Ab urbe condita libri, often shortened to just Ab urbe condita, is a monumental history of ancient Rome Rome (English pronunciation: /ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma listen , pronounced [ˈroːma]; Latin: Rōma) is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality (central area), with over 2.7 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). While the population of the urban area was estimated by Eurostat to have been 3.46 written sometime between 27 and 25 B.C. [1] in the Latin language Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. With the Roman conquest, Latin was spread to countries around the Mediterranean, including a large part of Europe. Romance languages such as Aragonese, Corsican, Catalan, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Sardinian, Spanish and others, are descended from Latin, while by Titus Livius Titus Livius , known as Livy in English, was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own, an ancient Roman historian. The work covers the time from the stories of Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was also the second cousin of King Priam of Troy. The journey of Aeneas from Troy (with help from Aphrodite), which led to the founding of the city Rome, is recounted in Virgil's Aeneid. He is considered an important figure in, the earliest legendary period from before the city's founding in c. 753 BC, to Livy's own times in the reign of the emperor, Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.[note 1] Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the. The Latin-language title can be literally translated as "Books from the city having been founded" but more typically "from the city's founding" or "from the foundation of the city" is used. Less literally it is referred to in English as History of Rome. The last year covered by Livy is 745 AUC Ab urbe condita is Latin for "from the founding of the City (Rome)", traditionally set in 753 BC. AUC is a year-numbering system used by some ancient Roman historians to identify particular Roman years. Renaissance editors sometimes added AUC to Roman manuscripts they published, giving the false impression that the Romans usually, or 9 BC,[2] the death of Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus , born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a fully patrician Claudian on his father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the stepson of the Emperor Augustus, brother of the. About 25% of the work survives.[3]
Contents |
Content
Corpus
Ab urbe condita libri when complete included 142 libri, or "books", with the meaning of "chapters."[4] Thirty-five of these: 1-10 with the Preface and 21-45, still exist in reasonably complete form.[2] Damage to a manuscript of the 5th century AD resulted in large gaps (lacunae The state of old manuscripts or inscriptions which have weathered or been damaged sometimes gives rise to lacunae — passages consisting of a word or words that are missing or illegible. Palimpsests are particularly subject to lacunae. In order to reconstruct the original text, the context is to be considered. In archaeology and literary) in Books 41 and 43-45 (small lacunae exist elsewhere); that is, the material is not covered in any source of Livy's text.[5]
A fragmentary palimpsest A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book that has been scraped off and used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin from Greek παλιν + ψαω = , and meant "scraped (clean and used) again." Romans wrote on wax-coated tablets that could be smoothed and reused, and a passing use of the term " of the 91st book was discovered in the Vatican Library The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from throughout history. From July 2007, the library has been in 1772, containing about a thousand words, and several papyrus fragments of previously unknown material, much smaller, have been found in Egypt since 1900, most recently about forty words from Book 11, unearthed in the 1980s. --77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)--77.29.52.90 (talk) 20:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
Abridgements
Livy was abridged, in antiquity, to an epitome An epitome is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment, which survives for Book 1, but was itself abridged into the so-called Periochae, which is simply a list of contents, but which survives. An epitome of Books 37–40 and 48–55 was also uncovered at Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus is a city in Upper Egypt, located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo, in the governorate of Al Minya. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered. For the past century, the area around Oxyrhynchus has been continually excavated, yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from. So some idea of the topics Livy covered in the lost books exists, if often not what he said about them. The remaining books are preserved by a 4th century summary entitled Periochae, except for book 136 and 137. However, these were not compiled from Livy's original text but from an abridged edition that is now lost. In the Egyptian town Oxyrhynchus Oxyrhynchus is a city in Upper Egypt, located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo, in the governorate of Al Minya. It is also an archaeological site, considered one of the most important ever discovered. For the past century, the area around Oxyrhynchus has been continually excavated, yielding an enormous collection of papyrus texts dating from, a similar summary of books 37-40 and 48-55 was found on a scroll of papyrus that is now in the British Museum The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present.[a]. However the Oxyrhynchus Epitome is damaged and incomplete.
