Monthly Archives: September 2021

The History of Rome Episode 39 The Young Julius Caesar Chronicles goes back to Julius Caesar’s childhood and early career. His Aunt Julia was Marius’ wife, which meant that when Sulla took power he put Julius Caesar onto the list of 1500 nobles to be killed. But Sulla was persuaded to remove him from the list and Caesar kept his head down. He served in Asia Minor until Sulla died, then returned to Rome to work as a lawyer. While travelling, he was captured by pirates and joked with them that he would crucify them all one day. He wasn’t joking: after the ransom was paid he sailed back and captured them and crucified them all (although he did cut their throats before hanging them on crosses). When his widowed aunt Julia died, he took advantage of the funeral procession to display images of her former husband Marius, reminding people of Marius’ good points and his family relationship with him. He was appointed as quaestor to Spain, where he was successful. He supported Pompey, and was starting to put himself forward for election as Consul. Cato the younger tried to thwart him, but too late! Episode 40 In the Consulship of Julius and Caesar is a bit of an in-joke. Even though Caesar had a co-consul, Bibulus, really he was the only one who counted. He arranged with Crassus and Pompey that they would have each other’s back (later known as the Triumvirate) and he embarked on land reform. When Cato the younger fillibustered in the Senate to stop the reform, Caesar had him thrown in jail for a while, and then decided to bypass the Senate completely. Once his year of consulship was over, he made sure that his father-in-law would be the next Consul, in order to protect him from any revenge and he went up to Gaul, where he was governor. In Episode 41a The Gallic Wars, the Helvetians who lived beside Lake Geneva decided that they would come down into Roman territory, but the Romans built a wall! So, unable to enter Rome, they pushed up into Gaul instead. Caesar was asked by the Gauls to kick them out. Then the Germans over the Rhine tried to invade, so he defeated them too. The Gauls were grateful, but ready for the Romans to go back home, but Caesar had other ideas and decided that the legions should stay there on a permanent basis. In Episode 41b The Gallic Wars, now firmly ensconced in Gaul, Caesar crossed the Rhine by building a bridge in 10 days, defeated the Germans, then destroyed the bridge on the way back. He also went up into Belgium and defeated rebel tribes up here too. He made two inconsequential forays into Britain but the proper invasion would have to wait. The triumvirate hung together for a while with Caesar up in Gaul, Pompey in Spain and Crassus in Syria. But Crassus was killed, and the family connection between Caesar and Pompey was severed when Caesar’s only child, Julia, died in childbirth. Pompey started becoming more conservative and moved towards the Senate. Episode 42 Meanwhile Back in Rome starts off with Caesar up in Gaul, itching to come home. Clodius (i.e. Publius Clodius Pulcher) had been made Tribune of the Plebs with Caesar’s connivance, was running amok with his gang of thugs. Pompey had gone over to the Senate by now and he and Caesar were in a standoff, with the Senate threatening to arrest Caesar and charge him over all the dodgy things he had done if he dared come back with his army.

The Ancients (History Hits). While I’m learning about Clodius, by coincidence what should pop up in my feed for The Ancients than Murder in Ancient Rome: Milo and Clodius. In an interview with a rather giggly Dr, Emma Southon, this tells the story of Clodius, who she sees as a horrible character, and how he came to be killed. I don’t really know that she backs up that he was SO terrible, but certainly the republic is falling down around their ears.

Lit Century (Lit Hub) In this podcast series, the hosts Sandra Newman and Catherine Nichols discuss over one or two sessions one book for each year of the 20th century. For 1922 they chose Sigrid Undset’s Kristen Lavransdatter. I’m just about the only person that I know has read Kristen Lavransdatter, so I jumped onto these podcasts when I saw them. On Desire (and its Absence) discusses the novel as a romance (a bit problematic given that we’re talking about the 13th century) and the second episode On Catholicism and Doomscrolling includes author Timothy Paulson in the discussion. They talk about Lutheranism and Catholicism (and how many readers at the time felt betrayed by Kristen’s conversion to Catholicism) and whether it is a feminist novel (probably not, in the same way that Prohibition was not a feminist policy, but it benefited women).

