Monthly Archives: August 2022

History of Rome Podcast. I’m getting so close to the end that I can almost taste it! Episode 174 The Sack of Rome Part II We left off with the ascension of Petronius Maximus as emperor in 455AD. He ruled for 77 days only, and his main effect was to provoke the Vandals to sack Rome. As a way of cementing his legitimacy, he forced Eudoxia to marry him (after murdering her husband Valentinian) and wanted to marry his son off to Eudoxia’s daughter who was already betrothed to the son of the Vandal king Genseric. Genseric was not amused. On hearing that the Vandals were heading towards Rome, Petronius Maximus advised the resident of Rome to “run away!”, which they did, murdering him on the way. The Vandals sacked Rome for the second time over a period of two weeks, and although the name ‘Vandal’ has gone down in history for thoughtless destruction, perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it sounds- there is no archaeological evidence for wanton obliteration. Genseric went back to North Africa, taking Eudoxia with him. Meanwhile, the Gallo-Roman Avitus, who had been sent by Petronius Maximus to Theodoric II to get the support of the Goths, learned about Maximus’ death, and Theodoric suggested that Avitus become emperor. Theodoric might have thought that this was a good idea, but Emperor Marcian in the East wasn’t sure; Genseric started raiding again and the Italians were resentful about the ascent of the “Gallo-Roman” emperor. So Ricamer and Majorian deposed Avitus, but didn’t kill him immediately, making him Bishop of Piacenza instead, perhaps because they didn’t want Marcian to get angry, or to keep Gothic support.But then Marcian died anyway, and Avitus was killed soon after.

Episode 175 Trying to Take it All Back sees Majorian marching around trying to reassert Imperial authority over the provinces while Ricimer remained in Italy. Ricimer knew that he couldn’t become emperor in his own right because of his Germanic background so Majorian was proclaimed emperor with Ricimer behind the scenes. They wanted to “make the empire great again” and they reinstituted the navy and Majorian invaded Gaul and defeated the Goths. The Gallic nobles acquiesced when they found out that their tax debts would be waived. Majorian then turned his eyes to Spain, as a step in his broader plan of invading North Africa. But Genseric, knowing that they were coming, destroyed his own province Mauritania in a scorched-earth policy that would make an invasion difficult and infiltrated the ship-building port to destroy Majorian’s navy. The North African invasion was shelved. Ricamer and Majorian had a falling out, and Majorian was murdered on Ricimer’s orders.

Episode 176 The Quote Unquote Emperor. Well, the murder of Majorian didn’t go down well with a number of generals (especially Aegidius in Gaul and Marsellinus in Dalmatia) or the Vandal King Genseric in North Africa. Ricamer sent off old Agrippinis to his native Gaul, where he offered the Goths the region of Narbonne, which they jumped at because they had been wanting a Mediterranean port for ages. The rebel general Aegidius and Agrippinis met in battle, and Aegidius won. Meanwhile, the Vandals were still skirmishing and Genseric was starting to make Attilla-the-Hun type demands on the fortune of the Theodosian women that Genseric had taken back to North Africa with him, claiming that because he was protecting them, the fortune should go to him. After the murder of Majorian, Ricamer wanted someone pliable, so he appointed Emperor Severus, who was very weak and ended up dying anyway (possibly at Ricamer’s hand too). Ricamer took his sweet time in appointing a replacement.

Lives Less Ordinary (BBC) The Family That Went to War with a Dictatorship tells the story of Moshood Abiola, also known as MKO, a wealthy businessman who stood as presidential candidate in 1993, in the brief hiatus between military dictatorships in Nigeria. He was arrested and imprisoned for his efforts. His daughter Hafsat Abiola Costello and her mother agitated for his release, but both women paid a price, in different ways. This reminded me a bit of Gillian Slovo’s Every Secret Thing (my review here) in that politics can extol a high price from the family- and it certainly happened here.

New Books Network. Australian and New Zealand books don’t often feature in the New Books Network, so when Alastair Paton’s Of Marsupials and Men was featured, I decided to listen. I must admit that I hadn’t heard of this book, which is marketed as “the fascinating and often hilarious history of the men and women who dedicated their lives to understanding Australia’s native animals.” The author is a journalist rather than historian, and it sounds a rather breezy read, full of anecdotes. It seems to cover early attempts to draw animals, the acclimatization movement, collecting and sale of ‘exotic’ animals, and chapters on platypuses, sharks and snakes (not all of which are marsupials, the last time I looked). It sounds a pretty light read.

