Bread and Circuses

Germanicus: The Next Exhibition at Kalkriese

A long interview in the Osnabrücker Zeitung with Joseph Rottmann, boss at Kalkriese. The interview touches on many subjects including budget cuts - see previous post on that subject here. But the big news is that the next big exhibition is going to be about Germanicus - the greatest emperor Rome never had - nephew and adopted son of Tiberius and father of Caligula.

Das nächste Großprojekt, die nächste Sonderausstellung, ist in Vorbereitung, sie ist Germanicus gewidmet, einer der schillerndsten Figuren der römischen Antike. Seiner Familie gehörten so berühmt-berüchtigte Figuren der Geschichte an wie Drusus, Caligula und Nero. Er raubte Arminius‘ Frau und Sohn, Thusnelda und Thumelicus, und rächte die Legionen des Varus in einem Feldzug, bei dem er acht Legionen nach Germanien führte. Wie diese logistische Meisterleistung überhaupt möglich war, auch dem will die Sonderausstellung nachgehen – unter anderem mithilfe von Wegeforschern und Logistikern der Bundeswehr. Als Begleitprogramm, so ist es angedacht, soll 2015 die Nachbildung eines römischen Kriegsschiffes auf dem Mittellandkanal unterwegs sein. Für Rottmann ist der Zug des Germanicus „ein Thema von allgemeinem historischen Interesse, aber auch ein Thema mit regionalem Bezug.“ Der ist ihm wichtig. „Menschen der Region an uns zu binden und für Projekte zu gewinnen, ähnlich wie seinerzeit beim Bau des Osnabrücker Theaters geschehen“, ist seine Vision.

It is expected to open in 2015. Full story here.

Public Consultation On Antonine Wall Opens

A press release from Historic Scotland has just come through about the new five-year management plan for the Antonine Wall.

The 12-week consultation, led by Historic Scotland and the five local authorities through which the Wall runs, seeks to encourage communities and all interested parties to comment on the Draft Management Plan. The plan has been drawn up following a series of stakeholder workshops and public sessions at the end of last year. The draft sets out the vision and key objectives for the management, conservation, promotion and interpretation of the Wall over the coming five year period.

The documents can be read here.

Jesus: Rise to Power UK Broadcast Tonight

I was involved in the third episode - "Christians" - talking about Julian the Apostate and Christianity and late Roman politics. On at 1900.

Asterix the Gaul in the Highlands of Scotland

You can see the puns already. This will be a must-buy. The next Asterix book is going to be sent among Asterix's Pictish friends in the Highlands of Scotland:

Asterix in the Land of the Picts will be launched in October and is set “in a land rich in tradition” with people “proud and attached to their customs, paving the way for a delightful story,” publishers Albert Rene said. The Picts were tribes living in ancient eastern and northern Scotland.

Full story in today's Scotsman. It is also going to be the first Asterix story not to be drawn by the Gaul’s creator Albert Uderzo. Also report by AFP and in the Herald.

Jesus: Rise to Power US Broadcast Tonight

I was involved in the third episode - "Christians" - talking about Julian the Apostate, and Christianity and late Roman politics. On at 2100ET in the US tonight.

For those interested in such things, the press release is here. Download (824) Jesus Rise To Power Press Release

New Roman Comedy Series: Plebs

A new Roman comedy started in the UK last night on ITV2. Called Plebs, it clearly wants to follow in the footsteps of Up Pompeii and Chelmsford 123. From the press release:

Plebs is a thoroughly modern comedy with an ancient setting.  The series will follow three desperate young men from the suburbs as they try to get laid, hold down jobs and climb the social ladder in the big city – a city that just happens to be Ancient Rome!

 

The series stars Tom Rosenthal (Friday Night Dinner), Joel Fry (White Van Man, Trollied) and Ryan Sampson (Work Experience, After You’ve Gone) as the three young men – Marcus, Stylax and their lazy slave with a major attitude problem, Grumio. 

 

Doon Mackichan (Smack The Pony) also stars, as the boys’ ruthless boss, Flavia - an expert manipulator with a private life that's the stuff of legend.

 

A sexy newcomer called Cynthia played by Sophie Colquhoun (The Inbetweeners Movie, Switch) soon joins the boys as she moves into the flat next door along with her sarcastic slave Metella played by Lydia Rose Bewley (The Inbetweeners Movie).

The Guardian has a nice piece putting it into context. Is it any good? The jury is out. I suspect that I am not the target audience (damn you aging!), but it did make me laugh a couple of times. The review at MSN TV hit it pretty much on the head:

While the idea of an ITV2 sitcom set in Ancient Rome triggers a negative gut reaction in many people, Plebs wasn't the unmitigated disaster some may have been expecting.

