One difference was length of tenure. Proconsuls might expect to be replaced after a year, while legates might hold office for several years, often at least three. In this novel, while using nearly all the office holders known to history, to avoid a plethora of minor characters I have kept both types of governors in office from AD235–8, or at least those who are not killed. While it is a fictional device, it might be justified by appeal to those times, such as the years Tiberius spent on Capri, when imperial government almost ground to a halt. Maximinus never left the northern frontiers and had no interest in civil government; both disincentives to new appointments.
Fergus Millar, The Roman Empire and Its Neighbours (2nd edn, London, 1981), gives a good introduction to these areas and much else.
HARZHORN BATTLE
A find by an amateur archaeologist in 2008 has led to the discovery and ongoing investigation of the site of an ancient battle in the region of the Harzhorn mountains in Germany. This incredibly important site so far is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world; although www.römerschlachtamharzhorn.de has a useful summary in English and the historian Adrian Murdoch has put several pieces on his blog adrianmurdoch.typepad.com.
The recovery of artillery bolts and horse-sandals, neither of which are thought to have been used by German tribes, indicates that a Roman army was involved. The latest coins found are from the reign of Alexander Severus. Ancient literary sources are unanimous that the Emperor was murdered before embarking on an expedition into Germany and that the plan was carried out by his successor, Maximinus Thrax, thus pointing to a date during the reign of the latter.
The site, as the crow flies, is roughly 150 miles from the town of Mainz, where Maximinus’ forces would have entered Germany. This provides a rare and very untypical instance where the Historia Augusta can be shown to convey reasonably accurate information which is otherwise unknown. The manuscripts record that the Emperor campaigned 300 to 400 miles beyond the frontier. Judging this incredible, all modern editors have amended the figure to between 30 and 40 miles.
We assume that the Romans won the encounter for two reasons. First, the ancient sources, above all Herodian (see above), record Maximinus as victorious over the Germans. Second, because nails almost certainly from the boots of Roman soldiers have been found alongside bolts from ballistas, the deduction has been made that the Romans shot artillery at the area, then followed up with infantry (and cavalry also, because the horse-sandals were found in the same place).
In this novel, to explain why the Romans attacked over the ridge, I have made the Germans block the pass, where Autobahn A7 now runs, with field fortifications. Also, I have made the area less forested than in later eras, because ancient torsion artillery would have been unable to shoot through a wood. Finally, I have given the Romans larger numbers than do the excavators, relying on the statement in Herodian that Maximinus invaded with ‘an enormous host’ (7.2.1).
The reconstruction in chapter 17 of this novel makes no claims to be definitive. New discoveries can change our view of things out of all recognition. However, it is offered in the hope that it might provide a jumping-off point for the discussions of others.
For those who know German, an excellent starting point is Roms Vergessener Feldzug: Die Schlacht am Harzhorn, edited by H. Pöppelmann, K. Deppmeyer and W.-D. Steinmetz (Darmstadt, 2013), published to accompany an exhibition that ran in 2013–14 in the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum.
HUNTING
In the late Republic the Roman elite took their idea of hunting from the courts of the Hellenistic East, the distant successors of Alexander’s Macedonians. It was an activity to be done on horseback, with armies of servants, and exotic hounds that hunted by sight. It was a thing of ostentatious expense, freighted with social and ideological meaning. I know of no good systematic study, especially of the latter aspects. It would make a good doctoral thesis, or a great book, perhaps something a bit like Raymund Carr’s English Fox Hunting: A History (London, 1976).
In the meantime, the reader can consult J. Aymard, Essai sur la chasse romaine des origins à la fin du siècle des Antonins (Paris, 1951), or J. K. Anderson, Hunting in the Ancient World (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London, 1985), 83–153.
DIE-CUTTING AND COIN-STRIKING
No ancient literary source tells us how a die-cutter specifically, or a mint in general, went about their work. Scholars have always had to work back from the finished products. It is a province where experimental archaeology comes into its own. For the techniques in chapters 20 and 28, I draw on G. F. Hill, ‘Ancient Methods of Coining’, Numismatic Chronicle, 5.2 (1922), 1–42 and D. Sellwood, ‘Minting’, in D. Strong and D. Brown (eds.), Roman Crafts (London, 1976), 63–73.
I have accepted the traditional site for the imperial mint of Rome, under the church of S. Clemente, but there are problems with the identification; see A. Claridge, Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (Oxford, 1998), 287.
On questions of initiative and ideology, I have broadly followed the model proposed by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill in his articles ‘The Emperor and His Virtues’, Historia, 30 (1981), 298–323 and ‘Image and Authority in the Coinage of Augustus,’ JRS, 76 (1986), 66–87: the junior magistrates in charge of the mint offer up images they hope will appeal to the Emperor, but then – in a strange reversal – when the coins are in circulation, the ideology ‘what was done in the emperor’s name was done by the emperor’ led those using the coins to assume the ‘messages’ on them were their Emperor ‘talking’ to his subjects.
