Hey, of us. One other Fireplace this week! I had hoped to have the science fiction physique armor put up able to go this week, however along with the continued work on the ebook undertaking, I used to be requested to put in writing a overview of the now-out-in-the-USA Gladiator II and that consumed a good bit of my time, pushing the science fiction physique armor put up into subsequent week. Now the overview itself will probably be popping out sooner or later in International Coverage. We’re completely going to cowl vital components of this film right here as properly as a result of its historical past is bonkers however I’m going to depart most of that till later (most likely ready for the film to hit streaming, so I can undergo the battle scenes intimately) if for no different purpose than that the great individuals at International Coverage are paying me write this overview for them and it will hardly be sporting to then put up all my ideas without cost on-line earlier than it even comes out.
That mentioned, I did quip on-line that, “It has been 24 years for the reason that first Gladiator movie and in all that point, I see that Ridley Scott has nonetheless not realized how Roman names work.” Which isn’t one thing I had the phrases to get into within the FP overview, so I suppose we will talk about that right here!
So for this this week’s musing, let’s discuss how Roman names work.
Roman naming conventions for the interval of the republic and the early empire are literally fairly formulaic: there’s for probably the most half a system for forming Roman names, each female and male and it’s in consequence typically fairly straightforward to identify conditions the place some author is making an attempt to make one thing that sounds like a Roman title, however doesn’t truly know the way these names kind. And the type of Roman names mattered in Roman society: a reputation shaped within the Roman vogue was, as an example, a key market of Roman citizen identification, to the purpose that people who gained Roman citizenship typically took up a Roman-style title.
For males, the Roman title was shaped in a construction known as the tria nomina (‘the three names’) which frequently will get shortened into English into the phrase ‘trinomen.’ The tria nomina consisted of three components: the praenomen (‘before-name’), nomen (‘title’) and cognomen (‘after-name’), every of which has a regular kind and function.
The praenomen was the ‘given’ or private title of a person, given to them by their dad and mom on the event of their ritual purification, usually a couple of week after start. Usually each Roman male in a household would have a special praenomen, however the Romans are usually not inventive relating to first names. There are roughly 30 common Roman praenomena, of which solely a couple of dozen or so are frequent at any given time, with the consequence that Roman private names are drawn from a very slender pool. Additional compounding this, it was widespread and anticipated with each households and bigger clans (what the Romans name a gens) to reuse frequent household praenomina. Thus as an example, Appius Claudius Caecus (cos. 307, 296; dict. 285; cens. 312) – his grandfather was additionally Appius Claudius and so was his eldest son (Appius Claudius Russus, cos. 268) and one in every of his grandsons (Appius Claudius Pulcher, cos. 212) and three of his great-grand-sons (Appius Claudius Nero, praet. 195; Appius Claudius Pulcher, cos. 185; and Appius Claudius Centho, praet. 175). Certainly, there are such a lot of Appius Claudius Pulchers that Wikipedia has a disambiguation page for just the important ones.
This naming conference truly signifies one thing fairly vital to know concerning the Romans which is that this isn’t a strongly individualistic tradition, at the least by trendy requirements. Romans are outlined, of their names, principally by being another iteration of a household custom and even probably the most individualistic a part of their title – the praenomen – is a cookie-cutter nod to household traditions. The perfect Roman household was, in impact, one Appius Claudius after the following, each rather a lot like his father, on and on eternally.
As a result of there have been solely a handful of widespread praenomina it was widespread in writing to abbreviate them, since everybody knew what title you have been indicating. These abbreviations have been commonplace and Wikipedia actually has a really handy list of them. Appius was Ap. or App., Lucius was L., Titus was T. and Tiberius Ti. and so forth. Gaius is C. as a result of G and C have been, initially, not distinct letters in Latin writing (likewise Gnaeus is Cn.). When you wanted to point a particular Appius Claudius Pulcher in antiquity, the usual kind was to provide the title of his father and probably grandfather, so App. Claudius C. f. App. n. Pulcher is brief for “Appius Claudius Gaii filius Appii nepos Pulcher” and so in English, “Appius Claudius, son of Gaius [Claudius], grandson of Appius [Claudius], Pulcher.” Trendy students are inclined to as an alternative specify figures within the republic by the best workplace held, so we’d as an alternative write this man as Ap. Claudius Pulcher (cos. 143), which has the added ease of constructing it straightforward to seek out the particular person in the usual prosopographical reference texts, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic (1951; abbreviated as MRR)and the Prosopographia Imperii Romani (1897-2015, abbreviated PIR).
