Res Publica Latest Topics

Etruria

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 05:25:29 +0000

After reading Britannica there are two salient facts about the Etruscans that are think are important. One, they referred to the country they are in as "Etruria." I've seen the word before on a map of the Roman Republic in the Oxford History of the Roman World. I didn't know if it was the name the Etruscans used themselves or just what a historian called their territory. It's about the size of a European Duchy. Second, their original city in Italy is called "Villanova."

These facts are not covered in Herodotus's The Histories.

Caesar: Hero Or Villain

Sat, 27 May 2006 08:06:13 +0000

I have recently read a series of books documenting the life of Julius Ceasar. They sparked my imagination and i sought to find out more about the tyrranical leader of the Roman Republic. These books were fiction and were based loosely on his life. I was curious about a few facts stated in these books. Ws Caesar a military general who had no equal other than Alexander? Was the collapse of the Republic solyly Ceasar's fault or did he have help in that? How far did he a Brtus go back? And Finally During the Gaelic Wars did Ceasar really kill a million me? I have searched fruitlessly for an answer to these questions and i havent found one convincing enough, can anyone help me???

Trajan's invasion of Persia

Mon, 19 Dec 2022 11:34:18 +0000

Hello everyone. I am interested in Trajan's invasion of Persia, particularly its relation to the silk trade route. To what degree do you think that it was his motive to invade and was it a good idea? This is just a topic for fun.

Sulla

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 15:03:03 +0000

Hi there, I was wondering why the Sulla constitutional reforms proved to be a short-lived one? Why did they not last after his retirement?

Law or SC for Pompey

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 17:22:28 +0000

Hi.

I wondered what was the name of the Senatus consulte (or the law) which gave Pompey his command against Sertorius.

Same for Crassus vs Spartacus.

Thanks.

Senate

Thu, 03 Sep 2015 14:35:19 +0000

Was the Senate the actual government of Rome or a particularly distinguished and prestigious advisory council for the magistrates?

Apparently this was a controversy in antiquity...Cicero called the Senate an eternal council (consilium sempiternum) in charge of the republic and the magistrates mere servants. Many consuls like L Postumius Megillus, L Marcius Phillipus and M Popilius Laenas, not to mention Marius, Sulla and Caesar refused to be ruled.

Any strong opinions?

The Late roman Republic and dictatorship

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 15:12:58 +0000

Hi everybody.

I had three questions :

1) why the dictatorship was not used during the Late roman Republic (post second Punic War) in order to face emergencies ?

Why did they use instead of the dictatorship special commanding powers, granted to Marius (6 times consul) , Pompey (against Sertorius and the pirates) or Caesar (super proconsul of 3 provinces with 4 legions), to face emergency situationslike the Cimbres and Teutons invasion or the Pirates ?

This questions was raised by a book from Marianne Coudry Le Sénat de la République romaine, pratique délibérative, where she says that before the Punic Wars, censors and ancient dictators were the senators who talked and influenced most, whereas after the Punic Wars, there was no longer enough ancient dictators because nobody was named dictator anymore, so that the real power was passed to consulars and perhaps ancient praetors.

To me, dictatorship seems easier to control than special super-commanding powers.

2) Why Sylla did not try to be claimed as dictator by the Senate in order to be able to legally use his army into Rome ? He would have gained the legitimacy he lacked when he came back to Rome. He would have avoided proscriptions and the like. Without proscriptions, no shock to the Roman population, no Crassus, and without shock and without Crassus, no Caesar, who was first used as a link between Pompey and Crassus who did not like each other.

3) And finally, why did the censor lose their prestige after the second Punic war (cf Marianne Coudry) so that the ancient censor lost their super influence on the Senate ? They were able to maintain their function prestigious during centuries before, why did they fall precisely at this moment ?

Were they corrupt ? But why at this precise moment ? Why not before ?

Does anyone here knows more about it ? As I mainly read french or french-translated books, perhaps english-speakers could have other references ...

Thanks in advance

Looking for the name of a battle in the Gallic Wars (51 BCE)

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 07:36:33 +0000

I am currently reading Simon Turney's Marius' Mules, book VIII, which is set during the 8th year of the Gallic Wars in 51 BCE. One of the main battles that year involved the rebellion of Commius of the Atrebates and Correos of the Bellovaci. Caesar first brought four legions to crush the rebellion, but after seeing the huge number of Gallic warriors (around 45,000), he called for three more legions in reinforcement. It was a huge battle, nearly equivalent to Alesia but against the western Belgae and other tribes from Normandy. Yet the battle's name does not appear anywhere. I googled it in English and in French, searched articles on Wikipedia, but nowhere does it appear. On one French website I found that the first encounter, where the Gauls took position on a hill surrounded by marshes took place near Compiègne. The Gauls' camp was at mont Saint-Marc, while Caesar's camp opposite the Aisne river was at mont Saint-Pierre. The Belgae, seeing that Caesar got three more legions, fled. Pursued by the Romans, they established a new camp at Mount Ganelon. The Belgae were eventually defeated in the plain of Choisy-au-Bac. If you look at the map, everything took place on the eastern outskirt of Compiègne. The city didn't exist back then, so that's probably why historians didn't call it the Battle of Compiègne. They could have called it the Second Battle of the Axona (Aisne), the first one having taken place in 57 BCE. Does anyone know if this battle has an official name, and if not, why not?

