tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post6073634253415705647..comments2024-03-25T07:54:22.672+00:00Comments on Pop Classics: Rome: The SpoilsJuliettehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-36037943603137914992011-05-17T13:50:14.403+01:002011-05-17T13:50:14.403+01:00Ah, so part of the big senate suck-up, then. I cou...Ah, so part of the big senate suck-up, then. I couldn't find anything in Pauly and Augustus doing it sounded reasonable.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-33315420400411128892011-05-17T13:33:54.963+01:002011-05-17T13:33:54.963+01:00Wikipedia has been really bad with classical stuff...Wikipedia has been really bad with classical stuff lately, it thinks Vestal Virgins can be made Vestals at 17yrs (they can't) and can't work out when Livia married Augustus. Of course, it changes all the time so those might be correct again by now!<br /><br />The Julius Caesar page actually has it right on the month-naming issue at the moment, but whichever page lists it as Augustus is not.<br />The Senate had July named after Julius Caesar, and this was one of many things that annoyed his assassins (Cassius Dio 44.5: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/44*.html).<br />Augustus had August named after himself (Suetonius, Divine Augustus, 31: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html).Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-88844544662415842011-05-17T12:43:28.471+01:002011-05-17T12:43:28.471+01:00Wikipedia says it was Augustus, but they don't...Wikipedia says it was Augustus, but they don't source it, so maybe, maybe not. Doing it himself sounds too politically inept for Caesar, though. He was pretty careful about not looking like he was trying to become more than <i>primus inter pares</i>.<br /><br />You mentioned seeing Cicero perform. You might want to look at <a href="http://cicero.humnet.ucla.edu/index.htm" rel="nofollow">Performing Cicero</a>, by the UCLA Classics department. Interesting stuff.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-28539111922600163472011-05-17T12:09:48.642+01:002011-05-17T12:09:48.642+01:00Sounds like an intriguing series - I think mixing ...Sounds like an intriguing series - I think mixing Rome and Byzantium would totally confuse me!<br /><br />I had always assumed Caesar named July when he reorganised the calendar, but I don't actually know - presumably it's in Suetonius somewhere, I'll have to look it up.Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-91322097624623880912011-05-17T11:17:30.985+01:002011-05-17T11:17:30.985+01:00Wasn't it Augustus who changed the name of the...Wasn't it Augustus who changed the name of the month? Part of Caesar's deification, I suppose.<br /><br />My first exposure to Cicero was roughly simultaneously through Saylor and John Maddox Roberts' SPQR mysteries. Part of me wants to like the man, but the more I learn about him, the more I hate him. I think it was the way he treated his son and his nephew and the way he abandoned his brother while scarpering off to save his own neck that was the final straw.<br /><br />Weird story time. Last month, I was rereading Harry Turtledove's Videssos Cycle quartet. It's about a detachment of Caesar's legions in Gaul that get magicked away to a fantasy world based on Byzantium (Turtledove is a Byzantist). Anyway, I'm reading along and suddenly the second-in-command is reporting that Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus are at it again. Took me right out of the story for a bit. It's easy to forget that Caesar actually mentioned these two as rivals who eventually became friends.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-83034691504689794912011-05-16T09:06:10.425+01:002011-05-16T09:06:10.425+01:00It was Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose, and she...It was Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose, and she was absolutely fantastic - though I confess I know nothing about Edith Piaf, Cotillard was brilliant (as she is in everything, actually). I agree about the footballers though, and it's true, without understanding how the law courts worked and so on it wouldn't be that impressive anyway.Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-17588059341546887362011-05-16T01:13:57.094+01:002011-05-16T01:13:57.094+01:00>>even I, with my all-consuming hatred of Ci...>>even I, with my all-consuming hatred of Cicero, would be intrigued by seeing him in action in the courts, though probably no actor could live up to his reputation<<<br /><br />Perhaps the fault lies in the audience's ignorance of rhetoric as a performance rather than the actors. X may be the greatest footballer who ever walked this earth, but I'm not going to appreciate his performance. If you don't know anything about Edith Piaf, the performance by the actress in "La Vie En Rose" (whose name temporarily escapes me) isn't going to be as impressive as it is for someone who has seen the original (albeit only on YouTube and video).RWMGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04271851970303022440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-5561056736155245102011-05-15T13:33:45.954+01:002011-05-15T13:33:45.954+01:00Yeah, I love Saylor's Cicero! Though he does g...Yeah, I love Saylor's Cicero! Though he does go quite far with the Cicero-hate, probably a bit too far.<br /><br />I vaguely remembered Boring going Godfather-y so I figured I'd change the name at some point, and now seems as good a time as any. Dodgey isn't changing though!Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-16844399290557782382011-05-15T03:40:50.236+01:002011-05-15T03:40:50.236+01:00It's funny you've started calling Boring &...It's funny you've started calling Boring 'the Godfather,' because of course he starts going really Godfathery in season 2. Which wasn't a plotline I cared for overly much. I usually think of him as Grumpy myself, because he just seems so grumpy so much of the time! <br /><br />Saylor really has a hate-on for Cicero, doesn't he? I just finished <em>Murder on the Appian Way</em>, and just as I thought he couldn't portray him in any worse a light than he already had in <em>The Venus Throw</em>, it just gets worse. Wow.lux aeturnahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00391526866406089000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-5942961459647603832011-05-14T22:48:08.370+01:002011-05-14T22:48:08.370+01:00it was the Pro Caelio - misogynistic and nasty! Th...it was the Pro Caelio - misogynistic and nasty! That was my first exposure to him. And later exposure hasn't helped at all. I guess I just see him a lot closer to Steven Saylor's Cicero than to Robert Harris' Cicero. Having said that, 'hatred' is probably too strong a word - but surely Cicero, more than anyone, would appreciate the rhetorical flair and exaggeration!Juliettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00203399623895589924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5730513615909994019.post-63295294102337632482011-05-14T22:41:39.750+01:002011-05-14T22:41:39.750+01:00It's interesting to note the ebb and flow of p...It's interesting to note the ebb and flow of people's response to Cicero over the ages. <br /><br />Perhaps because I was exposed to Cicero through watching David Bamber in this series, praiseful Renaissance writers and artists and titles such as Anthony Everitt's summary volume, then my appreciation of his achievements is much higher. <br /><br />I can never have an all consuming hatred of anyone whose legacy was of letters,interpersonal insights and a very human frailty in an era where others made a name by conquest, mass murder and corruption. <br /><br />Of course I also never had to endure boring lectures on him either, so that may be a factor as well!<br /><br />HAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02091875643921165081noreply@blogger.com