Roman History Research Articles

Some aspects of the analysis of the first world war in modern Serbian and Romanian history textbooks for junior high school

The article compares how modern Serbian elementary school history textbooks and Romanian gymnasium (lower secondary school) history textbooks portray the First World War. It examines the content and sensitive topics between 1914 and 1918, including the causes of the First World War, Romania?s role in the war (1916-1918), and the military campaign carried out by the Central Powers against Serbia in 1915. The article also looks at the role of methodological and didactic elements, as well as visual materials. Additionally, the paper analyzes how historical sources and maps are represented in history textbooks. After analyzing the textbooks, the article concludes that Serbian history textbooks place more importance on memorizing historical facts rather than promoting critical thinking among students. In contrast, Romanian history textbooks encourage students to analyze historical sources and visual material creatively. Furthermore, they offer more examples of role-playing, simulations, and debates, which are essential for developing students? critical thinking skills.

Între stema regală şi steaua roşie. Aspecte privind personalul diplomatic al României (1947-1952)

The cleansing of the entire diplomatic and administrative personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Romanian Kingdom in the second half of 1947 involved the creation of a new profile of the Romanian diplomat during the following years, in an era of the global Cold War, when the Romanian diplomatic corps was led by the communist leader Ana Pauker. Besides the new wave of diplomats of working origin (in an age of “class struggle” and of the primordial role of the One-Party-State), the study presents, as exceptions, diplomats from the Antonescu era, who remained in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after November 1947, important intellectuals of the interwar Romania, holding positions of plenipotentiary ministers of the new Romanian Popular Republic, several among from the first members of the Romanian Communist Party, employed with the ministry in 1946, beside representatives of the Diplomatic Corps from 1947-1952 (to whom we added also the heads of Economic Agencies attached to the diplomatic offices of those years), grouped by the areas of higher education, inclusively PhD, completed by them actually during the years of the Romanian Kingdom. The study points out that, unlike in the previous decades, during the Pauker period of the ministry, many representatives of national minorities (especially Jews), many women were hired in the Diplomatic Corps, but also representatives of some professions, such as physicians, which were not, as a rule, previously accepted. That being also a historical period of contact between two politicalsocial regimes, we should notice that, unlike in the subsequent communist decades, there were in the ministry, people coming from the bourgeoisie. Even if that was a Stalinist portion of the Romanian history, most of the diplomats presented not being any longer among the ministry personnel during the national-communism years after 1963, however, some representatives of Ana Pauker’s entourage from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such as Corneliu Bogdan and Radu Comsa, resumed their career, holding important positions in the Romanian Diplomatic Corps after 22 December 1989.

A Tangled Web

Few debates in modern academia are as heated as the one among scholars who consider the arrival of bubonic plague in Constantinople in the spring of 542 as a demographic and social disaster and those who argue for less tumultuous outcomes. Whatever side one stands on in the current discussion, the pandemic’s immediate impact on the administration, economy, politics, society and religious culture within Constantinople and the wider empire seems clear. In this article I will suggest that increased competition amongst Constantinople’s elites for a shrunken pool of suitable brides and grooms for their sons and daughters was one hitherto underappreciated result of the pandemic. The sixth-century eastern Roman historian, Procopius of Caesarea, offers ample evidence not only about the devastation wrought by the bubonic plague but also its impact on the political alliances in Constantinople. His digressions in Secret History concerning marital politicking amongst Constantinople’s elites provide evidence of this impact. Capitalizing on advances in our knowledge about Procopius both as an author and historical figure, I will analyze his writings on three levels: as history, literature and propaganda. By pondering what motivated Procopius to focus on these marital alliances and, moreover, pondering links between them, the paper offers some revisionist takes on these digressions, both as literary devices and as actual events.

The Ottoman Dracula. Kazıklı voyvoda and the Construction of the Rebel and Evil in the Ottoman Empire

