Bread and Circuses

How farmers defeated Rome

There is a whiff of the 19th century and the "noble savage" about this piece in Focus by Christian Pantle that discusses the battle of Teutoburg Forest:

Die Bewohner des heutigen Deutschlands hatten den Invasoren kaum etwas entgegenzusetzen. Sie lebten als Kleinbauern in Einzelgehöften und winzigen Dörfern, eine Geldwirtschaft war ihnen fremd, und in den Kampf zogen die meisten nur mit Schild und Speer. Ein Schwert oder einen Helm konnten sich die wenigsten leisten. Die Legionäre hingegen waren gedrillte und gepanzerte Berufssoldaten, und sie errichteten in dem ländlichen Germanien ganze Militärstädte mit zugehörigen Hafenkomplexen. Wer sollte sie aufhalten?

Not sure I totally agree with that one! Full story here.

Battle of Teutoburg Forest 2009, part 12

The first reviews of the Imperium Conflict Myth joint exhibition at Haltern, Kalkriese and Detmold to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest have appeared. The Halterner Zeitung and Mittledeutsche Zeitung.

Proceedings of the eighth Conference on Vulgar/Late Latin

A little hard core for me, but of interest to some readers. Roger Wright's Latin vulgaire--latin tardif VIII: actes du VIIIe Colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif reviewed by Rolando Ferri at the Università di Pisa:

Béla Adamik ("Remarks on the Changes of Consonantism in Pannonian Latinity as Evidenced by the Inscriptions", 103) shows that consonant change in Pannonian Latin was in step with contemporary trends in other Latin-speaking areas until the perhaps modest-sized Romanized population was either swallowed or forced to move out by mass migrations from East. In this context, the paper is also notable for some persuasive interpretations of substandard inscriptions, and particularly of the names TEOTIGINOS < THEOTECNOS, and IODOROS < DIODOROS, exhibiting respectively yodisation of 'e' in hiatus and the reduction of [dy]+ vowel> [y]+ vowel.

Full review here.

Augustine's De magistro

Review of Emmanuel Bermon's La signification et l'enseignement: Texte latin, traduction fran&ccedile;aise et commentaire du de magistro de saint Augustin by Vincent Hunink at the Radboud University Nijmegen:

The biographical information about Adeodatus is entirely to be drawn from Augustine's works and it is regrettably scarce indeed. The De magistro may be said to be the source in which Adeodatus figures most prominently. Except for a longer monologue by Augustine (c. 33-46, likely to be part of a subsequent revision of the text) he remains an active partner in the dialogue until the end. The boy seems sharp-witted, gentle, and eager to learn, a son of whom Augustine is noticeably proud. Possibly, Augustine wrote and published the work as a tribute to Adeodatus, who died young at an unspecified date. Bermon gives the essential data about Adeodatus in his introduction, but in the commentary, he is not concerned with his biography.

Full review here.

Ein Volk, ein Wald, ein Führer

A perturbing piece about extreme nationalist celebrations to honour the 2,000th anniversary of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest at the beginning of March:

Die NPD Osnabrück und »freie Kräfte« aus Norddeutschland rufen zu einem recht bizarren »Gedenkmarsch« auf unter dem Motto: »Die Hermannsschlacht: 2 000 Jahre Kampf gegen Überfremdung – für nationale Selbstbestimmung!« Im Aufruf heißt es in NS-Diktion: »Von Anbeginn an ist die Geschichte unseres deutschen Volkes geprägt vom Kampf ums Dasein.« Im Text ist dann vom »römischen Imperialismus« die Rede, der »unsere germanischen Vorfahren ihrer natio­nalen Selbstbestimmung und ihrer kulturellen Eigenart beraubt« habe. Doch: »Ein kleines Volk, geschart um einen großen Führer, zwang ein Weltreich in die Knie.« Ein Volk, ein Wald, ein Führer.

Full story here.

Vivien Swan RIP

Obituary in today's Independent of Vivien Swan, expert in Roman pottery and Roman military supply systems:

Vivien Swan was a larger-than-life figure, unusually for archaeologists wearing colourful designer clothes (her coffin was painted white and with garlands, peacocks and shoes), and contributing generously to archaeological discussions. Rigorous in her own treatment of the sources, she expected the same from all other scholars and could be trenchant in her comments when this did not occur. While some colleagues were at first unwilling to accept her radical views on Roman pottery, she died knowing that she had won the respect of her colleagues in Britain and abroad and that a collection of her papers on Roman pottery, Ethnicity, Conquest and Recruitment is about to be published by the Journal of Roman Archaeology.