Archive on 4 (BBC). With the holding of the now-completed Commonwealth Games, Brum Britain looks at Birmingham, whose citizens hate being called the “second city”. It touches on the history of Birmingham, especially during the Industrial Revolution, but focuses mainly on the contribution of performers and comedians from Birmingham, including Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Hancock, Lenny Henry, and Julie Walters. Also thrown into the mix are Tolkien and Heavy Metal (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin) to Duran Duran, UB40, and Peaky Blinders.

File on 4. Dementia: The Final Indignity. There’s no dignity in dementia, and it is exacerbated by the haste with which dementia patients are bundled into adult nappies and incontinence pants, often to make life easier for the carers who do not have the time or availability to take a frail older person to the toilet. This is particularly true when an older person is admitted to hospital. But the person behind the wish to go to the toilet is ignored, and the last shreds of dignity are often discarded. Very depressing.

The History Listen. Perhaps some things should only be on video, not audio. Like this podcast, Inexpressible Island, which has beautiful descriptions of Antarctica, but I wish I could actually see what they’re describing. I only know Raymond Priestly from the Uni of Melbourne building that bears his name, but he was one of the Northern Party that was part of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). Scott and his team perished, of course, but the Northern Party had a pretty rough time too, unable to be relieved because pack ice prevented ships reaching them, and spending literally months in a dark ice cave. They had to walk for five weeks to arrive back at their ship.

History of Rome. Episode 171 The Gathering Storm. The Huns were not so much about sacking the empire, but as extorting indemnity payments. Why would you wreck a functioning economic structure??- you’re better off leaving it there and just threatening them. Theodosius II agreed to pay the go-away money. Meanwhile, in the West, Aetius was determined to hold on to Gaul, Hispania and Italy. He defeated Theodoric the Goth, then the Frank king Clodio. Over in the east,Theodosius II died after falling from a horse, and his sister Pulcheria stepped into the vacuum (just as she had when he was a kid). This time she was forced to find a husband, so she chose Marcian, who was so nondescript that he wouldn’t cramp her style. In fact, she crowned him.

Episode 172 Showdown. Valentinian III’s older sister Honoria was supposed to be married off to Herculanus who was dull and predicatable. She was neither of these things, and she appealed to Attila the Hun to come and rescue her – well, that’s the story, anyway- it may well have been a pretext. Either way Attila invaded Gaul, and when Clodio died, Aetius and Attila backed different sons in the Frankish succession. Attila seemed to be playing mindgames with all sides, and sowing discontent amongst the different sides so that they wouldn’t unite against him. In 451 he crossed the Rhine and marched as far as Orleans until the people locked them out. Theodoric the Goth finally agreed that the Goths would join Aetius and perhaps 150,00 Roman/Goths and Huns faced off at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. The Huns had to retreat, and the Goths went home to choose a new King. After licking their wounds, the Huns invaded again in 452 this time, heading for the Po Valley. They razed Aquileia (a major town) completely and Emperor Valentinian fled from Ravenna back to Rome.

Episode 173 The Broken Bow. Attila headed for Milan and sacked it. Valentinian sent envoys, including Bishop Leo of Rome to seek peace and amazingly enough, Attila agreed to withdraw! Why? Well, the Huns didn’t really want land and they had to take all their plundered gold home, their supply lines were stretched, and Attila’s troops were suffering from disease. He was getting ready to invade the East when he died. Then there were a succession of deaths: Valentinian killed Aetius himself (even though he was the most successful general Rome had), perhaps as an act of pre-emptive self defence, then Valentinian was assassinated. Between 450 and 455 those indomitable women Galla Placidia and Aelia Pulcheria died too. Petronius Maximus, who had plotted Aetius’ death became Emperor. By now, it is the end of imperial dynasties in the West- now it’s just a series of “Last Emperors”. And at this point, Mike Duncan announces that he’s going to finish at 475 AD because it’s a good spot to finish AND because his wife is having a baby! (Who is, by now 10 years old, given that I’m listening to this 10 years too late!)

The Philosopher’s Zone (ABC) I don’t very often listen to this program but I was interested in this episode Simone de Beauvoir: becoming a woman that unpacks Simone de Beauvoir’s statement in The Second Sex that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” – a statement that has acquired new meaning in recent years in transgender debates. The episode features Toril Moi, James B. Duke Professor of Literature and Romance Studies and Professor of English, Philosophy and Theatre Studies at Duke University. She points out that de Beauvoir personally never felt that she had been discriminated against, and it was only when she went back to the archives that she realized the historical discrimination against ‘the second sex’. The sex/gender distinction was a product of 1960s anglophone countries, and not even thought of in 1949 when she wrote The Second Sex. However, she thinks that de Beauvoir would be comfortable with the thought that all roles are evolving all the time.