The crafting of such narratives involves sophisticated literary strategies and techniques that can sometimes overshadow the historical content, or even sacrifice it for stylistic effect. It was common for copyists to alter their sources, not merely reproducing but editing and interpreting them according to their literary preferences or aesthetic judgment. This tendency becomes more pronounced in later authors and compilers, who take the historical fabric and the dramatic structure of their sources, yet rework them into a form reflecting their personal style. Often, they might even modify the text’s substance by rearranging, omitting, or adding specific scenes or details.
 These issues have led many Romanian historians to give little credit to the Ottoman chronicles. For methodologies prioritising positivism or factual history, these sources are deemed less reliable than Byzantine or Western European ones. However, modern historiographical approaches, employing refined methodologies, can effectively utilise Ottoman chronicles. We must acknowledge that historical sources are not universally applicable for all types of historiographical discourse and cannot answer every question. Often, the nature of our sources dictates the kind of history that can be written with their support. 
 This paper attempts to pave the way for an alternative method and perspective of interpretation. The portrayal of political and military figures in official Ottoman writings can reveal insights into political thought, ideology, and propaganda. In our case, these narratives precisely illustrate how the Sultan justified his campaign against Vlad the Impaler. Such information cannot be provided by European chronicles, for instance. 
 Moreover, Ottoman chronicles provide insights into diplomatic relations and the exchange of ideas. On another level, concerning mental and social history, they reflect the expectations, fears, prejudices, or ideals of their audience. The authors of these texts did not create their works in isolation from contemporary political or cultural environment. Thus, they are voices of their era, encapsulating and mirroring its expectations. Their writing was crafted for consumption and success. Without this recognition, they risked obscurity, much like the poet Maʿali, who lamented in his dedication to the Sultan within his versed chronicle literarily about his “starvation”.

Xiphilinus and the Causes for the Outbreak of the Bar Kokhba Revolt

The Epitome of Xiphilinus, an abbreviation of books 36-80 of Cassius Dio’s Roman History created in eleventh-century Byzantium, because of the incomplete state of preservation of the latter is an extremely important narrative source for contemporary researchers of ancient Rome during the Principate period. This is also the case with the Bar Kokhba uprising, a conflict relatively poorly documented in narrative sources. The greatest debates revolve around the causes of this conflict for which the Epitome of Xiphilinus constitutes the most extensive surviving narrative source. The fact that Dio’s work has not been preserved in the original makes scholars question the account presented by Xiphilinus, whom they perceive as a Byzantine monk writing from a Christian and even anti-Jewish perspective.

Recepcja Historii rzymskiej Kasjusza Diona w rozdziale Epitome Jana Ksyfi linosa poświęconym Pompejuszowi

Xiphilinos’ Epitome constitutes one of the most understudied Byzantine sources despite its great importance and role as a transmitter of the unpreserved parts of Cassius Dio’s Roman History. Until recently it was mainly perceived as an unoriginal product whose author was only a passive and often incompetent copyist. For scholars of Ancient Rome Epitome was seen only as a substitute for Dio, while Byzantinists deemed Xiphilinos as an uninteresting author. Analysis of Epitome’s first chapter devoted to Pompey shows that in fact, he was an author who actively shaped his work according to his own literary tastes and trends functioning in eleventh-century Byzantine historiography. Epitome, a didactic work dedicated to the emperor Michael VII Doukas, was an intellectual product of an era where the ancient roots of Byzantium started to play an increasingly important role in contemporary political discourse. It was also the first work of Byzantine historiography which devoted as much space to Roman history before the establishment of imperial monarchy.

Вклад В. Г. Васильевского в изучение «Германии» Тацита в российском антиковедении

The research aims to deepen the understanding of the views of the famous Byzantinist V. G. Vasilevsky on the possibility of involving the work “Germania” by Tacitus (56-120 AD) to consider the causes of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire on the basis of Vasilevsky’s previously unused reports on research trips to Europe, lecture courses, as well as his handwritten biography by his student I. M. Grevs. The objectives of the research are to scientifically substantiate the significance of V. G. Vasilevsky’s contribution to the study of Tacitus in Russian classics. The paper examines how the works by the famous Russian Byzantinist and academician of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences V. G. Vasilevsky developed approaches to the study of the works by the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus, which had a significant impact on the interpretation of this author in the national historical tradition. It is shown that the Russian scientist was able to find new approaches to the source. He drew attention to the fact that one can find an indication of the disintegration of the agricultural community and the formation of an extremely unstable society of small family land ownership in Tacitus’ writings. Thus, V. G. Vasilevsky was one of the first to notice that we find the theme of the economic crisis as early as the beginning of the 2nd century AD. Scientific novelty consists in providing a new holistic picture of V. G. Vasilevsky’s activities as an expert in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and, in particular, in the interpretation of Tacitus’ “Germania”. As a result, it has been found that despite the fact that V. G. Vasilevsky gained fame as a Byzantinist by the end of his life, the issues of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire interested him during his studies and he addressed them in his lecture activities. Thus, V. G. Vasilevsky’s scientific legacy can be supplemented by the theme of a new approach to Tacitus’ “Germania” as a source that marked the beginning of the social and economic crisis in the Western Roman Empire.

