Empire Of Pleasures by Andrew Dalby

well -after the Solstice feasting has subsided and no more mistletoe can be found for the golden sickle's blow, I will take courage and review a book written by one of our Forum members.This is going to a nervy process as Mr Andrew Dalby is an esteemed author and man of wide learning,(actually frighteningly wide),nothing daunted I hope to deliver reviews on his most recent work and my long overdue commentary on Galen.If I am struck down in the Forum by assassins in the New Year, look for a pensive gent, carrying apples, with a blood stained toga.

I think he will explain the apples soon

I was very pleased to find this book as I was aware of Mr Dalby's previous works, and it is evident that his sources are well researched and his excellent eye for language digs out subtle interperative nuances that may be lost to the monolingual.

The thing that strikes me about this book is that it benefits from being "read" in the Roman manner, ie: out loud - to savour cadences and phrases like rich foods, indeed that is both a compliment and a type of critiscism. The difficulty with this work is, that if one sits and reads, without the slow discipline of speaking and proper phrasing, the detail of the text is actually almost too rich. That of course is a critiscism that most people would consider a compliment , my point is that it was apt for me to read this book over the Xmas period as its density mirrored a festive meal.

...continue to the full review of  Empire Of Pleasures by Andrew Dalby

Wow really? I'm proud to have such an esteemed scholar around!

A while back some kid wondered if they could quote discussions on these forums as sources for their papers. I suppose now that we have a bona fide scholar, maybe they actually can.

Wow, I didn't know what esteemed educated and talented people we have on this board. Sorry Pertinax, but I don't know what you mean again?

Empire of Pleasures-Review -Preamble.

(I have quite a lot to say about this work , and I will do as before and produce a 2/3 part post that can be welded together by the moderators).

I was very pleased to find this book as I was aware of Mr Dalby's previous works, and it is evident that his sources are well researched and his excellent eye for language digs out subtle interperative nuances that may be lost to the monolingual.

...to the review of The Empie of Pleasures by Andrew Dalby

Pertinax, you're very kind to Empire of Pleasures. I enjoyed writing it more than any of the others, I think, so I'm glad you likewise enjoyed reading it! I'm lucky, I suspect, that you did so while reasonably full of seasonal cheer ...

Apples? I've finished bottling my cider for this year, and am now just beginning to reap the reward. Cider no. 2 is already reasonably drinkable. Even Madame Dalby seems to appreciate it!

Pertinax, you're very kind to Empire of Pleasures. I enjoyed writing it more than any of the others, I think, so I'm glad you likewise enjoyed reading it! I'm lucky, I suspect, that you did so while reasonably full of seasonal cheer ...

 

Apples? I've finished bottling my cider for this year, and am now just beginning to reap the reward. Cider no. 2 is already reasonably drinkable. Even Madame Dalby seems to appreciate it!

pheww! I was worried about a dagger in the forum. The thing isnt finished yet -but nearly there.

Tell us about the cider in the Hora postilliae!

I am re-reading "Dangerous Tastes" -a history of the spice trade by Mr Dalby.

thank you very much Pertinax for this exellent review (and Mr. Dalby for writing it)...

it is now published and part of the book review section...

Empire Of Pleasures by Andrew Dalby

thank you very much Pertinax for this exellent review (and Mr. Dalby for writing it)...

 

it is now published and part of the book review section...

 

Empire Of Pleasures by Andrew Dalby

There's now some basic information about Empire of Pleasures on my website, with a few extracts (including Martial's advice on

where to bathe when in Rome), and, for avid readers, some up-to-the-minute

additions, including a very important note about what you mustn't do during a Mediterranean sea voyage ...

including a very important note about what you mustn't do during a Mediterranean sea voyage ...

The nail & hair trimming or the sex?

including a very important note about what you mustn't do during a Mediterranean sea voyage ...

 

The nail & hair trimming or the sex?

Depends what you consider important.

No erotic hair trimming at all then

No erotic hair trimming at all then

Not on shipboard, that's all I'm saying ...

In his review of this work, our esteemed Pertinax wrote:

Should you buy this work? Rubicon was a good "story" and a useful popular book to give further flesh to the enjoyment of HBOs Rome; these popularising entertainments are to be welcomed as they open up imaginative windows into Romanophilia. The subject book is a heavy mixture of very vivid living snapshots linked as a perigrination around the Roman world, it adds sensuous flesh and perfume to the commoner images and worthier "hard " histories . If you are a Legion and Ballista devotee , I think this catalogue of "greek" fleshiness might not be to your satisfaction . One could not take the book and read it through without pausing and setting it aside for a day or two to consider and digest its plummy contents.I suggest reading it in little morsels at a quiet table near the seafront at Positano, whilst eating a dish of local seafood. A book for daydreaming of Rome.

I am only at the stage of the tour through Campania, and already I am captivated by this book. As Pertinax says - not one for the Ballista lovers, but for those of us, like me, who have our own delusions of creativity, I am finding AD's book an invaluable source of rich background material for my own projects. AD brings the Italian countryside to life as vividly as any novelist, and I shall not hurry to finish this volume. I want to savour every moment of it.

I think it depends on what you want to learn about Rome. Many of us are drawn by the violent glory seeking we see in the arena or the battlefield. And despite the somewhat murderous decadance popularised by film and tv, many romans were simply trying to live good lives and have a great time in the process. Whilst AD's book firmly concentrates on the more arty pleasures (and so it should, given the title), the text also contains a lot of clues to roman nature and behaviour. Worth a read even if only to expand your roman consciousness, but also a reminder that Rome was not always blood and guts.