History Hit Now that I’m drawing close to the end of my History of Rome series, I’m happy to backtrack on Roman history, and this episode of The Ancients: The Origins of Rome goes way, way back to Romulus and Remus.Professor Guy Bradley from Cardiff University points out that all of the sources that we have on early Rome were written seven centuries after the events in 8BCE, and so the distinction between mythology and history was muddied. Romulus and Remus were supposed to have been born in Alba Longa, but no evidence of the city prior to Rome exists, although there is pre-1000 BCE evidence of settlement in Rome itself, including walls and remains of the 8BCE Temple of Vesta. It is almost impossible to separate out Roman archaeological artefacts from those of surrounding cultures, and there are logistic difficulties in digging under Roman ruins to find anything from earlier settlement.

History This Week Convert or Leave goes back to July 31, 1492 when the Alhambra decree came into effect, requiring all Spanish Jews to either convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. The process actually started 100 years earlier when a program of ‘conversion’ began, whereby Jews were singled out for specific tax treatment unless they converted to Christianity. In a way, it was a victim of its own success, as huge numbers did convert, but they often continued to follow family practices that, while Jewish in origin, were not recognized as such- as far as they were concerned, it wasn’t religious: it was just the way they did things in their family. People were suspicious over whether they really had converted, and the tax base shrank because there were fewer Jews. The Inquisition had been around for a long time, but in the 1470s Ferdinand and Isabella put it under the control of the crown – literally, the ‘Spanish’ inquisition, rather than the papal one. In 1491 Torquemada went to Ferdinand and Isabella and suggested expulsion of the remaining Jews to solve the problem. The Alhambra decree was framed as a way of protecting the conversos (i.e. converted Jews) from the bad influence of continuing Jews- huh! The program finished off by talking about immigration and the way that fear is engendered whenever you have a large group of people who continue to congregate together, and doubts are cast on the authenticity of their new status.

Adelaide Writers Festival. The Ivanhoe Reading Circle read Gideon Haigh’s The Brilliant Boy this month. I read it only a few months ago, and I didn’t have time to re-read it. So I listened to Gideon Haigh instead, talking at the Adelaide Writers Festival. I was a bit disappointed, though, that so much time was spent chatting about cricket and Shane Warne. Still, a good way of reminding myself about the book without re-reading it.

Afternoon Light (Menzies Research Centre) I can hardly believe that I went to this website for this second podcast by Gideon Haigh The Brilliant Boy: Remembering the Achievements of Dr H. V. Evatt. True to its name, the Menzies Research Centre is a Liberal/Conservative centre, whose self-proclaimed mission is to “uphold and promote Sir Robert’s legacy and vision for Australia as a country of freedom, opportunity, enterprise, and individual dignity.” Menzies and Evatt were contemporaries in many ways: both of fairly humble origins, both scholarship boys, both lawyers, both politicians. But for many years, Evatt was Menzies’ punching-bag in Parliament, never becoming Prime Minister (as he expected he would do) let alone PM for a total of 19 years as Menzies did. Here Gideon Haigh is interviewed by Georgina Downer in an intelligent but rather gloating interview.

History of Rome Episode 168 The Rise of Aetius This is all getting terribly confusing, but let’s just take stock. In 425 the six-year old Valentinian III became the Western Emperor, a position he shared with the Eastern Emperor, his cousin Theodosius II. This looked united, but it wasn’t really- instead it was a series of different rival power centres. The Eastern empire based in Constantinople seemed more stable, but it still had the Sassanids to the East and the Huns to the north. The Western Empire was a mess, with the Franks in North East Gaul, the Goths in South West Gaul, the Vandals in Hispania, and Bonifatius acting like an independent warlord in North Africa. Valentinian and Theodosius were emperors, but the real power lay in the hands of two women, Valentinian’s mother Placidia in the west, and Theodosius’ sister Pulcheria in the east. Meanwhile, Aetius controlled tens of thousands of troops, and his loyalty was suspect. Aetius was a Roman general, who had an an ‘interesting’ start to his military career. Born in 391, between 405 and 408 he was kept as hostage at the court of Alaric I, king of the Visigoths, then after that was sent to the court of Uldin, king of the Huns. He seemed to swap sides a bit, and seemed to be rather devious in seeding false rumours to Valentinian’s mother and regent Galla Placidia, at the expense of another Roman general Bonifatius, who was based in North Africa, and a rival power with access to Galla Placidia’s ear. Bonifatius was busy dealing with the Vandals in North Africa (they used to say that he invited them in, but there’s doubt about that now) and the Vandals laid siege to Hippo, during which St Augustine, who was living there, died. Then Aetius and Bonfatius ended up fighting each other: Aetius was beaten and ran away to the Huns where he plotted his revenge with Rua, the King of the Huns. Bonifacius died of his injuries, and Aetius returned to Ravenna with his Hun army and took over all of Bonifacius’ lands, and married his widow (!). So now he was the most powerful soldier in the Western Empire – and one of the most important men in Roman history, at the last phase of its history.