Conspiracy theorists denying the existence of the Roman Empire

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 13:31:02 +0000

In all my years learning of the Roman Empire i came across a sub group of people i can only akin to flat earthers denying the existence of the Roman Empire forwarding no evidence. They sumise that the buiding where Russian built and the Empire was a fabrication of modern historians to hide the truth. I just wondered if anyone else had come across this and if anyone had a view point on it. Thanks in advance.

Did Sulla suffer from some bizarre skin affliction?

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:20:38 +0000

(*Disclaimer ... yes, I fully realize what I'm about to present comes from a book of historical FICTION)

I've recently begun reading "Fortune's Favourites" by Colleen McCullough chronicling Sulla's rise to Dictator. Early on she portrays a scene where young Pompey Magnus leads his troops to join with Sulla's forces and Pompey is aghast at Sulla's physical appearance (not to mention the fact that he was drunk!). Pompey comes to find that Sulla is suffering from some sort of affliction which causes his skin to itch uncontrollably, the effect of which is his skin is riddled with sores and bleeds, and his hair has fallen out. She indicates that Sulla at that point has taken to wearing a wig to hide this and that somehow drinking voluminous amounts of wine helps to control this condition from breaking out. The book mentions that the condition came about as a result of a bad sunburn suffered by Sulla in Greece during the Mithrandatic Wars.

Can anyone shed any light (no pun inteneded, Sulla!) as to whether there is any historical basis for the above? If so, any idea what this affliction was that Sulla suffered from? Was he believed to have suffered from skin cancer? Earlier on in the series, Sulla was said to have suffered a horrendous sunburn while on campaign with Marius in Jugurtha.

Why would wine counteract it? I know it's considered to be a preventative. (Doctor Asclepiades ... I'm looking at you!)

Elections

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 02:34:27 +0000

When voting in the Centuriate Assembly to elect consuls, did the individual Roman citizen vote for a single candidate, or did he vote for two (one for each of the two consulships)? Similarly for the four/six/eight praetors? Is there evidence?

How Did the Political Structure in Rome influence U.S. Political Structure

Mon, 11 Dec 2017 21:54:37 +0000

I am inclined to believe that the political structure of the United States was influenced by the political structure in the Roman Empire. U.S. Senators are a testament to this. U.S. Senators in America are reminiscent of the senatorial Roman politicians who supplemented the office of Emperor.

ORBIS - Travelling in the Roman Empire

Thu, 28 Dec 2017 22:06:03 +0000

From a shared FB post, I thought this may be of interest to members:

Quote

ORBIS: allows us to express Roman communication costs in terms of both time and expense. By simulating movement along the principal routes of the Roman road network, the main navigable rivers, and hundreds of sea routes in the Mediterranean, Black Sea and coastal Atlantic, this interactive model reconstructs the duration and financial cost of travel in antiquity.

Link here @ http://orbis.stanford.edu/

Julius Caesar: 15 Things You Didn’t Know

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 15:07:35 +0000

Part I

Part II

...anything surprising for you in that....?

Portraits on Republican Era Coins

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:26:53 +0000

It's been said that Caesar was the first to depict himself on a coin. Can anyone provide an earlier example?

Hellenic region in Italy

Wed, 11 Jan 2017 06:38:58 +0000

What was the name of the Hellenic region in Italy? What dialect did they speak?

Magna Graecia, according to the wikipedia is Achean, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Graecia. But according to the Hellenic language tree, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_languages, the Greeks who mixed with Romans were Ionians.

Villanovan Rome and the Kings

Sat, 07 Jan 2017 18:54:55 +0000

Hi all.

Am thinking of getting back into the earliest period of Roman history. Can anyone tell me the best new (i.e. c.AD 2000 and later) books/articles with the latest thinking on the earliest periods?

Cheers

Ian

Second Punic War - where were the Greeks?

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 08:57:40 +0000

At the time of the 2nd Punic War, what was the region of Italy where the Greek speaking peoples lived called?

Cicero's Involvement in Caesar's Assassination

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:48:28 +0000

Why wasn't Cicero included, involved, or informed of the plot to assassinate Caesar? Would he have participated if asked? It would seem one would want a man as powerful and influential as him to be an initial supporter in order to foster more support from the plebians as well as the patricians.

Gaius Pontius, Sabine leader

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 20:24:43 +0000

We just added a new article about Gaius Pontius, Sabine leader - enjoy!

Gaius Pontius came from a leading Samnite family - the Samnites being a large confederation of Italiot tribes who occupied the mountains of central Italy. The Samnites were a warlike people, and their expansion westward threatened Greek cities such as Naples on the Campanian coast. This gave another expansionist and warlike people - the Romans – an excuse to become involved in Samnite affairs...

...continue to the full article on Gaius Pontius, Sabine leader