Cassius Dio and the Principate

Cassius Dio and the Principate

Christopher Burden-Strevens (editor)

Jesper Majbom Madsen (editor)

Antonio Pistellato

 

In the Imperial books of his Roman History, Cassius Dio focuses on individual emperors and imperial institutions to promote a political framework for the ideal monarchy, and to theorise autocracy’s typical problems and their solutions. The distinctive narrative structure of Dio’s work creates a unique sense of the past and allows us to see Roman history through a specific lens: that of a man who witnessed the Principate from the Antonines to the Severans. When Dio was writing, the Principate was a full-fledged historical fact, having experienced more than two hundred years of history, good and bad emperors, and three major civil wars. This collection of seven essays sets out to address these issues, and to see Dio not as an ‘adherent’ to or ‘advocate’ of monarchy, but rather as a theorist of its development and execution. 

Publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press
Publication place	Venice, Italy
Published on	2020-12-21
Series	Lexis Supplements vol. 2 ISSN Print: 2724-3362 ISSN Digital: 2724-3362
ISBN	978-88-6969-472-1 (Paperback)
	978-88-6969-472-1 (PDF)

 

The Unwound Yarn: Birth and Development of Textile Tools Between Levant and Egypt

The Unwound Yarn: Birth and Development of Textile Tools Between Levant and Egypt

Chiara Spinazzi-Lucchesi

 

This book reviews certain of the most important archaeological finds of textile tools, in order to draw a picture of the spinning and weaving technologies adopted in the Levant and Egypt from the Neolithic to the Persian period. A brief description of the objects found at several sites is provided to highlight differences of materials and tool design in order to better understand developments in weaving technology across this region. Textile tools housed in the Museo Egizio di Torino are also examined here for the first time. These include spindles and spindle whorls, bone spatulae and needles, which for the most part originate from Schiaparelli’s excavations at the Workers’ village of Deir el-Medina. A general analysis is provided, which compares these objects to the tools known from other sites in Egypt, as well as a catalogue, which provides further description and exact measurements for each object of the collection. 

 

Publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari – Venice University Press
Publication place	Venice, Italy
Published on	2018-07-04
Series	Antiquity Studies vol. 18 ISSN Print: 2610-9344 ISSN Digital: 2610-9344
ISBN	978-88-6969-232-1 (Paperback)
	978-88-6969-232-1 (PDF)

 

À la porte des mondes: Histoire de l'Ibérie du Caucase, IIIe siècle a.C. - VIIe siècle p.C.

 À la porte des mondes: Histoire de l'Ibérie du Caucase, III^e siècle a.C. - VII^e siècle p.C.

Nicolas J. Preud'homme

  

An ancient kingdom established at the exit of the Darial Gorge, where the Roman Empire, Iran and the nomads of the northern steppes all met, played a pivotal role in the history of Southern Caucasia from the Hellenistic period until the 6th century CE. This country amalgamated various peoples and communities around the middle course of the Kura River. Juggling with dynastic rivalries, ethnic fragmentation, multiple languages and diverse cultures, the kings and princes of Caucasian Iberia demonstrated remarkable powers of adaptation to ensure their territorial influence, assert their legitimacy and occupy a place of choice in transnational alliance networks. The Iberian political system struck a balance between the aristocracy and the court through a diarchy which associated the king and his pitiaxēs. Entering Rome’s orbit after Pompey’s invasion in 65 BCE, the Iberians forged a partnership with the Roman leaders until the late-ancient period which was, however, not free from ambivalence. The 260s CE marked a momentous turning point in the evolution of Iberian royal power, when the growing influence of the Sasanians instigated a dynastic change for the benefit of the Mihranids. In a context of spiritual ferment bringing various religions into competition, Iberian leaders gradually decided to reform the sacred bases of their power. At the beginning of the 5th century CE, the invention of a first official form of Georgian writing illustrated this new political and religious consensus around a kingship that had become Christian—a crucial step in the process of ethnogenesis. From the Hellenistic period to the advent of Islam, ancient Iberian society, shaped on an Iranian model with a strong aristocratic component, highlighted certain charismatic women who occupied leading functions in religious and social life. The adaptability to circumstances demonstrated by the Iberians provides a remarkable example of a country of modest size evolving through the age of the great empires of Antiquity. In their epigraphy and Georgian chronicles, the Iberians have also left us their own vision of History over these thousand years of existence.
 