Revisionist History Thanks, Mum, for training me to do my laundry the ‘right’ way. In Laundry Done Right, cold water washing gets a big tick. Doesn’t everybody separate their whites and coloureds? Doesn’t everybody hang their washing on the line?

Background Briefing (ABC) When I went to the ABC website to get the link for Unmasking Monsters, there he was – Dr Bob Montgomery, just as I remember him. Handsome, a bit of a larrikin and supremely confident: he is certainly a fallen man now, imprisoned for four years for historical sex abuse charges. He was my 1st Year psychology lecturer, I attended his ‘sex’ classes (which I must admit taught me more about sex than any other source of information), and I remember discussing the Milgram experiment, although I can’t recall if I actually participated. I’m not completely surprised by this podcast, although I didn’t realize that he was so brazen.

The History of Rome Podcast In Episode 34 No Greater Friend, No Worse Enemy Sulla comes back into Rome, and the nobles who had previously backed Marius began changing sides. That didn’t stop Sulla from putting 1500 of them onto a death list, ending up with about 9000 deaths. He had himself made Dictator, not just for a 6 month stint, but for life. There goes another Roman Republic principle. He was a conservative, and wanted to put an end to the populism that the Gracchus brothers had ushered in. He put all sorts of obstacles of age, career path, enforced breaks in the provinces etc. to make sure that there was no quick route to the Consulship, and then he retired. But all his changes were overruled anyway. Episode 35 Crassus and Pompey introduces two of the men who will later form a triumvirate with Julius Caesar. Crassus was really rich and Pompey was a golden general who just had good fortune fall in his lap. He was very ambitious, and determined to circumvent all Sulla’s plans to stop ambitious men. Episode 36 I am Spartacus introduces Spartacus. Confession here- I have never seen the Spartacus movie. In fact, I wasn’t really sure who he was. He was a slave gladiator at the gladiator school at Capua, and in 73BC broke out with 70 other slaves, was joined with others to make 7000 and ended up with perhaps 70,000 other slaves (although these numbers are pretty dodgy). He and his troops headed south, wanting to go to Sicily, but he was betrayed by pirates. They were defeated by Crassus, who saw this as a route to the Consulship. A small group escaped, and they were overcome by Pompey, who took all the credit. In Episode 37 Go East Young Man Pompey cleaned up all the pirates in the Mediterranean and polished off Mithridates for good. While he was in the neighbourhood, he marched on Jerusalem, where two Jewish families were fighting each other, made sure that his favoured family won, and then went home. The Roman Empire now stretched from Gibraltar to Jerusalem. Episode 38 The Catiline Conspiracy reinforces that by the 1st Century BC, the example of Marius and Sulla had reinforced that power came from the sword. Cataline came from an aristocratic family that hadn’t done anything for 300 years, combining entitlement and ambition. In 73 BC he was accused of adultery with a vestal virgin but was acquitted, probably because of dodgy dealings. In 63 BC he conspired to overthrow the Roman government but was stopped by Rome’s greatest politician and orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero. He ended up in exile and was killed. Having seen with Sulla the potential power of a returning general, Cicero wanted to clean up domestic politics in Rome before Pompey got back.

History Hit- The Ancients. Enough of all this Roman fighting! How about some sex instead? This episode Sex in Ancient Rome features L.J. Trafford, the author of the upcoming book Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome. Of course, the written sources that have come down to us are all written by men, and if their reporting on war and slaughter is anything to go by, not very reliable. However, penis sculptures and drawings seem to be everywhere throughout the empire, and sex was often the source of humour. There were strict rules about who could sleep with whom, especially under Augustus who yearned for a simpler, more honourable Roman past. She deals with adultery, contraception, prostitution etc. but mainly emphasizes how hard it is for us to enter into their pre-Christian mentality about sex.

And speaking of Spartacus, Spartacus Life or Legend has an Australian historian Dr Fiona Radford who studied the Kirk Douglas movie (which I haven’t seen) and the historic sources for her Ph.D. She’s very enthusiastic about the movie, which was produced during the Cold War competing with Ben Hur and another Spartacus movie being produced at the time. She points out that Spartacus has been picked up by multiple political movements since the enlightenment- the French Revolution, the Risorgimento in Italy in the 19th century, and the Spartacus League with Rosa Luxemburg Post WWI.

