Read The Classical World Online
Authors: Robin Lane Fox
4
. Pliny,
Letters
4.19.
5
. Ibid. 4.19.2.
6
. Ibid. 7.24.5.
7
. Ibid. 7.24.3 and 6.
8
. Ibid. 5.6 with P. Barconi and Jose Uroz Saez,
La Villa di Plinio
… (1999).
9
. David R. Coffin,
The Villa in the Life of Renaissance Rome
(1979), 248; also 266–7, on Pliny’s impact on the Villa Trivulziana, near Salone.
10
. Martial,
Epigrams
12.18, 12.31, 12.57.
11
. Pliny,
Letters
9.6; contrast Pope Damasus, in John Matthews,
The Roman Empire of Ammianus
(1989), 422.
12
. Hagith Sirvan,
Ausonius of Bordeaux
(1993), an excellent introduction; G. P. O’Daly, ‘Cassiciacum’, in C. Mayer (ed.),
Augustinus-Lexikon
, volume I (1986–94), 771–82, for the happy life.
1
. Pliny,
Panegyric
81.1 and 3.
2
. M. P. Speidel,
Roman Army Studies
, volume I (1984), 173 and 408.
3
.
Anthologia Palatina
, 6.332; Arrian,
Parthica
F 85 (Jacoby).
4
. Sallust,
Histories
4.78.
5
. The crucial point is the death of Pedo, consul for 115, replaced in that year by a suffect; John Malalas is wrong to date his death by earthquake to
13 December 115, wrongly followed by F. A. Lepper,
Trajan’s Parthian War
(1949), 54 and 99, as already observed by Isobel Henderson, in
Journal of Roman Studies
(1949), 121–4. Coins support an earlier date for the earthquake:
British Museum Catalogue
, volume III.100. The correct dating is now revived by Anthony R. Birley too,
Hadrian: The Restless Emperor
(1997), 324 note 13.
6
. John Malalas,
Chronicle
11.6 (274), which then mentions Arrian’s account of ‘the war’, the source, I suspect, of the letter to the Senate in the previous sentence.
7
. Samuel N. C. Lieu,
Manichaeism in Mesopotamia and the Roman East
(1994), 84–7; G. Luttikhuizen,
The Revelation of Elchasai
… (1985).
1
. G. E. M. de Sainte Croix, in
British Journal of Sociology
(1954), 33–48, a brilliant study.
2
. Suetonius,
Life of Nero
29.
3
.
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinum
, VI.1574, with the very good discussion by Anthony R. Birley, in
Historia
(2000), 230–47.
4
. R. Syme,
Ten Studies in Tacitus
(1970), 1–10 and 119–40.
5
. Good description in Simon Schama,
Landscape and Memory
(1996).
6
. J. H. Elliott and L. W. B. Brockliss,
The World of the Favourite
(1999), especially 2 and 300.
1
.
Historia Augusta
, Life of Hadrian 5.3.
2
. Dio, 69.4.2.
3
. H. I. Bell, in
Journal of Roman Studies
(1940), 133–47.
4
. B. Isaac and A. Oppenheimer, in
Journal of Jewish Studies
(1985), 33–60.
5
. Tertullian,
Apology
46 and
On the Prescription of Heretics
7.
6
. Mary Boatwright,
Hadrian and the City of Rome
(1987), 190.
7
. I emphasize this as an antidote to ‘Hadrian the intellectual’, the theme of R. Syme,
Roman Papers
, volume VI (1991), 103.
8
.
Historia Augusta
, Hadrian 7.6, 20.1 and 20.8: ‘plebis iactantissimus amator’.
9
. For the skills of Salvius Julianus, see H. Dessau (ed.),
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae
, 8973, and R. Syme, in
Bonner Historia Augusta Colloquium 1986–9
(1991), 201–17.
10
. Peter Garnsey,
Social Status and Legal Privilege in the Roman Empire
(1970), with
Digest
48.19.15, 48.28.13 and 18.21.2; very importantly reviewed by P. A. Brunt, in
Journal of Roman Studies
(1972), 166–70.
11
.
Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes
, volume IV (1927), number 84; also 85–7.
12
.
Digest
, 5.3.20.
13
. F. Millar, in
Journal of Roman Studies
(1965), 141–60, and P. A. Brunt, in
Athenaeum
(1977), 19–48, two notable studies of the context.