The subsequent title was the nomen, which was the masculine type of the title of a person’s gens or clan and you’ll inform by the truth that it’s simply known as the nomen (“title”) that it is a fairly core a part of somebody’s identification and marked a person as a Roman citizen, however past that there’s not so much to say. Its vital, however not sophisticated.
The ‘final’ title(s) was the cognomen. Cognomina typically started as nicknames and normally self-effacing ones. Nonetheless by the Center Republic, we see that a number of early cognomina have successfully frozen, marking as an alternative vital branches of very massive gentes. Thus as an example the gens Cornelia, the most important gens in Rome, had greater than a dozen main branches, every marked by a regular cognomen: thus the Cornelii Scipiones, the Cornelii Sullae, the Cornelii Lentuli and so forth. Thus Julius Caesar’s title (Gaius Julius Caesar) marks him as a member of the Julian gens and a part of the Caesares department of it.
That mentioned, cognomina as nicknames additionally nonetheless sometimes occurred, normally utilized by the Senate primarily based on main achievements. That can lead to a person with a number of cognomina, since they stack slightly than change one another. Thus the victor at Zama over Hannibal is Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus: He’s of the Scipio department of the Cornelian gens and has the nickname Africanus, ‘the African’ to mark his victory in Africa over Hannibal.
A ultimate quirk to notice is that males from lesser, plebeian households may not have all three names, however solely two: the praenomen and the nomen as a result of they arrive from a gens that isn’t vital sufficient to have wide-reaching branches. Usually should you see a Roman man with simply two names, like Gaius Marius or Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey), its protected to imagine they’re a plebeian and from a comparatively undistinguished household (in each circumstances these males are from rich households that have been a part of the Italian aristocracy however outsiders to the Roman aristocracy: the Marii have been from Arpinum, the Pompeii from Picenum).
Now that’s the system for Roman males. For Roman girls, the system is each less complicated and extra irritating. Early within the Republic, Roman girls appear to have had common praenomina, however have been referred to in public by their nomen and by the Center Republic feminine praenomina appear to have dropped away, leaving girls with simply their nomen as their total title. Thus each lady of a given gens had the identical title: the female type of the gens. Thus each lady born to a father of the Julian gens was simply Julia. Now we know that these girls usually had nicknames and such to tell apart them (particularly a number of sisters who would thus share a reputation), however one in every of Rome’s patriarchal attitudes is that it was typically rude to speak about one other man’s womenfolk in public and actually to make use of their nicknames in public. So whereas we all know that each one of those girls had extra personalised names, they not often come all the way down to us.
When writers do have to tell apart, there are some commonplace varieties. We are inclined to see two sisters distinguished as ‘Maior’ and ‘Minor’ (‘Elder’ and ‘Youthful’); Julius Caesar’s sisters have been thus Julia Maior and Julia Minor. We additionally see using diminutives to tell apart girls, thus the spouse of Augustus is usually often called Livia Drusilla as a result of her father was Marcus Livius Drusus. Likelihood is she had an elder sister who was simply Livia and she or he was distinguished as “Livia-little-Drusus” (Drusilla being the female diminutive of Drusus). Roman girls didn’t change their names after they married.
