Viggen Posted July 2, 2006 Report Share Posted July 2, 2006 This article was brought to us by forum member Sean Higgins (Pantagathus) Of all defiant characters who took up arms against Rome during her rise to dominate the ancient world, few have left such an admirable and virtuous impression on the history books as the Lusitanian guerrilla leader named Viriathus. As Theodor Mommsen so fittingly put it: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dalby Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I had no idea till now how exciting and full of incident the story of Viriathus was. Pantagathus has made splendid use of the sources: he makes me want to go and look at Appian right away, which no one else has ever persuaded me to do ... I'm going to get a map out now and try to follow those campaigns. It seems to me that this was a critical point for Roman rule in the peninsula; Viriathus was one of the few leaders (like Vercingetorix, Decebalus, Boudicca maybe) who came near to turning the Roman tide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 I should make my applause public also-it read like a Boys' Own story,( apart from the unfortunate ending). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Pantagathus deserves applause for a lucid presentation of a somewhat obscure event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted July 11, 2006 Report Share Posted July 11, 2006 Pantagathus deserves applause for a lucid presentation of a somewhat obscure event. Ditto this and the other applause...I have the article printed out, so that I can read it later. I want to devote some time to this! I had a professor at Davis who was looking into the Lusitanians, their culture and their language (he being a good Valenciano, he wanted to pursue his roots). Sadly, he had a stroke shortly after I left, so I have no idea if he finished the book or not. But this as piqued my interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted July 12, 2006 Report Share Posted July 12, 2006 Thank you all so very much for your kind words of encouragement. This was indeed the kind of response I had hoped to engender. Though the story practically tells itself, I felt it deserved a comprehensive, fresh and modern treatment. I of course heartily agree with Andrew that this was a crucial moment for Roman interests in Hispania; second only to Scipio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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