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Publisher: Ausonius Éditions

Place of publication: Bordeaux

Published on OpenEdition Books: September 11, 2026

Digital ISBN: 978-2-35613-767-8

DOI: 10.4000/16rge

Series: Scripta Antiqua | 181

Year of publication: 2024

ISBN (Print version): 978-2-35613-608-4

Number of pages: 564

 

Avant-propos

Introduction

Chapitre 1

La genèse du peuple des “Hommes”

Chapitre 2

L’Ibérie à l’école des rois et des imperatores (69 a.C. - 72 p.C.)

Chapitre 3

L’apogée d’une puissance régionale ibère (72 p.C.-260 p.C.)

Chapitre 4

L’intégration économique des territoires ibères

Chapitre 5

La topographie du pouvoir en Ibérie

Chapitre 6

Les institutions et l’organisation de la société ibère

Chapitre 7

La révolution mihranide et les mutations du iii^e siècle

Chapitre 8

De Mirian à Bacurius : les Ibères au iv^e siècle

Chapitre 9

Les dynamiques religieuses dans l’Ibérie ancienne

Chapitre 10

Langues et signes du pouvoir en Ibérie

Chapitre 11

De l’ère des rois à l’âge des princes (v^e-vii^e siècle)

Chapitre 12

Écrire et réécrire la mémoire et l’histoire de l’Ibérie

Conclusion

Annexes

Bibliographie

Index des noms

 

 

LAMAN Hittite Name Finder

 [First posted in AWOL 12 October 2022, updated 12 September 2026]

LAMAN Hittite Name Finder 

LAMAN is a searchable database of Hittite names. The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian civilization (modern-day Türkiye), and their names appear primarily in cuneiform clay tablets dating back to the Late Bronze Age (c. 1700–1200 BCE).

This database helps researchers find and study these names, providing detailed information about:

• Divine Names (Deities) - Names of gods and goddesses
• Personal Names (People) - Names of individuals
• Geographical Names (Places) - Names of cities, mountains, and other locations

LAMAN distinguishes between 'Names', conceived as abstract entities, and their 'Attestations' in extant manuscripts. For further details on the treatment of variant readings, correspondences between spellings and names, and scope of the data pool, please refer to the Guide.

LAMAN was initiated by Michele Cammarosano in 2019 within the framework of the DFG-funded project Hittite Local Cults, with the generous support of Marco Marizza, Max Gander, Eileen Xing, and Hartmut Oertel. Since 2022, the project has been co-managed by M. Ali Akman, who transformed the initial list into a structured database and has provided fundamental improvements to the conception and planning of new features and research. With the arrival of Adam Kryszeń in 2026, the project is now poised to include the full potential of geographical names. Our trio is currently working toward the development of a fully coherent and comprehensive onomastic database of Hittite names.

 

Teaching Dido: Critical Perspectives on Aeneid 4

Teaching Dido: Critical Perspectives on Aeneid 4

Ingo Gildenhard

 

A companion to Virgil, Aeneid 4, with Study Questions, Vocabulary, and Commentary (https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0527) (OBP 2026), Teaching Dido includes five essays that explore aspects of Virgil’s poetry in a student-friendly way. They range from issues in poetics (verse design, allusion) to key themes (‘historiographical Dido’, religion, pietās). Six reprinted scholarly articles follow, allowing students and their teachers to engage directly with some of the research that informs the essays and the commentary and to broaden their appreciation of Dido, the Aeneid, Virgil, and the wider historical context. Topics covered include the ethics of hospitality, the interface of intertextuality and psychology in the construction of character, Carthage and Rome as imperial powers, racecraft in Aeneid 4, Virgil’s authorial self-fashioning and negotiation of the Augustan new normal, the myth of Troy in Rome’s cultural imaginary, and Dido’s place within Virgil’s philosophy of history. 

