On This Day In Roman History

Sunday, January 8, 2017

January 8

On This Day In Roman History, January 8

Severinus of Noricum dies on January 8, 482 CE. He died in the confines of a monastic cell while reciting Psalm 150, which when recited with Psalms 146 - 149, makes up the daily prayer during Pesukei D'Zimrah. Saint Severinus of Noricum was born either in Africa Proconsularis or somewhere in southern Italy during the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 410. Also known as the Apostle to Noricum, Severinus is credited as philosophizing that Odoacer would later rule the Western Roman Empire.

Did you know?

Severinus founded several monasteries during the reign of Attila to help preserve both learning and the Christian faith. He accepted anyone displaced from the Huns, and used these monasteries as a type of refugee center.

Pictured Left: Severinus illustrated in the 18th century by Anonymous (Hampel Auctions) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In Edward Gibbons History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, it is noted that "the disciples of Saint Severinus were invited by a "Neapolitan lady" to bring his body to the villa in 488, "in the place of Augustulus, who was probably no more." The villa was converted into a monastery before 500 to hold the saint's remains."

Found within point number 29 of Martin Luther's Theses, a reference to St. Severinus is found: "Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in a legend."

Opinion

Welcome to my daily opinion. Today seemed like somewhat of a stretch for Roman history. It felt a little bit more like Christian history, but the fact remains that this man was still born in Roman territory. He also lived with the problem his contemporary Roman statesmen were dealing with - the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Attila was displacing hundreds of thousands of people in Severinus' later life, and he was experiencing it first hand. This would not have been a pretty time to live in Italy, and if I myself were born in the Roman colony Africa Proconsularis, I would have probably stayed right there in northern Africa. Today's discussed topic was subject matter I had breifly glanced over in Gibbons' work, and Severinus was only mentioned once within it. Also, I had to look up what Gibbons meant by a "Neapolitan lady", which was simply a person native to Naples. I may have over thought that one, and this video didn't help my research: Neapolitan Lady - Youtube

Sources

Martin Luther's 95 Theses. (2011, February 15). Retrieved January 08, 2017, from http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html

Gibbon, E., & Low, D. M. (1960). The decline and fall of the Roman Empire. New York: Harcourt, Brace.

E., & Robinson, G. W. (1914). The life of Saint Severinus. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

January 7

On This Day In Roman History, January 7

The senate convened on January 7, 49 BCE to determine the final fate of the Roman general Julius Caesar. Spurred on from the leadership and decisions of Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis, or simply Cato, the senate released its senatus consultum ultimum which was the final decree against Caesar. It ordered him back to Rome without his army to face trial for alleged war crimes and many forms of corruption. January 7, 49 BCE also marked the end of Marc Antony's 1-week consulship that he was stripped of via the senate. This forced him to flee Rome that day, fearing for his life.

Did you know?

This was not the first time the senate had declared a Senatus consultum ultimum, or SCU, against an individual. It had happened in 121 BCE to Gaius Gracchus, during Lepidus' march on Rome in 77 BCE, and as recently as 63 BCE during the Conspiracy of Catiline. Some minor info and an image can be found below.

Pictured Left: Fresco 1889 by Cesare Maccari [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Depicted is Cicero addressing the senate during the Second Catilinarian conspiracy, which would lead to the controversial death of several conspirators without trial. While Cicero did receive an honorary title for his work, he was still fearful of retaliation for the execution of the mentioned Roman conspirators without trial.

Opinion

Welcome to my daily opinion. In modern history, Cato is recolonized as the republic's last hope. Being immune to not only the corruption and bribery around him, Cato attempted to end the personality cult of Caesar, which led to his rise as the sole master of Rome. I like to draw upon this time in Roman history for some political wisdom today. Not in the sense that a popular individual could rise to absolute unquestioning power in a modern western democracy, but more in a sense of how individuals can use laws and pseudo laws/decrees to further personal ambitions. The mere fact that Octavian would later create the model of the principate, or first citizen, in order to mask his true ambition as something acceptable to individuals and the public around him is very telling. I do often wonder what Cato's true intentions were. How motivated was this man by his personal ambition?

Sources

Caesar, J., & Peskett, A. G. (1961). The civil wars. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Dogerel, D. (1714). The life of Cato the censor: Humbly dedicated to R. S---le, Esq. London: Printed.

Lintott, A. W. (1999). The constitution of the Roman Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Friday, January 6, 2017

January 6

On This Day In Roman History, January 6th:

Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos, which is often recorded in its Latinized form as Palaeologus, is crowned Emperor January 6, 1449. He reigned as a member of the Palaiologos dynasty until his death. This occurred after a 53-day siege, in which he led a final charge in the defense of Constantinople. This marked the end of The Byzantine Empire which spanned from 330 CE until 1453.

