyQJSQVlpd-ij5uvAAz-GDTm-XabPZgDofGqeJ_qFYNRckqzLwEAo5Y4CQzjYgwHU63gnNYirvpz/s400/Hittites.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hittites with their iron weapons and swift chariots were a lethal<br />
combination in the late Bronze Age. Image courtesy of <br />
<a href="http://worldhistoryto1500.blogspot.com/">World History to 1500 Blog</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I was surprised to learn in Bova's book that, although the time period was technically the end of the Bronze Age, the Hatti had already developed iron weapons even though the Greeks and Trojans were still fighting with bronze weapons. Their use of iron as early as the 14th century BCE was discovered after royal archives containing cuneiform tablets were recovered and later translated during the 19th century.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hattusa.king.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Relief of Suppiluliuma II, last known king of ..." height="411" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Hattusa.king.jpg/300px-Hattusa.king.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hattusa.king.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Relief depicting the last known king of Hatti, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Suppiluliuma II</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
"The script on a monument at Boğazköy by a "People of Hattusas" discovered by William Wright in 1884 was found to match peculiar hieroglyphic scripts from Aleppo and Hamath in Northern Syria. In 1887, excavations at Tell El-Amarna in Egypt uncovered the diplomatic correspondence of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his son Akhenaton. Two of the letters from a "kingdom of Kheta" -- apparently located in the same<br />
general region as the Mesopotamian references to "land of Hatti" -- were written in standard <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform_script" rel="wikipedia" title="Cuneiform script">Akkadian cuneiform</a> script, but in an unknown language; although scholars could read it, no one could understand it. Shortly after this, Archibald Sayce proposed that Hatti or Khatti in Anatolia was identical with the "kingdom of Kheta" mentioned in these Egyptian texts, as well as with the biblical Hittites. Others such as Max Müller agreed that Khatti was probably Kheta, but proposed connecting it with Biblical Kittim, rather than with the 'Children of Heth'." - <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hittites">Wikipedia</a> </i><br />
<br />
The Hittite capital of Hattusa was destroyed about 1178 BCE and this would have placed its destruction in the period scholars place the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War" rel="wikipedia" title="Trojan War">Trojan War</a>, just as put forward in Bova's book, The empire's collapse was brought about by a civil war with Hittite vassals, the Kaskas, a mountain people from the Pontic region of Anatolia, and the Bryges, predecessors to the Phrygians who lived in western Anatolia. Simultaneously, the fabled "Sea Peoples" attacked Hittite holdings in Cyprus requiring the last Hittite king, Suppiluliuma II, to engage in one of the earliest naval battles recorded in history off the coast of Cyprus. Then the Assyrians took advantage of this distraction by further encroaching Hittite lands in the east. This period of history was obviously a dangerous and brutal environment as the "Dark Age" began to descend over the Mediterranean basin and I could easily envision marauding bands of former soldiers, slavers and thieves ravaging the countryside as depicted in the novel.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaN5fLcDvxRo_jfMuA3-1rlg-V_OSFps9_pagNXxWnr7LlYATGU_Jiw4s0ZLh-bnRAmghsPlADBvhNd3D3eS-UzyoM1xTeCMilwROU5ESw6NxGdXZXpPqq0stWUpKbSbgMqEB/s1600/sea_peoples_cast_bm_byFerrellJenkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaN5fLcDvxRo_jfMuA3-1rlg-V_OSFps9_pagNXxWnr7LlYATGU_Jiw4s0ZLh-bnRAmghsPlADBvhNd3D3eS-UzyoM1xTeCMilwROU5ESw6NxGdXZXpPqq0stWUpKbSbgMqEB/s320/sea_peoples_cast_bm_byFerrellJenkins.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cast of a relief depicting the Sea Peoples at the British Museum<br />
Photographed by <a href="http://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2008/11/">Ferrell Jenkins</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The stark difference in military discipline and strategies known to the Hittites but unknown to the Greeks is also confirmed in the historical record.<br />
<br />
"The Hittites perfected chariot warfare in what one might call the Golden Age of Chariotry. The chariot of the Late Bronze Age was a very lightweight vehicle pulled by two small horses, useful for it's rapid mobility as an archery, javelin, and spear platform. They fought in large formations, leaving to the archers and infantry masses the tasks of assaulting city walls and occupying territory once it was captured." -<i><a href="http://www.hittites.info/history.aspx?text=Essays/IntroEssay20030524.html"> Introduction to the Hittites by Steve Thurston. 2001.</a> </i><br />
<br />
A Hittite officer like Lukka would have been appalled to see the Greek chariots dashing haphazardly around the battlefield as Greek nobleman sought individual glory rather than overall victory in the engagement.<br />
<br />
I also appreciated Bova's obvious research into the historical fortifications of Troy. Archaeologists who have examined the remains of Troy VIIa , thought to be the Homeric level of occupation at the site of Hisarlik, observe,<br />
<br />
" In the area of the east gate (VI S) between Sections 2 and 3, a southern extension added to Section 2 made the approach to this gate more difficult for attackers. The masonry of this addition, much less regular than that characteristic of the fortifications of Troy VI, utilized many of the fallen blocks from the walls of Troy VI. Repair of the main south gate (VI T) involved paving the entrance passage here and installing a drain under the paving. Extensive repairs to the south and southeast portion of the wall (Sections 3-4) were also undertaken." - <i><a href="http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/27.htm">Troy VII and the historicity of the Trojan Wa</a>r</i><br />
<br />
Bova's Hittite protagonist observes these Trojan efforts to reinforce the south and east defensive walls and recommends that the Greeks use a siege tower to surmount the west wall, a natural barrier, which is lower and has not been artificially reinforced . <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ilioupersis_Louvre_G152.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Iloupersis (the fall of Troy), detail. Side A ..." height="223" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Ilioupersis_Louvre_G152.jpg/300px-Ilioupersis_Louvre_G152.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ilioupersis_Louvre_G152.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE FALL OF TROY, DETAIL. SIDE A FROM AN <br />
ATTIC RED-FIGURE KYLIX, CA. 490 BCE</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Bova's description of the sack of Troy also reflected the brutality often endured by conquered cities in t<br />
he ancient world although some readers may take issue with the scenes in the novel describing wholesale human sacrifice by the so-called "noble" Greeks after the victory, even though the sacrifice of captives and dogs at the funeral of Patroclus was related by Homer in the Iliad (23.173-6). <br />
<br />
Archaeological excavations of Mycenean chamber tombs have yielded human remains mixed with animal bones, including dogs, at a number of sites although archaeologists of the period, particularly those working in the late 19th and early 20th century have been reluctant to attribute these findings to the practice of human sacrifice.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
"In 1887 and 1888 [Christos] Tsountas excavated fifty-two chamber tombs in the vicinity of Mycenae and reported that human bones were often found in the dromoi. In the dromos of Tomb 15 Tsountas found six skeletons buried one over the other, at different depths, in the stone fill before the triangle above the door. With the skeletons were some undecorated potsherds and some animal bones." - <i><a href="http://bit.ly/hDrJGA">Human sacrifice in ancient Greece by Dennis D. Hughes. Routledge. 1991</a></i><br />
<br />
Although researchers have attempted to attribute these findings to displacement by tomb robbers or subsequent multiple burials, evidence on Cyprus, including the discovery of bound skeletal victims, points directly to the introduction of ritual killing by Greek-speaking colonists in the mid-eleventh century BCE. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/4596039377/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Hector's Body depicted on Roman Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Life of Achilles made in Attica Greece 180-220 CE Marble (3) by mharrsch, on Flickr"><img align="left" alt="Hector's Body depicted on Roman Sarcophagus with Scenes from the Life of Achilles made in Attica Greece 180-220 CE Marble (3)" height="333" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1416/4596039377_09c387cbe0.jpg" width="500" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hector's Body depicted on Roman Sarcophagus made in Greece 180-220 CE. Photographed<br />
at the Getty Villa by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>One such example was found in tomb 422 of the Necropolis of Kastros, Lapithos.<br />
<br />
"The uppermost skeleton was covered with two stone slabs, with a third smaller slab placed over its neck. Of this uppermost skeleton 'the shoulder-blades were on top of the ribs, the processes of the spinal column were turned up, the hands were tied to each other and the feet were crossed'. It was concluded that the body had been laid face down, bound hand and foot, in the dromos. Beneath it were the skull and scattered bones of a second skeleton ('from the position of the bones it seems that the body had been placed there in a mutilated condition'), and on the bottom a damaged skeleton lay in outstretched position with the head towards the entrace of the dromos (and in a direction opposite to that of the topmost skeleton). Next to the lowermost burial were an amphora and a jug. Also found in the dromos were two rectangular blocks of poros stone, each with a rectangular hole cut in its middle. Cuttings in the rock edge of the dromos suggest that the larger of the blocks had originally lain across the dromos. Gjerstad, who discussed only the larger block, interpreted it as a sacrificial table upon which the three persons whose remains were found in the dromos were immolated, whereupon 'their blood poured down in the hole to satisfy the spirit of the deceased, buried in the tomb'." - <i><a href="http://bit.ly/hDrJGA">Human sacrifice in ancient Greece by Dennis D. Hughes. Routledge. 1991</a></i><br />
<br />
This description is chillingly similar to the horrific scene Bova describes in the hours following the fall of Troy. <br />
<br />
So, I think Ben Bova should be welcomed into the genre of historical fiction with open arms and hope he will continue the story of Lukka and his unlikely troupe, especially since The Hittite was written with a conclusion portending a sequel.<br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0 0 0;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://io9.com/5668217/ben-bova-predicted-sputnik-in-1949-but-no-publisher-would-touch-his-novel">Ben Bova predicted Sputnik in 1949, but no publisher would touch his novel [Political Science (fiction)]</a> (io9.com)</li>
</ul><div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hittite-Ben-Bova/dp/0765324024?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Hittite" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0765324024&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0765324024" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hittites-Civilization-That-Changed-World/dp/B001139ZI8?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Hittites: A Civilization That Changed the World" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B001139ZI8&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001139ZI8" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hittite-Warrior-Living-History-Library/dp/1883937388?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Hittite Warrior (Living History Library)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1883937388&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1883937388" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hittites-Contemporaries-Revised-Enlarged-Ancient/dp/0500278873?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Hittites: And Their Contemporaries in Asia Minor (Revised and Enlarged Edition) (Ancient Peoples and Places)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0500278873&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0500278873" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div></div><div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=cefe72fb-b5b5-4221-b802-9496679f7afe" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-32558177094920079432011-01-08T15:37:00.000-08:002011-01-08T15:41:31.837-08:00Review: King of Kings: Warrior of Rome Book 2 by Harry Sidebottom<a href="http://www.amazon.com/King-Kings-Book-Warrior-Rome/dp/1590203550?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="King of Kings: Book Two of Warrior of Rome" height="200" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590203550&tag=romtim-20" width="135" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590203550" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Marcus Claudius Ballista, a warrior of Rome despite his origins in the wilds of Germania, returns to the court of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerian_%28emperor%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Valerian (emperor)">Emperor Valerian</a> after a valiant but futile defense of the (fictional) Syrian stronghold of Arete in the second installment of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Sidebottom" rel="wikipedia" title="Harry Sidebottom">Harry Sidebottom</a>'s <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrior_of_Rome" rel="wikipedia" title="Warrior of Rome">Warrior of Rome</a> series, "King of Kings'. Unfortunately, the fragile old emperor Valerian, who knowingly sent Ballista on what amounted to a suicide mission, is neither grateful for Ballista's courageous stand or even appreciative that he returned alive. The feeble emperor has fallen under the sway of an unscrupulous courtier who has his eyes on the purple and is plotting to use a war with the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid_Empire" rel="wikipedia" title="Sassanid Empire">Sassanid Persians</a> to eliminate the old man and seize the throne for his two sons. <br />
<br />
But Ballista, with his battle experience and knowledge of eastern customs and battle strategies represents a threat to the conspiracy. So, the wily <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrianus_Major" rel="wikipedia" title="Macrianus Major">Macrianus</a> the Lame engineers another near suicide mission to save another besieged town. But, when Ballista manages to best the Sassanids once again, Macrianus sidelines Ballista to an administrative post in Ephesus where he has been given a mandate to persecute the new religious sect known as Christians. Since Christians betrayed Ballista at the siege of Arete, he has no qualms, initially, to oversee the trials of arrested believers. But as the brutality of the persecution promoted by a zealous local magistrate becomes painfully clear, Ballista devises a plan to use the law itself to halt the distasteful purge. <br />
<br />
But Macrianus had intended for Ballista to fail and uses the opportunity to replace Ballista with Macrianus' own ruthless son, Quietus, to gain even more favor with Valerian. Once again Ballista finds himself back in Antioch and more out-of-favor than ever. Treated as a pariah by most of the powerful at the imperial court, Ballista whiles away his time hunting with one of his few friends, the future emperor Aurelian. Finally, Ballista is asked to serve as a lowly baggage train officer in the army the emperor has assembled to confront <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapur_I" rel="wikipedia" title="Shapur I">Shapur I</a>, the King of Kings. This fateful battle, that eventually results in the capture of Valerian, takes place near <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bas_relief_nagsh-e-rostam_al.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The triumph of Shapur I over the Roman Emperor..." height="225" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Bas_relief_nagsh-e-rostam_al.jpg/300px-Bas_relief_nagsh-e-rostam_al.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bas_relief_nagsh-e-rostam_al.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rock relief at Naqsh-e Rostam showing the Roman <br />
Emperor Valerian kneeling before Persian King Shapur I</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Edessa.<br />
<br />
Macrianus has conveniently been left safely in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samosata" rel="wikipedia" title="Samosata">Samosata</a> with the imperial treasury while Quietus continues to pour honey in the ear of the old emperor convincing him to rely on the services of a turncoat, despite the fact that it is apparent to everyone else, particularly Ballista, that the army is being led into a trap. At the last moment, the guide disappears and Quietus convinces Valerian to send Quietus back to Samosata for help (and safely out of harm's way), leaving Ballista to face the tightening Persian encirclement. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Humiliation_of_Emperor_Valerian_by_Shapur%2C_King_of_Persia%2C_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Humiliation of Emperor Valerian by Shapur,..." height="312" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/The_Humiliation_of_Emperor_Valerian_by_Shapur%2C_King_of_Persia%2C_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg/300px-The_Humiliation_of_Emperor_Valerian_by_Shapur%2C_King_of_Persia%2C_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Humiliation_of_Emperor_Valerian_by_Shapur%2C_King_of_Persia%2C_by_Hans_Holbein_the_Younger.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Humiliation of Emperor Valerian by Shapur, <br />
King of Persia by Hans Holbein the Younger. </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGl3L_3hL_yDMQfPrhJ7AcVSmZyVx4e3N9-UQbh77zkZuavuvrBn0v9OIIvSNQC9zPq1-qS1cM68Ub1SBlAbAKe7TtNpmXU1ICwM_UeF7ZgvUTr9iR6AsC_cW2u067vnU3pJ9/s1600/aurelian+bust.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<br />
When I wrote my review of "Fire In the East: Warrior of Rome Book 1", I didn't realize Ballista was a real Roman commander of the period. I had searched in vain for a real city named Arete that underwent a siege at about the time period covered by the novel and when I didn't find one, I assumed that the entire book was fictional (except for references to the emperor Valerian and the Persian king Shapur I. Now, researching my review for Book 2, "King of Kings", I found references to a praetorian prefectus named Ballista who served in various capacities under Valerian. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>He was a notable man, skilled in administering the commonwealth, vehement in counsel, winning fame in campaigns, without an equal in providing for rations, and so highly esteemed by Valerian that in a certain letter he honoured him with the following testimony:<br />
<br />
"From Valerian to Ragonius Clarus, prefect of Illyricum and the provinces of Gaul. If you are a man of good judgement, my kinsman Clarus, as I know that you are, you will carry out the arrangements of Ballista. Model your government on them. Do you see how he refrains from burdening the provincials, how he keeps the horses in places where there is fodder and exacts the rations for his soldiers in places where there is grain, how he never compels the provincials or the land-holders to furnish grain where they have no supply, or horses where they have no pasture? There is no arrangement better than to exact in each place what is there produced, so that the commonwealth may not be burdened by transport or other expenses. Galatia is rich in grain, Thrace is well stocked, and Illyricum is filled with it; so let the foot-soldiers be quartered in these regions, although in Thrace cavalry, too, can winter without damage to the provincials, since plenty of hay can be had from the fields. As for wine and bacon and other forms of food, let them be handed out in those places in which they abound in plenty. All this is the policy of Ballista, who gave orders that any province should furnish only one form of food, namely that in which it abounded, and that from it the soldiers should be kept away. This, in fact, has been officially decreed." - <i><a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustan_History" rel="wikipedia" title="Augustan History">Historia Augusta</a>, Vol III p. 111-113</i></blockquote><br />
The villains of the story, Macrianus the Lame and his two sons Macrianus the Younger and Quietus, are also real persons. The ancient sources during this tumultuous period are fragmentary at best but most sources refer to The <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quietus" rel="wikipedia" title="Quietus">Macriani</a> as usurpers although I could not find any outright accusations of treachery against Valerian as portrayed in the novel. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Being now engaged in the war with the Persians, Conscript Fathers, I have entrusted all public affairs, and even those which concern the war, to Macrianus. He is faithful to you, loyal to me, and both beloved and feared by the soldiers. He with his army will act as the case shall demand. And in this, Conscript Fathers, there is nothing new or unexpected by us. For while a boy in Italy, while a youth in Gaul, while a mature man in Africa, and, finally, while well advanced in years in Illyricum and Dalmatia, his valour has been well proved, for in divers battles he has done brave deeds which may serve as a pattern to others." - <i>Valerian, Historia Augusta, Vol. III p. 100. </i></blockquote><br />
However, despite Valerian's implicit trust in Macrianus, like Sidebottom, I find it curious that somehow Macrianus managed to separate himself from Valerian's ill-fated expedition and safely ensconce himself in Samosata with the imperial treasure. It also seems conveniently fortuitous that neither of Macrianus' sons, so lauded by Valerian for their bravery, were captured by the Persians on the expedition in which Valerian himself was seized. <br />
<br />
Some scholars speculate that Ballista was actually a supporter of the Macriani even though in Sidebottom's novel, the Macriani are Ballista's worst enemies. The first mention of Ballista in the Historia Augusta is rather vague about the relationship between these two men.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"So then, when Gallienus and Volusianus were consuls, Macrianus and Ballista met together, called in the remains of the army, and, since the Roman power in the East was tottering, sought someone to appoint as emperor. For Gallienus was showing himself so careless of public affairs that his name was not even mentioned to the soldiers. It was then finally decided to choose Macrianus and his sons as emperors and to undertake the defence of the state. And so the imperial power was offered to Macrianus. Now the reasons why Macrianus and his sons should be chosen to rule were these: First of all, no one of the generals of that time was held to be wiser, and none more suited to govern the state; in the second place, he was the richest, and could by his private fortune make good the public losses. In addition to this, his sons, most valiant young men, rushed with all spirit into the war, ready to serve as an example to the legions in all the duties of soldiers. - <i>Historia Augusta Vol. III p. 19-20</i></blockquote><br />
Although Ballista did apparently meet with Macrianus after Valerian was captured, this passage of the Augusta Historia does not say Ballista supported Macrianus as the new emperor. It sounds to me like Macrianus, as possessor of the imperial treasury, merely used gold to secure the position.<br />
<br />
A later section of the Augusta Historia claims Ballista actively supported Macrianus and his sons but this passage was supposedly related by one Maeonius Astyanax, considered a "bogus authority" by such modern scholars as Ronald Syme in his work "<i>Ammianus and the Historia Augusta</i>". <br />
<br />
Enmity between Ballista and Macrianus and/or his sons, however, would certainly explain a later passage relating that Ballista instigated the murder of Macrianus' son, Quietus.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>But those who were with Macrianus' son — whose name was Quietus — taking sides with Odaenathus, by the instigation of Ballista, Macrianus' prefect, killed the young man, and, casting his body over the wall, they all in large numbers surrendered to Odaenathus. And so Odaenathus was made emperor over almost the whole East, while Aureolus held Illyricum and Gallienus Rome. This same Ballista murdered, in addition to Quietus and the guardian of his treasures, many of the people of Emesa, to whom Macrianus' soldiers had fled, with the result that this city was nearly destroyed. - <i>Historia Augusta Vol. III, pp 19-23</i></blockquote><br />
<br />
If Ballista had supported the Macriani, why would he switch his support to Odenathus and murder Quietus? There are no reports anywhere else in the Historia Augusta that Ballista was a man with imperial aspirations or of a duplicitous nature. So Sidebottom's scenario seems much more plausible than the conflicting information provided by the rather exasperating "historical" source of the <i>Historia Augusta</i> that repeatedly contradicts itself .<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGl3L_3hL_yDMQfPrhJ7AcVSmZyVx4e3N9-UQbh77zkZuavuvrBn0v9OIIvSNQC9zPq1-qS1cM68Ub1SBlAbAKe7TtNpmXU1ICwM_UeF7ZgvUTr9iR6AsC_cW2u067vnU3pJ9/s1600/aurelian+bust.gif" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitGl3L_3hL_yDMQfPrhJ7AcVSmZyVx4e3N9-UQbh77zkZuavuvrBn0v9OIIvSNQC9zPq1-qS1cM68Ub1SBlAbAKe7TtNpmXU1ICwM_UeF7ZgvUTr9iR6AsC_cW2u067vnU3pJ9/s200/aurelian+bust.gif" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Roman Emperor Aurelian</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
So, the real Ballista's role in the imperial succession after the capture of Valerian seems to be somewhat unclear but he is recorded as later defeating Shapur I in Asia Minor at the battle of Corycus. These events apparently form the foundation of Sidebottom's third installment in the series, <i>Lion of the Sun</i>. As I am now totally intrigued with Ballista, I look forward to reading the next book in the series. I see on Sidebottom's website that he is presently working on a fourth novel entitled "<i>The Caspian Gates</i>". I'm hoping Sidebottom ignores spurious reports about Ballista meeting his end prematurely and will provide us with even more adventures in which Ballista serves with his friend Aurelian. I find Aurelian fascinating and would love to learn more about his reconquest of the empire and reasons for his betrayal.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://rogueclassicism.com/2011/01/04/bread-and-circuses-emperors-of-rome-podcasts/">Bread and Circuses: Emperors of Rome Podcasts</a> (rogueclassicism.com)</li>