I list a few of the books and articles which are most relevant to each chapter; these cite many other sources which I have often absorbed. Space has obliged me to be selective, but the numbered notes and the bibliography should direct readers to the sources and discussions of the main issues in my text. The latest
Oxford Classical Dictionary
, revised by S. Hornblower and A. J. Spawforth (1996), is an invaluable first stop on topics and individuals, with excellent short entries. Throughout, I would refer to
The Cambridge Ancient History
, volumes III.2–XI (1982–2000) in its second, updated edition. Many of its chapters should be the next resort for those wanting more. Many other one-or two-volume surveys of the classical world, or parts of it, exist. John Boardman, Jasper Griffin and Oswyn Murray (eds.),
The Oxford History of the Classical World
(1986) has many good chapters and retains its value. Paul Cartledge (ed.),
Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece
(1998) gives particular space to the material world and the labourers, on which I have said less. Greg Woolf,
Cambridge Illustrated History of the Roman World
(2003) is now its thematic companion volume. Nigel Spivey and Michael Squire,
Panorama of the Classical World
(2004) is a thematic survey with many more illustrations. Charles Freeman,
Egypt, Greece and Rome
(2004) is a good one-volume survey including non-classical worlds. Many have been interested by Mary Beard and John Henderson,
Classics: A Very Short Introduction
(1995).
The Very Short Introduction to Ancient Warfare
, by Harry Sidebottom (2004) is outstandingly good.
The best general work of art history on the Greek side is Martin Robertson,
A History of Greek Art
, volumes 1 and 2 (1972). Nothing quite so good exists in English on the Roman side, but Paul Zanker,
The Power of Images in The Age of Augustus
(1988) has made a big impression. Sculpture is fully surveyed by W. Fuchs,
Skulptur der Griechen
(1993, 3rd edn.), the fullest one-volume guide, with many photographs. B. S. Ridgway,
The Archaic Style in Greek Sculpture
(1993),
Fourth-century Styles in Greek Sculpture
(1997) and
Hellenistic Sculpture
, volumes I–III (1990–2002) are all excellent guides.
J. G. Pedley,
Greek Art and Archaeology
(2002, 3rd edn.) is another, with J. Boardman’s very many books especially his
The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity
(1994). There are now two outstandingly good archaeological guidebooks in English, expert but accessible: Amanda Claridge,
Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide
(1998) and Antony Spawforth and Christopher Mee,
Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide
(2001) which is outstandingly helpful, a major guide to visible Greek ‘material culture’.
Several publishers now run series on the periods or key themes of ancient history. The Cambridge University Press ‘key themes’ are accessible and compact, of which Keith Bradley,
Slavery and Society at Rome
(1994), Peter Garnsey,
Food and Society in Classical Antiquity
(1999) and Jean Andreau,
Banking and Business in the Roman World
(1999) are particularly helpful on themes I compress here. Routledge publish an excellent series which fills out what I condense: Robin Osborne,
Greece in the Making, 1200–479
BC
(1996); Simon Hornblower,
The Greek World after Alexander, 323–30
BC
(2000); T. J. Cornell,
The Beginnings of Rome, c.1000–264
BC
(1995); Martin Goodman,
The Roman World, 44
BC
–
AD
180
(1997). Fontana have published an excellent series of shorter interpretative studies which are also highly recommended: Oswyn Murray,
Early Greece
(1993); J. K. Davies,
Democracy and Classical Greece
(1993); F. W. Walbank,
The Hellenistic World
(1992 edn.); Michael Crawford,
The Roman Republic
(1978); Colin Wells,
The Roman Empire
(1992). They are the best short introductions to these periods. Blackwells have begun a bigger series of ‘Companions’, of which Andrew Erskine (ed.),
A Companion to the Hellenistic World
(2003) is exceptionally good, with other promising volumes to follow. P. J. Rhodes,
A History of the Classical Greek World, 478–323
BC
(2005) will be the basic survey of this complex period.
After a Fontana volume, then a Routledge one and a ‘Companion’, I recommend strongly the collections of important articles from Edinburgh University Press, of which P. J. Rhodes (ed.),
Athenian Democracy
(2004), Michael Whitby (ed.),
Sparta
(2001), Walter Scheidel and Sitta von Reden (eds.),
The Ancient Economy
(2002), Mark Golden and Peter Toohey (eds.),
Sex and Difference in Greece and Rome
(2003) and Clifford Ando (ed.),
Roman Religion
(2003) are particularly relevant and well chosen.