Worth a look, if only for Doon Mackichan, who is hilarious in everything she does and the great ska soundtrack.

 

Radio Documentary on Teutoburg

For those with German, Deutschlandradio Kultur had an in-depth documentary on the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in AD9 yesterday. It is particularly strong on how the battle between Varus and Arminius fits into European/German culture. The site is here, but there you can download the show as an MP3 here.

Battle of Baecula Discovered?

Potentially exciting news, sadly only so far in Spanish, but Spanish archaeologists from the University of Jaen claim to have found the site of the Battle of Baecula. The battle, in 208BC, was the first major field battle of Scipio Africanus and saw the Roman general defeat Hannibal's brother, Hasdrubal. They believe that the battle was fought at Santo Tomé (Jaén), a strategic location for access to the basin of the Guadalquivir river from Cartago Nova (Cartagena) that Scipio had conquered the  previous year.

To date 6,000 objects have been recovered which suggest a battle - spears, arrowheads, sling shots, sandal tacks and tent pegs. Juan Pedro Bellón, at the Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología Ibérica, compares the discovery to that of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest:

Hasta ahora solo se había excavado así una batalla de la antigüedad, la de Teotoburgo, en Alemania, de romanos contra los germanos, y es muy posterior, del año 9 aC.”, recalca Juan Pedro Bellón, del Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Arqueología Ibérica.

The full story in El Pais. Many thanks to Greg Hunt for the tip.

UPDATE Many thanks indeed to Juan Bellón who has been in touch with a paper on Baecula from the Limes Congress a couple of years ago - from 2006. He has kindly sent over the paper he and his colleagues at the Centro Andaluz de Arqueología Ibérica wrote at the time. Absolutely worth a read Download BaeculaLimesCongress

The Axe of Thrax

A marvellous detective-style story about the Battle on the Harzhorn, the battle between Romans in cAD235 under Maximinus Thrax and Germanic tribes (see recent posts here) at Bayern 2. Pictures, links and more. the axe in the headline refers to the dolabra found last year inscribed LEGIII (previous coverage here).

Good quotes from those involved. It was Wolfram Schütte who found the site:

"Wir sind auf den Berg gegangen und wir hatten eigentlich gar nichts gefunden, bis auf das, was man so findet im Wald: Schrott, Bierdeckel, Dosenlaschen und Patronenhülsen. Und dann wollten wir eigentlich schon zurückgehen und dann sah ich diesen auffälligen Hügel. Und ich bin dann noch mal zu diesem Hügel gegangen und ich habe auch gleich eine Speerspitze gefunden. Und dann haben wir gerätselt: Was kann das sein?"

Worth clicking around. Story here.

Archaeology Under the Swastika

An important exhibition, because it is a subject still rarely addressed in Germany, is the new one in Bremen that looks at the role of archaeology during the Third Reich. Called "Graves for Germania" (Graben für Germanien) it is at the city's Focke Museum until September.

The story of Arminius, who defeated the Romans at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in AD9, was (one of the many that was) appropriated: the idea that historic events could be used for contemporary political purposes. The image below is a poster for the Wagner week in Detmold in 1936. The sword is instantly recognisable as the sword held by Arminius on the Hermannsdenkmal, the monument above the city, here decorated with a swastika. Here is the intro to an article about the exhibition at NDR.de:

Gut gebaut, blond und blauäugig, tapfer und tüchtig - so sahen die Germanen in der Fantasie der Nationalsozialisten aus. Entsprechende Propaganda-Skulpturen entstanden in den 30ern und sollten den Deutschen ein Idealbild ihrer angeblichen Ahnen vermitteln. Besonders in der Jugenderziehung pflegten die Nazis den Mythos von der germanischen Herrenrasse - dabei hat es Germanen als Volk eigentlich nie gegeben. Sie waren ein historisches Konstrukt, ein Sammelbegriff, mit dem die Römer alle Völker östlich des Rheins beschrieben. "Im Nationalsozialismus wurde dieses Gebiet natürlich deutlich weiter ausgedehnt", erklärt Landesarchäologin Uta Halle. "Da haben Germanen sich auch an der Weichsel aufgehalten, da haben sie sich in der Ukraine aufgehalten, natürlich auch in Frankreich in bestimmten Bereichen."

Full article here. More about the exhibition here and on the museum website, here. A press pack can be downloaded here.

Image from the Lippische Landesbibliotek Detmold