</ul></div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/King-Kings-Book-Warrior-Rome/dp/1590203550?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="King of Kings: Book Two of Warrior of Rome" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590203550&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590203550" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valerian-Emperor-Lambert-M-Surhone/dp/6130905467?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Valerian Emperor" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=6130905467&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=6130905467" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Aurelian-Third-Century-Imperial-Biographies/dp/0415301874?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Aurelian and the Third Century (Roman Imperial Biographies)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0415301874&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0415301874" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Restorer-World-Aurelian-John-White/dp/1862273928?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Restorer of the World: The Emperor Aurelian" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1862273928&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1862273928" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corycus-Lambert-M-Surhone/dp/6132108211?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Corycus" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=6132108211&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=6132108211" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Warfare-Short-Introduction-Introductions/dp/0192804707?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0192804707&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0192804707" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=aa634eb3-ef74-4b85-bdf3-8003cd0d3872" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-60178392590027124862010-11-04T12:12:00.000-07:002010-11-04T13:34:11.676-07:00Review: The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon<blockquote>"...it is possible to feel fear, confidence, desire, anger, pity, and generally to be affected pleasantly and painfully, either too much or too little, in either case wrongly; but to be thus affected at the right times, and on the right occasions, and towards the right persons, and with the right object, and in the right fashion, is the mean course and the best course, and these are characteristics of virtue." <i>- Aristotle, </i><i>Nicomachean Ethics</i><i> </i></blockquote><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Mean-Annabel-Lyon/dp/0307593991?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Golden Mean" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0307593991&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307593991" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />In her first novel, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annabel_Lyon" rel="wikipedia" title="Annabel Lyon">Annabel Lyon</a>, has tackled the formidable task of imagining the life of one of the world's foremost philosophers, Aristotle. I have to admit, I knew very little about <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle" rel="wikipedia" title="Aristotle">Aristotle's</a> personal life other than the fact that he was asked by <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Macedon" rel="wikipedia" title="Philip II of Macedon">Phillip II of Macedon</a> to tutor his young son, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great" rel="wikipedia" title="Alexander the Great">Alexander the Great</a>. So a number of questions arose in my mind as I read Lyon's tale.<br />
<br />
We meet Aristotle on his way to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_%28ancient_kingdom%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Macedonia (ancient kingdom)">Macedon</a> and find Lyon's philosopher is a rather strange man, who seems content to observe life from the shadows, but not enthusiastically embrace it. He ponders the actions of his wife as if he were musing about the behavior of a neighbor or perhaps a precocious niece, not an object of his own love (although I came to suspect Aristotle did not have the capacity for love). The couple travel with his "nephew" <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisthenes" rel="wikipedia" title="Callisthenes">Callisthenes</a>, that we learn is not really his nephew but referred to in that way to avoid unnecessary social speculation. It is obvious from comments exchanged between the older Aristotle and the young <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callisthenes" rel="wikipedia" title="Callisthenes">Callisthenes</a> that some physical relationship had preceded their current situation but Aristotle makes it clear that the young man is now expected to establish his own household and take up a new life.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy after a ..." height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg/300px-Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="239" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aristotle_Altemps_Inv8575.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bust of Aristotle. Marble, Roman copy <br />
after a Greek bronze original by Lysippos<br />
from 330 BC </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Callisthenes was actually <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle" rel="wikipedia" title="Aristotle">Aristotle's</a> great nephew by way of Aristotle's sister <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimneste" rel="wikipedia" title="Arimneste">Arimneste</a>. Whether or not the two shared more than ancestors, is not specifically recorded in the ancient sources although the Byzantine encyclopedia known as the Suda states that Palaephatus of Abydos, an historian credited with the titles of <i>Cypriaca, Deliaca, Attica, Arabica</i> was said to be the beloved <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eromenos" title="Eromenos">(eromenos)</a> of Aristotle so like other Greek aristocrats of the period, same-sex relationships were not unknown to him.<br />
<br />
As Aristotle reminisces about his youth we learn his father, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicomachus_%28father_of_Aristotle%29" title="Nicomachus (father of Aristotle)">Nicomachus</a>, was a physician and Aristotle, ever the dutiful son, trailed around after his father, carrying his kit and acting as his assistant when surgery was required. Aristotle gets his first glimpses of internal human anatomy over the shoulder of his father who performs what we would call <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section" rel="wikipedia" title="Caesarean section">a Caesarean section</a> on a young woman whose unborn child is lodged in the breech position. Although Aristotle's father stitches the young woman up he explains to his son matter-of-factly that of course the woman will die in a day or two but the child was saved and that is a good day's work. Although Aristotle does not shrink from the experiences encountered with his father, he decides he really does not want to become a physician.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSoMzBeY17QdDcxMyX0rwrBFoLWTsJ98EB2661Td4GQ_VkP96U&t=1&usg=__qFNi-27Cvlu0sp7dsciEesljRYw=" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSoMzBeY17QdDcxMyX0rwrBFoLWTsJ98EB2661Td4GQ_VkP96U&t=1&usg=__qFNi-27Cvlu0sp7dsciEesljRYw=" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phillip II of Macedon, ivory. <br />
Courtesy of<a href="http://www.livius.org/phi-php/philip/philip_ii.htm"> Livius.org</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The reputation of his father reaches the ears of King Amyntas of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_%28ancient_kingdom%29" rel="wikipedia" title="Macedonia (ancient kingdom)">Macedon</a>, Phillip II's father, who asks him to become his personal physician. Aristotle's family moves to the Macedonian capital where Aristotle meets Phillip, a boysterous youth with intellect and natural athleticism. I did not know that Aristotle and Phillip knew each other as children. I just thought Phillip asked Aristotle to be Alexander's tutor because of Aristotle's reputation. It isn't directly mentioned in the sources I checked, but it's certainly plausible since Aristotle's father spent so much time at court. I wouldn't exactly call them friends however.<br />
<blockquote>"Ours was an odd friendship, with respect and contempt barely distinguishable. I was smart and he was hard: that was what the world saw and what we saw and liked and disliked in each other. I was not his first friend by any stretch, but he was interested enough in me that I became known around the palace... - <i>Anabel Lyon, The Golden Mean</i></blockquote>Phillip apparently spent most of his time with his noble companions training to be the consummate warrior while Aristotle, having expressed a desire to learn to write tragedies, is sent to a tutor, a drunken philosopher from the school at Athens who had retreated from the world and now spent his days eternally rewriting a play in a dingy hovel in the poorer neighborhood of the city. The lecherous old geezer uses Aristotle to procure sexual companions for the old man but does manage to impart some of the knowledge he once acquired in the academy as a classmate of Plato.<br />
<br />
One day Aristotle returns home to find his father ill and he recognizes the symptoms of plague, a constant risk to men in his father's profession. Aristotle and his siblings are sent away to avoid the contagion but it carries away his parents. Aristotle, who had been invited to study at the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy" rel="wikipedia" title="Academy">academy in Athens</a>, then embarks on his first adventure, to learn at the feet of the famous Plato.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/436649506" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Portrait Head of Alexander Roman 1st half of t..." height="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/146/436649506_db694bdcf8_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="180" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/436649506">mharrsch</a> via Flickr</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portrait Head of Alexander <br />
Roman 1st half of the 3rd <br />
century CE Bronze. Santa<br />
Barbara (CA) Museum of Art</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Back in the present, Aristotle meets a curious boy of about 13 "with a ruddy face and eyes as big as a calf". This child will become the greatest conqueror in history. But, Lyon's Alexander is a curious boy with a savage edge to him. When Aristotle dissects a chameleon then removes its heart and hands it to Alexander for inspection, the boy pops the bloody organ into his mouth. When the leader of a theater troop apologizes to Aristotle and Alexander for a poorly made fake head that is to be used as a prop in a play to be presented at court, Alexander offers to produce a better one and (spoiler alert) pays a woman to poison another sick actor and hacks his head off. (Aristotle noticed that the actors certainly sounded much more sincere when Alexander tossed them that head during the performance!)<br />
<br />
Aristotle is frustrated by Alexander's repeated tardiness and unwillingness to ask questions in class, eventually confronting him and accusing him of a lack of curiosity and intelligence. But Aristotle discovers that Alexander is painfully aware, even at his very young age, of his role as future king and the need to project omniscience to his young companions that will eventually form his officer corps. So, Aristotle arranges private lessons outside of the classroom setting. <br />
<br />
Aristotle, as portrayed in this novel, seems to have difficulty deciphering human behavior, perhaps as a side-effect of his introverted personality. He purchases a Scythian slave for his wife and when he asks about her past she relates to him that she was trained as a mid-wife but was forced to try to heal a previous master's sick wife. When she failed and the woman died, the mid-wife was blamed for the death, badly mistreated and eventually sold to a disreputable slave trader. Aristotle assures her that in his household, slaves are considered part of the family and family members are not sold. Later, when Aristotle's wife Pythias becomes seriously ill and he orders the slave to care for her, the slave refuses, pointing out she is only a mid-wife. Aristotle cannot seem to relate her refusal to care for his wife to her previous experience and even though he had told the woman when he brought her into the household that slaves were part of the family and never sold, he drags the woman back to the slave market. He explains to his wife that the woman obviously was never cut out to be a slave and it was ethically wrong to retain her in that position. At the same time he could not free her either because then she would have no place in the world. It was if Aristotle was trapped by his own circular logic and unfortunately, the poor pathetic slave would pay the price for it. <br />
<br />
This lack of compassion and inability to understand even his own motivations eventually comes between Aristotle and Alexander as well. Aristotle, though hired to tutor Alexander, encounters Alexander's brain-damaged brother Arrhidaeus and begins to teach him to care for himself and ride a horse. There is no evidence this really occurred but it was a good plot twist to expose the nature of Aristotle and Alexander's intellectual competition. Alexander accuses Aristotle of using Arrhidaeus as one of his projects, not helping his brother out of compassion. It's as if Alexander, even at this young age, has already realized his understanding of human motivations surpasses that of his teacher.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/2636786108" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Alexander the Great and his Beloved Companion ..." height="212" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3049/2636786108_2727410934_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/2636786108">mharrsch</a> via Flickr</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alexander the Great and his Beloved Companion <br />
Hephaistion Side By Side As They Stood in Life at the <br />
Getty Villa in Malibu, CA.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In later years, Alexander would send Aristotle specimens of plants and animals that his forces encountered during their conquest of Persia but the former student and old mentor apparently did not engage in friendly correspondence. Perhaps intellectual rivalry prevented the formation of a closer relationship. Of course it did not help that Aristotle harbored a virulent ethnocentric view of the world, either.<br />
<blockquote>Aristotle advised the young conqueror to be, "...a leader to the Greeks and a despot to the barbarians, to look after the former as after friends and relatives, and to deal with the latter as with beasts or plants'. - <i>Peter Green,</i> <i>Alexander of Macedon</i></blockquote>This did not prevent Aristotle from developing a close relationship with Hephaistion, though, and correspondence between Aristotle and Hephaistion was maintained throughout Hephaistion's life. Surprisingly, Lyon did not include any aspect of this relationship in her novel. In fact, Hephaistion played only a very small part in the novel's narrative despite his importance to Alexander and, historically, to Aristotle as well.<br />
<br />
<br />
A plot development that Lyon did introduce and that I found highly unlikely was Alexander's development of "soldier's heart" after his first major military engagement. Aristotle is called to treat a severe gash on Hephaistion's arm after Alexander apparently suffered a Hollywood-esque flash back and struck out at his closest friend, mistaking him for one of the recently defeated enemy. This definitely heightened the drama of the story but was a literary device that would not have served the character well if the novel had encompassed Alexander's later conquests.<br />
<br />
The term soldier's heart is a poetic sounding euphemism for what we today would call post traumatic stress syndrome, sometimes referred to as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Costa%27s_syndrome">Da Costa's syndrome</a>. The term is thought to have been coined by physicians during the American Civil War to describe the physical manifestations of stress caused by exposure to combat including left-sided chest pains, heart <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpitations" title="Palpitations">palpitations</a>, breathlessness, and fatigue in response to exertion.<br />
<br />
I personally find it hard to believe that Alexander could have been suffering from what technically would be called acute stress disorder (as it apparently first occurred during or immediately following combat), at least this early in his military career. I don't think Alexander would have been able to astutely assess enemy battle formations and fluidly alter his own offensive strategy to capitalize on his enemies weaknesses in major battles time after time as he historically demonstrated if he had suffered from the disorder. Not only would a condition like "soldier's heart" impair his command decisions, but being in such a trance-like state as Lyon describes, unaware of his real surroundings, would most certainly have proved eventually fatal to not only himself but those under his command as well.<br />
<br />
Some scholars believe Alexander and many of his men exhibited the classic symptoms of post traumatic stress syndrome after the battle of Hydaspes, mostly based on the reports of high alcohol consumption which varied significantly between the accounts of Curtius Rufus and Lucius Flavius Arrianus. (Rufus, who reported extremely heavy drinking, is considered the most suspect source as he was a student of Aristotle's school in Athens and was unfavorably disposed towards Alexander because of the rift that had developed between Aristotle and Alexander over the integration of Persian culture). Classicist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Woodthorpe_Tarn">William Woodthrope Tarn</a> also pointed to the particularly brutal conquest of southern India that followed the defeat of Porus as possible evidence Alexander and his men suffered from high levels of frustration and exhaustion.<br />
<br />
In the ancient world, though, it was not unusual for commanders to allow their troops to violently sack cities after particularly difficult battles or sieges. This practice not only served to generate part of the soldier's payment from the loot that could be collected, it also gave exhausted and traumatized soldiers the opportunity to exact "pay-back" and relieve their psychological stress from the brutality of combat, especially the up close and personal variety of ancient hand-to-hand warfare. Whether Alexander recognized the need for this in India as "treatment" for his troops following their refusal to proceed any farther east after Hydaspes or Alexander simply had become so demoralized by his previously unquestioning troops' unprecedented opposition to his plans that he simply allowed it to occur, we don't really know.<br />
<br />
An interesting study entitled "<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Post-Traumatic+Stress+Reactions+before+the+Advent+of+Post-Traumatic...-a01611750280">Post-Traumatic Stress Reactions before the Advent of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Potential Effects on the Lives and Legacies of Alexander the Great, Captain James Cook, Emily Dickinson, and Florence Nightingale</a>" was published in the December 2008 issue of <i>Military Medicine</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In it, researchers asked experts on the lives of these historic individuals to complete questions included on a typical diagnostic survey administered to patients to determine a clinical diagnoses of PTSD. </span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: small;">Of Alexander, they observe, "</span>Although until that time [his conquest of western India] he had been a peerless leader, brave, adventurous, adaptable, ingenious, and considerate of those who served under him, Alexander began to exhibit disturbing changes in his character during the return from India. First, he drove his exhausted army through the Gadrosian Desert, where two-thirds perished from dehydration, starvation, and <a class="tip" href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Hyperthermia">hyperthermia</a><span class="hint" id="Tp10" style="display: none; left: 401px; top: 1026px;"> <span class="hw">hyperthermia</span> /hy·per·ther·mia/ (<span class="pronOx">-ther´me-ah</span>) hyperpyrexia; greatly increased body temperature.hyperther´malhyperther´mic<hr align="left" class="hmshort" /><br />
<b>malignant hyperthermia</b> <br />
<b>.....</b> <span class="flw">Click the link for more information.</span></span>. Then, he began executing the lieutenants and satraps who had served him as middle managers of the empire during his conquests to the east. By the time he reached Babylon, he was drinking heavily and had become so pathologically suspicious and easily alarmed that he regarded the "least unusual or extraordinary thing as a prodigy or a presage."</blockquote><blockquote>The researchers do admit Alexander's behavior could be attributed to other causes, "Diagnosing PTSD in historical figures is considerably more challenging than diagnosing PTSD in living subjects, because the instruments currently used to establish the diagnosis cannot be administered in traditional fashion.<br />
<br />
Consequently, only the most<span class="hint" id="Tp35"> <span class="hw">florid</span></span> historical cases of the disorder are likely to be diagnosed. Although in the present investigation we tried to circumvent this problem by having questionnaires completed by proxy for each of our subjects, the validity of data obtained in this manner, even from recognized experts, is uncertain. Moreover, historical records are only moderately helpful in establishing the diagnosis posthumously, because they rarely reveal subjects' inner feelings. For these reasons, standard criteria used to define PTSD "caseness" in contemporary patients are difficult to apply to historical figures. Nevertheless, all four of these famous subjects exhibited many of the cardinal features of PTSD in the aftermath of repeated PTEs, such that, even in the absence of responses to standardized PTSD instruments reported by the subjects themselves, the findings point to PTSD as a likely cause of the striking changes in behavior. Other diagnoses are also possible, however, and must be considered, either as alternatives to PTSD or as possible comorbidities. <br />
<br />
For all four subjects, depression was a prominent feature of their post-traumatic psychological states and might well have been their principal disorder. In Alexander's case, because of his nearly constant <a class="tip" href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/inebriation">inebriation</a><span class="hint" id="Tp36"> </span> for at least 7 months before he died, alcohol dependence rather than PTSD has to be considered as the principal diagnosis. It is also possible that, after more than a decade of fighting, scheming, and murdering in pursuit of absolute power, Alexander changed because he came to realize that absolute power demanded eternal vigilance.</blockquote>The researchers conclude:<br />
<blockquote>"The diverse premorbid personalities and backgrounds of these four patients emphasize the breadth of the susceptible population, given exposure to PTEs of sufficient intensity and duration, as well as the influence of the <a class="tip" href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sociocultural">sociocultural</a><span class="hint" id="Tp46"> </span>environment in which the disorder arises on its clinical expression. Alexander was a warrior king whose psychological reaction to an accumulation of PTEs was dictated and then judged by the warrior society over which he presided as supreme ruler. Of these four individuals, he was endowed with perhaps the greatest resilience, which for a time seemed to <a class="tip" href="http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/inure">inure</a><span class="hint" id="Tp47" style="display: none; left: 327px; top: 3065px;"> <i>To result; to take effect; to be of use, benefit, or advantage to an individual.</i><br />
<br />
For example, when a will makes the provision that all Personal Property is to inure to the benefit of a certain individual, such an individual is given the right to receive all the personal <br />
<b>.....</b> <span class="flw">Click the link for more information.</span></span> him to the adverse psychological effects of the PTEs of conquest. Eventually, however, even for him, there was a limit to the intensity and duration of PTEs that could be tolerated before he was broken psychologically. </blockquote>But, The Golden Mean is, after all, a novel, so we can certainly allow the author various divergences to heighten the level of dramatic tension.<br />
<br />
The author herself points out in her author's notes that Aristotle, in fact, did not accompany Alexander to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaeronea" title="Chaeronea">Chaeronea</a> as he did in the book and although historical references acknowledge that Aristotle did dissect animals, he was not known to have dissected any human beings, as he does on the battlefield of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaeronea" title="Chaeronea">Chaeronea</a> in the book, since violation of the dead was considered a severe breech of piety at that time.<br />
<br />
Lyon has also rearranged events a bit. In the book, Pythias, Aristotle's wife, falls ill shortly after giving birth to their only daughter and it is apparent to Aristotle before he leaves for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaeronea" title="Chaeronea">Chaeronea</a> that Pythias is dying. The author must have intentionally wanted to draw attention, once more, to Aristotle's strange lack of compassion by juxtaposing the imaginary junket to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaeronea" title="Chaeronea">Chaeronea</a> with his wife's pending death, that did not actually take place until years later in Athens.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/789211660" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Aquamanile depicting Airstotle's girlfriend Ph..." height="400" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1272/789211660_6d81a4b4c1_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="265" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/789211660">mharrsch</a> via Flickr</span></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rather whimsical Aquamanile depicting<br />
Airstotle's girlfriend <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpyllis" title="Herpyllis">Herpyllis</a> riding him around<br />
the garden after Aristotle warned Alexander<br />
the Great about women Copper Alloy <br />
South Lowlands 14th century CE</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I was particularly struck by the author's description of the death bed scene upon Aristotle's return from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaeronea" title="Chaeronea">Chaeronea</a>. Pythias is drifting in and out of consciousness as Aristotle sits by her bedside. Then Pythias begins rasping in the final death throes and Aristotle coldly leaves the room to go to the kitchen for a drink of water. When he returns to the room, his wife is dead. He seems relieved it is over and can now get back to work. Throughout the book, Lyon's Aristotle expresses little emotion over the death of friends or family members. He shows no grief over the death of his parents from the plague, the loss of his wife or the murder of his childhood "friend" Phillip II. When Phillip is assassinated, Aristotle retreats, along with his "nephew" Callisthenes to the library to avoid being a victim of any out-of-control retributions. It's as if his psyche is missing a limb.<br />
<br />
But Aristotle himself would not view this emotional remoteness as a shortcoming, but an asset that allowed him to endure life's natural course of events and still focus on theoretical contemplation - an activity that he held up as the highest form of <i>eudaimonia - </i>happiness or well being (<i>Nicomachean Ethics</i> X.7). He would have viewed his display of unfeeling behavior as a virtuous choice between the extremes of excess and deficiency - the ever elusive "Golden Mean".<br />
<br />
In the course of the narrative, Aristotle attempts to describe the concept of the "Golden Mean' to Alexander and the boy immediately makes the connection to the reason behind Aristotle's appointment as his tutor. Alexander's father, Phillip is the consummate warrior. What better choice to balance his education thereby achieving the "Golden Mean" than to appoint Aristotle, the consummate philosopher?<br />
<br />
So, as the novel ends with Alexander leaving to begin his conquest of Asia and Aristotle seeking a sterile cocoon of contemplation in his hometown of Stagira, we must ask ourselves, did Aristotle succeed in shaping Alexander into "The Golden Mean", a philosophical warrior king, balanced between conqueror and contemplative statesman?<br />