THE “ALLEGORY OF MUSIC” BY FILIPPINO LIPPI. GENEALOGY OF IMAGE

The female image presented in the small painting “Allegory of Music” by Filippino Lippi (Gemaeldegalerie, Berlin) is most likely associated with the plot of a theatrical performance played out in 1475 in Pesaro on the occasion of the wedding of Costanzo Sforza and Camilla of Aragon. Th e similarity of the attributes of the heroine with the attributes of the muse Erato, who greeted the newlyweds, was pointed out by A. Warburg, who placed two images, the Filippino board and an illustration from the Vatican manuscript containing the text of the wedding performance, next to each other in his “Mnemosine Atlas”. It is impossible to substantiate this version with documents, but the Florentine artist, who nominally interprets the plot differently from the anonymous northern Italian miniatur-ist, could be familiar with the description of the celebration, known not only from illustrated lists, but also from printed brochures. Th e origins of the “Allegory of Music” are traditionally traced to a wedding commission — on the occasion of the marriage of Giovanni Vespucci and Namicina Nerli in 1500 — which also included paired spalliers depicting “History of Lucretia” and “History of Virginia” by San-dro Botticelli and a panel by Piero di Cosimo displaying bacchanalia. Th e present article advances arguments in favor of this version, building on other episodes of cooperation between Botticelli and Filippino Lippi, both between the two of them and with the two intermarried Florentine families. Th e painting in question contains elements that may indicate its connection with the wedding ritual. It is impossible to establish how all the listed panels were arranged in the interior. How-ever, on the whole, this alleged ensemble, designed in the all’antica style, could be thought of as a glorification of sublime and chaste love. Th e theme, traditional for the decoration of the matrimonial bedroom, is eleborated simultaneously in brutal scenes from Roman history, which in Florentine artistic culture were laden with explicit republican connotations, as well as in small-scale mythological “poetry”, that soft ens political accents and, moreover, can be associated with a magnificent princely wedding, glorifying the nobility of the newlyweds.

Dynamics of Royal Authority: A Comparative Study of Dominance Assertion in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of how kings and consuls exercised dominance over their subjects in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. By examining the contrasting strategies employed during these distinct time periods, the study sheds light on the evolving dynamics of power and control within the Roman state. Through this research process, the author found out that during the Roman Republic era, the consul mainly used the term senate to assert their dominance over the people, but as it shifted to Roma Empire period, the emperors mainly used propaganda and divine rights to assert the dominance over the people. This research’s meaning includes how did consuls or emperors from different time periods of roman history asserted their dominance over the citizens and the change and shift in the methods applied by the consuls during republic and empire time.

Representation of the Legitimacy of Imperial Power in the Roman Empire

This article is devoted to the analysis of ideas about the legitimacy of imperial power in the Roman Empire. Particular attention is paid to the understanding of legitimacy in the imperial period of Roman history and, in particular, Late Antiquity. The conclusion is made about the "broad" and somewhat "blurred" idea of the legitimacy of the imperial power in the Roman Empire, about the discrepancy between the modern term "legitimacy" and the ancient understanding. The elements and components of legitimacy, its main sources, institutions and ways of giving legitimacy to the new emperor who ascended the throne are presented. It is shown how the image of the legitimate emperor was inscribed in the image of the empire. Of the institutions, special attention is paid to the army as one of the most significant institutions in the election and approval of the new emperor. Methods for recognizing imperial power by referring to the "divine" principle: pagan gods, and, subsequently, to Christianity, are also considered. The reasons for the process of loss of legitimacy by the rulers of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD are analyzed. The transfer of legitimacy from political institutions and the empire to a single emperor, characteristic of the Roman political consciousness, is shown.

A Historiographical Survey of ”Ius Valachicum” among Romanians and Vlachs

The purpose of our study is to investigate the current state of research regarding Ius Valachicum in Romanian and foreign historiography. After presenting Romanian history, palaeography and the legal history of the Carpatho-Danubian space, we turn to the Polish historiography of the North Vlachs, with respect to the Serbo-Croatian historiography of the South Vlachs. Finally, we use case studies to illustrate two enacted customary laws of the Vlachs from Croatia. The methods used in this paper include description, analysis, and comparison, as well as exploratory and applied research. The article is a historiographical survey of Ius Valachicum among the Romanians and Vlachs. The medieval and premodern consuetudinary laws of the Romanians and Vlachs are reflected both in primary and secondary sources, from 14thcentury historical documents to historiographical preoccupations dedicated to Ius Vlachicum from the 18thand 19th centuries. First, we refer to the special literature explaining both ethnonyms and the historical-geographical spread of the Romanians and Vlachs. Then we present the Romanian historiography investigating the manifestations and features of Ius Valachicum in the geographical area belonging to the present-day Romanian state. Turning to the Czech and Polish historiography, the occurrence of Ius Valachicum is revealed among the North Vlachs from medieval and premodern Poland, Ruthenia, and Hungary. We also review the Serbo-Croatian historiography of the Ius Valachicum specific to the South Vlachs from Croatia and Serbia. Finally, two enacted customary laws of the Vlachs from Croatia (1436, 1630) are analysed from the point of view of legal history. These codifications of Ius Valachicum prove the juridical power and importance acquired by the Croatian Vlachs during the Middle Ages. The historiographical pros and cons, as well as the critical remarks presented at the end of this study, at the same time, offer a few methodological solutions for future investigations of Romanian and Vlach Ius Valachicum.

