Tag / Roman Empire

by amandastiver

Walking Hadrian’s Wall at Home – Why?

As the winter months in South Dakota drew near (and they are long), I realized that I needed an exercise plan. I’m an historian by education and inclination, so what better way to keep up with a fitness routine than by setting a suitable historic goal? A vicarious hike along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England perfectly fitted the bill.

Starting with a few YouTube videos produced by those who have actually walked the wall in real life, I acquired a pedometer and set a goal to cover the same mile length as the Wall, but on my treadmill over the course of the winter months. (As an update, I’m about halfway through.)

I quickly realized that to really get a kick out of the project, I would need a basic knowledge of Hadrian’s Wall and its role in Roman Britain. And for that I needed a look into Rome’s role in Britain, and, finally, a better understanding of the Roman Empire, its history and its overwhelming impact on our world, even after the fall of Rome, and through the Byzantine Empire, the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire, the Early Modern era, the Enlightenment, and all the way up into our modern world, which is to say, all the way from approximately 500 BC to the present day. Our world is tremendously impacted by the Roman Republic, as well as the Roman Empire. We simply cannot avoid it, more on that in a later post.

My first book of “research” material was the Rosemary Sutcliff Eagle of the Ninth trilogy. The three volumes, The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers, take the reader from the first century of Roman occupation in Britain all the way to the last days of Roman rule, and beyond. While these stories have their historical flaws, since archeological discoveries of the late 20th century corrected some of the conclusions the author makes, they are still a very imaginative and descriptive introduction to the world of Roman Britain, and they are great stories!

After reading those three books, I moved on to a solid history of Roman Britain. Roman Britain: A New History 55 BC-AD 450 by Patricia Southern came to me via Amazon as an ex-library book from Wales, I thought this was a very nice bit of historic connectivity. I will warn you, if you want to retrace my steps historically, histories written by British authors are very meaty with detail, but if you aren’t used to that depth and methodical chronological progression you might find them a bit, well…heavy going. I don’t, but I’m a full-blown history nerd.

And now I’ve moved on to a survey of Roman history extracted from “The Great Courses” History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective taught by Professor Gregory S. Aldrete. Supplemented by the Hillsdale College free online course The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic.

Though my college history and art history degrees took me to many fascinating places (China, Scythia, Latin America, et al), historically, I didn’t spend much time in ancient Rome or Classical history in general, so what started as a fun fitness project to keep me focused has turned into a degree adjunct.

I’ve posted a lot in the past, during the early years of my blog, about gateways to history. There are many small discoveries or curiosities that pique our interest and gradually pull us into more detailed research of any given historical event, personage, or era. Sometimes it’s an epic movie, other times a documentary, sometimes a map, travel, or even an object. So, I’ll add to that list a vicarious fitness project, which swathed in a history topic, can pull you toward a better understanding of past events and people.

Keep thinking history!

by amandastiver

Book Review: “The Silver Branch”

Sometimes historical curiosity comes from reading historical fiction. Specifically, in this case a Rosemary Sutcliff book.

“The Silver Branch,” a book by Rosemary Sutcliff (Image: Amanda Stiver)

I recently read The Silver Branch by Sutcliff (a great read, originally aimed at a teen/young adult audience, but good for all ages). The Eagle of the Ninth, its better known companion, precedes The Silver Branch, but the former was checked out of my local library so I had to jump into the middle of the series. Thankfully each part of the trilogy can stand on its own.

I was thrown back to the Roman Empire, in the 3rd century AD in the province of Britannia. As the characters, Roman, British, Irish, Dalriad, and Saxon, among others, coursed through the story from skirmishes, to escapes, from espionage, to battle the story of a rift in the Roman Empire unfolds. Three Emperors claimed three parts of the empire and the book concerns the subordinates who either undermine or support the man, Carausius, who ruled Britannia. The emperors are historical figures, but the main characters of the story, Justin and Flavius, though woven into the historical events, are fiction.

Improbable?

As fiction goes, this is reasonably legitimate. There are some flaws, as many others have noted before, particularly the eagle standard (which appears again in this book after its introduction in The Eagle of the Ninth) not being a legionary standard in actuality. An eagle was found in the ancient city of Calleva (Silchester), but it wasn’t the eagle of the ninth. Still, it’s probable.  Some historical fiction is so outlandish that the story becomes completely ridiculous. Sutcliff’s writing is believable, albeit, a number of crucial events and actions are undertaken by one fictional family, but a clear thread is necessary to make a story readable.

The Silver Branch piqued my curiosity about Roman Britain, a part of history, which was, unfortunately, the Swiss Cheese of my historical knowledge – full of holes. In high school and college the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Israelites as well as the Scythians, Chinese, and then English, European and American history from the time of Elizabeth I up to World War II was my focus, partly because those were the classes on offer, but also because the late Roman Empire seemed to be rather gasp-y and sad, so I tended to skip it, but now I find myself filling in my knowledge of this era. Rome had such an impact on so many cultures as friend or as foe that it really is essential knowledge of the world.

Finding your gateway to history

A nice piece of historical fiction like The Silver Branch is a good stepping-stone to delving into a new section of history. I’m interested enough now to crack my textbooks and get the slightly dryer, though still important details about Roman history clear in my mind.

Sutcliff is a fine writer and this book makes for a great literary-historical adventure!

– Amanda Stiver