<br />
<b>Other resources:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://faculty.washington.edu/smcohen/433/arintro.htm">Introduction to Aristotle</a> by S. Marc Cohen, Department of Philosophy, University of Washington<br />
<a href="http://www3.ausa.org/marketing/LWP71weboptimized03_07.pdf">Collateral Damage: How Can the Army Best Serve a Soldier With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder</a> by Colonel Richard B. O’Connor, USA, Deputy Chief, Distribution Division, J-4 (Logistics), Joint Staff, the Pentagon.<br />
Bryn Mawr Classical Review of<span style="font-size: small;"> <i><a href="http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2001/2001-03-03.html">From Melos to My Lai: War and Survival</a> </i>by Lawrence A. Tritle<i> </i><i><br />
</i></span><br />
<br />
<div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/10/03/when_aristotle_taught_alexander/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Book+reviews">When Aristotle taught Alexander</a> (boston.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://socyberty.com/philosophy/comparing-plato-and-aristotle-which-philosophy-provides-a-better-foundation-for-living-life-to-the-fullest/">Comparing Plato and Aristotle: Which Philosophy Provides a Better Foundation for Living Life to The Fullest</a> (socyberty.com)<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307593991" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> </li>
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important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0375714197" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1557427704" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=14d502fa-e536-44f2-9b74-f09936159953" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-63806793584049225132010-10-10T18:01:00.000-07:002010-10-10T18:18:00.430-07:00Review: Nefertiti by Michelle Moran<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nefertiti-Novel-Michelle-Moran/dp/0307381749?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Nefertiti: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0307381749&tag=romtim-20" /></a><br />
<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307381749" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Told from the perspective of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertiti" rel="wikipedia" title="Nefertiti">Nefertiti</a>'s sister, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutnedjmet" rel="wikipedia" title="Mutnedjmet">Mutnodjmet</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.michellemoran.com/" rel="homepage" title="Michelle Moran">Michelle Moran</a>'s "Nefertiti" explores the world and relationships of the late <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighteenth_dynasty_of_Egypt" rel="wikipedia" title="Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt">18th dynasty of Egypt</a>. Although her novel is a work of fiction, Moran draws upon fragments of history that have been discovered at the site of Amarna and other tombs in Thebes and Saqarra to create a vibrant story rich in detail and historical accuracy.<br />
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/321755975" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Replica of the bust of Queen Nefertiti 18th Dy..." height="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/321755975_056fe5fe0f_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="180" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 180px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reproduction of the famous bust of Nefertiti by the sculptor Thutmose at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/321755975">mharrsch</a></span> via Flickr</span></span><br />
I was familiar with most of the main characters - Nefertiti, Akhenaten (<a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten" rel="wikipedia" title="Akhenaten">Amenhotep IV</a>), <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiye" rel="wikipedia" title="Tiye">Queen Tiye</a>, the Vizier <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ay" rel="wikipedia" title="Ay">Ay</a>, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun" rel="wikipedia" title="Tutankhamun">Tutankhamun</a> and the general Horemheb. But I did not realize that Nefertiti was probably a daughter of Vizier Ay and had a younger sister (although not all scholars agree) named Mutnodjmet (sometimes spelled Mutbenret). I also knew nothing about the noble general Nakhtmin.<br />
My overall knowledge of the period was based on an excellent lecture series I obtained from The Teaching Company presented by <a href="http://www.teach12.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=350">Dr. Bob Brier</a>, as well as information I had picked up reading about Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb. I had also watched History Channel programs about "The Heretic Pharaoh" and speculations about who might have murdered Tutankhamen (Of course, we now know according to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zahi_Hawass" rel="wikipedia" title="Zahi Hawass">Dr. Zahi Hawass</a> that nobody did - he apparently died of natural causes as a CT scan of his mummy revealed a severely fractured left thigh bone and researchers found DNA from the parasite that causes malaria . For a more thorough discussion of these latest tests, check out my post on the official medical findings in my related blog "History's Medical Mysteries".<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/1/220317_709b8295fd.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">A reproduction of the golden throne of Tutankhamun <br />
the young pharaoh and his queen <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankhesenamun" rel="wikipedia" title="Ankhesenamun">Ankhesenamun</a>. Photo<br />
by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>So, although I knew about Akhenaten's attempts to force monotheism on the Egyptian populace and had seen images of him, Nefertiti and their six daughters worshipping the Aten, I did not realize that Nefertiti was Ay's daughter and that Tut's queen, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankhesenamun">Ankhesenamun</a>, was Nefertiti's daughter, Ankesenpaaten, and Ay's granddaughter. This familial relationship was not explored in the "Who murdered Tut" program. If it had, the "detectives" may have been more reticent to point a finger at Ay who was the grandfather of Tut's wife, not just merely a scheming ambitious court official as inferred in the program. I doubt if even the most hard-hearted grandfathers would have murdered a so obviously beloved husband of their granddaughter (at least the young couple looks very much in love in scenes of Tut and his wife I have seen portrayed on Tut's funerary objects like the famous golden throne). We do learn from Michelle Moran's novel, however, that the courts of the rulers of the 18th dynasty were crocodile pits filled with scheming and manipulative high priests, ambitious and competing viziers, fortune-hunting seductresses and generals who sought glory on the battlefields of Mitanni (modern day Syria and Iraq) and could pose a very lethal threat to the throne of Egypt if they were not controlled or kept suitably occupied. <br />
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/320601053" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Statue of Goddess Sekhmet commissioned by King..." height="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/137/320601053_00ec8066aa_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="180" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 180px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mutnodjmet was named for the goddess Mut sometimes depicted in her warrior aspect as the feline goddess Sekhmet. Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/320601053">mharrsch</a></span> via Flickr</span></span><br />
<br />
As the novel opens, we meet Nefertiti and her half-sister Mutnodjmet at the estate of their father, the vizier Ay, in Akhmim, a provinicial capital in upper Egypt. Nefertiti is described as stunningly beautiful while her darker-skinned half-sister is portrayed as more "average" in appearance but with captivating green eyes that resemble those of a cat. We quickly see that Nefertiti has learned to wield her beauty like a powerful weapon to bend others to her will and is confident she will be soon chosen for the next pharaoh's chief wife by his mother and her aunt, Queen Tiye. Mutnodjment, on the other hand, has learned about herbs and the healing arts and has resigned herself to lifelong service to Nefertiti as the sister to the king's chief wife. <br />
<br />
Crown prince Thutmose, son of the ruling <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_III" rel="wikipedia" title="Amenhotep III">pharaoh Amenhotep III</a> unexpectedly dies (court rumors abound that his younger brother had a hand in his death) and Nefertiti now learns she will be married to his younger brother, Amenhotep IV. But, unlike his older brother, Amenhotep IV is not a warrior and has not been groomed for the role he must now play, although he covets it and appears to relish the prospect of ruling the most powerful kingdom in the Near East at the time. In fact, we find that Queen Tiye has chosen Nefertiti because she feels Nefertiti appears to be cunning and ruthless enough to distract the younger prince from a fixation with the religion of Aten and his apparent plans to promote the sun god above the current chief deity Amun, whose priests have once more grown too politically powerful<br />
<br />
Before I researched this religious/political controversy, I was under the misconception that Aten was a relatively minor diety that Amenhotep IV adopted as his own because he felt estranged from society, possibly as the result of physical infirmities. I probably developed this misconception after watching too many programs speculating about Amenhotep IV's physical abnormalities as evidenced by his strange representation in art discovered in the excavations at El-Amarna. I was apparently wrong on both counts.<br />
<br />
The rivalry between followers of Amun and Re/Aten had been brewing since the Hyksos were expelled about 1530 BCE. As the Egyptians struggled to reunify their empire, a process that required pharaohs to be engaged directly in military activities, administration was often delegated to powerful civilian authorities. These civilian authorities increasingly became synonymous with the priests of Amun, once devout laymen but now wealthy, worldly and corrupt.<br />
<br />
Eventually, the priests lusted for power as well and when <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_II" rel="wikipedia" title="Thutmose II">Tuthmosis II</a> died leaving an under-age heir directed by his co-regent and aunt <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatshepsut">Hatshepsut</a>, the Amun priests led by the high priest Hapuseneb, made their move proclaiming the new rulers as divine by oracle of Amun, then engineered the superimposition of Hatshepsut over her ward, probably thinking a woman would be easy to control. Hatshepsut's supposedly divine birth is depicted on the walls of the queen's temple at Deir el-Bahri showing her descended from the god Amun.<br />
After Hatshepsut's death, however, Tuthmosis III reasserted pharaonic power, even though, he, too, led a number of arduous military campaigns to resecure Egyptian interests in Syria and Palestine. Although he continued to patronize Amun, he made it clear where the power lay. He even refused to anoint any of his harem as chief royal wife to avoid any ambitious females trying to wrest power from him again.<br />
His successor, Amenhotep (Amenophis) II, launched a campaign to strip the Amun priests of their power after Year 9 of his reign. His successor, <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_IV" rel="wikipedia" title="Thutmose IV">Tuthmosis IV</a>, continued his predecessor's battle to curb the power and influence of the Amun priests. Tuthmosis IV, the son of a northern queen, had traditionally worshiped the sun god Re like most people in the north anyway, with worship centered on the northern city of Heliopolis. Tuthmosis IV is the prince whose dream beneath the mighty Sphinx is retold on the famous Dream Stela. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Look at me, observe me, my son Tuthmosis. I am your father Harmachis-Kepri-Re-Atum. I shall give to you the kingship upon the land before the living."</blockquote><br />
So Tuthmosis recognized that he was chosen to succeed his father not by Amun but by Harmachis, "Horus in the horizon". And, the priests of the sun god in Heliopolis became the favored cult. The Amun priests tried to retain their control by consolidating their god to Re, hence references that appear to <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amun" rel="wikipedia" title="Amun">Amun-Re</a>, but this ploy was not as successful as they would have wished.<br />
<br />
Tuthmosis IV begins wearing the distinctive beaded shebyu-collar and a disc on his crown to represent the sun god. He also began to emphasize the solar manifestation of the sun - the Aten - with imagery of the solar disc sprouting arms beginning to appear in iconography of the early reign of Tuthmosis IV's sucessor Amenhotep III, the future Akhenaten's father.<br />
<br />
However, Amun-Re remained as the official deity of the people because the composite deity was viewed as representing people from both the north and the south - Upper and Lower Egypt - so, at least, in that, the Amun priests had been successful.<br />
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/327556029" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Egyptian government reproduction of a statue o..." height="240" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/139/327556029_4b30a83535_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="180" /></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 180px;">Reproduction of a statue of Akhenaten at the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/327556029">mharrsch</a> via Flickr</span></span></span>Moran does not refer to any infirmities in her descriptions of Amenhotep IV either. There has been much speculation over the years about the young pharaoh's health because of his bizarre depiction in art found at el-Amarna. Theories that he suffered from Froehlich's syndrome, Marfan's syndrome and most recently aromatase excess syndrome or Antley–Bixler syndrome, postulated by pathologists at a clinicopathologic conference at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (see<a href="http://www.annals.org/content/150/8/556.abstract%20for%20more%20information"> their analysis</a>) have been bandied about. But, Zahi Hawass' team found no evidence of these diseases in Amenhotep IV's mummy during extensive physiological and DNA analyses performed in 2010. <br />
But, back to our story. The Vizier Ay moves his family to Malkata Palace, the court of Amenhotep III. You can easily envision its muraled walls and sumptuous gardens from the descriptions Moran provides.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/4124481319" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Head of a Statue of Amenhotep III ca 1380 ..." height="240" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/4124481319_4d555b3aef_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="180" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></span></td><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
</td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Head of Amenhoptep III ca. 1380 BCE<br />
recarved as Ramses II. Image by<br />
Mary Harrsch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We discover the aging Amenhotep III has deteriorated into a rather lecherous drunk. Even this aspect of the story is based on very careful research by Moran. The text on fragments of canopic jars that were discovered at the turn of the 20th century and recorded by French Egyptologist Georges Legrain elaborated on the sexual proclivities of this king. Members of his harem were extolled for their sexual zeal, with one lady Sati referred to as Miss Whiplash!<br />
<br />
We find his son, Amenhotep IV, appears to despise his father and is anxious to take over the sole rule of Egypt so he can put his plans to become a revered builder and beloved of the people into effect. Like most men in the book, he becomes immediately entranced by Nefertiti even though one of his existing wives, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiya">Kiya</a>, is pregnant with Amenhotep IV's child.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/FaceOfAYoungAmarnaWoman-ThutmoseWorkshop_MetropolitanMuseum.png/150px-FaceOfAYoungAmarnaWoman-ThutmoseWorkshop_MetropolitanMuseum.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Study of an Egyptian queen<br />
consort thought to be Kiya.<br />
Image courtesy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FaceOfAYoungAmarnaWoman-ThutmoseWorkshop_MetropolitanMuseum.png">Wikipedia</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nefertiti is, of course, extremely jealous of Kiya, recognizing the threat to Nefertiti's power that Kiya represents. This jealousy is a constant thread throughout their lives (and our story) and is the basis for much manipulation of Amenhotep IV. I would have almost felt sorry for Kiya if she wasn't portrayed as equally ruthless. Of course at the time this book was written, Kiya's mummy was not yet identified. When the team led by Zahi Hawass performed DNA analyses on the cache of mummies found in KV55 as well as the mummy of a young female in KV35, it was discovered that the young female in KV35 was probably Tut's mother and also Akhenaten's full sister, as she, too, was shown to be the offspring of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye.(See <a href="http://www.annals.org/content/150/8/556.abstract%20for%20more%20information">Dr. Hawass's blog post)</a> However, Nefertiti must have triumphed over Kiya, as portrayed in Moran's book, because archaeological evidence shows that Kiya was the principal occupant of a small secluded palace north of the main palace in Akhetaten (el-Amarna) where Akhenaten and Nefertiti lived and ruled.<br />
Sadly, Moran's Nefertiti is also domineering when it comes to her relationship with Mutnodjmet - so much so that it set my teeth on edge. Nefertiti's ruthless ambition and selfishness even surpass her pharaoh husband. When her sister, Mutnodjmet, falls in love with a young general named Nahktmin, Nefertiti even tries to destroy their relationship because of Nefertiti's obsessive desire to be the sole recipient of her family's love. <br />
Amenhotep IV is crowned as co-regent then announces his plans to build a new capital city in the desert he will call Akhetaten. To fund his new endeavor, he strips temples of Amun of their hoards of gold. He also recalls the army away from the fragile border territories in Syria and Palestine to serve as his labor force in efforts to complete the city more quickly. This enrages his primary general Horemheb, who makes no bones about letting pharaoh know how he feels. Horemheb is promptly banished to Kadesh where, with few troops, he is expected to perish rather quickly in the next Hittite incursion.<br />
<br />
Signs of paranoia begin to creep into Amenhotep IV's behavior. Historical evidence that supports Moran's portrayal of Amenhotep IV were actually uncovered at el-Amarna. Ominously, one of only two literary texts recovered from the pharaoh's library there was the "Teaching of Ammenemes I". It warns:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Beware of subjects who are nobodies, of whose plotting one is not aware. Trust not a brother, know not a friend, make no intimates - it is worthless! When you lie down, guard your heart yourself, for no man has adherents on the day of woe. I gave to the beggar. I raised the orphan, I gave success to the poor as to the wealthy; but he who ate my food raised opposition, and he whom I gave my trust used it to plot..." </blockquote><br />
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/673874329" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Reliefs depicting Battle Scenes Early Dynasty ..." height="160" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1060/673874329_ea492eb30f_m.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="240" /></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 240px;">Reliefs depicting battle scenes 18th dynasty Egypt. Image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44124324682@N01/673874329">mharrsch</a> via Flickr</span></span></span><br />
Still, Amenhotep IV continues to build his city filled with temples to his new primary god, Aten. As the city rises, Akhenaten, though elated by his shining new city, descends into despair because he senses that the people do not really love him, despite all of the gold he lavishes upon them. He doesn't even trust the army, resorting to employment of Nubians and Asians for his personal guard. His frenetic building activities consumes his attention and he repeatedly ignores serious Hittite incursions in his vassal states in Palestine and Syria. <br />
<br />
Scholars seem to be split on this interpretation of events. Some seem convinced that records indicating serious upheavals reflect an inattentive administration while others point to Amarna letters in which provincial rulers earnestly point out that they have followed the instructions of pharaoh. Moran addresses this inconsistency by having Nefertiti's father, the vizier Ay, take over administrative control during this time.<br />
Ay tries desperately to hold things together but Pharaoh orders outrageous responses to pleas of help from his provincial administrators. (Spoiler Alert) When one beseiged city pleads for help, Pharaoh dispatches monkeys dressed as Egyptian soldiers in reply. This incident is so explicit that I would not be surprised if it is based on historical records although I could not find such a reference. I did find a reference to a derogatory bit of imagery from the Amarna period where Pharaoh himself is portrayed as a monkey driving a chariot, though, a clear indication that he was not as beloved of the people as he would have had his courtiers believe.<br />
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GD-EG-Caire-Mus%C3%A9e066.JPG" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="GD-EG-Caire-Musée066" height="225" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8b/GD-EG-Caire-Mus%C3%A9e066.JPG/300px-GD-EG-Caire-Mus%C3%A9e066.JPG" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 300px;">Stela depicting the Pharaoh Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three of their six daughters. Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GD-EG-Caire-Mus%C3%A9e066.JPG">Wikipedia</a></span></span></span>In the meantime, Nefertiti, feeling pressured by the fact that Kiya has given Pharaoh a son, churns out daughter after daughter in her quest to give Egypt an heir, her desperation increasing with each birth. It was at this point that I actually felt at least a little compassion for her. Struggling to maintain a grip on the reins of power, she promotes herself as the god Aten's favored ruler, having more images of herself carved on public buildings and monuments than the pharaoh himself. This aspect of the story, too, has been born out by excavations at el-Amarna.<br />
When archaeologists first pieced together the religious revolution of Amenhotep IV, many Christians became enamored of this early monotheist. Many pointed to the abundence of loving scenes of the pharaoh and his daughters that have been found at Amarna as proof of the benign nature of the young ruler. But, continuing scholarship has revealed that this pharaoh was far from benevolent. Between years 8 and 12 of his reign, Amenhotep IV now renamed Akhenaten, initiated a reign of terror that encompassed not only the priests and followers of Amun but the common peasants as well. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>"An order went out from the palace to smash up the divine statues and hack out the names and images of these gods whereever they occurred - on temple walls, on obelisks, on shrines, on the accessible portions of tombs. This was accompanied by a focused attack on the divine birth scenes both of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri and, to a lesser though still discernible extent, on the similar reliefs of his father Amenophis III..." - <i>Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet</i></blockquote><br />
Reeves goes on to point out that this was no academic exercise but a real persecution that invoked fear among all the Egyptian people.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"...it was not only from Egypt's large, public monuments that the offending hieroglyphs were excised. As the archaeological record shows, small personal items such as pots for eye make-up and commemorative scarabs were dealt ith in the same relentless fashion. Fearful of being found in possession of such seditious items, the owners themselves gouged or ground out the three offending signs which articulated the god Amun's name, even in tiny cartouches containing the old king's birth name." - <i>Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet</i></blockquote><br />
Reeves points to this self-sensorship as evidence that the country was gripped by paranoia fueled by the presence of the King's foreign soldiers (mostly Nubian and Asiatic) who patrolled the streets. Malicious informers also plagued the people. Reeves speculates that a picture painted by Manethos supposedly of Hyksos excesses, may have actually recalled a garbled memory of Akhenaten's Terror:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"...not only did they [pharaoh's men] set towns and villages on fire, pillaging the temples and mutilating images of the gods without restraint, but they also made a practice of using the sanctuaries as kitchens to roast the sacred animals which the people worshipped, and they would compel the priests and prophets to sacrifice and butcher the beasts, afterwards casting the men forth naked." - <i>Nicholas Reeves, Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet</i></blockquote><br />
Reeves also observes that although temple and tomb reliefs depict the pharaoh and his family adored by a groveling populace, if you look closely you will see pharaoh's guards wear batons to beat back the crowds. <br />
<br />
The situation was highly explosive and just awaiting a spark.<br />
<br />
In Moran's novel, when plague strikes first the people of Akhetaten and then the royal palace itself, claiming all but two of the pharaoh's own children, people turn back to their old gods in desperate attempts to stop the ravenous harvest of Anubis. Researchers have not yet been able to determine exactly what happened in the chaos of this period. Although a plague is documented in the Near East during this time, there is no direct reference to it in the Amarna letters. But, it would have caused the type of crisis Moran describes in the closing chapters of her novel and definitely would have brought down a pharaoh who promoted himself as his new god's representative on earth. Perhaps, now that Hawass and his team have the latest technology, more definitive autopsies can be performed on more mummies from both the tombs at Amarna as well as Thebes and evidence of plague may surface.<br />
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Egypte_louvre_173.jpg" style="clear: left; display: block; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Akhenaten and Nefertiti statuette" height="538" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/Egypte_louvre_173.jpg/300px-Egypte_louvre_173.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 300px;">Nefertiti and Akhenaten statuette at the Louvre. Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Egypte_louvre_173.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></span><br />
As the dream of Amarna collapses, Moran chooses to portray Nefertiti as a co-regent with her husband, who takes sole control after Akhenaten's death and is renamed Ankhkheprure Neferneferuaten then Ankhkheperure Smenkhkare/Neferneferuaten. Although there are scholars who support the theory that Smenkhkare was a younger brother of Akhenaten or even an older brother or half/brother of Tutankhamun, I think Moran's choice of theories is the more probable. Not only did Nefertiti add the name Neferneferuaten to her name while still queen, but her elevation to kingly status was attested to on the Coregency Stela as well as several other unfinished stelae.<br />