Episode 169 Huns and Vandals and Goths, Oh My. For a number of years now the Huns had been a destabilizing force, but they pretty much stayed where they were. However, in the mid 420s under the new leadership of Attila and his brother Bleda, the Huns began issuing threats to invade Constantinople unless they received go-away money. It wasn’t just the Romans who were subject to this extortion: they threatened the Sassanids as well. In 431 Theodosius II sent his troops to North Africa to pacify the Vandals (which was really Valentinian’s problem) and then used them to kill the Burgundians. While they were off fighting, Theodosian issued the Theodosian Code, which codified all the laws since 331 AD (i.e. since Christian times), and this was to later form the basis of the Justinian Code. Meanwhile, the Goth king Theodoric wanted a Mediterranean port, and so he embarked on war again. In 439 the Vandals invaded Africa again and took over Carthage. Genseric (a Vandal) was accepted by the North Africans because the Romans had pretty much neglected North Africa anyway. The Vandals formed a navy and conquered the Mediterranean, and meanwhile the Huns were arising again.

Episode 179 Attila Cometh. Up until now, most of the pressure had been on the Western Empire, but now the Eastern Empire faced the rise of Attila the Hun. Theodosius had sent most of his troops off to Africa, and the Sassanids (briefly) and Huns took advantage of their absence. In 441 the Huns invaded as a way of extorting more money from the empire. Led by Attila and Bleda, their troops were good at besieging cities, and walls were now barrier. But the brothers fought, and Bleda ended up dead (at Attila’s hand??) and so, counting on Hun disunity, the Romans refused to pay the go-away money. In 447 Attila decided to march on Constantinople, where the Theodosian Walls had been damaged by an earthquake. The walls were rebuilt in an amazing two months, and they held and Constaninople avoided being invaded- but all the other Roman troops were just blown away. Meanwhile, Aetius was forced to recognize the Vandals in North Africa. Genseric continued to provide food for the empire (which was the main reason that the Romans wanted North Africa) but did not pay taxes. There were rebel bands everywhere, and Aetius did well to hold it all together as much as he did.

The Documentary (BBC) My Granny the Slave. British journalist Claire Hynes travelled to Antigua to learn more about an Antiguan foremother, who is thought to be one of the first women to flee a slave plantation in the Caribbean island of Antigua. Claire grew up learning a 200 year-old story passed down through generations about her enslaved ancestor known as Missy Williams. As a young woman Missy risked her life to escape the physical and sexual brutality of plantation life, hiding out in a cave. Although she had been told that her family “The Williams” were important, she found that only the white Williams’ were documented, and that there were virtually no records of enslaved Africans. She learned more about the hard life on a sugar plantation, and the use of violence to prevent escape. She reflects at the end on the importance of the search for identity not for the people who have always lived in Barbados, but more for those who emigrated to Britain and have lost all connection

Tides of History and Al Franken Podcast With all this History of Rome listening, I’m finding myself increasingly interested in Alaric the Goth, and especially a recent biography written by Douglas Boin. I’ve found that the ‘New Books Network’ podcasts have been a good way of getting the flavour of a book without actually having to read it, so I thought I might be able to do the same with Boin’s Alaric the Goth: An Outsider’s History of the Fall of Rome. Not so- and it made me realize how carefully the New Books Network podcasts trace out the argument of the book for someone who hasn’t read it while at the same time engaging with the debate. I listened to Tides of History, which had a good discussion about the problems of writing with a thin and one-side historiography but assumed too much familiarity with the book. But even worse was the interview on The Al Franken podcast, where the host spent far too long making partisan links to today’s politics (the connections are there, to be sure, but let’s take the history on its own terms) and really didn’t seem to know much. Really, I don’t know how Boin could be bothered.

The Daily (NYT) It was possible to take some comfort from the recent rejection in Kansas of a referendum that would have added a constitutional prohibition to seeking abortion in Kansas. In How to Interpret the Kansas Referendum on Abortion, the presenters point out that Kansas, where abortions can still be carried out, is surrounded by states where it will now be illegal. Some of their interviewees opposed abortion personally, but did not feel that they could impose that on others. If only more people felt that way.