Did you know?

Ottoman sultan Mehmed II had a 27 foot long super cannon constructed for the siege of Constantinople and destruction of the Theodosian Walls. This cannon could reportedly "hurl a 600 lb (272kg) stone ball over a mile (1.6 km)."

Pictured Left: A popular depiction of Constantine XI
By Unknown Ελληνικά: Άγνωστος καλλιτέχνης [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

His death, summarized and quoted via Wikipedia and sourced at bottom:
"Constantine led the defence of the city and took an active part in the fighting alongside his troops in the land walls. At the same time, he used his diplomatic skills to maintain the necessary unity between the Genoese, Venetian, and Greek troops. Constantine died the day the city fell, 29 May 1453. There were no known surviving eyewitnesses to the death of the Emperor and none of his entourage survived to offer any credible account of his death. According to Michael Critobulus (writing later in Mehmed's service) he remarked, "The city is fallen and I am still alive."Then he tore off his imperial ornaments so as to let nothing distinguish him from any other soldier and led his remaining soldiers into a last charge where he was killed."

Opinion

Welcome to my daily opinion. Today I'd like to bring up the fact I see often online - people are confused by titles like "Byzantine Empire" or "Eastern Roman Empire". The thing is, a lot of these generalizations are simply ways for historians to lump time together in cohesive ways. Some people consider Roman history to end during the fall of The Western Roman Empire, but arguments could be made for many different dates and causes. These could range from the sack of Rome in 410 ACE by the Visigoths, to the removal of the Altar of Victory from the Senate House in 357 and again in 382, all the way to the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century. This is a strange time in history when one wouldn't expect for important congruent historical events to occur, such as Machu Picchu's estimated construction date, or Joan of Arc's death just two decades earlier.

That being said, I find it important to discuss at least a brief historical understanding of why so many historians and non-historians alike consider the "fall of The Roman Empire" to finally happen in 1453. It is also one of the few instances I will probably ever get to mention a cannon during Roman history.

I also found it somewhat fitting to begin the blog with this event for January 6th, seeing as this is generally the last event anyone will consider to be Roman history. So here we are, first post and last event. Cheers to the new year!

Sources

Davis, P. K. (2001). 100 decisive battles: from ancient times to the present. New York: Oxford University Press.

Heather, P. J. (2006). The fall of the Roman Empire: a new history of Rome and the Barbarians. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kazhdan, A. P., Talbot, A. M., Cutler, A., Gregory, T. E., & Ševčenko, N. P. (1991). The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium. New York: Oxford University Press.

Nicolle, D., Haldon, J. F., Turnbull, S. R., Haldon, J. F., Turnbull, S. R., & Nicolle, D. (2007). The fall of Constantinople: the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium. Oxford, U.K.: Osprey Pub.

Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_XI_Palaiologos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orban
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(410)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altar_of_Victory

Introduction

About the blog:
Hello, and welcome to the blog! The purpose of this blog is to post daily blurbs about Roman history, which for the sake of content I will consider to be between the date of the founding myth of Rome up until the fall of the Byzantine Empire. This blog has been inspired due to the fact that I had desired a calendar that had a daily fact pertaining to Roman history. After some searching around the internet and coming up empty handed, I decided to make one for some personal enjoyment.

I will be interested to see if I can even find information out there for every day of the year. If I can not find something, I will still look to post daily with a historic Roman event that is at least close to the desired date. The content I hope to post will be factual in its nature and will probably often contain my personal opinion and reflection on these events, in which case it will clearly be labeled as such.

About me:
I am by no means a professional. My fascination of history has been a part of me for a large portion of my life, and to be more specific, I love classical history. To get even more specific, I love early republican era Rome. To get down right silly specific, I enjoy the era of Roman Mediterranean domination during the time of The Second Punic War. My desire to learn more began to concentrate itself after playing a computer game titled Rome: Total War in mid 2004, when twelve year-old me wondered just how accurate these depicted scenes were. Recently, I have been inspired by many works of literature I have read, both ancient and modern alike. I have been deeply inspired by the work of Mike Duncan's The History of Rome podcast, in the sense that a large amount of Roman history is like most other history; seemingly massive and at times dry, even to a history buff. It can even get dry and confusing to an avid Roman history addict as well. I hope to concisely draw upon some of the more interesting highlights within this history, and blog daily about it in an "on this day in history" style.

I am starting this blog on the 6th of January, 2017. I will post the first "on this day in history" starting with January 6th. If I can actually stay true to my project for a full year I might just actually get to post about the first 5 days in January next year in early 2018.

Cheers,

Chris