<blockquote>"The latter include the Pase stela (depicting two figures wearing crowns who are nevertheless identified as a king and queen by the three uniscribed cartouches); the Berlin 25574 stela (depicting Akhenaten and Nefertiti but with an extra, fourth, cartouche added to indicate two kings rather than a king and queen); and in Meryre II's tomb, a scene in which the figures of Akhenaten and Nefertiti are nearly superimposed over each other (which is interpreted as indicating the oneness of their co-rule)." - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smenkhkare"><i>Smenkhkare,Wikipedia</i></a></blockquote><br />
(Spoiler alert) New research indicates that Nefertiti's ultimate demise, however, may have been at the hands of her own bodyguard or other members of the army rather than disaffected Aten priests. When I watched the History Channel program about who might have murdered King Tutankhamun, the detectives brought up the discovery of correspondence between an Egyptian queen and the Hittite king,Suppiluliuma, in which the queen of Egypt asked the king to send one of his sons to her to be her husband, pleading that her husband had died and she did not want to be forced to marry a servant. Of course the detectives in the program assumed the queen in question was Ankhesenamun, Tut's widow, not Nefertiti, Akhenaten's widow, to support their conclusion that the "evil" vizier Ay was trying to force the young innocent Ankhesenamum to marry him.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/Hattusa.king.jpg/180px-Hattusa.king.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Suppiluliuma II, last king of the<br />
Hittite Empire. Image courtesy<br />
of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hattusa.king.jpg">Wikipedia</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Although the rather convoluted Hittite rendering of the pharaoh's name referred to in the letter could have been alternative names for either Tutankhamun or Akhenaten, researcher John R. Harris argues that the letter was written in the autumn, the same time of year as Akhenaten's death, as evidenced by wine jar dockets towards the end of his 17th regnal year, while the remains of offering plants in Tutankhamun's tomb indicate the young king was buried between the end of February and the middle of March. This meant that Tutankhamun had died 70 days previously, the time required for mummification, and almost 10 months before the season of the communication to Suppiluliuma I. If the Egyptian queen who authored the message was Ankhesenamun, she would have been sereptitiouly negotiating with the Hittites after her grandfather Ay had already assumed the throne. Harris thinks Suppiluliuma would have never agreed to dispatch a son under those circumstances. He also points out that the Egyptian queen's name in the letter was not a name at all but the Hittite rendering of the Egyptian title for king's wife "par excellence" and only Nefertiti, not young inexperienced Ankhesenamun, would have been referred to in that way. Lastly, Harris points to references in the Hittite annals to military action in progress against Amqi, also referred to in vassal correspondence in the Amarna letters. By the time Tutankhamun died, Akhetaten (el-Amarna) had already been abandoned as Egypt's administrative center. <br />
<br />
I don't think Nefertiti would have offered herself in a marriage pact with the Hittites unless she needed someone with military might at least equivalent or superior to her own Egyptian army, to help her subvert a coup d'etat by her own army commanders and retain her grip on power. The army general(s), particularly Horemheb, would have reacted swiftly and decisively upon learning of such an offer as he/they apparently did, murdering the Hittite prince not far from Egypt's border. You might wonder why Horemheb would have delayed seizing the throne, though, until after the death of Tutankhamun. He may have viewed the young Tutankhamun as an easily manipulated puppet, much like the Roman senate led by the optimates, viewed the young Octavian. The vizier Ay, Ankhesenamun's grandfather, possibly Queen Tiye's brother, and an astute politician who had been intimately involved in state administration since the rule of Amenhotep III, was probably not easy to get around either. Otherwise, Horemheb, a mere commoner, would not have had to eventually force the lady Mutnodjmet, Nefertiti's half-sister, to marry him to legitimize his rule.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/dd/Generalnakhtmin.jpg/180px-Generalnakhtmin.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Sculpted portrait of the handsome<br />
General Nakhtmin. Image courtesy<br />
of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Generalnakhtmin.jpg">Wikipedia</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
(Spoiler alert) Moran included one more little poignant touch to the conclusion of her novel that also had a basis in archaeological evidence. Little Tutankhamun, whose mother Kiya died during his birth, is adopted by the lady Mutnodjmet and General Nakhtmin. In my research I noticed that two shabti were found in Tutankhamun's tomb that were the only gifts from a non-royal person and they were dedicated by General Nakhtmin. Egyptian history could have been much different if General Nakhtmin, Pharaoh Ay's designated successor, had successfully triumphed over Horemheb although Egypt may not have experienced the long rule of Ramses II if that had happened. Horemheb died without issue so one of his own commanders, Ramesses, ascended the throne, founding the 19th dynasty and giving Moran a sequel to write, "The Heretic Queen", about the lady Mutnodjmet's daughter Nefertari and the pharaoh Ramesses II. <br />
<br />
Michelle Moran truly brought the Amarna period to life for me, so much so that I eagerly poured over research books and articles to learn even more after finishing it. To me, that is always a clear indication of a gifted historical fiction author. <br />
<br />
I also enjoyed a tour of virtual Amarna up at<a href="http://heritage-key.com/"> Heritage Key</a>:<br />
<br />
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<div class="zemanta-related"><h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 1em 0pt 0pt;">Related articles</h6><ul class="zemanta-article-ul"><li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://socyberty.com/history/nefertiti-was-not-beautiful/">Nefertiti Was Not Beautiful</a> (socyberty.com)</li>
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://www.gadling.com/2010/10/08/3000-year-old-statue-of-egyptian-pharaoh-discovered-in-luxor/">3000 year old statue of Egyptian pharaoh discovered in Luxor</a> (gadling.com)</li>
</ul></div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nefertiti-Unlocking-Mystery-Surrounding-Beautiful/dp/0141017244?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Nefertiti: Unlocking the Mystery Surrounding Egypt's Most Famous and Beautiful Queen" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0141017244&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0141017244" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Akhenaten-Egypts-Prophet-Nicholas-Reeves/dp/0500285527?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0500285527&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0500285527" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Amarna-Sunset-Nefertiti-Tutankhamun-Counter-Reformation/dp/9774163044?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Amarna Sunset: Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Ay, Horemheb, and the Egyptian Counter-Reformation" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=9774163044&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=9774163044" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Amarna-Missing-Evidence-Sue-Moseley/dp/0956169309?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Amarna... the Missing Evidence" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0956169309&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0956169309" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=9c388241-d26c-4f5c-b91f-472421705661" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-76898421486804853002010-09-17T16:19:00.000-07:002010-09-17T16:26:03.941-07:00Review: How to Mellify a Corpse by Vicki Léon<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Mellify-Corpse-Stories-Superstition/dp/0802717020?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="How to Mellify A Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0802717020&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0802717020" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Researching a book can be as exciting as investigating a murder and authors often end up with hundreds of notes about fascinating details of a person's life or a culture's social practices or unusual uses for obscure compounds. A love of learning can lead authors, particularly new authors, to include every last factoid into their novel or treatise, unfortunately often to the detriment of the work they are preparing. <br />
<br />
So what do you do with all of that intriguing background research? Well, if you're Vicki Léon, you release a compendium of these factoids under the unlikely title of "<i>How to Mellify a Corpse and Other Human Stories of Ancient Science</i>", a bibliophile's answer to the iPhone! Just ask a question about the ancient world and chances are Léon has a chapter about that!<br />
<br />
Although I have probably read more about the ancient world than the average person, I was astounded by the sheer variety of little-known pearls of wisdom Léon had managed to unearth.<br />
<br />
Scholars have argued for centuries about what caused the fall of the Roman Empire and I had read about the "lead made them do it" theory blaming the Romans' lead water pipes for the apparent mental illness recorded by some ancient sources. In fact, as recently as 1983, geochemist Jerome Nriagu argued that lead poisoning contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire in an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, Nriagu's evidence was almost immediately challenged by scholars who point to the protective nature of calcium carbonate deposits on Roman plumbing.<br />
<br />
But in Léon's segment, <i>Lead and Saturnism: Sweetly damning evidence</i>, we discover that sweet-tasting "sugar of lead" compounds were commonly used to enrich wines, syrups and sauces.<br />
<br />
"In a parallel development, Greek and Roman cooks learned to reduce unfermented grape juice to concentrate its natural sugars. Their cullinary secret? Lead cookware. The resulting high-octane syrup (called defrutum or sapa) was added to fruit preserves and also to entrees from meat to fish - much as fructose syrup is added to countless processed foods today." - <i>How to Mellify a Corpse </i><br />
<br />
Léon goes on to tell us that inside fermenting vats lead strips were glued to the lids and smaller vessels were lead lined. She also notes that the Romans prepared infected teeth for extraction by pouring molten lead over them. Léon points to early symptoms of lead poisoning, a persistent metallic taste and loss of appetitte, as a possible reason Romans loved strongly flavored sauces like garum made from fermented fish entrails and such a variety of spices in their cooking.<br />
<br />
Naturally, I had to find out more about this so I turned to Google and found an excellent summary of the scholarly debates surrounding the impact of lead consumption on the Roman Empire on a University of Chicago website.<br />
<br />
The article I found pointed out that the Romans were certainly not oblivious to the toxic nature of lead. <br />
<br />
"Water conducted through earthen pipes is more wholesome than that through lead; indeed that conveyed in lead must be injurious, because from it white lead [cerussa, cerussite or lead carbonate, PbCO3] is obtained, and this is said to be injurious to the human system. Hence, if what is generated from it is pernicious, there can be no doubt that itself cannot be a wholesome body. This may be verified by observing the workers in lead, who are of a pallid colour; for in casting lead, the fumes from it fixing on the different members, and daily burning them, destroy the vigour of the blood; water should therefore on no account be conducted in leaden pipes if we are desirous that it should be wholesome. That the flavour of that conveyed in earthen pipes is better, is shewn at our daily meals, for all those whose tables are furnished with silver vessels, nevertheless use those made of earth, from the purity of the flavour being preserved in them" (VIII.6.10-11). - <i>Vetruvius, De Architectura</i><br />
<br />
In fact the elite even complained about the unwholesomeness of gourmet wines being manipulated to improve their flavor. (I wonder what the Romans would have thought of genetically engineered fish?)<br />
<br />
"Martial accuses a wine merchant of Marseilles of shipping poisonous and overpriced wines to his friends and, indeed, being reluctant to visit Rome for fear of having to drink them himself (Epigrams, X.36). Pliny, too, complains that "genuine, unadulterated wine is not to be had now, not even by the nobility" (XXIII.1), ruefully remarking "So many poisons are employed to force wine to suit our taste--and we are surprised that it is not wholesome!" (XIV.130). Indeed, "So low has our commercial honesty sank that only the names of vintages are sold, the wines being adulterated as soon as they are poured into the vats. Accordingly, strange though it may seem, the more common the wine is today, the freer it is from impurities" (XXIII.34)." - <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html"><i>Lead poisoning and Rome, Emcyclopaedia Romana, University of Chicago</i></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<br />
Of course after reading about the dire effects that ingesting lead could cause, including infertility if lead levels reached 40 to 50 µg/dL, it also got me to thinking about Augustus wrestling with the problem of the reduced birth rate during his reign. But scholars including the Needlemans dismiss this possibility, claiming that couples simply preferred a single or childless state:<br />
<br />
"Augustus sought to promote marriage and encourage procreation by legislation (the Julian laws of 18/17 BC and the Lex Papia Poppaea a generation later in AD 9). "And yet, marriages and the rearing of children did not become more frequent, so powerful were the attractions of a childless state" (Tacitus, Annals, III.25). Sheidel, too, in a review of the life span of emperors and aristocrats, dismisses any impact of lead ingestion on fertility: "Nor is there any need to suspect that the incidence of marital sterility in the Roman ruling class might have been much higher than in other groups, times, and places." - <a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/%7Egrout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/leadpoisoning.html"><i>Lead poisoning and Rome, Emcyclopaedia Romana, University of Chicago </i></a><br />
<br />
I also found Léon's discussion of early attempts at air conditioning and the method used to produce block ice to chill the elite's beverages interesting. Léon explained that the ancients harvested snow and packed it into large underground pits that were deep enough so that the weight and pressure of the snow gradually turned the bottom layer to hard ice. She pointed out that these underground icehouses had been in use as far back as 1700 BCE. Even Alexander the Great had icehouses built during the seige of Petras to chill his officers wine.<br />
<br />
I had read about the Romans using snow to chill wines and juices and even to create an ancient snowcone flavored with honey but I didn't realize cold beverages were so routinely consumed because of such an industrialized production of ice. I also have to laugh about it a little, as one of my frustrations when traveling in Europe now is being served a beverage without ice. Asking for ice may produce unexpected results as well. When I was in Paris, I tried to ask for a soda with ice and was served carbonated water. My French was pretty rusty and I guess the waiter didn't hear the "l" and thought I asked for water with "gas!"<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2768102549_955ea56311.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Although the Etruscans are recognized as quintessential<br />
diviners of the future from the study of an animal's liver,<br />
this model of a liver used for instruction was found in the<br />
ancient Babylonian city of Sipar. Photographed at the British<br />
Museum by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3135/2768102549_955ea56311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
All the crossword gurus out there would get some great words reading Léon's section on divination entitled "Wide Open to Interpretation. I already knew quite a bit about Etruscan <a href="http://www.cs.utk.edu/%7Emclennan/BA/Har.html">haruspicy</a>, foretelling the future by examining sacrificial animal entrails - usually the liver but also the gall, heart and lungs - after reading Mika Waltari's novel "The Etruscan". Steven Saylor's new novel "Empire" (<a href="http://ancientbooks.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-empire-by-steven-saylor.html">my review</a>) did an excellent job of describing Roman augury, divination through the study of bird flight, when one of his protagonists studies augury beside the stammering future emperor Claudius. I'd even read other sources that mentioned how the Roman army carried chickens with them to divine the auspices before battle by studying the way the chickens gobbled up scattered grain. But I didn't know it was called <i>alectryomancy</i>. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/3141252459_978cee99cc.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="213" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">When Julius Caesar tossed the dice before<br />
crossing the Rubicon, he was practicing<br />
the divination technique of cleromancy. <br />
This heroic nude statue of "the divine<br />
Julius" is dated to the 1st century CE. <br />
Photographed at the Louvre in Paris <br />
by Mary Harrsch.</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3101/3141252459_978cee99cc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>I learned that <i>ignispicium</i> looked for clues to the future in ignited matter and those practicing <i>hydromancy</i> read the patterns of oil on water. When Julius Caesar threw the dice to determine if he should cross the Rubicon, he was practicing <i>cleromancy</i> although Léon explained that a more formalized version called the lots of Astrampsychus was developed in the third century CE in which a questioner chose one of 92 sets of questions then the soothsayer would perform some math to arrive at a number to indicate the answer in a table of answers from oracular gods - sort of a third century version of a oija board. <br />
<br />
She also gave me one more big word to add to my vocabulary - <i>Teratoskopos</i> - the interpretation of human deformities. I wonder if that one will ever show up in the New York Times crossword puzzle?<br />
<br />
Several years ago I watched an absolutely fascinating program on the History Channel about the work of classical folklorist Adrienne Mayor and her study of the ancients' collection and interpretation of prehistoric remains. In the program, Mayor explained how the ancients may have mistaken a wooly mammoth skull for the skull of a Cyclops because of the large hole in it where the trunk once protruded. I noticed that Léon referenced Mayor's work in her section on Paleontology and the possible source of Griffins in ancient mythology but she actually discussed Cyclopean myths later under a section on Eye Afflictions and Surgery. In addition to discussing the mammoth skull speculations, Léon mentioned real life occurences of Cyclopean humans that could result from an overdose of a toxic plant called white hellebore. I had never heard of this kind of birth defect.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4620357792_eae846b7a3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="213" /></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Roman lamp depicting Ulysses offering<br />
wine to the Cyclops Polyphemos from<br />
the 1st century CE. Photographed at<br />
the Getty Villa by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/4620357792_eae846b7a3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><br />
"White hellebore actually became fashionable, used to treat a host of ailments from giddiness and palsy to epilepsy, tetanus and white leprosy. As Pliny noted in his encyclopedia, scholars took it regularly to sharpen their brains. It was also prescribed to patients for mental problems. Besides its propensity to provoke vomiting in a stunning variety of colors, white hellebore contained the alkaloids cyclopamine and hervine. It's now recognized that both are teratogens, which may cause one-eyed Cyclopean birth defects." - <i>How to Mellify a Corpse</i><br />
<br />
I think Pliny should have told them to stick to Sudoku puzzles!<br />
<br />
I hope through these examples I have illustrated the mind-blowing diversity of topics contained in this book. I believe that even those of you who, like me, have read quite a bit about the ancient world, will find fascinating nuggets of information in this book that not only entertain but could be used to enliven your next novel, next blog post or next classroom presentation. Léon also includes an extensive bibliography and an index which comes in handy to find particular references since the material is so eclectic it is only loosely grouped into geographic categories.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Mellify-Corpse-Stories-Superstition/dp/0802717020?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="How to Mellify A Corpse: And Other Human Stories of Ancient Science & Superstition" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0802717020&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0802717020" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/First-Fossil-Hunters-Paleontology-Times/dp/0691089779?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times." src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0691089779&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0691089779" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Etruscan-Civilization-Cultural-Sybille-Haynes/dp/0892366001?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0892366001&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0892366001" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Empire-Blackwell-Ancient-Religions/dp/1405106565?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Religion in the Roman Empire (Blackwell Ancient Religions)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1405106565&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1405106565" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-Odysseus-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590170172?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The World of Odysseus (New York Review Books Classics Series)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590170172&tag=romtim-20" /> </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Superstitions-Curious-Customs-Ancient/dp/1856354946?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Strange Superstitions and Curious Customs of the Ancient World" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1856354946&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1856354946" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590170172" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Selection-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140444130?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Natural History: A Selection (Penguin Classics)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0140444130&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140444130" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Letters-Oxford-Worlds-Classics/dp/0199538948?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Complete Letters (Oxford World's Classics)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0199538948&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0199538948" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vitruvius-Ten-Books-Architecture/dp/0521002923?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0521002923&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0521002923" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-80965398359433939372010-07-18T15:04:00.000-07:002010-07-19T10:29:05.098-07:00Review: "Empire" by Steven Saylor<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Novel-Imperial-Novels-Ancient/dp/0312381018?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0312381018&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312381018" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />By the late Augustan age, the emerging empire of the people who settled the seven hills clustered around the Tiber River had crystallized around the central nucleus of a single powerful individual who, though posing as "first among equals", directed the activities of both conquering legions and a society convinced of their destiny but uncertain as to the path they should follow to achieve it. The political structure of the government was no longer in flux as it was during the years of the early monarchy and Roman Republic, but the disruption of the "Coursus Honorum" left gifted and ambitious people without a career path, so to speak, so people began exploring new ideas and philosophies in their search for individual identity and purpose. It is these seekers who Steven Saylor has elected to populate his latest novel "Empire". <br />
<br />
In his previous novel "Roma", we accompanied members of the Pinarii family, through almost one thousand years of Roman cultural development beginning with the first neolithic settlement and ending with the fall of the Roman Republic. A fictional patrician family, the Pinarii became augurs who could read omens and portents to help guide the society's leaders in momentous decisions. As such they often found themselves in the eye of the storm as powerful and ambitious men wrestled with issues of political control, strategic defense and, ultimately, wealth distribution, as conquest brought in mounds of treasure from territories around the Mediterranean as well as Gaul and the Iberian peninsula. <br />
<br />
Pinarii have even managed to become related to a clan that would ultimately produce the Julio-Claudian emperors, with a Pinarii named as one of the lesser heirs to the fortune left behind by the Divine Julius (Caesar). As "Empire" opens, we meet the latest Pinarii descendant, Lucius, who has studied augury and is about to be inducted into the prestigious College of Augurs with his cousin Claudius. Having the protagonist be an observer and at times a participant in the ballet of imperial administration but not the emperor himself is a choice Saylor has made that I feel gives the reader more opportunity to experience the helplessness of being in the control of volatile personalities who struggle to orchestrate not only their own lives but the existence of millions of men, women and children across the ancient world.<br />
<br />
We soon discover that having family ties to the imperial household is often more dangerous than advantageous as the frail, aging Augustus passes from the scene and Tiberius takes the helm. We also learn that the insecurities of those in control make them fear ideas even more than actual threats and something as seemingly harmless as studying astrology, encouraged by studious cousin Claudius, almost leads to Lucius' death at the hands of the scheming Sejanus. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/A_Roman_Emperor_AD41_detail.jpg/736px-A_Roman_Emperor_AD41_detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="325" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b5/A_Roman_Emperor_AD41_detail.jpg/736px-A_Roman_Emperor_AD41_detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">The future emperor Claudius cowers behind a curtain in this painting by<br />