Topics
The first book starts with Aeneas landing in Italy and the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus and ends with Lucius Junius Brutus Lucius Junius Brutus was the founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of the first consuls in 509 BC. He was claimed as an ancestor of the Roman gens Junia, including Marcus Junius Brutus, the most famous of Caesar's assassins and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus being elected as consuls in 502 BC according to Livy's own chronology (509 BC according to the Varronian chronology). There are a number of chronologies; these two dates represent an approximate range. Books 2-10 deal with the history of the Roman Republic to the Samnite Wars The First, Second, and Third Samnite wars, between the early Roman Republic and the tribes of Samnium, extended over half a century, involving almost all the states of Italy, and ended in Roman domination of the Samnites. The tribes of Samnium, who held the Apennines to the southeast of Latium, were one of early Rome's most formidable rivals, while books 21-45 tell of the Second Punic War The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on Carthage's side. The two states had three major and end with the war against Perseus of Macedon Perseus (ca. 212 BC - 166 BC) was the last king (Basileus) of the Antigonid dynasty, who ruled the successor state in Macedon created upon the death of Alexander the Great. He also has the distinction of being the last of the line, after losing the Battle of Pydna on 22 June 168 BC; subsequently Macedon came under Roman rule.
Books 46-70 deal with the time up to the Social War in 91 BC. Book 89 includes the dictatorship of Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He had the rare distinction of holding the office of consul twice as well as the dictatorship. He was one of the canonical great men of Roman history; included in the biographical collections of leading generals and politicians, originating in the in 81 BC and book 103 contains a description of Gaius Julius Caesar's first consulship. Book 142 ends with the death of Nero Claudius Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus , born Decimus Claudius Drusus also called Drusus, Drusus I, Nero Drusus, or Drusus the Elder was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a fully patrician Claudian on his father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the stepson of the Emperor Augustus, brother of the in 9 BC Year 9 BC was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. While the first ten books concern a period of over 600 years, once Livy started writing about the 1st century BC The 1st century BC, also known as the last century BC or 1st century BCE started on the first day of 100 BC and ended on the last day of 1 BC, he devoted almost a whole book to each year.[6]
Style
Livy wrote in a mixture of annual chronology Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events" and narrative A narrative is a made up story that is created in a constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events—often having to interrupt a story to announce the elections of new consuls Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic. The relating adjective is consular, from the Latin consularis (which has been used, substantiated, as a title in its own right). Collins defines the "annalistic method" as "naming the public officers and recording the events of each succeeding year."[7] It is an expansion of the fasti Fasti, a Latin word, was used in ancient Rome, and subsequently elsewhere on the paradigm of Roman fasti, primarily to denote any diachronic record or plan of official and religiously sanctioned events. All state and societal business must be transacted on dies fasti, "allowed days", of which the records of all details pertaining to, the official public chronicle kept by the magistrates, which was a primary source for Roman historians. Those who seem to have been more influenced by the method have been termed annalists.
The first and third decades of Livy's work are written so well that Livy has become a sine qua non Sine qua non or conditio sine qua non (plural sine quibus non) was originally a Latin legal term for "(a condition) without which it could not be" or "but for..." or "without which (there is) nothing." It refers to an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient of curricula in Golden Age Latin. Subsequently the quality of his writing began to decline. He contradicts himself and becomes repetitious and wordy. Of the 91st book Niebuhr says "repetitions are here so frequent in the small compass of four pages and the prolixity so great, that we should hardly believe it to belong to Livy...." Niebuhr accounts for the decline by supposing "the writer has grown old and become loquacious...," going so far as to conjecture that the later books were lost because copyists refused to copy such low-quality work.[8]
A digression Digression is a section of a composition or speech that is an intentional change of subject. In Classical rhetoric since Corax of Syracuse, especially in Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian, the digression was a regular part of any oration or composition. (An oratorical discourse should have five sections: prelude, narration, argumentation, in Book 9, Sections 17–19, suggests that the Romans would have beaten Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon , popularly known as Alexander the Great (Greek: Μέγας Ἀλέξανδρος, Mégas Aléxandros), was a Greeki[›] king (basileus) of Macedon. He is the most celebrated member of the Argead Dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander received a classical if he had lived longer and had turned west to attack the Romans, making this digression the oldest known alternate history Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a subgenre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate history works may use tropes from any or all of.[9]
Livy's publication
The first five books were published between 27 and 25 BC. The first date mentioned is the year Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.[note 1] Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus, he was adopted posthumously by his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar in 44 BC, and between then and 27 BC was officially named Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27 BC the Senate awarded him the received that title: twice in the first five books Livy uses it.[10] For the second date, Livy lists the closings of the temple of Janus In Roman mythology, Janus is the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings. His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake, the month of January, which begins the new year.The reason for this is because, one is looking back at the previous year and looking forward to the new year ahead.He is most often depicted as having but omits the closing of 25 BC (it had not happened yet).[11]
Livy continued to work on the History for much of the rest of his life, publishing new material by popular demand. This necessity explains why the work falls naturally into 12 packets, mainly groups of 10 books, or decades, sometimes of 5 books (pentads) and the rest without any packet order. The scheme of dividing it entirely into decades is a later innovation of copyists.[12]
The second pentade did not come out until 9 BC or after, some 16 years after the first pentade. In Book IX Livy states that the Cimminian Forest was more impassible than the German had been recently, referring to the Hercynian Forest (Black Forest) first opened by Drusus Drusus was a cognomen in Ancient Rome originating with the Livii. Under the Republic, it was the intellectual property and diagnostic of the Livii Drusi. Under the empire and owing to the influence of an empress, Livia Drusilla, the name was used for a branch of the Claudii into which she had married: the Claudii Drusi. During that period, when a and Ahenobarbus Ahenobarbus was the name of a plebeian family of the Domitia gens in the late Republic and early Principate of ancient Rome. The name means "red-beard" in Latin and, according to legend, Castor and Pollux announced to one of their ancestors the victory of the Romans over the Latins at the battle of Lake Regillus, and, to confirm the.[13] One can only presume that in the interval Livy's first pentade had been such a success that he had to yield to the demand for more.
