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Author Topic: Recommended Reading Thread...  (Read 95159 times)

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Offline SC

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #150 on: June 09, 2014, 10:43:34 am »
What a coincidence. 

I recently found an 1887  Charles Scribner's Sons edition of Mommsen's two volume The Provinces of the Roman Empire, part of the History of Rome set published separately, at least in the US.  The original binding is, as Andrew says, very poor with several lose pages.  But it was $38 for the two volumes at the fabulous Strand Bookstore in Lower Manhattan.

It is my current bedtime reading and I am about 1/4 into volume II.

A trip to Strand's top floor netted me an 1843 copy of A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

Shawn
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Offline Andrew McCabe

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #151 on: June 15, 2014, 04:57:12 pm »
I've just received my new 1864-67 rebound Mommsen History of Rome and want to clarify how it compares with the 1901.

- The dates of my copy can be confirmed as 1864 for volumes 1 and 2, and 1867 for volumes 3, 4.1 and 4.2.

- The scope of my five volumes covers from the earliest times to Julius Caesar and the legal reforms which he instituted, but not the later Imperatorial period. This matches what the 1901 edition covers. However the pagination and volumation (??) is completely different, and to further confuse matters, neither edition matches the five "books" that Mommsen split his three "volume" original German edition into. For example, volume 2 of the 1901 edition covers Chapters VII-IX of Book 2, and Chapters I-X of Book 3. Volume 2 of the 1864 edition covers all of Book 3 Chapters I-XIV. I can detect no differences in the actual texts.

None of these correlations matter in the least of course, except to know that all editions in all languages at all times seem to cover the same scope from earliest times to JC, with randomly different splits as to what is in each volume and/or how many volumes there are.

- In the German edition, these five volumes (1,2,3,4.1,4.2) were originally published in three volumes hence squaring with the Nobel citation that talks about vols 1,2,3 and 5, the latter being the published volume on the Provinces and the missing vol.4 being the unpublished Imperial volume although it was supposedly reconstructed from student notes taken in lectures by Mommsen and published by Clare Krojzl (as co-author with M.) in the 1990s as A History of Rome under the Emperors. The latter isn't on Amazon, but over 30 copies are available on Abebooks at moderate prices, as are copies of the Provinces book. Apparently the Krozjl book caused somewhat of a sensation when published in Germany in 1992, but it's not in Mommsen's immaculate and vibrant Nobel-prize winning prose (and Dickson's superb translation), rather is based on student scrawls converted into PhD-speak*. Independent reviews of the 1996 English edition more or less said "whateva". Still, for curiosity and completeness sakes, I've just bought a copy of Krojzl's Imperial "Volume 4" at £15, and a 1969 2-vol hardback reprint of Mommsen's Provincial "Volume 5" at £12.

* http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/beware-the-jargon-in-academic-speak/91656.article : radicals went into university and immediately clad themselves in all of the paraphernalia of an elite cult. The theoreticians place "ism" at the end of words, are prolix at using such prefixes as pre- and post- or cyber. They use Latinate versions whenever possible, nouns instead of verbs, intransitive instead of transitive uses, and love to wave around quote marks like confetti, supposedly as a sign of irony. Words like "foreground", which has perfectly good ordinary English synonyms, are used to achieve a spurious sense of high intellectual activity.

Offline rennrad12020

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #152 on: June 15, 2014, 10:29:19 pm »
I am currently reading the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini trans. J. Addington Symonds. Cellini was a prominent die engraver during the renaissance (among other things).  Symonds is a pretty interesting Victorian scholar.

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #153 on: June 15, 2014, 11:19:26 pm »

A trip to Strand's top floor netted me an 1843 copy of A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

Shawn


Every time I'm in Manhattan I make a trip to Strand's!  My last visit netted me two books on Caligula

Caligula: The corruption of Power by Anthony A. Barrett
and
Caligula Emperor of Rome by Arther Ferrill

Barrett's book is by far the better read, both for his research and sound reasonable conclusions.  Ferrill resorts time and again to simply stating Caligula did things because he was insane.  Both books are tough to get and expensive if you find them.  Strand's had them for a bargain.  I love that place!

Offline Equity

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #154 on: June 15, 2014, 11:57:17 pm »
I am currently reading the Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini trans. J. Addington Symonds.

rennrad12020: at least according to the (well-crafted) coffee-table book "100 greatest ancient coins":

Quote
Benvenuto Ceillini, the great goldsmith and sculptor, describes with admiration ancient coins that he was able to acquire.