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1871)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Eventually, of course, Sejanus is executed and Tiberius dies leaving a promising young Caligula to advance to the throne. But Lucius' identical twin sons, Kaeso and Titus, find themselves facing a new madman. After a particularly humiliating interview with the new emperor, Kaeso drops out of aristocratic society and seeks the anonymity of the Saburra where he can practice his new religion, Christianity, relatively undisturbed. Titus, however, a man who embraces his family's past, becomes an augur and renews his friendship with his father's cousin, Claudius. <br />
<br />
Saylor does not dwell on Caligula's perversions or spend a lot of time with Claudius in the subsequent reign with the exception of a glimpse of the excesses of Messalina and the human fallout that ensued. But when Titus becomes the trusted augur of Nero, we have the opportunity to explore more thoroughly a court that was filled with artists, philosophers and poets who have influenced centuries of western thought. Nero has been vilified almost universally in western history, primarily, I think, because he initiated one of the first major persecutions of the early Christians. But Saylor presents this man and his administration from the viewpoint of a non-political observer. He does not gloss over Nero's ruthlessness, with characters speculating that Nero poisoned Claudius' son, Britannicus. But Britannicus is not presented as merely a guileless victim either. Likewise, we see Agrippina as openly manipulative and ambitious, so much so that she must be dragged from the imperial audience chamber when she emerges from behind the curtain where she normally lurks and tries to mount the imperial dais to directly negotiate with an ambassador of Armenia. This is a real incident attested to in the ancient sources. We also learn that Agrippina openly begins to support other candidates for the throne. So, Nero's execution of his mother can be understood from the perspective of Nero reacting to a very real threat to his powerbase. But the novel's characters seem to view news of Nero kicking his pregnant wife to death as unfounded rumor. Some modern scholars have voiced this suspicion as well. Nero was generally detested by the aristocratic elites, and this indefensible act may have been invented to further vilify Nero when in fact his wife merely suffered a miscarriage. <br />
<br />
Of course no passage about Nero could be complete without including the terror of the conflagration that almost swallowed Rome in 64 C.E. The Pinarii lived on the Aventine Hill where a number of homes suffered destruction. We are caught up in the terror as Titus and his family flee the flames. But Titus cannot abandon his brother living in the squalor of the Saburra. So he fights his way through the streets to find his brother, along with other Christians, celebrating the apparent end of the world while others interfere with the vigiles, who were fighting the blaze with backfires to create fire breaks. Some Christian readers may be troubled by this depiction but it too is based on actual references in the ancient sources.<br />
<br />
"None ventured to combat the fire, as there were reiterated threats from a large number of persons who forbade extinction, and others were openly throwing firebrands and shouting that "they had their authority" - (minis restinguere prohibentes, Tacitus, Ann. XV.38)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Dirce.jpg/800px-Dirce.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e6/Dirce.jpg/800px-Dirce.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">What appears to be a depiction of Nero looking at a Christian woman who <br />
has been executed as part of a tableau reenacting the death of Dirce.<br />
by <i>Henryk Siemiradzki</i>. (1843-1902)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In 1900, an Italian professor, Pascal of Milan, published a pamphlet in which he makes a case for the Christians actually being the source of the great fire. He describes the early Christian community in Rome as composed of desperate fanatics with subversive ideas and energetic enough to lead a "propoganda of acts". Of course his research was almost immediately attacked, most vehemently by Dr. A. Profumo who published a rebuttal in 1905 that not only attempted to refute the Christian role in the spread of the blaze but insisted that the entire disaster was meticulously planned by Nero for the purpose of allowing him to reconstruct Rome. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, more closely resembling the scenario put forward by C.H. Hülsen in his article "The Burning of Rome Under Nero" published in Vol. 13, No. 1 (Jan.‑Mar. 1909) of the American Journal of Archaeology. Hülsen expressed his opinion that Pascal may have placed too much importance on the size and nature of early Christian groups in Rome.<br />
<br />
"...the primitive community of Christians in Rome was surely not so large as he thinks; that the revolutionary ideas of its members have been greatly exaggerated, and that the supposed propagation of Christianity among the praetorians is based on an erroneous translation: St. Paul's words (Philipp. I.13) do not signify "in the Praetorian Camp," as it is supposed, but "in the judge's house" or "in the residence (of the emperor)" (Mommsen, Röm. Staatsrecht, II3, p807, n2)." - C.H. Hülsen<br />
<br />
But he also goes on to dismiss the notion that the extent and direction of the conflagration could have been planned and executed by Nero as put forth by Profumo.<br />
<br />
"The idea of deliberately planning such an enormous conflagration, and of actually calculating the direction in which the fire must spread, appears too fantastic even for Nero; to start the fire in the immediate neighborhood of the imperial palace with the intention of destroying quarters •nearly half a mile distant is still more fantastic. Any little unsuspected incident might upset the plan, and divert the fire from the course intended; and in fact, what really took place did not correspond at all to the design as conceived by Profumo and represented on his plan (Tav. 2)." - C.H. Hülsen <br />
<br />
Hülsen concludes that the fire itself was most probably just an accident, but one in which the behaviors of some of the victims/observers could have been seriously misconstrued.<br />
<br />
"I conclude, therefore, that the outbreak of the fire was really due to accident. It may be that some of the Christian party fell under suspicion because of their behavior during and after the conflagration. Seeing the terrible catastrophe which was happening to the capital of the world, it was very easy to think that this was the beginning of the last judgment, which they were expecting in the very near future. The fire appeared to have come upon the wretched town providentially, so that it might be regarded as wrong to interfere with its progress. It may be that among those who menaced the firemen (minis restinguere prohibentes, Tacitus, Ann. XV.38) were some zealous Christians. And when, after the extinction of the fire, Nero attempted to regain the favor of the gods by sacrifices and ceremonies, the Christians naturally abstained from participating in the sacrifices to Vulcan and Juno and in the processions to the temples of the Olympic gods. Their insensibility to the general feeling could easily promote the suspicion that they had been the real authors of the great conflagration. " - C.H. Hülsen <br />
<br />
He does go on to point out that Nero's behavior also could have been misinterpreted as well.<br />
<br />
"It may be that the magnificent view of the conflagration made him break out into admiring words, and aroused in his mind the remembrance of the burning of Ilium. These and other imprudent expressions were naturally noted and were sufficient to forge the material for the accusations we find suggested in the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius, and definitely expressed in Dio Cassius and Xiphilinus." - C.H. Hülsen <br />
<br />
Saylor's characters also discuss the significant extent of Nero's assistance in rendering aid to the fire's victims and in enacting building codes to help prevent such disasters in the future, an aspect of Nero's reign that somehow always gets overlooked in the rush to disparage his overindulgence in the construction of his famous Golden House.<br />
<br />
"...as a relief to the homeless and fugitive populace, he opened the Campus Martius, the buildings14 of Agrippa, even his own Gardens, and threw up a number of extemporized shelters to accommodate the helpless multitude. The necessities of life were brought up from Ostia and the neighbouring municipalities, and the price of grain was lowered to three sesterces." - <i>Tacitus, Ann. XV.39</i><br />
<br />
"In the capital, however, the districts spared by the palace were rebuilt, not, as after the Gallic fire, indiscriminately and piecemeal, but in measured lines of streets, with broad thoroughfares, buildings of restricted height, and open spaces, while colonnades were added as a protection to the front of the tenement-blocks. These colonnades Nero offered to erect at his own expense, and also to hand over the building-sites, clear of rubbish, to the owners. He made a further offer of rewards, proportioned to the rank and resources of the various claimants, and fixed a term within which houses or blocks of tenement must be completed, if the bounty was to be secured. As the receptacle of the refuse he settled upon the Ostian Marshes, and gave orders that vessels which had carried grain up the Tiber must run down-stream laden with débris. The buildings themselves, to an extent definitely specified, were to be solid, untimbered structures of Gabine or Alban stone,26 that particular stone being proof against fire. Again, there was to be a guard to ensure that the water-supply — intercepted by private lawlessness a — should be available for public purposes in greater quantities and at more points; appliances for checking fire were to be kept by everyone in the open; there were to be no joint partitions between buildings, but each was to be surrounded by its own walls. " - <i>Tacitus, Ann. XV.43</i><br />
So at least Saylor, through the experiences of the Pinarii, helps us to understand the context of the events and motivations that prompted Nero to undertake the first major persecution of Christian believers. The macabre event Nero staged, though, as a cathartic spectacle to assuage the anguished Roman mob and play a twisted practical joke on poor Titus Pinarius keeps you on the edge of your seat.<br />
<br />
Another somewhat controversial theory that Saylor raises in this portion of his story is the circumstances of Nero's suicide. I didn't realize there had been any disputes about Nero's final hours. I had always read that Nero fled the city and when informed he had been decreed an enemy of the state and would be punished in the ancient manner (beaten to death with rods), he sought the help of one of his slaves to commit suicide. In "Empire", Saylor raises the question of whether Nero had really been decreed an enemy of the state or simply misled into thinking so. Knowing how meticulously Saylor researches historical events that occur in his novels, I couldn't help but do a little research of my own to see if this was one of the author's creative flourishes or if it, too, had a basis in ancient reports.<br />
<br />
I found this reference in Plutarch's "Life of Galba" that would certainly lend support to the theory that Nero was not condemned before he committed suicide:<br />
<br />
"...the leading military tribune, Antonius Honoratus, calling together the soldiers under his command, reviled himself, and reviled them for changing about so often in so short a time, not according to any plan or choice of better things, but because some evil spirit drove them from one treachery to another. In the first instance, he said, they had an excuse in the crimes of Nero; but now, if they were to betray Galba, what charge of murdering his mother or slaying his wife could they bring against him, or what feelings of shame that their emperor should appear in public as musician or tragic actor? "Nay, not even with these provocations would we consent to abandon a Nero, but we had to be persuaded by Nymphidius that Nero had first abandoned us and fled to Egypt. Shall we, then, sacrifice Galba after Nero, and choosing the son of Nymphidia as our Caesar, shall we slay the scion of the house of Livia, as we have slain the son of Agrippina? Or, shall we inflict punishment on Nymphidius for his evil deeds, and thereby show ourselves avengers of Nero, but true and faithful guardians of Galba?" - <i>Plutarch, Life of Galba</i><br />
<br />
Apparently the troops did not declare for Galba until after they thought Nero had abandoned them and fled to Egypt. The Senate would not have done anything to condemn Nero and ratify Galba if the legions were still loyal to Nero, especially in view of the fact that Verginius, who was one of the most powerful generals during this period and victor in the recent Battle of Vesontio, had steadfastly remained loyal to Nero when he, himself, was offered the throne.<br />
<br />
Of course as Nero's reign draws to a close we embark upon the infamous year of the four emperors where the reign of Galba gives way to Otho which quickly ends with the rise of Vitellius who is beheaded by the supporters of the Flavians (although Vespasian himself has not yet entered the city). Our story now focuses on Lucius Pinarius, the son of Titus, who has been raised by <a href="http://www.livius.org/ei-er/epaphroditus/epaphroditus.html">Epaphroditus</a> , a freedman and courtier of Nero, who is thought to have helped the emperor commit suicide. The ancient sources are a bit confusing about Epaphroditus. Tiberius Claudius Epaphroditus served as a libellis, the man who drafted official replies to petitions received by the emperor Nero. Epaphroditus of Chaeronea, on the other hand, was a teacher who had once been owned by a member of the equestrian order who served as a prefect in Egypt. Epaphroditus of Chaeronea was freed in Alexandria then traveled to Roma where he founded a school and wrote several treatises on works by Homer, Hesiod and Callimachus of Cyrene. Some scholars think the two men may have actually been the same person. Saylor's Epaphroditus certainly seems to combine certain aspects of both of these men into his character. In Epahroditus' household, Lucius Pinarius enjoys conversations with the famous philosophers Epictetus, and Dio of Prusa as well as endures the barbs from the famous poet Martial.<br />
<br />
But Lucius does not embrace any of the philosophies espoused by his friends or even Christianity that had been so fervently adopted by his late uncle. Instead, he meets Apollonius of Tyana whose example he almost immediately begins to emulate. I'm afraid I had never heard of Apollonius of Tyana so, of course, had to do a bit of research.<br />
<br />
Apollonius of Tyana has been described as a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Like many Pythagoreans, Apollonius opposed animal sacrifice, and lived on a frugal, strictly vegetarian diet. In a fragment of the only work that most scholars agree is authentic from his treatise "On Sacrifices", Apollonius points out "that God, who is the most beautiful being, cannot be influenced by prayers or sacrifices and has no wish to be worshipped by humans, but can be reached by a spiritual procedure involving nous (intellect), because he himself is pure nous and nous is also the greatest faculty of humankind." A number of miracles were attributed to Apollonius placing him on a level roughly equivalent to Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, in later antiquity, the achievements of Apollonius were used by anti-Christian forces to disprove the special nature of Jesus' ministry.<br />
<br />
"...in the late third century Porphyry, an anti-Christian Neoplatonic philosopher, claimed in his treatise Against the Christians that the miracles of Jesus were not unique, and mentioned Apollonius as a non-Christian who had accomplished similar achievements. Around 300, Roman authorities used the fame of Apollonius in their struggle to wipe out Christianity. Hierocles, one of the main instigators of the persecution of Christians in 303, wrote a pamphlet where he argued that Apollonius exceeded Christ as a wonder-worker and yet wasn’t worshipped as a god, and that the cultured biographers of Apollonius were more trustworthy than the uneducated apostles." - <i>Wikipedia</i><br />
<br />
I had to smile, though, when I read that one of the most witnessed of Apollonius' miracles (documented by both Philostratos and Cassius Dio) was his sudden declaration during a gathering of followers in Ephesus "Take heart, gentlemen, for the tyrant has been slain this day..." at the very hour that Domitian was assassinated in Rome. In the novel, Lucius, who has been drawn into the assassination plot, revealed the details of the plan in a coded letter to Apollonius, a scenario modern scholars have suggested as a plausible explanation for the so-called "miracle". <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/poppaea_head2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/poppaea_head2.jpg" width="262" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poppaea. Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.vroma.org/">VRoma.org</a>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Something a little more supernatural occurred, though, in the third century CE. When the emperor Aurelian attacked Apollonius' hometown of Tyana, the emperor reportedly saw a vision of Apollonius asking him to spare Tyana's innocent citizens. Aurelian was a fervent proponent of one God, one Empire (yes, even before Constantine). He may have studied the teachings of Apollonius and been influenced by them when he approached the birthplace of the renowned philosopher.<br />
<br />
But, back to our story - Lucius Pinarius also befriends Sporus, the eunuch who Nero took as a wife because of the youth's uncanny resemblence to Nero's dead wife Poppaea. The young man dresses as a woman and wears makeup so Lucius thinks of him as a "her". I had read some time ago that Nero had unmanned a youth and taken him for a wife late in his reign. But the character of Sporus intrigued me so I wanted to learn more about "her". Sporus survived Nero's reign and was appropriated by the first usurper Galba. When Otho replaced Galba as emperor, he too was swept away by Sporus' resemblance to Poppaea. Otho was actually married to Poppaea before Nero. He had divorced Poppaea so she could marry his good friend Nero. Otho apparently did not hold Nero responsible for her death (another circumstance that points to the possibility that the story about Nero kicking a pregnant Poppaea to death was a fabrication). But when the vicious Vitellius appeared on the scene, Sporus learned "she" was to be the object of a cruel public spectacle so Sporus takes her own life. These scenes in Saylor's story leave you breathless!<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/2973332324_cb40d482dc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/2973332324_cb40d482dc.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">The Roman Emperor Otho<br />
Photographed at <a href="http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmlocale=en" id="yui_3_1_0_1_12794931085301452" rel="nofollow">The Musée du Louvre</a> <br />
in Paris, France by Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
With the rapid succession of emperors and continuing decline in authority of the Senate, many aristocratic Romans, like Lucius Pinarius, shun public life. Lucius plans to keep a low profile, do what is necessary to maintain the family wealth and engage in quiet scholarly pursuits. We are treated to an extensive description of the inaugural games at the Colosseum, though, as Lucius accepts an invitation from Martial who has ingratiated himself to the ruling Flavians. Vespasian, of course, has already died. I was surprised that little of his reign is covered other than the fact that many of his building projects were funded by booty from the Jewish wars. His son, Titus completes the Flavian amphitheater (Colosseum) and is host of some of the most spectacular (and bloody!) games ever presented in Rome. Titus, like Trajan and Hadrian who will come sometime afterwards, openly pursued young boys. I must admit I was surprised by this information. I had always considered the presence of eunuchs in the imperial court to be more of a feature of Byzantine court life than prevalent in the western Empire as well.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/10/12375856_857c497c7a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/10/12375856_857c497c7a.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">The Emperor Domitian Roman Marble 1st<br />
century C.E. Photographed by Mary Harrsch<br />
in Rome, Italy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Titus is also portrayed as a congenial leader, secure in his position and content with himself. But, Titus dies within a couple of years and Domitian ascends the throne. Lucius finds that Domitian is a dour, insecure individual who soon begins to suspect everyone and is, quite honestly, a control freak. He soon resurrects the old magistracy of censor so he can dictate even public morals despite his own debauched activities. This creates a precarious situation for our quiet Lucius who has fallen in love with a Vestal virgin. Their relationship and its consequences are truly poignant.<br />
<br />
I couldn't help but ponder the personality of Domitian. His extremely negative world view and apparent low self-esteem are traits I have seen in victims of post traumatic stress disorder. I wonder if his very close brush with death at a young age in Rome when the forces of Vitellius attacked the Flavian supporters could have triggered this apparent psychological disorder. Of course he was also struggling with how to compete with the reputations of a wildly popular brother and successful father as well.<br />
<br />
Domitian is aided in his tyranny by L. Valerius Catullus Messallinus. Catullus was a reviled informer who had once served as Domitian's consular colleague. Although an illness left him blinded, his other senses served him well enough to terrorize a number of Roman citizens, including Lucius Pinarius and the Vestal he loved. Surprisingly, Lucius survives the reign of Domitian and even has a hand in its end. The stage is now set for Lucius' son Marcus, a gifted sculptor, to capture a new emperor's attention. Nerva's brief reign is portrayed as relatively benign followed by the rule of a competent self-assured military man from Spain, Trajan. Trajan, despite his outstanding military successes, walks into Rome with his wife beside him like a common man (maybe this is where President Jimmy Carter got the idea). He dubs the palace the House of the People and maintains this egalitarian persona throughout his reign.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3536728529_f2b9644e5f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3307/3536728529_f2b9644e5f.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">A scene on Trajan's column depicting the famous <br />
Testudo (tortoise formation). Photographed in Rome by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Marcus is chosen to assist the architect Apollodorus in the construction of a number of temples as well as the famous column depicting Trajan's victories in Dacia. Marcus has actually accompanied Trajan's armies in Dacia so sculpts scenes, many of which he has witnessed himself. I would have enjoyed a section describing Marcus' adventures in Dacia but I understand Saylor's desire to keep the action focused in Roma (besides, the novel is already over 500 pages by now!)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring various philosophies that cropped up in earlier chapters, so I was once more intrigued by a reference to a Dacian philosopher named Zalmoxis that Saylor mentions at this point in the story. Although some sources claim Zalmoxis was a freedman disciple of Pythagoras, others, like Herodotus, believe he lived much earlier, claiming Zalmoxis traveled to Egypt where he taught people about the immortal nature of their soul and the eternal bliss of the afterlife. <br />
<br />
Zalmoxis was originally a Getae, an ancient people of Thrace, and he supposedly returned to his homeland and entered a cave on or near Mt. Kogaion where he lived for three years. When he emerged, people thought he had been resurrected since they assumed he was long dead. Plato says in the Charmides dialogue that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic approach to healing body and mind; not just the body, as was the Greek practice. After he died, a cult grew up around his teachings in which worshipers practiced monotheism, celebrated with music and dance and avoided the depiction of divine beings in images.<br />
<br />
Supposedly Julian the Apostate wrote that Trajan claimed the Dacian belief in Zalmoxis made it easier to conquer them since they did not fear death because of its transitory nature. These types of interesting tidbits is why I enjoy reading Steven Saylor's books so much!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/3061495715_191177841b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3207/3061495715_191177841b.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Antinous from the Braschi collection<br />
2nd century CE Photographed at the<br />
Musee du Louvre in Paris, France by<br />
Mary Harrsch.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Anyway, eventually, Trajan becomes ill while campaigning in the east and dies before reaching Rome. His wife, Plotina, engineers the succession of Hadrian, a second cousin of Trajan, also from Spain. In Hadrian, though, we see a gifted man but with the hallmarks of an individual not totally content with himself. He is self-conscious about his acne scars (until he grows his famous beard) and works diligently with a grammaticus to try to eliminate his embarrassing Spanish accent - even though Trajan's was more pronounced and Trajan was unconcerned about it. Hadrian's personality is therefore more volatile and he is less tolerant of dissension. Problems for Marcus' family arise when his father-in-law, the architect Apollodorus, a man with a rather high opinion of his own worth, blurts out derisive observations of architectural plans Hadrian has developed himself. At least Marcus and his family, including his son little Lucius, are not forced to follow Apollodorus into exile in Damascus. In fact, Marcus' own career flourishes under Hadrian as he works on such famous structures as the Pantheon, Hadrian's expansive villa in Tibur (modern Tivoli) and Hadrian's mausoleum (now the Castel S. Angelo). Of course he is also called upon to resurrect the emperor's drowned lover, Antinous, in marble as well. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2077/2129073144_84983e2afe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2077/2129073144_84983e2afe.jpg" style="height: 320px; width: 213px;" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The face of Antoninus Pius photographed <br />
at the Photographed at the <br />
<a href="http://www.marketplace.it/museo.nazionale/emuseo_home.htm" id="yui_3_1_0_1_1279492260815902" rel="nofollow">Museo Archaeologico Nazionale di Napoli</a>.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Sadly, as the years pass and an aged Hadrian falls ill, he starts to issue execution orders for what, in many cases, are imaginary offenses. Fortunately, Hadrian has adopted Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Arrius Antoninus who countermands such orders and protects the people around the emperor. Antoninus is ultimately rewarded by the senate with the cognomen Pius. <br />
<br />
"He never bathed at odd hours or took a passion for building; never set up for a table connoisseur, and expert on textures and tints, or an authority on good looks... One might fairly apply to him what is recorded of Socrates, that he could either enjoy or leave things which most people find themselves too weak to abstain from, and too self-indulgent to enjoy." -<i> Marcus Aurelius, Meditations</i>.<br />
<br />