These guidelines stay very agency within the Center and Late Republics, however start to fuzz a bit within the imperial interval, starting with the names of emperors. Emperors had names, beginning with Augustus (Imperator Caesar Augustus) which have been extra like titles, usually taking ‘Imperator’ (‘victorious common’) as their praenomen. It additionally turns into widespread for emperors to take names connecting themselves to different, earlier well-liked emperors, creating the pleasant veneer of household continuity even when there was none. Thus, as an example, Domitian’s full regnal title was Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus, even supposing he’s wholly unrelated to the Julio-Claudian household. As we get additional into the empire, these names get more and more baroque together with their references, typically reaching again to check with standard, well-liked emperors. Thus the emperor Caracalla’s regnal title was Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, making an attempt to attract a (fictive!) connection to Marcus Aurelius (Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus) and Antoninus Pius (Imperator Caesar Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius). Such names have been meant to provide a way of stability, even when politics have been removed from steady.
For individuals who weren’t emperor, the foundations maintain longer. The primary main fuzz we begin to see within the second century A.D. as Roman elites begin to undertake each paternal and maternal names (to emphasise the dignity of their heritage), resulting in ‘binary nomenclature’ and thus more and more lengthy and sophisticated names. Such names are nonetheless composed of the usual set of names, however with a number of nomina and cognomina drawn from completely different households, in some circumstances to an absurd diploma over a number of generations. The opposite sluggish change is that household praenomina turn out to be much more commonplace and sometimes start to be repeated (e.g. a number of brothers all named Gaius or Titus or what have you ever), lowering their worth for figuring out people. In consequence we begin to see cognomina considerably usurp the specification position of praenomina.
What actually throws the system out is the Constitutio Antoniniana (213), an edict of Caracalla extending citizenship to all free individuals within the Empire. Whereas a Roman-style title had beforehand been a transparent market of Roman citizen identification, now nearly everybody was a citizen. Following Roman custom, new residents took the nomen of the one that granted them citizenship (on this case, Aurelius) however when so many individuals all have the identical nomen, it stops being helpful after which stops getting used, besides on official paperwork.
That mentioned, this all started with my quip that Ridley Scott has nonetheless not realized how Roman names work and we will present that neatly together with his most well-known Roman character: Maximus Decimus Meridius. Maximus isn’t a praenomen, however slightly a cognomen, whereas Decimus is a daily Roman praenomen and we will assume then that Meridius is his nomen (a fictive gens Meridia). So his title ought to learn Decimus Meridius Maximus, though Maximus, “the best” could be an astoundingly conceited and silly cognomen for anybody not an emperor to take.
Whereas we’re right here, in that well-known scene he additionally declares himself “Common of the Felix Legions” which can be not a factor. The Romans don’t have formal ‘armies’ to be generals of, however as mentioned have legati in control of both a single legion or an imperial province. On condition that he’s main armies in a battle on the Danube in what’s presumably the Marcomannic Wars, our Maximus would most likely have been the legatus Augusti professional praetore (and thus a senator), maybe of Pannonia Superior, considerably satirically Septimius Severus’ province (he’s the daddy of Geta and Caracalla, the villains of Gladiator II) earlier than he seized energy. And likewise the ‘Felix Legions’ are usually not a factor, however that’s an entire separate dialogue of how Roman legions are named.
In any case, I’ve seen Gladiator II (my editor bought me right into a press screening): search for my overview in International Coverage doubtless someday this weekend or subsequent week (I’ve filed it, its in modifying) and I’m additionally trying ahead to creating an look on the Historians on the Motion pictures (HATM) podcast to speak concerning the film with Jason Herbert and Sarah E. Bond; uncertain when that podcast will come out (we’re recording subsequent week).
On to suggestions!
In the meantime, simply because my views on Gladiator II aren’t but printed that doesn’t imply that nobody else’s are. I notably preferred Alexandra Sills’ first impressions and in addition a longer set of second impressions which will get into each the spectacular bombast of the movie but additionally among the thematic components that find yourself feeling a bit much less nice if one stops to consider them (the movie particularly indulges in a number of gay-is-evil coding, as an example). Sills additionally shouts out the battle scene firstly for evaluation by historic army historians and – properly, it’s functionally pure nonsense and I feel we’ll come again to choose that nonsense aside in additional element when the film hits streaming and I can undergo shot by shot. Sills – a scholar of the sector engaged on a ebook on gladiators – also has a piece with Working Classicists on the gladiatorial elements of the movie and their plausibility.