History of Rome Episode 165 Reviving the Roman Name Ataulf continued with Alaric’s desire for his Goths to cement their place in the Empire, and didn’t really want to invade Ravenna. Neither did Constantius really want to push the issue either, so there was a bit of a stalemate. In a bit of inter-Goth warfare, Sarus and Ataulf fought, and Sarus was killed, and then Ataulf argued with Jovinus (who had become a puppet emperor supported by Gundahar and the Burgundians- sounds like a musical group- after the death of Constantine III). The Goths and the German tribes did not join together: instead the Goths and the Romans got together. The Goths hoped to be creating a new dynasty within the Empire. But Constantius and Honorious joined forces against the Goths, hoping to starve them into submission. The Goths went to Hispania and Ataulf was murdered in his bath, without leaving a clearcut replacement. Sigeric, Sarus’ brother quickly seized power but he was assassinated too. Wallia took over, at a time when morale among the Goth ranks was very low, and he accepted vassal status within the Empire. Britain was looking out for itself, and Rome never went back. Politically and militarily, Brittania was lost to the Empire for ever.

In Episode 166 As Long As She’s Nice to Look At There was a fear that the Empire would lose Hispania again to the Alani and the Vandals, so the Goths were offered Aquitaine in exchange for fighting the Alani and other rebels. This gave the Goths a stable source of food. Wallia died and was replaced by Theodoric. Valentinian III was born to Constantius III and his now-wife Galla Placidia. What a life she had- daughter of Theodosius I, captured by Alaric, married off to Ataulf, then forced by her brother Honorius into a marriage with Constantius III. Valentinian III was thus the heir presumptive to the Western empire, which strengthened Constantius’ position, and he was quickly elevated to Augustus. But this was opposed by the eastern Emperor Theodosius II. That’s right! there was an Eastern Empire too- we’d forgotten about them. Over in the east, the truce with the Sassanids meant that Constantinople was safe. Theodosius II was still young, and largely under the influence of the powerful Prefect Athemius (who built the Theodosian Walls). His sister Pulcheria assumed the role of Augusta and along with her sisters, immediately took a vow of virginity. Once he turned 20, Theodosius demanded that if he was to marry at all, she had to be beautiful. Aelia Eudocia obviously fitted the bill, because he married her. Meanwhile, over in the Western Empire, Honorius and Constantius were furious at Theodosius’ rejection of Constantius’ III dynastic plans and they were preparing for war, when Constantius III died.

Episode 167 Exploiting the Opportunity takes us back to the Eastern Empire where where war was briefly reignited with the Sassanids over religion. Pulcheria was anti-Pagan, while the King of the Sassanids was anti-Christian. But just in time, Honorius died, which put Valentinian III in the box seat, even though he hadn’t received any of the usual titles- very poor succession planning. The nobles placed Joannes as emperor instead, but this was opposed by the North Africans, who chose Flavius Aetius instead, who led a large force of Huns. God, this is confusing.

Democracy Sausage. I usually listen to both The Party Room (ABC) and Mark Kenny’s podcast Democracy Sausage, but I don’t very often record them here in this blog because the content is pretty ephemeral. But this episode Back in the Bubble has historian Frank Bongiorno (the newly minted president of the AHA and one of my favourite ‘young’ historians) and he’s always worth listening to.

Revisionist History For some time, Canada has had a system where additional to (and this is important) Canada’s refugee intake, they have allowed private sponsorship of refugees. (Australia has a program too, but it is not additional to our refugee intake and has been fairly heavily criticized). In this episode, I Was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me, Malcolm Gladwell looks close to home, where he asks his family about their involvement in bringing three Vietnamese refugees to Canada in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Most of the support group were involved in local churches, and churches remain an important component of the Canadian private sponsorship scheme. Apart from this, the program considers ‘kindness’, and its opposite in the meanness and active hostility of the US (and I would argue, Australian) refugee systems.

The Real Story (BBC). Bolsonaro v Lula: The race to lead Brazil Elections are coming up for Brazil, and there’s a good chance that it will be between Jair Bolsonaro and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has fashioned himself on Trump, and is already positioning himself to claim electoral fraud. Bolsonaro had a lot of support from evangelical Christians (70%) but he can’t count on this for the next election. It sounds as if he has dismantled many of the civic bodies in Brazilian society. Meanwhile, Lula couldn’t stand last election because he was convicted of fraud- a judgement that was later overturned. I know who I’m barracking for.