So we leave Roma at the apex of her civilization. By order of Hadrian, before his decline, little Lucius has become the companion of Marcus Verus, a precocious boy who by the age of eleven has already embraced Stoicism. The youth, later adopted by Antoninus Pius, would become the famous warrior/philosopher Marcus Aurelius. But Steven Saylor has yet to tell that tale!!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Novel-Imperial-Novels-Ancient/dp/0312381018?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Empire: The Novel of Imperial Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0312381018&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312381018" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roma-Novel-Ancient-Rome-Novels/dp/0312377622?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Roma: The Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0312377622&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312377622" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Histories-Penguin-Classics-Tacitus/dp/0140449647?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Histories (Penguin Classics)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0140449647&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140449647" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Penguin-Classics-Marcus-Aurelius/dp/0140449337?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Meditations (Penguin Classics)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0140449337&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0140449337" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Sayings-Epictetus/dp/140685204X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Golden Sayings of Epictetus" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=140685204X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=140685204X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Philosophers-Ancient-World-Trevor-Curnow/dp/0715634976?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Philosophers of the Ancient World" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0715634976&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0715634976" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nero-Caesar-Augustus-Emperor-Rome/dp/1405824573?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Nero Caesar Augustus: Emperor of Rome" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1405824573&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1405824573" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Emperor-Domitian-Brian-W-Jones/dp/0415101956?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Emperor Domitian" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0415101956&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0415101956" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Domitian-Tragic-Tyrant-Imperial-Biographies/dp/0415165253?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Domitian: Tragic Tyrant (Roman Imperial Biographies)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0415165253&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0415165253" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hadrian-Triumph-Rome-Anthony-Everitt/dp/140006662X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Hadrian and the Triumph of Rome" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=140006662X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=140006662X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-7743824703229606762010-07-16T11:26:00.000-07:002010-07-16T11:26:07.629-07:00"I Write Like" Developer reveals criteriaA friend of mine sent me a link that provided comments about the "I Write Like" analyzer and in those comments I found another link to the analyzer creator's blog "<a href="http://www.codingrobots.com/blog/2010/07/09/i-write-like/#comments">Coding Robots</a>". As someone that has been interested in artificial intelligence since the 90s, I found the creator's comments on his blog quite enlightening:<br />
<br />
"Currently it analyzes vocabulary (use of words), number of words, commas, and semicolons in sentences, number of sentences with quotation marks and dashes (direct speech)."<br />
<br />
I would like to know the rationale for developing this criteria. I'm always curious about the choices a programmer makes when developing a program for a particular purpose.<br />
<br />
I also enjoyed reading the user comments. As I suspected the subject matter that really dictates many of the word choices is a key factor in the analysis. Since I often write about archaeological excavations that yield skeletons or other types of forensic remains, it is no surprise that I got more hits on Lovecraft, a classic horror writer, than other authors. <br />
<br />
I also have a tendency to write fairly lengthy sentences and often include asides in parenthesis. In blog posts I often quote from the original article that sparked my comment or from other works written by someone involved in the original activity I am writing about. So an analysis of this type of work may be more of a reflection of the original material I am quoting from than my own.<br />
<br />
One user actually fed the analyzer snippets of actual work from famous authors in its database and it got many of them correct. It did miss on some but I'm sure even famous authors are influenced by other authors.<br />
<br />
Of course there are always the flamers that are quick to criticize someone else's creative efforts. When I developed my virtual Julius Caesar, people would try to ask him about things like the Colosseum that were not built before his death. I explained to people in my introduction to the project that I was limiting his knowledgebase to things and events that occurred before his death. But, many people jump into interactions without reading any introductory material and it is often these people who quickly dismiss (and loudly criticize) such a project because they ignore the programmer's parameters when attempting interaction with the bot. <br />
<br />
A number of the users of the "I Write Like.." tool complained that the knowledgebase did not include enough women authors and people of color. It will be interesting to see how the tool evolves as the knowledgebase is expanded.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Artificial-Intelligence-Science-Accessible/dp/0446678759?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Understanding Artificial Intelligence (Science Made Accessible)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0446678759&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0446678759" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Collective-Intelligence-ebook/dp/B0028N4WM4?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Programming Collective Intelligence" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0028N4WM4&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0028N4WM4" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Introducing-Artificial-Intelligence-Introducing-Brighton/dp/B002RAR32O?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Introducing Artificial Intelligence (Introducing...)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002RAR32O&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002RAR32O" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-65792919627767364812010-07-15T16:09:00.000-07:002010-07-15T16:15:03.940-07:00I write like Lovecraft, Shakespeare and Hemingway??One of the blogs I am following mentioned an online writer's analysis tool that lets you paste in prose you have written and it comes back with an analysis comparing your writing to a famous author's. So far, my various blogposts have come back as H.P. Lovecraft ("Lovecraft's guiding literary principle was what he termed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmicism" title="Cosmicism">"cosmicism" or "cosmic horror"</a>, the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity... <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_King" title="Stephen
King">Stephen King</a> called Lovecraft "the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." - Wikipedia) - See my blogpost "<a href="http://ancientimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/will-new-spartacus-resurrect-old.html">Will New Spartacus ressurect old stereotypes?"</a>) and "<a href="http://ancientimes.blogspot.com/2009/07/caesars-fables.html">Caesar's Fables and the Price of Fame</a>". I also got a couple of hits as William Shakespeare (See my review of "<a href="http://ancientbooks.blogspot.com/2010/03/review-ransom-by-david-malouf.html">Ransom</a>" and my article "<a href="http://heritage-key.com/china/mad-bad-and-dangerous-women-han-shocking-story-lady-dai">Mad, Bad and Dangerous Women of the Han</a>") and even Ernest Hemingway! ("<a href="http://ancientimes.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-sex-rather-than-kissing-is-depicted.html">Why Sex Rather Than Kissing Is Portrayed in Pompeiian Art</a>"). A couple of my pieces were compared to Dan Brown (I wish they would earn me that much money even if I'm not a big fan of his "style")<br />
<br />
Although the tool supposedly analyzes your choice of words and your "style", I would speculate that the result is more weighted by word choice. I probably came up with more hits for Lovecraft , the horror writer, because I often write about archaeological finds and forensic evidence. I'm not quite sure about the Shakespeare hits although "Ransom" by David Malouf was a more literary work and I quoted from some of it. As for Hemingway, it could have been the subject matter!! <br />
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Anyway, it's a fun exercise for those of us that do more than just a little casual writing for public consumption. You can analyze your writing at: <a href="http://iwl.me/">http://iwl.me/</a><br />
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They also offer a newsletter you can subscribe to to get tips on improving your writing. <br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0060891548&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0060891548" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-Writer/dp/0316014990?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0316014990&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0316014990" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Elephant-Tackling-Writing-Project-ebook/dp/B001ELJQ18?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Eating the Elephant, Five Tips For Tackling Your Next Big Writing Project" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B001ELJQ18&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001ELJQ18" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Magic-Creating-Stories-that/dp/0060519606?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0060519606&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0060519606" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Workshop-Essential-Ralph-Fletcher/dp/0325003629?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0325003629&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0325003629" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plot-Structure-Techniques-Exercises-Crafting/dp/158297294X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=158297294X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=158297294X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-55339680658197623032010-07-08T13:26:00.000-07:002010-07-08T13:26:06.093-07:00Review: Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Persona-Non-Grata-Novel-Empire/dp/1608190471?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Persona Non Grata: A Novel of the Roman Empire (Roman Empire Series)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1608190471&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1608190471" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />As senior surgeon for the 20th legion in Britain, Gaius Petreus Ruso has had to deal with everything from murdered bar maids to mystical stag men. But when he returns home to his family's villa in southern Gaul after receiving a cryptic request marked "urgent", he's hardly prepared for what he finds there. His sister has fallen in love with a gladiator, his brother is about to be sued by the swindling agent of the local senator, and the brother of his sister-in-law has gone missing in a suspicious shipping mishap. To make matters worse, the the senator's agent drops dead of apparent poisoning in Ruso's study and Ruso himself quickly becomes the prime suspect. What's a well-meaning but financially strapped medicus to do?<br />
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Although the scoundrel's last utterance points to Ruso's social climbing ex-wife who had married the man not realizing he did not own the sumptuous villa where he resided, the rascal appears to have also had contentious encounters with Ruso's step mother, sister, and even the voluptuous widow next door who is almost singlehandedly running an amphora manufacturing business. Ruso's not even sure he can safely discount the man's grief-stricken sister. Furthermore, Ruso learns that the agent arranged for the worm-riddled vessel that his sister-in-law's brother disappeared in so he wonders if his brother's wife, the seemingly loving mother of his five rambunctious nieces and nephews, could have slipped something into the cool drink she offered the man when he came to the farm looking for Ruso. <br />
<br />
Fortunately, Ruso brought along his British housekeeper/lover Tilla, whose unassuming way of looking at events with the innocence of child, helps Ruso resolve his latest gaggle of delimmas without alienating his family or landing in the arena as the afternoon snack for the beastkeeper's bear. Once again Ruth Downie has conjured up late 1st century CE Roman life and peopled it with characters that provide a panoply of suspects along with plot twists to keep readers guessing until the gratifying climax.<br />
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The ending leaves you wondering, though, if Ruso is going to give up the army life, settle down in Gaul and make an honest woman of Tilla. I hope not. I prefer the setting of a military infirmary or outpost in the wilds of Roman Britain to the more Romanized society of southern Gaul, although this book was certainly enjoyable. Another aspect of the book that made me nervous was the introduction of the local cult of Christos and Tilla's involvement with it. Fortunately, Downie invested the experience with humor created by Tilla's naivete about other religions and her effort to compare the new religion with those she is more familiar with. I just didn't want the series to become a platform for idealizing early Christianity and promoting one religion of the period over others that were fervently and, in many cases, reverently practiced at the time.<br />
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I look forward to sharing Ruso and Tilla's next adventure. Fortunately, a quick check on Amazon shows Downie will be releasing the next installment, entitled "Caveat Emptor", in December 2010. The book description confirms that Ruso and Tilla do return to Britannia to investigate the disappearance of a local tax collector. I see he's going to be in Veralamium, the Roman settlement that became St. Alban's. I've actually been to the ruins of Veralamium so it should be great fun to read a story with that setting. <br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Caveat-Emptor-Novel-Roman-Empire/dp/1596916087?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Caveat Emptor: A Novel of the Roman Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1596916087&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596916087" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Terra-Incognita-Novel-Roman-Empire/dp/B003H4RE6Y?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Terra Incognita: A Novel of the Roman Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B003H4RE6Y&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003H4RE6Y" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596914270" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Medicus-Novel-Empire-Ruth-Downie/dp/1596914270?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1596914270&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1596914270" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-60497294000903864882010-05-26T12:20:00.000-07:002010-05-26T12:20:22.267-07:00Review: The Triumph of Caesar by Steven Saylor<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Caesar-Novel-Ancient-Rome/dp/B002XULZZ4?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Triumph of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Roma Sub Rosa)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B002XULZZ4&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B002XULZZ4" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />I first "met" Gordianus the Finder in 72 BCE investigating the murder of a cousin of Marcus Licinius Crassus in "Arms of Nemesis". Although "Arms" was not the first of Gordianus' adventures written by author <a href="http://www.stevensaylor.com/">Steven Saylor</a>, it was the first of Saylor's <i>Roma Sub Rosa</i> series of mystery novels that I found in audiobook form among the offerings of a local book seller. My sister had just turned me onto the pleasure of listening to books on my daily commute so I was constantly on the lookout for audiobooks about the ancient world when I made the discovery.<br />
<br />
I enjoyed "<i>Arms of Nemesis</i>" so much I immediately elevated Steven Saylor to the top of my favorite authors list and thereafter searched diligently for more of his work. Over the years I managed to "read" all of his books detailing Gordianus' sleuthing activities in the late Roman Republic, or at least thought I had until I noticed the publication date of "<i>The Triumph of Caesar</i>". I had confused it with "<i>The Judgment of Caesar</i>" so thought I had already read it until I took the time to read a synopsis of the plot and realized it was the most recent release in the series that had escaped me.<br />
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Like Gordianus, I, too, have grown gray over the years and identified with his desire in this latest episode to finally retire and simply enjoy reading in the quiet of his peristyle garden. But, the rich and famous are still jockeying for positions of power as the Roman Republic crumbles around them and no one is safe, even the mighty Caesar, who has finally emerged victorious from the Civil War with Pompey the Great and the optimates, placed Cleopatra on the throne of Egypt after defeating her brother and his generals and quelled an uprising in the east led by the King of Pontus. <br />
<br />
As Caesar prepares to celebrate an unprecedented four triumphs, his wife Calpurnia has been told by her Etruscan haruspex (soothsayer) that there is yet another plot afoot to kill her husband. So, she summons Gordianus to discover the latest villain before the assassin can succeed and throw the Republic back into bloody turmoil.<br />
<br />
Little is known about Calpurnia other than the fact that she was the daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a wealthy patrician who is thought to have owned the sprawling complex of the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. Saylor portrays her as a politically savvy woman at the center of a huge web of spies who keep her informed about anything that could threaten her husband and thereby her position as the First Lady of Rome. If we look at the political machinations of her father, this portrayal seems to be quite probable rather than the image of a modest Roman matron painted by what few sketchy references we have in the ancient sources.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>In 58 BC, when the consul, he [Piso] and his colleague, Aulus Gabinius, entered into a compact with Publius Clodius, with the object of getting Marcus Tullius Cicero out of the way. Piso's reward was the province of Macedonia, which he administered from 57 BC to the beginning of 55 BC, when he was recalled. Piso's recall was perhaps in consequence of the violent attack made upon him by Cicero in the Senate in his speech, De provinciis consularibus. <br />
<br />
On his return, Piso addressed the Senate in his defence, and Cicero replied with the coarse and exaggerated invective known as In Pisonem. Piso issued a pamphlet by way of rejoinder, and there the matter ended. Cicero may have been afraid to bring the father-in-law of Julius Caesar to trial. At the outbreak of the civil war, Piso offered his services as mediator. However, when Caesar marched upon Rome, he left the city by way of protest. Piso did not openly declare for Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus but remained neutral and did not forfeit the respect of Caesar. <br />
<br />
After the murder of Caesar, Piso insisted on the provisions of Caesar's will being strictly carried out and, for a time, he opposed Marcus Antonius. Subsequently, he became one of Anthony's supporters and is mentioned as taking part in an embassy to Antony's camp at Mutina with the object of bringing about a reconciliation with Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. - <i><a href="http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Lucius-Calpurnius-Piso-Caesoninus">NationMaster</a></i></blockquote>The maxim "fiat justitia, ruat coelum" ("Let justice be done, though the heavens fall") is attributed to Piso.<br />
<br />
Piso clearly engaged in power brokering at the highest levels and his daughter would surely have learned many valuable lessons about politics growing up in his household. <br />
<br />
We also know from the ancient sources that Calpurnia believed in prophetic dreams so it would not be surprising if Calpurnia clandestinely relied on the services of an Etruscan haruspex. <br />
<br />
Although haruspicy was considered by the Romans so important at one time, that the senate decreed that a certain number of young Etruscans, belonging to the principal families in the state, should always be instructed in it, by the late Republic the art had fallen into disrepute.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>In de Divinatione, "Cicero (de Div. II.24) relates a saying of Cato, that he wondered that one haruspex did not laugh when he saw another." - <i>Haruspices by William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.:<br />
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.</i></blockquote>But Calpurnia was not about to reject any tool at her disposal. Furthermore, the Pisones are thought to have had Etruscan origins themselves. Scholars think this explains their military service in Etruria during the Hannibalic War and consequent introduction into Roman political life.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Siege-alesia-vercingetorix-jules-cesar.jpg/800px-Siege-alesia-vercingetorix-jules-cesar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Siege-alesia-vercingetorix-jules-cesar.jpg/800px-Siege-alesia-vercingetorix-jules-cesar.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Vercingetorix Throws Down his Arms at the Feet of <br />
Julius Caesar (1899) by Lionel-Noël Royer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>She also would not be intimidated by the opinions of pompous men. Years ago I remember finding an article about Calpurnia that pointed out she resisted the efforts of her domineering father to remarry after Caesar's assassination and actually became a successful businesswoman, much like Caesar's mother Aurelia, evidenced by a grave marker of a young man referring to Calpurnia's business patronage that was recently discovered . <br />
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Although Gordianus does not want to become enmeshed in any more political intrigue, he is convinced to take on the case because he learns that Calpurnia had previously hired his old friend from Massilia, Hieronymous, who now lays dead from a single knife thrust to the chest in Caesar's study. So, for the sake of his friend, Gordianus accepts the commission.<br />
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As Gordianus retraces his friend's steps, we get the opportunity to meet more people whose names crop up in the history of the period. One of Gordianus' first appointments is to meet with Vercingetorix. Whenever I read about Vercingetorix, I can't help but envision the noble warrior with flowing hair and mustach depicted in one of my favorite paintings, <i>Vercingetorix Throws Down his Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar (1899) by Lionel-Noël Royer</i>. But Gordianus finds a wretched man with matted hair, sunken cheeks and hollow eyes cowering in the depths of the notorious Tullianum, the prison that may have derived its name from the archaic Latin tullius "a jet of water" because the prison, constructed around 640-616 BC, by Ancus Marcius, was originally created as a cistern for a spring in the floor of the structure's lower level. (the prison consisted of two levels - the second of which contained prisoners lowered there through the floor of the upper room). Eventually a passage between the cistern drain and the Cloaca Maxima was constructed, to not only carry away the waste from prisoners but their bodies as well after their ritual strangulation.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/11496934/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Drain to the Cloaca Maxima in the Tullianum by mharrsch, on Flickr"><img alt="Drain to the Cloaca Maxima in the Tullianum" border="0" height="180" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/11/11496934_e3d5be42b7_m.jpg" style="height: 180px; width: 240px;" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">Drain the Cloaca Maxima in the Tullianum,<br />
renamed Mamertine Prison in medieval times<br />
</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I have actually visited the chamber that modern Romans think served as the Tullianum and peered into the hole opening into the Cloaca Maxima. I shudder to think what it would have been like to languish in that dank cavity awaiting execution.<br />
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Goridanus also visits the "House of the Beaks", the former home of Pompey the Great adorned with the ramming beaks of pirate ships captured in Pompey's campaigns. There, he finds an embittered Antony sodden with wine and consoling himself with a female actress. Antony is smarting from a public reprimand by Caesar for mismanaging Rome in Caesar's absence and has been placed on notice that Caesar expects him to auction Pompey's house and possessions since they were apparently not formally awarded to Antony for his services during the Civil War. Pouting like a child, Antony refuses to participate in the upcoming triumphs, despite his own significant contribution to the victory at Alesia, and petulantly plans to hold a rummage sale of Pompey's old mismatched cast offs to give the appearance of complying with Caesar's auction order. I think this passage really nailed the impetuous personality of Antony and his almost child-like contrariness. It was definitely a sharp contrast with Cleopatra's calculated worldliness.<br />
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Gordianus also mused about the possibility that Cleopatra herself may be plotting against Caesar. She certainly could have thought there was a possibility to wrest Egypt away from Roman domination if Caesar's death triggered yet another civil war. Caesar and Cleopatra were obviously at odds over Caesar's refusal to acknowledge Caesarion as his son although Caesar himself did not seem to have made his mind up yet about what role Cleopatra would play in the future. Like Gordianus, I too find it odd that he installed her statue in his new Temple of Venus.<br />
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Gordianus also interviews Cleopatra's sister, Arsinoe. Knowing her eventual fate at the hands of Antony's assassins in the sanctuary of Artemis in Ephesus, I couldn't help but find her a tragic figure. I have been particularly curious about Arsinoe after reading about the possibility that her remains may have been found in an Egyptian style tomb shaped like the Pharos lighthouse in Ephesus. Although the age of the young woman found in the tomb seems a little too young to me (15 - 18 years of age), I still think the possibility that the skeleton could be Arsinoe is exciting. (See my original blogpost about the discovery). <br />
