Surnames of the Cornelii
March 30, 2009
Without a doubt the Cornelia gens contributed the greatest number of magistrates to the Roman Republic, perhaps making the connected families of the Cornelii the most influential gens of the Republic. The different families (both patrician and plebeian) of the Cornelii were distinguished by their hereditary cognomina -- with some families further distinguishing themselves with the addition of agnomina (nicknames and titles of honor)...
...read the full article of Surnames of the Cornelii
How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy
March 24, 2009
As the title of the book suggests, and as the author makes plain within, this book tries not only to find the causes of the fall of the Roman empire in the west - itself no easy task - but also to discover if there are any lessons relevant to today which can be drawn from this fall.
Thus, in attempting this book, Goldsworthy attempts an epic task. Firstly the sheer time-scale of the fall of the western empire is impressive. Goldsworthy starts with the death of the emperor Marcus Aurelius in AD 180 and finishes well into the sixth century with a rough sketch of the campaigns of Belisarius, which means that over four action-packed centuries have to be compressed into little more than a year per page...
...read Philip Matyszak's full review of How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy
Surnames of the Julii
March 14, 2009
While the Julii did not spawn quite as many magistrates during the era of Rome's Republic as did at least a dozen other notable gentes, the Julii nevertheless were one of the earliest and most distinguished families of ancient Rome. Livy (1.3) tells us how the Julii descended from and took their nomen gentilicium from Iulus, an alternate name of Ascanius, who was the son of the Trojan chief Aeneas. As legend told that Aeneas was the son of Anchises and the goddess Venus, the Julii thereafter claimed divine descent from Venus -- an extraordinary claim which C. Julius Caesar (five times consul, 59, 48, 46, 45, and 44 BCE) was by no means reticent to use often and to his advantage for impressing both civilians and troops...
...read the full article of Surnames of the Julii
Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy by Philip Matyszak
March 01, 2009
"Chronicling the life of Mithridates has been a fascinating experience, and I strongly suspect that, even after two millenia, the defiant Pontic battle king will still attract new followers," opines doctor Philip "Maty" Matyszak. If this prediction is borne out, it will be due to nothing less than the author's meticulous scholarship and enchanting prose, both of which vividly animate an unforgettable yet heretofore largely unknown persona in Roman history. With the grand politics of the late Republic, enthralling military clashes, and larger than life personalities sketched by an eloquent pen, this could very well be the book of the year for Romanophiles...
...read the full review of Mithridates the Great: Rome's Indomitable Enemy by Philip Matyszak
...read the accompanying interview with author Philip Matyszak