Blindspot: The Road to 9/11 Being the 20th anniversary, 9/11 is everywhere. Episode 1 The Bullet starts in an unusual place: in a Midtown Manhattan hotel ballroom where the radical, anti-Muslim Jewish rabbi Meir Kahane is assassinated by El-Sayyid Nosair who had become radicalized at a Brooklyn mosque.

New York Times: The Daily Journalist Dan Barry reads his article “What Does it Mean to ‘Never Forget’?” This essay explores the nature of memory during trauma. Interesting that graduate students who interviewed people in the days immediately following 9/11 found that when they re-interviewed their informants a year later, 40% had changed their memories of where they were and how they learned about the Twin Towers.

History Extra As a Good Unitarian Girl, I’m always delighted to hear podcasts about 19th century Unitarians. In this podcast Wedgwood: The Radical Potter Tristram Hunt, author of The Radical Potter discusses the business and politics of Josiah Wedgwood. I bet you never thought ‘Josiah Wedgwood’ and ‘Steve Jobs’ could go in the same sentence! Another book to add to the burgeoning To Be Read list.

The History of Rome Podcast Well, I had hoped that I had got past all the war and fighting, but not so it seems. Episode 28 Taking Stock gave me hope of a more social approach. He points out that what had held Roman society together had been the unity of the elites, and economic conditions for the everyday Roman being benign enough that there would be no unrest from below. But with the increased wealth flowing into Rome from elites stationed in the colonies, and the influx of slaves brought in to Rome by these same elites, many landowners lost their land and flowed into the cities as a discontented landless populace. Episode 29 Tiberius Gracchus introduces the populist Tiberius, Tribune of the Plebs in 133BC. Banking on the support of this large landless segment, he proposed agrarian reform which was strongly opposed by the Senate. To get the legislation passed, he sacked the other Tribune Marcus Octavius and brought Roman commerce and society to a standstill. Even though the Romans had instituted single-term Tribuneships, Tiberius stood for a second term but he got killed in a riot instead. Ten years later Tiberius’ younger brother became Tribune too Episode 30 Gaius Gracchus and HE managed to get a second term. Gaius went even further than his brother in social reforms, including food distribution to the poor and popular army reforms. The Senate turned on him too, and he committed suicide with the aid of his faithful slave in a murder-suicide pact. Episodes 31a and 31b introduce Gaius Marius who became Consul SEVEN times (so much for one-term positions!). He was known as a ‘new man’ because his family was not part of the ruling elite (although he married into it). He came up through the army and by now external wars were brewing again. He reformed the Roman Legion’s fighting strategy – a brave move given how successful it had been. He got his soldiers to carry all their equipment to toughen them up before battle, leading to them being disparaged as “Marius’ mules” (until they won). Episode 32 The Social War sees the former Italian allies rising up because they wanted (and were denied) Roman citizenship. The Samnites, who had been discontented ever since the Third Samnite War, and the Marsi led a revolt over 4 years, but the Romans ‘bought off’ the support of the other Italian allies by giving Roman citizenship to the peoples and cities who remained loyal or surrendered to Rome. By 87 BC Roman victory meant that all of the Italian boot (although not the islands) was Romanized. In Episode 33 Marius and Sulla we see the Romans turning on themselves with Sulla marching on Rome not once but twice. Sulla had served under Marius, and brought the Social War to an end. He then headed off to fight Mithridates in the Hellenic States, and then fought in Anatolia. In the meantime, Marius was serving his 7th stint as Consul, and Cinna was enjoying his 4th, and they ganged up together to exile Sulla. Once he finished fighting, Sulla headed towards Rome for the second time.

God Forbid (ABC) The episode Examining Fringe Beliefs features two journalists who podcast about sects and conspiracy theories, and a Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Studies in Religion at the University of Sydney. One thing that I took from this podcast was that we can look at the way that fringe groups treat those who do not follow their beliefs. I think of shunning, calling people ‘sheeple’, proselytising, damning to hell. How do I, as a Unitarian, respond to beliefs that I see as ‘fringe’? Quite a challenge.