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I also felt sorry for Arsinoe's tutor, the eunuch, Ganymedes. In this book he is portrayed as a somewhat effeminate creature although Ganymedes quite ably commanded Egyptian forces against Caesar after the death of the Egyptian general Achillas. It was Ganymedes who engineered the pollution of Caesar's water supply when Caesar and his troops were surrounded in Alexandria. Ganymedes marshalled the Egyptian navy to attack Caesar's fleet too. Although Ganymedes' seamen lost the naval engagement, he fought Caesar's forces to a standstill in a subsequent bombardment. But the Egyptian populace, like the Roman mob, were a fickle lot and eventually turned against Arsinoe and Ganymedes claiming they were tired of fighting under the leadership of a woman and her tyrant Ganymedes. Ganymedes fate is not described in Caesar's Alexandrian Wars. He simply disappears from the narrative after Caesar releases Ptolemy XIII who then took control of the Egyptian forces and was subsequently defeated by Caesar and drowned in the Nile. It is unlikely Ganymedes survived the return of Ptolemy even though Arsinoe, still a teenager, was surrendered alive to Caesar. But, it is such circumstances that invite the novelist's imagination so in this story Ganymedes is pitifully paraded in Saylor's version of Caesar's triumph .<br />
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I particularly enjoyed Saylor's descriptions of each triumph and the crowd interactions with the triumphator, Caesar. I could easily envision the mob shouting in unison like unruly sports fans as they sought to implore Caesar to "Spare The Princess" and "Kill the Eunuch!"<br />
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Despite all of these high profile suspects, though, Gordianus discovers that Caesar's conquests may actually not be the ultimate motivation for murder. The Roman Empire was built on centuries-old traditions and family pride was often tightly interwoven with ancestral contributions to historical tradition. Caesar's seemingly benign attempt to correct the Roman calendar appears to have ruffled important feathers too, including some of his own in-laws. <br />
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In the late Republic, the Roman calendar was based on a mish mash of solar and lunar calculations ordained by the second king of Rome, a Sabine statesman named Numa Pompilius. <br />
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"In Romulus' time, the calendar had been fixed at 360 days to the year, but the number of days in a month varied from twenty or less to thirty-five or more. Numa estimated the solar year at 365 days and the lunar year at 354 days. He doubled the difference of eleven days and instituted a leap month of 22 days to come between February and March (which was originally the first month). Numa put January as the first month, and may indeed have added the months of January and February to the calendar." -<i> <a href="http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/people/a/numapompilius.htm">Biography of Numa Pompilius the Second King of Rome, About.com</a></i> <br />
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Unfortunately, in the 700 or so years since King Numa's calendar had replaced the original calendar, even the leap month could not prevent the calendar from slipping out of sync with the actual seasons. Harvest festivals based on the calendar were being held before the harvest was even gathered. So Caesar sought to correct the calendar once and for all with the help of Egyptian astronomers. But, the Calpurnii Pisones prided themselves on their descent from King Numa - so much so that their revered ancestor, the Roman annalist L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi who was consul in 133 BCE, censor in 120 BCE and author of the Annales Maximi, is credited with more citations about King Numa in his writings than any other Roman historiographer.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1</span> <br />
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So Caesar's tampering with the calendar could be viewed as almost sacriligious by members of his wife's family. Furthermore, Caesar's opponents, always on the lookout for something to use against him, were sowing unrest by claiming the involvement of Egyptian astronomers made it look like his new Egyptian subjects were superior to average Romans.<br />
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Gordianus eventually manages to thwart those that would put an end to Caesar prematurely but we all know destiny cannot be permanently denied. Caesar would still find his at the end of dagger (or possibly 23 daggers) in the Theater of Pompey on the Ides of March in 44 BCE. I have yet to discover if Gordianus will be called upon to head that investigation!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Footnote 1</span>: <span style="font-size: x-small;">Gary Forsythe, <i>The Historian L. Calpurnius Piso Frugi and the Roman Annalistic Tradition.</i> Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1994. Pp. xi + 552. ISBN 0-8191-9742-4. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Caesar-Novel-Ancient-Novels/dp/0312932979?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Judgment of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0312932979&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312932979" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Triumph-Mary-Beard/dp/0674032187?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Roman Triumph" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0674032187&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0674032187" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Greek-Roman-Calendars-Constructions-Classical/dp/0715633015?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Greek and Roman Calendars: Constructions of Time in the Classical World" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0715633015&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0715633015" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Etruscans-Nancy-Thomson-Grummond/dp/0292721463?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Religion of the Etruscans" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0292721463&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0292721463" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Caesars-War-Alexandria-102-112-Alexandrinum/dp/0865162190?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Caesar's War in Alexandria: Bellum Civile Iii. 102-112 Bellum Alexandrinum 1-33" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0865162190&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0865162190" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-78561384040450402882010-05-05T11:00:00.001-07:002023-06-02T10:38:50.970-07:00Review: Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_y1fBkiiev2F1HOi_cQ1zBXRja779Dlzeroe-03nBNIaDHtaGfihjVcdmUypa7tYQeoq7SdCrxuf8Ak-63pUWb-HJcjlGQB4CUYPlyZxQpgOtC_8U0DGt_r_al8YE6hKNcOxoRuodOP1udLHuyEKXJSRbj0u8FoGLnJ6EFqTEI027EJs8qg/s792/Cleopatra's%20Daughter%20by%20Michelle%20Moran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="524" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_y1fBkiiev2F1HOi_cQ1zBXRja779Dlzeroe-03nBNIaDHtaGfihjVcdmUypa7tYQeoq7SdCrxuf8Ak-63pUWb-HJcjlGQB4CUYPlyZxQpgOtC_8U0DGt_r_al8YE6hKNcOxoRuodOP1udLHuyEKXJSRbj0u8FoGLnJ6EFqTEI027EJs8qg/s320/Cleopatra's%20Daughter%20by%20Michelle%20Moran.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />I absolutely loved viewing the ancient world and the rich and famous of the late Republic through the eyes of a child, in this case Cleopatra Selene, one of Cleopatra's twins by Marc Antony. I would especially recommend this book for young adults as Moran uses the fact that Selene was not familiar with many structures and rituals of the late Roman Republic as teaching opportunities by having Selene's Roman friend, Julia (Octavian's daughter), explain them to her.Young people and those unfamiliar with Roman history of this period would have had the added surprise of discovering who would turn out to be selected for Selene's husband when she reaches the age of 15. I already knew who she would end up with but found the information Moran provided about him and his special gifts quite interesting.</div><div>
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I also liked the way Moran wove real incidents that occurred during Octavian's rise to power into the narrative including the visit to the greedy merchant Pollio's villa where Octavian saved a hapless slave from being fed to a pool of eels and the trial in which a lecherous patrician attempted to claim a Centurion's daughter, who would not give him the time of day, was actually one of his own escaped slaves. Although her fate is recorded in the ancient sources I don't want to take away some of the suspense from readers unfamiliar with the tale.<br />
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Unlike a rather critical reviewer from the Historical Novel Society, I appreciated the added drama of the hunt for the "Red Eagle", a secretive individual who opposed Roman slavery and engaged in subversive activities to free slaves and disrupt the daily activities of the aristocratic elite. I also found Moran's portrayal of Octavian as cold, calculating and almost entirely without sensitivity to the needs of others to be quite as I had always envisioned him and her shrewish personification of Livia in concert with the view expressed by Robert Graves in "I, Claudius". (Colleen McCullough was a little more forgiving in "Antony and Cleopatra")<br />
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I couldn't help but feel bittersweet about the relationship between Marcellus and Julia, knowing what would befall them in a few short years and think Moran's version of the fate of Selene's twin, Alexander, is certainly plausible, although the ancient sources are silent on that topic. Alexander and his younger brother Ptolemy simply disappear from the historical record.<br />
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The HNS reviewer also criticized Moran for giving Selene a talent for sketching and architecture but I think these gifts would have been well within the realm of a child of Cleopatra who had been educated in the Museion. Selene probably had received a fairly high level of intelligence from her mother as well and I have read about gifted children who display uncanny talent as young as 10 or 12. <br />
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This was my first exposure to Michelle Moran's work and I found it quite interesting and enjoyable. I also have her "Nefertiti" and "The Heretic Queen" in my Audible.com library so I am definitely looking forward to spending many more hours with her characters. <br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nefertiti-Novel-Michelle-Moran/dp/0307381749?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img alt="Nefertiti: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0307381749&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307381749" style="border: medium none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Heretic-Queen-Novel-Michelle-Moran/dp/0307381765?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img alt="The Heretic Queen: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0307381765&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307381765" style="border: medium none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/World-Juba-Kleopatra-Selene-Scholarship/dp/0415305969?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" target="_blank"><img alt="The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier (Routledge Classical Monographs)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0415305969&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0415305969" style="border: medium none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="1" /></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-33113999191897781282010-03-25T12:24:00.000-07:002010-12-27T13:49:52.539-08:00Review: Fire in the East: Warrior of Rome by Harry Sidebottom<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fire-East-Book-Warrior-Rome/dp/1590202465?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Fire in the East: Book One of Warrior of Rome" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590202465&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590202465" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />A ballista is a fearsome Roman siege weapon that uses torsion springs made of twisted animal sinew to hurl stone projectiles or bolts over 500 yards. <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista" rel="wikipedia" title="Ballista">Ballistae</a> were used for both prosecuting a siege as well as to defend a besieged city from attacking forces employing siege engines themselves. A man who knew how to most effectively deploy such weapons was certainly worth the military title of Dux Ripea, a rank roughly equivalent to a regional commander and just one step below that of provincial governor. An officer who had earned the cognomen of Ballista must be extraordinary indeed - at least so thought the people of Arete, a Roman outpost on the fringes of the Syrian desert. But this tall, pale-eyed barbarian with flowing blond locks was not at all what they were expecting.<br />
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Ballista may not have been what the scheming merchants, priests and caravan lords were hoping for, but he is exactly what they needed to defend the bustling center of trade against a looming horde of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sassanid_Empire" rel="wikipedia" title="Sassanid Empire">Sassanid Persians</a> led by Shapur I himself, King of Kings.<br />
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And so, the story of the siege of Arete unfolds from classical scholar <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Sidebottom" rel="wikipedia" title="Harry Sidebottom">Harry Sidebottom</a>. I found myself captivated by not only the depth of knowledge of ancient siege craft conveyed through the observations and decisions of this unusual Roman commander but by Sidebottom's complex characterizations of not only Ballista but his unlikely household as well. <br />
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Ballista, himself, is a Germanic political hostage that has been raised and educated in an imperial court, where in just one year alone six men claimed the emperor's crown only to be slaughtered by mutinous soldiers, lynched by their own bodyguards or beaten and dragged naked through the streets of Rome. In the year of Ballista's birth, the vainglorious boy <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus" rel="wikipedia" title="Elagabalus">emperor Elagabalus</a> is murdered by his own <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praetorian_Guard" rel="wikipedia" title="Praetorian Guard">Praetorian guard</a> in a latrine and this brutal act seems to presage the tumult Ballista will face in the years ahead. <br />
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Civil war and repeated barbarian incursions have also forced embattled emperors to recruit Germans, Sarmatians, Arabs, Armenians, and Moors from the far reaches of the empire. So, the opportunity to learn the art of war presents itself early to the young nobleman, who, at the age of just 16 finds himself in the forces of the brutal, gargantuan, soldier-emperor <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximinus_Thrax" rel="wikipedia" title="Maximinus Thrax">Maximinus Thrax</a> besieging the city of Aquileia. It would prove to be just one of many sieges in his military career that would provide him with the special knowledge later needed by the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus to deal with a fresh Persian incursion into Roman Syria as well as a solid understanding of how to relate to and motivate a fighting force.<br />
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But Ballista is more than the quintessential commander, he is still a warrior of northern traditions in an unfamiliar landscape who struggles with who he is as a man while trying to perform his sworn duty to the empire. He is aided in this task by a diverse "familia". <br />
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Maximus, his Celtic bodyguard, has fought side by side with Ballista so many times they move almost as one man. But, where Ballista is contemplative, Maximus relies on instinct which controls not only his combat maneuvers but his over sized libido as well. <br />
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A crusty old Caledonian slave that has taken care of Ballista since he was a child serves as his steward but relates to the Dux Ripea almost like a querulous old uncle. Their relationship reminded me of the contentious relationship between the slave Posca and Julius Caesar in the HBO miniseries "Rome". <br />
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A shy Greek slave, Demetrius, serves as Ballista's secretary but frequently quotes epic poetry and uses examples in Greek mythology to try to guide his master in difficult decisions. Bagoaz, a Persian slave boy, was purchased to teach Ballista the Persian language and advises him (and through Ballista, the reader) about Persian customs and battle tactics. <br />
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By using the narrative device of these various characters, each possessing special knowledge about the different cultures of the period, Sidebottom is able to relate a lot of knowledge about the period couched in the natural flow of the story and character relationships. Sidebottom's solid grasp of storytelling enables him to truly immerse the reader in the tumultuous world of the third century. Fire in the East: Warrior of Rome serves as a vivid example of the best in historical fiction, where the genre serves to not only accurately inform its readers about the complexities of life and relationships between diverse cultures but imbues them with a passion to learn even more. <br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rome-Persia-Late-Antiquity-Neighbours/dp/0521614074?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0521614074&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0521614074" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Between-Rome-Persia-Mesopotamia-Monographs/dp/041542478X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Between Rome and Persia: The Middle Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Palmyra Under Roman Control (Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=041542478X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=041542478X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0905205480" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Catastrophic-Era-Versus-Persia-Century/dp/1413754902?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Catastrophic Era:: Rome Versus Persia in the Third Century" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1413754902&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1413754902" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fire-East-Book-Warrior-Rome/dp/1590202465?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Fire in the East: Book One of Warrior of Rome" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1590202465&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1590202465" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=d1b499ee-cd8d-4136-87d0-90ab5d827674" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-64145297655166989632010-03-15T08:12:00.000-07:002010-03-15T08:12:43.376-07:00Review: Ransom by David Malouf<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ransom-Novel-David-Malouf/dp/0307378772?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Ransom: A Novel" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0307378772&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0307378772" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />"Ransom" by award-winning Australian author David Malouf is unlike any novel I have ever read. In it, Malouf explores the inner dialog that people often have with themselves when they review their lives to gain meaning from current circumstances or ponder obstacles they now face. In this case, the feelings we explore are those experienced by King Priam as he attempts to ransom the body of his son Hector from the fiercesome Achilles.<br />
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Priam has a dream that he must shed all trappings of kingship including bodyguards or fawning courtiers, and personally beseech Achilles for the body of his eldest son. He thinks back over how he became king, despite the fact that, as a young boy he was almost sold off as a slave when his ancestral city was sacked by his father's enemies. He ponders the brutality he experienced during the sack and as a reader you wince with the foreknowledge of what will befall him again. He then marvels at the life he has led since then, one of privilege but also one of staggering responsibility.<br />
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We discover that Priam's life as a monarch has been one in which he is insulated from normal human emotions usually shared within the nucleus of the family. Instead, the pomp and ceremony of court life have required him to play the role of supreme ruler at all times, even with his offspring, numbering 50 sons and 19 daughters.<br />
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As dictated by his dream, Priam orders some of his remaining sons to secure a simple wagon to be driven by a common carter to carry the king and all the treasure that can be collected to purchase the body of a prince of Troy. His queen, Hecuba, and his other family members and court advisers think the old man has become so enslaved by his grief that his mind has left him altogether but eventually comply with his instructions.<br />
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When the cart is hired and practically overloaded with gold and silver objects, the old king is hoisted onto the plain wooden seat next to a grizzled old man in a worn homespun garment. The two old men set off for the Myrmidon encampment. They jostle along in the cart for some time without speaking, the poor driver wondering what a person is supposed to say to the grief-stricken king. They then stop to rest beside a river and in the course of trying to get the old king to eat something, the elderly mule cart driver begins to describe the loss of his own sons and recalls some of their endearing antics, bringing tears to the old man's eyes in the telling. <br />
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Considering the old driver's words, Priam realizes he can't even recall which of his wives and concubines bore some of his children let alone some of the little triumphs the children may have taken pride in over the years. Then the veil of grief slips from his eyes and he looks about him and begins to savor each sight and smell he perceives, from the pleasant taste of the little buttermilk cakes the driver has brought along and shared with him to the tickle of the fishlings nibbling his bare toes as he wades in the water along the river bank.<br />
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Ultimately, he realizes that performing the rituals of burial will probably be the most intimate moments he will ever share with his eldest son and heir to his kingdom.<br />
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In the meantime, Achilles, too has been reflecting on the meaning of his life and speculating on what will happen to his own son, Neoptolemus, when Achilles embraces his own fate, to die young but wreathed in immortal glory. So ultimately, it is with shared understanding that king and hero finally confront the requirements of duty and acceptance of fate when they meet at last in Achilles' mess tent.<br />
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This is not really a story-driven narrative but an anecdotal treatise on human relationships that encourages the reader to reflect on their own journey and their own losses. <br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trojan-War-New-History/dp/0743264428?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Trojan War: A New History" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0743264428&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0743264428" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Search-Trojan-War-Michael-Wood/dp/B0001KL5BW?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="In Search of the Trojan War" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0001KL5BW&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0001KL5BW" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-That-Killed-Achilles-Homers/dp/B00381B76O?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer's Iliad and the Trojan War" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B00381B76O&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00381B76O" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-69958113015480889982010-01-23T14:49:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:11:13.392-08:00Review: Give Me Back My Legions by Harry Turtledove<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Me-Back-My-Legions/dp/0312371063?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Give Me Back My Legions!" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0312371063&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312371063" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />The Roman Emperor Augustus' anguished cry, "Publius Quinctilius Varus, Give Me Back My Legions!", is probably one of the most famous quotations that has come down to us from the ancient world. So, I was naturally drawn to a novel with that title, hoping I could explore at least one person's interpretation of the events of that fatal confrontation and insight into the motivations of the men who met their destiny there. <br />
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"Give Me Back My Legions" is the first book I have ever read by Harry Turtledove although I have several of his books, either written alone or as a co-author with someone else, in my "to-be-read" stack. Since the novel, centered around the events leading up to the massacre of three Roman legions in the Teutoburg Forest, was released in unabridged audio format, it gave me the opportunity to listen to it while I exercise each morning so received my attention much sooner than my other hard copy volumes.<br />
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Turtledove did a good job of characterization, neither overtly villifying either one side or the other in the conflict between occupying Roman forces and the tribal cultures of Germania. The only problem with this approach, of course, is that there appears to be no clear protagonist or antagonist so the author sacrifices tension to some extent in the telling of the story. Publius Quinctillus Varus is portrayed as a typical middle-aged Roman administrator who has married well (the emperor's Augustus' grandniece) but who is really ready for a gradual slide into retirement and longing for a less stressful life in Rome and the companionship of his son, who is currently studying in Greece. When he is assigned the task of turning Germania into a proper Roman province paying proper Roman taxes, he is less than enthusiastic about the job. But, who in the entire Roman Empire, would dare to refuse Augustus' request?<br />
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Arminius is an auxiliary officer with the Roman legions fighting a revolt in Pannonia. He demonstrates courage and a strategic understanding of guerilla warfare, but privately harbors fears that his own people will eventually become victims of the Roman war machine if something isn't done soon in his native Germania. When he receives word that the father of his betrothed, an overt Roman supporter, has decided to break the engagement and wed his daughter to another man with a political attitude more like his own, Arminius asks for permission to return home and straighten out this point of honor. <br />
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After Arminius resolves the matter by whisking away his betrothed and deflowering her to prevent any other man of his tribe from wanting her, Arminius turns his attention to finding a way to drive the Romans out of his homeland. He knows that his countrymen's style of personal combat would be disastrous in a pitched battle with the disciplined Romans so he decides his only option is to somehow deceive them into venturing out of their encampment through territory more advantageous to an ambush. He begins his plan by overtly trying to impress Varus. Varus, in turn, sees something of his own son in the young, brash Arminius and despite numerous warnings from his own officers as well as Arminius' suspicious father-in-law, Segestes, Varus warms to the young man.<br />