Romanian Art History During the 1950s as a Form of Social History of Art

Summary The Romanian Workers’ Party – the political party that led Romania from 1947 until 1965 – need for legitimisation led to the rewriting of history in a way that the history of Romania was presented as a linear progression finally leading to communism. In art history, art also became a linear phenomenon, progressively advancing towards Socialist Realism. The tactics of constructing the new narrative in art history during the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s can be read as a form of the social history of art. Although the methodology could have led to remarkable results, ethical boundaries were violated: only some historical episodes and moments from artists’ biographies were selected. Within this context, this study investigates whether papers and monographs about Romanian painters active in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century can be read as a form of social history of art.

Teksty historyków rzymskich na lektoracie języka łacińskiego we współczesnej szkole wyższej i w dawnym polskim szkolnictwie – zarys historyczny i wybrane zagadnienia dydaktyczne

Texts of Roman Historians on the Latin Language Course at a Modern University and in the Former Polish Educational System – Historical Outline and Selected Didactic Issues In this article the author focusses on two problems: these are a reception of Roman historical texts in the former Polish educational system and methods that can be used while working with students on translation and analysis of Roman historical texts in Latin classes at a modern university. In the first part of the paper, in a short outline the author presents which texts of Roman historians were read and how they were worked on in Polish schools from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. In the second part of the article the author deals with selected didactic issues, which are often focused on during Latin classes nowadays. The author discusses here her own didactic experiences and presents some methods of working on reading, translation and analysis of Latin historical texts that can be used to make teaching and learning interesting and inspiring for both a lecturer and student.

The Relations of Nicolae Iorga with Stahl Family

These pages try to bring some research assistance on father , Henri (1878-1942) and son, H.H. ( 1901-1991). Both of them were strongly influenced by their close relationship with N.Iorga. Henri, famous stenographer, was a professor of Romanian history. Iorga had been his master since 1898 and continued to be a beloved friend. Stahl relentlessly helped him by transcribing lectures, speeches and books. Here are retraced the main steps over the war. He published semiautobiographical accounts, vivid depictions of usual life in old Bucharest and even a novel about a fake travel to the Moon.

Zombies Roaming Around the Pantheon

The present contribution explores how the field of Roman History has formalized and justified the absence of “belief”—and religious belief in particular—as part of its standard research programme. In positing an unbridgeable gap between ancient Romans and modern human beings mainly based on the idea that “belief” and “faith” are modern Protestant concepts, Roman History inadvertently transmogrified its subjects of study into a legion of zombies incapable of holding meta-representations of their own religious (and non-religious) beliefs. While Roman History might have been an outlier in its staunch commitment to this exclusionary approach, the post-1970s move towards the abandonment of “belief” insofar as the study of ancient religion(s) is concerned was part of a widespread paradigm shift within the Humanities, which only very recently has been questioned. The history of the concept of “belief” in both Roman History and anthropology, as well as its rejection from the former’s disciplinary toolbox, are tackled, while the peculiar disciplinary concepts of Roman “orthopraxy” and “demythicization” (sometimes hailed as explananda or replacements for the absence of “belief” in Roman antiquity) are also explained. Finally, a cognitive rebuttal of this absence is provided through a reappraisal of David Chalmers’ “philosophical zombies” mental experiment.

Φήμη in Herodian’s Roman History

Abstract This article offers a usage study of the word φήμη throughout Herodian’s Roman History. It sets Herodian’s practice in a broader literary picture that includes other historians, but also epic and the novel, and then suggests that the extremely high frequency of φήμη in Herodian is unique among Greek-language historians and that Herodian is indebted to Latin-language historiography for this technique. The following sections examine how Herodian perceives the phenomenon of φήμη and makes it a salient feature of his historiographical strategy. The discussion shows that φήμη, regardless of its truth status, has multiple functions in Herodian’s narrative. First, it contributes to the portrayal of historical agents. Second, it is a crucial dramatic factor that signals turning points in the story and generates vividness and an atmospheric narrative. Third, it acts as a plot-driver in the story. Fourth, it has a role in the composition of the narrative by creating intratextual associations and narrative patterns. Finally, it has metanarrative ramifications, since there is a parallel between the use of φήμη by the historical agents and by Herodian himself. Overall, the analysis advances our understanding of Herodian’s narrative technique and his construction of historical truth.