I wonder if Cellini mentions specific examples of numismatic art that may have inspired him. I've added the Symonds translation to my reading list, thank you.

Regards,
Derek
Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile.

Offline Andrew McCabe

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #155 on: June 16, 2014, 08:32:52 am »
Looking at the back of my new Mommsen's (pic below), I was absolutely delighted to discover that the set was once owned by clergy at Santi Cosma e Damiano, the church in in the Roman Forum dedicated to the two Greek martyred doctors, and that is actually the ancient Roman building of the Temple of Romulus built in 309 BC, on the foundations of the more ancient temple of Jupiter Stator, founded by Romulus after a battle in the Forum area between the Romans and Sabines, and was the location of the Senate house where Cicero delivered his oration against the tyrant Cataline.

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #156 on: June 16, 2014, 01:37:34 pm »
Looking at the back of my new Mommsen's (pic below), I was absolutely delighted to discover that the set was once owned by clergy at Santi Cosma e Damiano, the church in in the Roman Forum dedicated to the two Greek martyred doctors, and that is actually the ancient Roman building of the Temple of Romulus built in 309 BC, on the foundations of the more ancient temple of Jupiter Stator, founded by Romulus after a battle in the Forum area between the Romans and Sabines, and was the location of the Senate house where Cicero delivered his oration against the tyrant Cataline.

Talk about pedigree;D

Offline Meepzorp

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #157 on: June 17, 2014, 10:21:11 pm »
Looking at the back of my new Mommsen's (pic below), I was absolutely delighted to discover that the set was once owned by clergy at Santi Cosma e Damiano, the church in in the Roman Forum dedicated to the two Greek martyred doctors, and that is actually the ancient Roman building of the Temple of Romulus built in 309 BC, on the foundations of the more ancient temple of Jupiter Stator, founded by Romulus after a battle in the Forum area between the Romans and Sabines, and was the location of the Senate house where Cicero delivered his oration against the tyrant Cataline.

Talk about pedigree;D

Hi folks,

I agree. That's amazing.

Meepzorp

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #158 on: August 24, 2014, 10:20:48 am »
Mark Antony: A Plain Blunt Man by Paolo De Ruggiero was just released and I got my copy the other day.

The books goal is to strip away the Augustan propaganda and centuries of stereotype to reveal the real Man.  I just finished the introduction and if it is any indication of the rest of the book I will enjoy this one very much. 

Offline benito

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #159 on: August 24, 2014, 10:57:55 am »
Mark Antony: A Plain Blunt Man by Paolo De Ruggiero was just released and I got my copy the other day.

The books goal is to strip away the Augustan propaganda and centuries of stereotype to reveal the real Man.  I just finished the introduction and if it is any indication of the rest of the book I will enjoy this one very much. 


Have you read Cicero´s oratios against M.Antony ? Not as popular as those against Catilina but interesting.
Not much of a man  :evil:. And quite vindictive  when he ordered the assasination of one of the greatest Roman politicians.  :'(
BTW, reading and translating Cicero´s De Republica was the origin of my Roman coins collection. +++

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #160 on: August 24, 2014, 11:37:42 am »
Yes I have!  Vindictive? Yes.  Cicero claimed his father was a thief, ordered the murder (without trial) of his step-father and orchestrated the downfall of his uncle by expelling him from the Senate.  I say Cicero made his bed  :evil:

Offline benito

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #161 on: August 24, 2014, 02:30:01 pm »
Cícero was the last of the great Republicans.

Offline SC

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #162 on: August 25, 2014, 03:41:59 am »
I am with Benito on this.  Though he had strong tendencies of being an arrogant prat I am still a huge Cicero fan and MA's murder of him is a serious black mark.  So my MA is always the Richard Burton type in Cleopatra - not one to mourn for.

Of course it is having just such a bias that means I should probably read a good new Mark Antony bio.

Shawn
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Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #163 on: August 25, 2014, 07:38:19 am »
I am with Benito on this.  Though he had strong tendencies of being an arrogant prat I am still a huge Cicero fan and MA's murder of him is a serious black mark.  So my MA is always the Richard Burton type in Cleopatra - not one to mourn for.

Of course it is having just such a bias that means I should probably read a good new Mark Antony bio.

Shawn


Then I would suggest Pat Southern's book on Antony or the one above.

