Translation by Michael Grant (Penguin Classics) of the complete text of Tacitus' Annals XIV.17. Unfortunately the whole text is not available online but Amazon lets you preview some of it.
Detail of the famous wall-painting from House I.3.23 in Pompeii showing the riot at the amphitheatre in 59AD; now in National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Here's the full fresco which includes the Palaestra to the right of the amphitheatre.
Photo of the exterior staircase supported on the distinctive arches that feature so obviously in the Roman fresco of the amphitheatre. View from another angle, a wider shot and a panorama.
The amphitheatre built in 80 BC, and the earliest permanent amphitheatre in the Roman world, has vaulting running around under the seats to support them. Many of the stone seats have been stripped away - most in the years soon after the eruption probably - for use as building stones elsewhere in the locality, and thus leaving behind grassy slopes.
"at about the same time"... Tacitus has just been telling us about the "deplorable ambitions" of Emperor Nero to chariot-race and to act on the stage. The sculpted marble head Nero was discovered on the Palatine Hill in Rome, and is now in Palatine Museum. Click Emperor Nero to jump to the separate section on this infamous emperor.
The ancient Roman town of Nuceria Alfaterna (modern Nocera) lies 9 miles east of Pompeii. It was the main city of the surrounding area, and due to its past support of Rome - unlike a rather rebellious Pompeii - it had been granted more territory, factors that perhaps lay behind the rivalry of the two towns and sparked the riot. There are only scanty remains of the ancient town, including parts of an amphitheatre, theatre, cemetery and small temple.
Livineius Regulus: Tacitus tells us that he had been "expelled from the Senate" (in Rome); the reasons, which Tacitus says he's recounted elsewhere in the Annals, are now lost. He may have been the same man who bravely/stupidly defended Cn. Piso in AD20 against the charge of murdering Germanicus - which may in turn have been an (underlying) reason for his expulsion from the Senate.
Also known as societies or corporations, colleges were generally cult- and trade-related clubs where people could meet and make friends with like-minded individuals; eating, drinking and having fun were important elements of these clubs which usually had a meeting-hall. They had to be officially approved, and with the potential for them to become havens for politcal opposition, were tightly controlled by the Emperors. More info... The photo in this link is of the Hall (Club-house) of the Grain-Measurers in Ostia.
A victorious gladiator holds aloft the victor's palm; the Latin inscription Campani victoria una cum Nucerinis peristis - "O Campanians, you perished together with the Nucerians in that victory" is an insightful comment about the riot and subsequent ban on gladiatorial games in Pompeii. Taken from Champfleury, Histoire de las Caricature Antique, 1866.
About the author
To find out about Tacitus' life and works, click here.
Is this the face of Boudica's husband? A coin of the Iceni, struck c.AD47-60?, and inscribed on one side SUB ESV PRASTO and on the other ESICO FECIT, a blend of Celtic and Latin meaning "Esico made (this) under (the rule/permission of) Esuprastus". It is thought that Esuprastus (maybe meaning "Ruler Prastus") is the Celtic version of the Latinized name Prasutagus, recorded by Tacitus.
Super site from Channel 4 which "tells the story of Boudica's rebellion. It takes you, step by step, on her journey from the first flames to the final disaster, and reveals where you can see the evidence for yourself".
Webpages relating to the televisiond ocumentary "Battlefield Britain - Boudicca's Rebellion". The presentation of evidence for the events makes this stand out from many other websites.
Don't miss these 6 minutes of video from the BBC documentary "Battlefield Britain - Boudicca's Rebellion". It shows how the final battle unfolded - and why the outnumbered Romans won. Excellent.
It's the most famous image of Boudica: a statue group of the Queen and her two daughters riding into battle with her daughters. Standing on the Embankment in London near Westminster Bridge, it was made by Thomas Thornycroft in 1902.
Scroll down to find out more about this south-eastern British tribe, also known as the Trinovantes... This informative site about the major Celtic tribes in Britain also includes a map.
Camuludunum - modern Colchester - is Britain's oldest recorded town; was the tribal capital of the Britsh Celtic tribe the Trinobantes; was the first capital of Roman Britain; has the largest surviving Roman wall in the country; and in 2005 revealed the largest Roman circus (racetrack) outside Italy...
Explore some of Camulodunum's Roman architecture. It's no substitute for the real thing and it's a bit out of date but there's still some good information and pictures.
Recently discovered, this website details the excitement of its discovery; with maps and images. Its date, perhaps in the 200's AD, puts it well after Boudica's rebellion of course.
Reconstruction of the temple. It's possible that Claudius himself commissioned this temple immediately after the capture of Camulodunum in 43 AD, but more likely that it was begun only after his death and subsequent deification in 54.
I Claudius is one of television's most famous attempts at Roman history. This website, best consulted after seeing each episode, separates fact from fiction...
Don't miss these 6 minutes of video from the BBC documentary "Battlefield Britain - Boudicca's Rebellion". It shows how the final battle unfolded - and why the outnumbered Romans won. Excellent.
Terrific series of literary and cultural questions with follow-up answers and pointers that help illuminate the Anthology text. Especially valuable for those preparing for GCSE exams. Created by Godfrey Evans of Chelmsford County High School for Girls. You may be asked to log-on as a guest first. Once you have opened or saved the file to your PC, you'll need to play in "slideshow mode" for full effect.
The Anthology selection closely follows the Latin translation of the Bible known as the "Vulgate" (made from Greek texts by Jerome in the 4th century AD). This link takes you Chapter 19 of Acts of the Apostles, (probably written by St Luke as a sequel to his Gospel), then scroll to verses 24-41 for the lines used in the Anthology extract, remembering that they are not identical.
Greeks and Romans sometimes offered models of temples as gifts to the gods. Buying them outside the real temple, they would leave the model either in the temple itself or on the temple steps. This image is of an Etruscan votive model. In the Villa Giulia Museum, Rome.
Diana was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Artemis, who had a major cult centre at Ephesus, a Greek city on the Mediterranean coast of modern Turkey. However, this cult of Ephesian Artemis was itself blended into an earlier local goddess, Cybele, aka the "Great Mother" goddess; hence Artemis' unusual representations in Ephesian sculptures - not the the bow and arrows of the hunting goddess Artemis but rather the numerous breast or testicles representing the fertility of the earth goddess Cybele.
Roman marble statue that is a small-scale copy of the wooden cult statue that stood in Artemis' huge temple at Ephesus. Found in the Prytaneion in Ephesus, this so-called "Beautiful Artemis" is now in the Ephesus Museum in nearby Selcuk.