Manuscripts
There is no uniform system of classifying and naming manuscripts. Often the relationship of one MSS to another remains unknown or changes as perceptions of the handwriting change. Livy's release of chapters by packet diachronically encouraged copyists to copy by decade. Each decade has its own conventions, which do not necessarily respect the conventions of any other decade. A family of MSS descend through copying from the same MSS (typically lost). MSS vary widely; to produce an emendation or a printed edition was and is a major task. Usually variant readings are given in footnotes.
First decade
All of the manuscripts (except one) of the first ten books (first decade) of Ab Urbe Condita Libri, which were copied through the Middle Ages and were used in the first printed editions, are derived from a single recension Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from Latin recensio "review, analysis" commissioned by Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, consul, 391 AD.[14] A recension is made by comparing extant manuscripts and producing a new version, an emendation, based on the text that seems best to the editor. The latter then "subscribed" to the new MSS A manuscript or handwrit is a recording of information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way. The term may also be used for information that is hand-recorded in other ways than writing, for example inscriptions that are chiselled upon a hard by noting on it that he had emended it.
Symmachus, probably using the authority of his office, 391 AD, commissioned Tascius Victorianus to emend the first decade. Books I-IX bear the subscription Victorianus emendabam dominis Symmachis, "I Victorianus emended (this) by the authority of Symmachus." Books VI-VIII include another subscription preceding it, that of Symmachus' son-in-law, Nicomachus Flavianus, and Books III-V were also emended by Flavianus' son, Appius Nicomachus Dexter, who says he used his relative Clementianus' copy.[15] This recension and family of descendant MSS A manuscript or handwrit is a recording of information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way. The term may also be used for information that is hand-recorded in other ways than writing, for example inscriptions that are chiselled upon a hard is called the Nicomachean after two of the subscribers. From it several MSS descend (incomplete list):[16][17]
| Identifying Letter | Location & Number | Name | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| V | Veronensis rescriptus | 10th cent. | |
| H | Harleianus | 10th cent. | |
| E | Einsiedlensis | 10th cent. | |
| F | Paris 5724 | Floriacensis | 10th cent. |
| P | Paris 5725 | Parisiensis | 9th/10th cent. |
| M | Mediceus-Laurentianus | 10th/11th cent. | |
| U | Upsaliensis | 10th/11th cent. | |
| R | Vaticanus 3329 | Romanus | 11th cent. |
| O | Bodleianus 20631 | Oxoniensis | 11th cent. |
| D | Florentinus-Marcianus | Dominicanus | 12th cent. |
| A | Agennensis Petrarch's copy | 12th-14th cent. |
Epigraphists Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be deduced concerning the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy is the historical go on to identify several hands and lines of descent. A second family of the first decade consists of the Verona Palimpsest A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book that has been scraped off and used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin from Greek παλιν + ψαω = , and meant "scraped (clean and used) again." Romans wrote on wax-coated tablets that could be smoothed and reused, and a passing use of the term ", reconstructed and published by Theodore Mommsen, 1868; hence the Veronensis MSS. It includes 60 leaves of Livy fragments covering Books III-VI. The handwriting style is dated to the 4th century AD, only a few centuries after Livy.[18]