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Arminius watches as year after year the Romans build up then tear down their settlement at Mindinum and struggle back through the mud to their winter quarters on the other side of the Rhine. It occurs to him that if he suggests to Varus that he knows an easier route back to the base camp, he could lure Varus out onto a winding track through the forest where Arminius and his followers could construct an ambush. So, although Arminius lives within the Roman camp and sups frequently with Varus during the spring and summer, he travels around Germania recruiting followers for his planned attack during the winter months. I can understand the need for duplicity but when the time finally arrives and the ambush is accomplished, I was bothered by Arminius' eagerness to capture Varus alive so Varus could be brutally butchered as a sacrifice to the Germanic gods. I found it hard to imagine that the kindness shown by Varus towards Arminius could be so totally dismissed. In the novel, Arminius is quite aware that Varus misses his own son and views Varus as a kind of temporary substitute. Although Varus must levy taxes as a requirement of provincial administration, he is not depicted as cruel or unjust (or at least he is not portrayed as such by Turtledove). Therefore, the viciousness of Arminius' plans to brutalize him are repugnant and not really justified by the portrayal of a relatively benign Varus in the story.<br />
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In actual history, however, Varus may not have been quite so harmless. While governing Syria, Varus, in command of four legions, put down a Jewish revolt that erupted after the death of the Roman client king Herod the Great in 4 BCE and crucified 2,000 Jewish rebels. Although Josephus tries to point out the judiciousness of Varus' actions, there are references in the ancient sources to mass protests as a result of Varus' cruelty. Turtledove's sympathetic portrayal of the man may have been a little misleading.<br />
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But, nevertheless, the retelling of the ambush and subsequent massacre was riveting. Something that really stuck in my mind as I read the passage was how Arminius pondered the meaning of his countrymen's willingness to attack the Romans and the realization that most of the tribal warriors were only interested in plundering the Roman baggage train for loot. Arminius concludes that they had no real overarching vision of independence or dream of establishing a united kingdom of their own. I think Turtledove hit the hammer right on the head with that observation. The other aspect of Arminius that I found disquieting was his immediate plans to not only throw the Romans out of Germania but follow it up by ravaging Gaul and taking it away from the people living there. The victim had no qualms about becoming a brutal conqueror himself which seemed to diminish Arminius' nobility, at least in my eyes.<br />
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I realize Arminius is celebrated as an historical hero in Germany but I, like some other scholars, wonder if the victory he won in the Teutoburg forest was not ultimately a setback to cultural development. A people's independence is always held up as the ultimate achievement but living in a society without a law code where the strong routinely exploit their weaker neighbor could hardly be viewed as an ideal way of life. Much was made in the novel about the Germans' hatred of Roman taxes but the taxes assessed at the time were not particularly exorbitant or arbitrary. The Romans were apparently trying to base the taxes on the prosperity of the individual steadings. Taxes are ultimately necessary to fund projects that provide services to a large group of people and are too expensive for any one individual to undertake. Sadly, the Germanic tribes had not reached that level of understanding yet so still clung to their "mine" vs. "yours" view of the world. Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that if the massacre in the Teutoburg forest had not happened and Germania had been successfully Romanized, we would have never had WWI and WWII. I, too, wonder..<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Romes-Greatest-Defeat-Massacre-Teutoburg/dp/0750940166?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Rome's Greatest Defeat: Massacre in the Teutoburg Forest" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0750940166&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0750940166" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Teutoburg-Forest-John-Rothdiener/dp/1438955146?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Terror in Teutoburg Forest" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1438955146&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1438955146" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Battle-That-Stopped-Rome-Slaughter/dp/0393326438?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0393326438&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0393326438" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-24293635374569152322010-01-23T11:44:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:14:10.702-08:00Review: The Jupiter Myth by Lindsey Davis<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jupiter-Marcus-Didius-Falco-Mysteries/dp/0446692972?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Jupiter Myth (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0446692972&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0446692972" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Davis' Roman super-sleuth Marcus Didus Falco returns to Britain in this tale and must investigate the death of a roguish courtier of King Togidubnus who ends up head first down a tavern well in a rather primitive Londonium. The town, still scarred by fires and devastation wrought by Queen Boudicca in the Iceni Revolt a little over a decade before, holds no pleasant memories for Falco, who served there with the Second Augusta. The Second Augusta Legion, under Petillius Cerialis, met Boudicca's eighty to one-hundred thousand rebels near Verulamium (modern St. Alban's ) with only two thousand Roman troops. Needless to say, few of the legion survived although Falco and his old friend Petro were among them.<br />
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Now, it seems gangsters from Rome have decided to exploit the new province. Falco discovers their hired muscle leaning on bakers, tavern keepers and even the local familia gladiatorix. Davis does a good job of conjuring up the rough and tumble world of this colonial village on the Thames but I found passages to be exasperating as Falco would discover important information that should have been reported to the governor right away but instead, Falco decides he's too tired and figures it can wait until the next day which, of course, is too late. The showdown between the imported thugs and the women gladiators seems more contrived than exciting and the villain's escape borders on the ridiculous.<br />
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I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book while I was exercising alone on my exercise bike and it's a good thing since I found myself blurting out derisive comments about Falco's contrived missteps.<br />
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Davis also has Petro acting remote and brooding for no particular reason and when the reason is finally revealed it doesn't really make any sense since Petro acknowledges he figured Falco would be watching his back. I also found it pretty implausible that Helena Justina would be wandering the seamier neighborhoods of this grimy little backwater with her young children in tow and no escort. <br />
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The frustrations I felt while reading this book were roughly equivalent to my generally negative reactions to "Last Act in Palmyra" and "See Delphi and Die". Each time I read one of the Falco mysteries, I am hoping to catch a glimpse of the solid writing and plot development I experienced reading "The Course of Honor", "Silver Pigs", and "The Iron Hand of Mars". Perhaps my biggest problem is that I don't really enjoy reading about a man who has such a negative view of life in general. I guess some people consider Falco an interesting curmudgeon but I've had enough interactions with negative personalities in the real world that I prefer not to spend my fantasy world with them.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Myths-Legendary-Past-Gardner/dp/0292727682?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Roman Myths (The Legendary Past)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0292727682&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0292727682" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Course-Honour-Lindsey-Davis/dp/0312556160?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Course of Honour" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0312556160&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0312556160" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Hand-Mars-Marcus-Mystery/dp/034538024X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Iron Hand of Mars: A Marcus Didius Falco Mystery" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=034538024X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=034538024X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-16096596532644579442010-01-14T15:07:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:17:55.054-08:00Image and Text in Graeco-Roman Antiquity by Michael Squire<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Image-Graeco-Roman-Antiquity-Michael-Squire/dp/0521756014?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Image and Text in Graeco-Roman Antiquity" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0521756014&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0521756014" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />"The relation between the visual and the verbal spheres has been much contested in recent years, from laments about the 'logocentricism' of the academy to the heralding of the 'pictorial turn' of the multimedia age. This lavishly illustrated book recontextualises these debates through the historical lens of Greek and Roman antiquity. Dr Squire shows how modern Western concepts of 'words' and 'pictures' derive from a post-Reformation tradition of theology and aesthetics. Where modern critics assume a bipartite separation between images and texts, classical antiquity toyed with a more playful and engaged relation between the two. By using the ancient world to rethink our own ideologies of the visual and the verbal, this interdisciplinary book brings together classics and art history, as well as a sustained reflection on their historiography: the result is a new and explosive cultural history of Western visual thinking." - <i>Product Description, Amazon.com</i><br />
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<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pacis-Augustae-Imagery-Abundance-Imperial/dp/0691037159?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Ara Pacis Augustae and the Imagery of Abundance in Later Greek and Early Roman Imperial Art" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0691037159&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0691037159" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Commemorating-Dead-Artifacts-Context-Christian/dp/3110200546?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Commemorating the Dead: Texts and Artifacts in Context: Studies of Roman, Jewish and Christian Burials" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=3110200546&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=3110200546" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Triumph-Mary-Beard/dp/0674032187?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Roman Triumph" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0674032187&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0674032187" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> </i>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-57427903006911287972010-01-13T17:17:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:22:58.884-08:00Paul Cartlege's Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander: Film, History, and Cultural Studies sounds intriguing<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Responses-Oliver-Stones-Alexander-Wisconsin/dp/0299232840?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Responses to Oliver Stone's Alexander: Film, History, and Cultural Studies (Wisconsin Studies in Classics)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0299232840&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0299232840" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Paul Cartledge's latest book exploring the historical accuracy of Oliver Stone's film "Alexander" and reasons for its less than enthusiastic reception at the box office sounds really interesting. I was so anxious to see the film and so disappointed with the result that it would be interesting to read why others were equally disillusioned. I actually found the critics who harped on such things as Colin Ferrell's bleach job to be just so uninformed they couldn't critique the film from a historical perspective (and too lazy to do any research). Although there were historical inaccuracies, I just found the pacing of the film way too slow - especially the long droning voice over by Anthony Hopkins (and I personally normally like Anthony Hopkins). Alexander was an exciting, charismatic personality and I felt the editing of the final cut was just poorly done or at least not done by someone with the same vision of Alexander as I had developed after reading the trilogy of novels written by Mary Renault (Fire From Heaven, The Persian Boy and Funeral Games) and the ancient biography by Appian. Stone released a director's cut but what I would really like is a DVD of digital video of the movie that could be edited into a personal cut of the movie then shared on Hulu or another site that does not have a video length limit. Maybe the studio could sponsor a contest for "Best Cut of Alexander" or have categories like "Best Cut of Alexander from a Persian Viewpoint", etc.<br />
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"The charismatic Alexander the Great of Macedon (356–323 B.C.E.) was one of the most successful military commanders in history, conquering Asia Minor, Egypt, Persia, central Asia, and the lands beyond as far as Pakistan and India. Alexander has been, over the course of two millennia since his death at the age of thirty-two, the central figure in histories, legends, songs, novels, biographies, and, most recently, films. In 2004 director Oliver Stone’s epic film <i>Alexander</i> generated a renewed interest in Alexander the Great and his companions, surroundings, and accomplishments, but the critical response to the film offers a fascinating lesson in the contentious dialogue between historiography and modern entertainment.<br />
This volume brings together an intriguing mix of leading scholars in Macedonian and Greek history, Persian culture, film studies, classical literature, and archaeology—including some who were advisors for the film—and includes an afterword by Oliver Stone discussing the challenges he faced in putting Alexander’s life on the big screen. The contributors scrutinize Stone’s project from its inception and design to its production and reception, considering such questions as: Can a film about Alexander (and similar figures from history) be both entertaining and historically sound? How do the goals of screenwriters and directors differ from those of historians? How do Alexander’s personal relationships—with his mother Olympias, his wife Roxane, his lover Hephaistion, and others—affect modern perceptions of Alexander? Several of the contributors also explore reasons behind the film’s tepid response at the box office and subsequent controversies. " <i>- Product Description, Amazon</i><br />
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<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alexander/dp/B001PVE6QM?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Alexander" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B001PVE6QM&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001PVE6QM" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Great-Paul-Cartledge/dp/1400079195?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Alexander the Great" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1400079195&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1400079195" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Great-Richard-Burton/dp/B0002KPHW4?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Alexander the Great" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B0002KPHW4&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B0002KPHW4" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alexander-Great-Gods-Alan-Fildes/dp/0892367830?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Alexander the Great: Son of the Gods" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0892367830&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0892367830" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Alexander-Mary-Renault/dp/039473825X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Nature of Alexander" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=039473825X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=039473825X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fire-Heaven-Mary-Renault/dp/0375726829?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Fire from Heaven" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0375726829&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0375726829" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> </i>Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-91857622488377875872010-01-13T16:54:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:36:52.835-08:00A.D. 381: Heretics, Pagans, and the Christian State By Charles Freeman<a href="http://www.amazon.com/AD-381-Charles-Freeman/dp/159020171X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="AD 381" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=159020171X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=159020171X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />"In A.D. 381, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman empire, issued a decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict defined Christian orthodoxy and brought to an end a lively and wide-ranging debate about the nature of God; all other interpretations were now declared heretical. It was the first time in a thousand years of Greco-Roman civilization free thought was unambiguously suppressed. Why has Theodosius's revolution been airbrushed from the historical record? In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed historian Charles Freeman argues that Theodosius's edict and the subsequent suppression of paganism not only brought an end to the diversity of religious and philosophical beliefs throughout the empire, but created numerous theological problems for the Church, which have remained unsolved. The year A.D. 381, as Freeman puts it, was "a turning point which time forgot."<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Roman-Religion-John-Scheid/dp/0253216605?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="An Introduction to Roman Religion" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0253216605&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0253216605" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religion-Empire-Blackwell-Ancient-Religions/dp/1405106565?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Religion in the Roman Empire (Blackwell Ancient Religions)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1405106565&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1405106565" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Religions-Rome-Sourcebook-Mary-Beard/dp/0521456460?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Religions of Rome: Volume 2: A Sourcebook" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0521456460&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0521456460" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pagan-Theology-Paganism-World-Religion/dp/0814797083?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Pagan Theology: Paganism as a World Religion" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0814797083&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0814797083" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Her-Share-Blessings-Christians-Greco-Roman/dp/0195086708?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Her Share of the Blessings: Women's Religions among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco-Roman World" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0195086708&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0195086708" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Myths-Symbols-Pagan-Europe-Scandinavian/dp/0815624417?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0815624417&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0815624417" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-51808950163621621202009-12-29T12:13:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:38:50.804-08:00Blogcritic Bennet finds Goldworthy's latest, Slow Death of the Roman Superpower, a bit dry<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fall-West-Death-Roman-Superpower/dp/0297845632?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="The Fall of the West: The Death of the Roman Superpower" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0297845632&tag=romtim-20" /></a>I see London Reviewer Natalie Bennett didn't find Adrian Goldworthy's "<i>The Fall of the West: The Slow Death of the Roman Superpower"</i> a particularly interesting read.<br />
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<br />
"It might make a good board game, but it is hard to get interested in this fast-moving, if shortlived, cast of characters, about which we learn little. So while as a reference this is a handy book, it wouldn't be the best thing to take on a long train trip when seeking an engaging read." - <a href="http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-fall-of-the1/"><i>Nancy Bennett, Blogcritics</i></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0297845632" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /><br />
<br />
I realize dates and political context are important but even with my passion for ancient history, I find it difficult to plow through such scholarly tomes from front to back. Perhaps I'm just too used to doing research on the internet and targeting specific aspects of a culture or a historical figure's life to force myself to endure an unappetizing meal of bare facts without the more interesting human elements many scholars unfortunately tend to overlook in their effort to explain The Big Picture. <br />
<br />
Still, somebody has to write the reference books so when we read historical fiction page turners by such authors as Conn Iggulden, we have somewhere to look to check which portions of the story are true and which ones benefited from the author's quite formidable imagination.<br />
<br />
I recently finished Iggulden's riveting Genghis trilogy and was so intrigued with this multi-faceted conqueror and that period of history (1200s CE - a bit out of my usual ancient realm) that I've spent quite a bit of time researching some of the details in The Mongol's Secret History so I could be clear on which details of the story and the marvelous characterizations were based on fact. I actually think I learn more and REMEMBER more this way than by simply reviewing a compendium of facts.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Genghis-Birth-Empire-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0440243904?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Genghis: Birth of an Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0440243904&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0440243904" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fall-Roman-Empire-History-Barbarians/dp/0195325419?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0195325419&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0195325419" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Empire-Wordsworth-Classics-Literature/dp/1853264997?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1853264997&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1853264997" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Two-Disc-Deluxe-Miriam-Collection/dp/B00125WAXM?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Fall Of The Roman Empire (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B00125WAXM&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B00125WAXM" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/I-Caesar-Rise-Roman-Empire/dp/B001FZQOPO?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="I, Caesar - The Rise & Fall of the Roman Empire" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=B001FZQOPO&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B001FZQOPO" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5139021.post-13819088311314809012009-12-10T09:47:00.000-08:002010-03-03T09:43:50.506-08:00Zeus: King of the Gods<a href="http://media.us.macmillan.com/jackets/258H/9781596434318.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://media.us.macmillan.com/jackets/258H/9781596434318.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 258px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 194px;" /></a><br />
First Second Publishers have released the first in a series of graphic novels depicting the exploits of the Olympian gods, "<a href="http://us.macmillan.com/book.aspx?name=zeuskingofthegods">Zeus, King of the Gods</a>". <br />
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"Author George O'Connor is a Greek mythology buff and a classic superhero comics fan, and he's out to remind us how much our pantheon of superheroes (Superman, Batman, the X-Men, etc) owes to mankind's ORIGINAL superheroes: the Greek pantheon.<br />
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In OLYMPIANS, O'Connor draws from primary documents to reconstruct and retell classic Greek myths. But these stories aren't sedate, scholarly works. They're action-packed, fast-paced, high-drama adventures, with monsters, romance, and not a few huge explosions. O'Connor's vibrant, kinetic art brings ancient tales to undeniable life, in a perfect fusion of super-hero aesthetics and ancient Greek mythology.<br />
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Volume 1 of OLYMPIANS, ZEUS: King OF THE GODS, introduces readers to the ruler of the Olympian Pantheon, telling his story from his boyhood to his ascendance to supreme power."<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zeus-Journey-Through-Greece-Footsteps/dp/158234518X?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Zeus: A Journey Through Greece in the Footsteps of a God" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=158234518X&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=158234518X" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Percy-Jackson-Olympians-Hardcover-Boxed/dp/1423119509?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Percy Jackson and the Olympians Hardcover Boxed Set: Books 1 - 5" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1423119509&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1423119509" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1423113497" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Percy-Jackson-Olympians-Ultimate-Guide/dp/1423121716?ie=UTF8&tag=romtim-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Ultimate Guide" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1423121716&tag=romtim-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=romtim-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1423121716" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important; padding: 0px ! important;" width="1" />Mary Harrschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01812961655356354800noreply@blogger.com0