 

Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Publication place	Cambridge, UK
Published on	2026-07-03
Book set	This book is part of a 2-volume set. The other volume in the set is: Virgil, Aeneid 4, with Study Questions, Vocabulary, and Commentary
Series	Classics Textbooks vol. 9 ISSN Print: 2054-2437 ISSN Digital: 2054-2445
ISBN	978-1-80511-946-3 (Paperback)
	978-1-80511-947-0 (Hardback)
	978-1-80511-948-7 (PDF)
	978-1-80511-950-0 (HTML)
	978-1-80511-949-4 (EPUB)

Cicero, On Pompey's Command (De Imperio), 27-49: Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, Commentary, and Translation

Cicero, On Pompey's Command (De Imperio), 27-49: Latin Text, Study Aids with Vocabulary, Commentary, and Translation

Ingo Gildenhard (author)

Louise Hodgson (author)

 

In republican times, one of Rome's deadliest enemies was King Mithridates of Pontus. In 66 BCE, after decades of inconclusive struggle, the tribune Manilius proposed a bill that would give supreme command in the war against Mithridates to Pompey the Great, who had just swept the Mediterranean clean of another menace: the pirates. While powerful aristocrats objected to the proposal, which would endow Pompey with unprecedented powers, the bill proved hugely popular among the people, and one of the praetors, Marcus Tullius Cicero, also hastened to lend it his support. In his first ever political speech, variously entitled pro lege Manilia or de imperio Gnaei Pompei, Cicero argues that the war against Mithridates requires the appointment of a perfect general and that the only man to live up to such lofty standards is Pompey. In the section under consideration here, Cicero defines the most important hallmarks of the ideal military commander and tries to demonstrate that Pompey is his living embodiment. This course book offers a portion of the original Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and a commentary. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, the incisive commentary will be of particular interest to students of Latin at both AS and undergraduate level. It extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis and historical background to encourage critical engagement with Cicero's prose and discussion of the most recent scholarly thought. 

DOI	https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0045
Landing page	https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0045
License	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright	Ingo Gildenhard; Louise Hodgson
Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Publication place	Cambridge, UK
Published on	2014-09-03
Series	Classics Textbooks vol. 4 ISSN Print: 2054-2437 ISSN Digital: 2054-2445
ISBN	978-1-78374-077-2 (Paperback)
	978-1-78374-078-9 (Hardback)
	978-1-78374-079-6 (PDF)
	978-1-80064-472-4 (HTML)
	978-1-78374-080-2 (EPUB)
	978-1-78374-081-9 (MOBI)

 

Virgil, Aeneid, 4.1–299: Latin Text, Study Questions, Commentary and Interpretative Essays

Virgil, Aeneid, 4.1–299: Latin Text, Study Questions, Commentary and Interpretative Essays

Ingo Gildenhard

 

Love and tragedy dominate book four of Virgil’s most powerful work, building on the violent emotions invoked by the storms, battles, warring gods, and monster-plagued wanderings of the epic’s opening. Destined to be the founder of Roman culture, Aeneas, nudged by the gods, decides to leave his beloved Dido, causing her suicide in pursuit of his historical destiny. A dark plot, in which erotic passion culminates in sex, and sex leads to tragedy and death in the human realm, unfolds within the larger horizon of a supernatural sphere, dominated by power-conscious divinities. Dido is Aeneas’ most significant other, and in their encounter Virgil explores timeless themes of love and loyalty, fate and fortune, the justice of the gods, imperial ambition and its victims, and ethnic differences. This course book offers a portion of the original Latin text, study questions, a commentary, and interpretative essays. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, Ingo Gildenhard’s incisive commentary will be of particular interest to students of Latin at both A2 and undergraduate level. It extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis to encourage critical engagement with Virgil’s poetry and discussion of the most recent scholarly thought. 

 

Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Publication place	Cambridge, UK
Published on	2012-11-22
Series	Classics Textbooks vol. 2 ISSN Print: 2054-2437 ISSN Digital: 2054-2445
ISBN	978-1-909254-15-2 (Paperback)
	978-1-909254-16-9 (Hardback)
	978-1-909254-17-6 (PDF)
	978-1-80064-450-2 (HTML)
	978-1-909254-18-3 (EPUB)
	978-1-909254-19-0 (MOBI)