Funny, Octavian proscribed just as many if not more people and yet everyone focuses on Antony's murder of Cicero....

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #164 on: September 19, 2014, 12:28:09 am »
Mark Antony: A Plain Blunt Man by Paolo De Ruggiero was just released and I got my copy the other day.

The books goal is to strip away the Augustan propaganda and centuries of stereotype to reveal the real Man.  I just finished the introduction and if it is any indication of the rest of the book I will enjoy this one very much.  


Finished this one while in Italy.  I did enjoy it very much although I found at times the translation from Italian to English was a bit cumbersome.  At a few points I had to read sentences over again to figure out what was being said and it had the Italianized Latin name for many people and places rather than the common English name.  It was kind of like reading the English translation of the Italian text at a Roman site in The forum :).  The whole book wasn't like that, only a few sentences here and there.  Having said that it still is a very good biography of Antony and uses Cicero's own Philippics to show Antony's competency as a General and administrator.  It also shows him in a much more moderate light politically as opposed to Octavian.  A man who kept to his word and was trustworthy.  I think people who are interested in the Imperatorial era will enjoy it.

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #165 on: December 18, 2016, 06:52:38 pm »
Just received my copy of Mary Beards "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome".  I'm only on chapter 4 but what a read!  She writes the same way she speaks so it's funny, interesting and very informative!

Offline TenthGen

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #166 on: December 18, 2016, 08:02:42 pm »
I listened to an audio book of that one this past summer! It's quite good. At first I was a bit confused as to why she stops at 212 AD, but her rationale matches her title pretty well. Like she says early on in the book, by the time Caracalla made every male in the Empire a citizen, it wasn't really the same Senatus Populusque Romanus anymore.

Her sections on the early history of Rome are especially excellent.


Offline SC

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #167 on: December 20, 2016, 08:09:18 pm »
I read it a few months ago.  Definitely a good read.  She poses some important questions.

Shawn
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Offline David Atherton

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #168 on: December 22, 2016, 06:33:21 pm »
Beard approaches her subjects with critical thinking skills that some of her colleagues sadly lack. Rarely do you find that in an author writing history for a popular audience!

Offline Andrew McCabe

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Offline Molinari

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Re: Burnett - McCabe on RRC 23 in Essays Tusa Cutroni
« Reply #170 on: February 16, 2017, 07:57:10 am »
Just published, I received my copy today:

Andrew Burnett – Andrew McCabe
An early Roman struck bronze with a helmeted goddess and an eagle
in
Nomismata, Studi di Numismatica antica offerti ad Aldina Cutroni Tusa per il suo novantatreesimo compleanno
Lavinia Sole, Sebastiano Tusa eds

Screenshots below:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/32118129203/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/32118135873/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/32779348412/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/32892374096/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ahala_rome/32089563134/in/photostream/

available here
http://www.arborsapientiae.com/libro/19647/nomismata-studi-di-numismatica-antica-a-cura-di-lavinia-sole-e-sebastiano-tusa.html

Andrew


Congratulations, Andrew.  I was wondering where the heck you've been, but it appears you've been extra busy!

Offline Andrew McCabe

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Re: Burnett - McCabe on RRC 23 in Essays Tusa Cutroni
« Reply #171 on: February 16, 2017, 08:08:10 am »

Congratulations, Andrew.  I was wondering where the heck you've been, but it appears you've been extra busy!

Thanks Nick - there's been myriad reasons for my relative silence. For info, the article is available in its entirety on Academia.edu. It's highly relevant to Ptolemaic as well as early Roman numismatics.

https://www.academia.edu/31464952/Burnett-McCabe_An_early_Roman_struck_bronze_with_a_helmeted_goddess_and_an_eagle_in_Nomismata_Studi_di_Numismatica_antica_offerti_ad_Aldina_Cutroni_Tusa_per_il_suo_novantatreesimo_compleanno

(will require log on to Academia)

Offline Molinari

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #172 on: February 16, 2017, 08:10:17 am »
I think I'll have to buy the book- the essays all look interesting.  I'm especially interested in Cantilena's essay on the Sileraians.  Let's hope the international shipping doesn't bankrupt me!

Offline Molinari

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Re: Recommended Reading Thread...
« Reply #173 on: February 18, 2017, 05:14:00 pm »
The author just sent me the article.  Although he wasn't aware of our work, he used my coin (avatar) as a plate coin :)

 

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