For some historic vogue, on this case from Medieval Nubia (spotted via the always interesting Pasts Imperfect newsletter), Medievalist.net features work by the “Costumes of Authority” project showing off some truly spectacular modern recreations of elite medieval fashion from Nubia (immediately southern Egypt and northern Sudan). I imply, simply take a look at what they’ve achieved, it’s actually spectacular:
This form of recreation work is all the time astoundingly spectacular to me, because it requires mastery of each the representational proof, but additionally the supplies and strategies used to provide them. In any case, I’m notably completely happy to see this achieved for a area of the world (medieval Africa) which not often will get this sort of consideration.
For this week’s ebook suggestion, I’m going to advocate L. Keppie, Slingers and Sling Bullets in the Roman Civil Wars of the Late Republic, 90-31 BC (2023). The very first thing to notice is that the ebook’s remit is a bit broader than the title implies, in that Keppie each reaches to earlier proof from the Center Republic and later proof kind the imperial interval to border his dialogue of slingers and sling bullets. Nonetheless, the main focus is broadly on the Late Republic as a result of that’s the interval from which we now have a big corpus of surviving sling bullets, principally in lead but additionally some stone and ceramic. The ensuing quantity is slim at nearly 100 pages, however the pages are well-used and far of the archaeological proof is new or solely not too long ago collected.
To me, the nice advantage of the ebook is that whereas Keppie might have merely written a research of archaeologically recovered sling bullets, he goals a bit broader. The opening chapter covers the place of slingers in Mediterranean armies, pulling collectively the scattered proof for his or her use and gear. Slingers, like many mild infantry troops, generally tend to recede into the background of each historic sources and trendy scholarship, overshadowed by the extra prestigious heavy infantry and cavalry. And to be honest, slingers weren’t usually the decisive arm of any military in battle, however they have been a typical sight on historic battlefields and particularly in historic sieges. As Keppie notes, sure areas have been specifically famous for producing high-quality slingers, notably Aetolia in Greece and the Balearic Islands and slingers from each locales present up on occasion as auxiliaries in Roman armies. A later chapter covers the proof for slingers from the imperial interval; we will know the Romans continued to make use of slingers as they seem as a devoted troop-type in Roman art work, though auxiliary cohorts of slingers (funditores) are unattested, in contrast to the cohortes sagittariae (archers). Keppie argues, persuasively, for a local sling custom in Italy and that legionaries may additionally at occasions have doubled as slingers and that sling bullet manufacturing could have been supervised by centurions (thus the Latin inscriptions).
The core of the ebook, nonetheless are six chapters masking the archaeological proof for slingers – nearly completely the presence of sling bullets – in Rome’s principally civil wars within the first century (although the presence of lots of of sling bullets from the Siege of Numantia (133) can be famous). Sling bullets, notably these forged in lead, usually have messages inscribed on them, which may function an enchanting glimpse into the tradition of widespread troopers. Most such inscriptions merely point out the unit to which the sling bullet belonged or the commander of its military, however we additionally get humorous and even vulgar inscriptions: acc[ipe], “take this!” or “pet[o] Octav[i]a culum” “I’m geared toward Octavian’s ass.”
The ebook is admittedly well-produced, with plenty of pictures, together with archaeological drawings of inscribed sling bullets and slingers in Roman art work but additionally comparative proof (as an example cash that choose up the identical visible motifs as sling bullets). Slingers and Sling Bullets is a quantity that I feel will probably be fairly helpful for a variety of readers: it’s straightforward sufficient to learn for the fanatic who desires to find out about slingers on historic battlefields, however detailed sufficient (with sufficient notes) that superior college students and even specialists will discover it a helpful handbook on a subject that merely doesn’t get a lot consideration within the scholarship.
