Review article: Movers and Shakers: the Barbarians and the Fall of Rome

Books received for review:
The Lombards . By Neil Christie.
The Goths . By Peter Heather.
The End of Roman Britain . By Michael E. Jones.
The Huns . By Edward A. Thompson (revised by P. Heather).     

Macedonia and the Coming of Rome

EUGENE N. BORZA. In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990. Pp. xvii, 333.

N.G.L. HAMMOND and F.W. WALBANK. A History of Macedonia: Volume III: 336-167 BC. New York: The Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press, 1988. Pp. xxx, 654.

PETER GREEN. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. Pp. xxiii, 970.     

利古里亚人与罗马的交往

利古里亚人是一个世居阿尔卑斯山、亚平宁山地区至地中海岸之间的古代族群,素有自己独特的民族历史、文化、语言和风习.在古代地中海世界民族关系博弈的棋局中,利古里亚人与罗马的交往最为重要.从第二次布匿战争时起,罗马开始通过持续的武力征服,逐渐将北意大利和高卢东南部一带的利古里亚人纳入自己的版图.在其后罗马优势文化的浸渍和影响下,利古里亚人如同其他部分蛮族那样,不得不走上了一条最终否弃自身的罗马化之途.     

Rome rainfall and sunspot numbers

The accumulated departure from mean (ADM) of the 208 yr Rome rainfall strongly inversely resembles the ADM of sunspot numbers. The ADM for the Bay of Biscay sea surface temperature also strongly resembles sunspot numbers and Rome rainfall. These data suggest that long-term increasing solar radiation warms parts of the North Atlantic Ocean, which in turn affects the fall and winter storm paths resulting in lower rainfall in Rome and conversely, decreasing solar radiation produces the opposite effect. The accumulated departure from mean (ADM) plotting method is used to compare different records of the same length.     

The Fall of the Fall in Early Modern Political Theory

In this essay I offer a contribution to a political genealogy of secularization through the fading of the Fall in early modern political theory. I begin by giving a brief overview of the importance of the Fall in pre-modern Christian political thought. I then examine the fate of the Fall in early modern thought, briefly discussing Niccolò Machiavelli and Francisco de Vitoria, but concentrating on the English tradition most influential on our context, namely Thomas Hobbes, Robert Filmer, and John Locke. I show how and why the Fall is replaced by the “state of nature” as pre-historical justification of political power. I conclude with some comments on what is lost when Western society no longer uses the Fall to mark the difference between the way things are and the way things are meant to be.     

Rebranding the Republic: Rome and the 1960 Olympic Games

The 1960 Rome Olympic Games were held at a pivotal moment in the history of modern Italy and its capital. At the height of the ‘economic miracle’, tourists, international movie stars and entertainers, in addition to a record number of international athletes, flocked to the city to participate in the Games and the dolce vita. As a great ‘national’ project within a global and European context, Rome 1960 offered the organizers and ruling Christian Democratic Party (DC) the opportunity to rebrand Italy and show how far the country had come since the fall of Fascism and the end of the Second World War. While Rome 1960 was a marketing success – Italy’s international reputation was significantly enhanced – close examination of the preparations for the tournament, as well as the Games itself, reveals significant continuities, deep and unresolved political and social tensions, evidence of corruption, and a failure to come to terms with Italy’s recent past and the memory of Fascism. Questioning the extent to which the 1960 Olympics was a turning point in Italian sport and society, it exposes the Italy that existed beneath the sheen: one of stagnation, minimal change, political division and corruption.     

古罗马等级制度中的显贵

早在19世纪,德国古典学大师蒙森就发现,在古罗马社会的政治生活中存在着一个特权等级——显贵(mbilis,或nobilitas),他们控制着执政官、元老院等权力机构,大权在握,地位显赫。20世纪初,另一位德国学格尔泽的研究表明,绝大多数罗马显贵都出身于执政官家族,     

The plant landscape of the imperial harbour of Rome

The research concerns the Tiber delta area, about 3 km far from the present seacoast, where the remains of the ancient harbour of Rome are located. In 42 AD, Claudius started the construction of the harbour and Nero completed it in 64 AD. Then, the emperor Trajan went on to add a hexagonal basin to the former structure, which had gradually silted up. The imperial harbour was connected to the Tiber River and ultimately to the city of Rome through the Trajan channel. During the imperial period, most of the supplies imported from the Mediterranean provinces reached the city of Rome through Portus.