Older volumes retain their exceptional value, of which I recommend especially L. H. Jeffery,
The Archaic States of Greece
(1976), E. R. Dodds,
The Greeks and the Irrational
(1951); A. Andrewes,
The Greeks
(1967); W. G. Forrest,
The Emergence of Greek Democracy
(1963); W. W. Tarn and G. T. Griffith,
Hellenistic Civilization
(1952); E. J. Bickerman,
The Jews in the Greek Age
(1988), a masterpiece, P. A. Brunt,
Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic
(1971) and J. P. V. D. Balsdon,
Life and Leisure at Rome
(1969), still not surpassed.
On my three main themes, I should mention on freedom Kurt Raaflaub,
The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece
(2004), from which I have sometimes carefully diverged, and P. A. Brunt,
The Fall of the Roman Republic
(1988), 281–350, with C. Wirszubski,
Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome during the Late Republic and Early Principate
(1950), importantly reviewed by A. Momigliano in
Journal of Roman Studies
(1951), 144–53. Paul S. Rahe,
Republics Ancient and Modern
, volume I (1994), is important and challenging. The changing administration of justice is a topic of such increasing complexity that I am aware I have often compressed it. D. M. MacDowell,
Spartan Law
(1986) and
The Law in Classical Athens
(1978) are accessible, with the old, but not unprofitable, survey of R. J. Bonner and G. Smith,
The Administration of Justice from Homer to Aristotle
, volumes I–II (1930–8). For Rome, John A. Crook,
Law and Life of Rome
(1967) retains its value, with Alan Watson,
Rome of the XII Tables
(1975) on the earlier period, and the good survey-chapters by Duncan Cloud and John Crook in
Cambridge Ancient History
, volume IX (1994), 498–563 and Bruce W. Frier, ibid., volume X (1996), 959–79.
On luxury, A. Dalby,
Empire of Pleasures
(2000) lists much that was local, as do D. Braund and J. Wilkins, (eds.),
Athenaeus and His World
(2000), with L. Foxhall, in N. Fisher and H. van Wees,
Archaic Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence
(1998), 295–309, James Davidson,
Courtesans and Fishcakes
(1998), J. Tondriau, in
Revue des Études Anciennes
(1948), 49–52, on the Ptolemies, and A. Passerini, in
Studi italiani di filologia classica
(1934), 35–56. R. Bernhardt,
Luxuskritik und Aufwandsbeschränkungen in der Griechischen Welt
(2003) is important. For Rome, the bibliography to Chapter 30, ‘Luxury and Licence’, gives good starting points.
Of course, the ancient sources, including inscriptions, remain fundamental throughout, of which the main authors are all translated in the Penguin Classics series or, with facing original texts, in the Loeb Library series whose two volumes on Arrian by P. A. Brunt and those on Cicero’s Letters and Martial’s Epigrams by D. R. Shackleton Baileyare major scholarly commentaries in their own right.
Elizabeth Speller,
Following Hadrian: A Second-Century Journey through the Roman Empire
(2002) is a good account, while Anthony R. Birley,
Hadrian: The Restless Emperor
(1997) is an excellent factual study; Mary T. Boatwright,
Hadrian and the Italian Cities
(1989),
Hadrian and the City of Rome
(1987) and
Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire
(2000) are
indispensable sources too. R. Syme’s many studies are also an important resource, now available in his
Roman Papers
II.617–28; III.1303–15 and 1436–46; IV.94–114 and 295–324; V.546–78; VI.103–14, 157–81, 346–57, 398–408. W. L. MacDonald and John A. Pinto,
Hadrian’s Villa and Its Legacy
(1995) is particularlystrong on the architecture; David Breeze and Brian Dobson,
Hadrian’s Wall
(2000, 4th edn.), for Britain; A. J. Spaw-forth and S. Walker, in
Journal of Roman Studies
(1985), 78–104, is still a brilliant study of Hadrian and Athens; J. M. C. Toynbee,
The Hadrianic School: A Chapter in the History of Greek Art
(1934) is unsurpassed, still. On the term ‘classic’, see now P. R. Hardie, ‘Classicism’ in
Oxford Classical Dictionary
(1996, 3rd edn.), 336, to which add Tonio Hölscher,
The Language of Images in Roman Art
(2004, English translation). R. Lambert,
Beloved and God: The Story of Antinous and Hadrian
(1984) is worth serious engagement. L. Robert, in
Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
(1978), 437–52, is brilliant on Hadrian the Hunter in Asia Minor.