Full story here.

Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity

David Hunter's Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity: The Jovinianist Controversy reviewed by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven's Shawn Keough:

In the latter half of the fourth century the monk Jovinian became the center of a bitter ecclesiastical controversy regarding the relative value of asceticism, particularly sexual renunciation. Jovinian's principal opponents were Pope Siricius, Ambrose, and Jerome, the latter publishing a particularly vicious attack against Jovinian in two books. Although condemned as a heretic for his views at synods in Rome and Milan in 393, the controversy surrounding Jovinian and his views continued, drawing Pelagius, Augustine and other writers into its orbit, writers who would seek to temper Jerome's harsh critique of the condemned 'heretic'. David Hunter's monograph is the only full-scale treatment of Jovinian in English, providing a comprehensive investigation and analysis of Jovinian and his opponents, the background to their debates, and the late Roman social context in which rival versions of orthodoxy and heresy clashed.

Full review here.  

Late antiquity round up

A couple of blog posts that have caught my eye over the past week.

First up Research News in Late Antiquity has details of the upcoming issue of Antiquité tardive (out in March) which is dedicated to the empire of Theodosius. Here is just the political section:

J. Arce, La Hispania de Teodosio : 379-395 AD (Theodosian Spain : 379-395)
S. Janniard, Végèce et les transformations de l'art de la guerre aux IVe et Ve siècles (Vegetius and the transformations of the art of war in the 4th and 5th centuries AD)
R. Delmaire, Les soldats de la garde impériale à l'époque théodosienne : le témoignage des sources religieuses (The palace guards of the Theodosian Empire)
G. Sartor, L'Empire des Théodoses et les regna Orientis (379-450) : politique militaire et diplomatie impériale à l'égard des foederati orientaux (The Roman Empire of the Theodosii and the regna Orientis (379-450) ; military policy and imperial diplomacy regarding the Eastern foederati).
G. Greatex, Deux notes sur Théodose II et les Perses (Two points relating to Theodosius II and Persia)
W. Pohl, Rome and the Barbarians in the 5th century (Rome et les Barbares au Ve siècle)

The Archaeology of the Mediterranean World has a nice piece on the 5th/6th century Lechaion Baptistery.

A couple of treats from Roger Pearse. News that the Biblia Patristica is now online. As if that were not enough he has more on Isidore of Pelusium here, here and here.

Antiochepedia discusses the city's Bridge Gate excavations in 1937.

City and School in Late Antique Athens

Review in BMCR of Edward Watts' City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria by Jerker Blomqvist at Lund University:

The main theme of the book is the relationship between teachers of rhetoric and, in particular, philosophy with the political and religious powers of the surrounding late antique society. Watts has chosen to compare the situations developing in two centers of learning of the period, viz. Athens and Alexandria. The choice of these two cities for closer investigation is a natural one, given that, beside the emerging rival Constantinople, they were the most important providers of advanced teaching in the period under scrutiny. But a comparison between precisely these two localities proves to be particularly rewarding, since the conditions for philosophical activities in them developed in different ways in the final stage of antiquity. In Athens, philosophy was in conflict with the Christian ambiance and could, after AD 529, lead only a highly precarious existence, whereas in Alexandria, although conflict was not unheard of, the coexistence of philosophy with the new religion was more peaceful; the Alexandrian philosophical school (or schools) flourished for more than a century after the fateful year of 529 and came to an end only after the Arab invasion of Egypt in the 640s. Broadly speaking, the purpose of Watts' study is to define the differences between Athens and Alexandria in this context and to establish the causes of those divergences. But Watts offers much more: the book becomes a detailed study of nearly all aspects of higher education in the two cities in the relevant centuries and will have a lasting importance as an authoritative reference book for anyone interested in late antique cultural life.

Full review here.

The battle in Kalefeld redux

After the fuss last year over the discovery of a third century battleground between Germans and Romans near Kalefeld (see previous posts here, here and for English-speakers here), a sober round up of the discoveries with great pictures and a map in the German news weekly Stern.