Rear Vision (ABC) The episode Afghanistan- the land of failed invasion was first aired in November 2006, but it holds up well fifteen years later. It describes the various occupations by the British, Soviets and Americans over the past 200 years (in fact, there were five invasions) and highlights the importance of Pakistan in the analysis of the Soviet invasion.

The History Listen (ABC) I was so discouraged and angry after listening to Seachange: 20 years on from the Tampa Affair. Twenty #@** years. Listening to Ruddock et al fudging on facts when it didn’t suit their narrative, listening to Beazley’s discouragement when he realized the electoral implications, and the thought that the “never by boat” mantra is still affecting people’s lives today.

History this Week I’m not really clear about the connection between the book “Goodbye Christopher Robin” by Anne Thwaites and the movie of the same name that was written by someone else, but this episode The True Winnie-the-Pooh features Anne Thwaites, who sounds rather elderly. The ‘true’ Winnie was a Canadian bear, purchased from a railway station in Winnipeg by the military veterinarian as the mascot for his troop of Canadian soldiers during WWI. Of course, ‘Winnie’ couldn’t accompany them to the Somme, so he ended up in a London zoo, loved by the children who came to see him. There he was seen by Christopher Robin Milne, who named his own bear after her. When his father A. A. Milne drew on the bedtime stories he told his son to write a children’s book, Winnie-the-Pooh was born.

The History of Rome So much fighting, extending over decades and generations. Episode 24 The Second Macedonia War sees Rome deciding to straight away launch into leveraging their big-boy status into a war with Philip V of Macedon. They were then dragged further east into the Syrian War in Episode 25: The Syrian War when who should they encounter again but Hannibal! He had gone into exile from Carthage, and he was engaged by Antiochus III the Great. There is a story that Hannibal and Scipio met at a banquet and Scipio asked Hannibal who he thought was the greatest general. Hannibal enumerated Alexander the Great (Scipio agreed) and then Phyruss (who fought against the Romans) and then himself. Scipio was not impressed. Hannibal himself is said to have committed suicide when he realized that Roman assassins were on his trail- or else he did of a wounded finger- take your pick. In Episode 26 The Third Macedonian War the sons of Phillip V and Antiochus the Great pick up their fathers’ mantles and start up the Third Macedonian War. Just like their fathers, they were soundly beaten, leaving Rome the unchallenged power in the Mediterranean. Episode 27 Mopping Up sees Rome going back to absolutely crush Macedon, and even more importantly Carthage. Back in the Roman Senate, Cato was going on and on about the dangers of Carthage, so Rome invaded it again and it is said (so may not be true) that they sowed their fields with salt, to make sure that nothing grew there. Either way, Carthage was completely destroyed and there was no other power left to threaten Rome. Now that there was no external enemy to fight, they could only fight among themselves.

Rear Vision (ABC) With the Taliban back in the news, Who are the Taliban? takes us back to the emergence of the Taliban from the rubble of the Soviet-Afghan War. It’s quite a condemnation that their straight-dealing, black-and-white, anti-corruption view of the world has led to people acquiescing to the thought that they couldn’t be worse than the existing Western-backed Afghan government. What a f**k-up.

Revisionist History Enough of all this war! How about Malcolm Gladwell deconstructing the Little Mermaid instead? In Little Mermaid Part I: the Golden Contract law professor Laura Beth Neilson points out that in the Disney version, the written contract is portrayed as all powerful (there was no contract in the original story). Worse still, it is an unconscionable contract where a legal child contracts away body parts into slavery. Little Mermaid Part 2: The Fairytale Twist looks at the uses of fairytales, and children’s responses to them, drawing on Bruno Bettelheim and Angus Fletcher. Finally in Little Mermaid Part 3: Honestly Ever After they re-write the ending of The Little Mermaid, avoiding Hans Christian Anderson’s sad ending but giving back Ariel her voice and her agency. And they got Jodie Foster and Glen Close to do the voices!

Democracy Sausage (Mark Kenny). This episode Britain’s ‘Freedom Day’ from 20 July 2021 interviews Europe Correspondent Bevan Shields and Atalanta’s Elizabeth Ames from England on Britain’s “Freedom Day”. Probably too early to know even now, a month later, what the effect will be. However, they both seemed to be fairly optimistic and rather nonplussed by excessive caution in Australia.