The Public Image of an 18th-Century Prince in statu nascendi. Nicolaos Mavrocordatos as Reflected in his Correspondence

By contrast with former contributions which looked mainly at Nicholas Mavrocordatos’ work from a literary standpoint, the present article is focusing chiefly on his correspondence. The aim is to highlight some aspects of Romanian history and history writing and the portrait of the prince himself. Written in an impeccable kind of mainly ancient Greek and displaying erudition and awareness of contemporary facts the letters set up a picture of a seasoned ruler.

Forms of representation of “the spirit of times” in “The tale of Simeon the Prince of Suzdal” by N. Polevoy

Romantic historicism is defined by the combination of two basic ideas: the closedness of the historical past and the infinity of being. “The spirit of times” is a category characteristic of Romanticism, which determines the nature of text historicity. For N. Polevoy, it is significant to depict not only the material world, but also the ideological, mental level of comprehension of this world by the perceiving subject - the protagonist of the work (in the dialogues of the characters), as well as the “local flavor” of the characters’ images, largely based on the thinking forms characteristic of a certain time and society. The mental image of the world, formed by the man of the Middle Ages, presupposed the correlation of what was happening with biblical truths. Realizing the limitations of the characters’ idea of the true meaning of the events, the author makes them seek it in disputes. To create a “local flavor”, he also uses the forms of the characters’ names, which acquire a symbolic meaning in the context of the depicted events. All forms of representation of “the spirit of times”, used in the story, allow us to show the ambiguity, the incompleteness of the participants’ knowledge of the events happening around them. To this end, the narrator connects events belonging to the history of different peoples, showing that their participants cannot always even predict how they will interact over time. The “goal-setting” form of “the spirit of times” representation is an appeal to a chronicle source or a direct word of the narrator.

"YOU STUDIED HISTORICAL BOOKS TELLING ABOUT THE GREAT MILITARY VICTORIES OF THE HELLENES AND ROMANS DILIGENTLY...": TO THE 130TH ANNIVERSARY OF MIKHAIL JAKOVLEVICH SJUZJUMOV AND THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY OF VLADIMIR VASILIEVICH KUCHMA

In 2023 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Soviet historian Mikhail Jakovlevich Sjuzjumov (1893-1982). The anniversary of the largest Russian Byzantinist of the twentieth century coincides with the 85th anniversary of the birth of his student, Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Vasilievich Kuchma (1938-2011). Close attention has been paid to the scientific biography of M.Ja. Sjuzjumov in recent years. However, the question of his scientific interaction with students who left Sverdlovsk, but continued their research on Roman (Byzantine) history, is little studied. The article examines the scientific contacts of Professor Sjuzjumov with V.V. Kuchma after defending his candidate thesis and moving to Volgograd. The article for the first time publishes documents from the State Archive of the Sverdlovsk region and the Archive of the Ural Federal University, the most valuable of which are the letters of the Volgograd historian to his supervisor. The analysis of archival materials shows that V.V. Kuchma, who was engaged in the study of Roman (Byzantine) military affairs, relied on the M.Ja. Sjuzjumov’ theory of dialectical continuity. This was expressed in V.V. Kuchma’s doctoral thesis, as well as in his publication of Byzantine military treatises.

Roman history

The figure of the Roman emperor – ubiquitous yet ever-elusive – remains the flame to which Roman historians are ever drawn. And Fergus Millar's The Emperor in the Roman World remains the yardstick against which all subsequent efforts are judged, and with which they are all inevitably in dialogue. That is true too of Caesar Rules, the major new offering from Olivier Hekster, a one-time doctoral student of Millar's, and now one of the leading contenders for his crown. Hekster's core interest is what the emperor was; in particular, how this institution could survive and adapt to changing circumstances despite the fact that formally it did not exist, certainly was not defined, and practically existed in a society antithetical on principle to both monarchy and change. Hekster finds the key for this long-worried lock in ‘the presentation and perception of power’ (10), and in particular the expectations – from all sides, and at all times – that both consolidated and constrained emperors’ authority. To demonstrate this he conceives a largely unprecedented ambition in this context: to consider source material in all media from the late Republic to the reign of Justinian.