HANNIBAL AND SCIPIO
In chapter 24, drink has confused Gordian. Scipio questioned Hannibal about great generals not before Carthage – in fact, their African meeting was at Zama – but years later in Ephesus.
COCKFIGHTING
Little has been written on Roman cockfighting, gladiatorial combat being so much more shocking to modern sensibilities. It seems to have been a pastime of the raffish and the poor. In case any reader is concerned, the author has never attended a cockfight. Any number, usually from Mexico, can be viewed on the internet. The account in chapter 31 was inspired by the anecdote of Antony and Octavian and a classic article of modern anthropology: ‘Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight’ by Clifford Geertz, reprinted in The Interpretation of Cultures (New York, 1973), 412–53. It borrows and reworks a superb line from the latter.
SERENUS SAMMONICUS
In an influential article, Edward Champlin argues that Serenus Sammonicus, the author of the Res Reconditae killed by Caracalla, should be identified both with the Septimius who wrote the Ephemeris Belli Troiani and the Septimius Serenus of the Opuscula Ruralia: Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 85 (1981), 189–212; this argument is summarized by H. Sidebottom in Severan Culture, edited by S. Swain, S. Harrison and J. Elsner (Cambridge, 2007), 60–62.
His son, also Serenus Sammonicus, the tutor of the younger Gordian and owner of a library of 62,000 volumes, most likely is an invention of the Historia Augusta, Gord. Tres 18.2. For these novels, I have accepted his reality and given him the latter two works mentioned above.
QUOTES
The poet Ticida has not only borrowed his name from the late Republican poet Lucius Ticida but is also a plagiarist. The poem of his repeated by Iunia Fadilla in chapter 4 is by an anonymous poet under the empire preserved in the Greek Anthology (5.84) and translated by W. G. Shepherd in The Greek Anthology, ed. P. Jay (rev. edn, Harmondsworth, 1981), 324, no. 748.
When Pupienus in chapter 16 helped his son compose a speech, he must have had at his elbow the Panegyric of Pliny the Younger in the translation of B. Radice (Cambridge, Mass., and London, 1969).
Knowledge of literature, above all of Homer, was a badge of the elite in the Roman empire. All the lines of the Odyssey remembered in this novel are from the translation of Robert Fagles (London, 2006). Those from the Iliad are from the translation of Richard Lattimore (Chicago and London, 1951).
PREVIOUS NOVELS
In all my novels I like to incl
ude homages to writers who have given me great pleasure and inspiration.
When Mamaea curses her assassins, she echoes Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Templars, in The Iron King, the first volume of Maurice Druon’s superb series The Accursed Kings (the English translation is now being republished and expanded by HarperCollins, London, 2013, and ongoing).
When Timesitheus ‘arranges his face’, he foreshadows Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall (London, 2009) and Bring up the Bodies (London, 2012). Nothing could be added to the praise already given to these novels by Hilary Mantel.
I borrowed a phrase from White Doves at Morning (London, 2003) by James Lee Burke. A wonderful writer, he should be far more widely read on this side of the Atlantic.
IRON & RUST:
GLOSSARY
The definitions given here are geared to Iron & Rust. If a word or phrase has several meanings only that or those relevant to this novel tend to be given.
A Cubiculo: Official in charge of the bedchamber, also Cubicul arius.
A Libellis: Official in charge of legal petitions addressed to the Emperor; sometimes translated here as Secretary for Petitions.
A Studiis: Official who aided the literary and intellectual studies of the Roman Emperor.
Ab Admissionibus: Official who controlled admission into the presence of the Roman Emperor; sometimes translated here as Master of Admissions.
Achaea: Roman province of Greece.
Achaemenids: Persian dynasty, founded by Cyrus the Great c. 550BC, and ended by Alexander the Great, 330BC.
Actaeon: In Greek mythology, hunter who came across the goddess Artemis bathing naked and, as punishment, was turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds.
Actium: Battle fought in 31BC that left Augustus in supreme control of the Roman empire.
Ad Palmam: Oasis on the margin of the Lake of Triton (Chott el Djerid), south west of Africa Proconsularis.
Ad Pirium: Fortified rest house in the eastern Alps above Longaticum.
Adlection: Formal call to join the senate.
Adonis: Greek god of beauty.
Aeaean Island: Legendary home of the witch Circe in the epic poet Homer’s Odyssey.
Aegis: Mythical shields or cloaks carried by Zeus and Athena.
Aeneid: Epic poem by Virgil, telling the mythical story of Rome’s foundation. In antiquity, the most highly prized work of Latin literature.
Aequi: Italian tribe living north east of Rome in the Apennine mountains; conquered in the fifth century BC.
Aetolia: Mountainous region of Greece north of the gulf of Corinth.
Africa Proconsularis: Roman province of central North Africa, roughly modern Tunisia.
Agora: Greek term for a market place and civic centre.
Alae: Units of Roman auxiliary cavalry, usually around 500-, sometimes around 1000-strong; literally, a ‘wing’.
Alamanni: Confederation of German tribes. The name probably means ‘all men’, either in the sense of men from various tribes or ‘all real men’.
Alani: A nomadic people living north of the Caucasus mountains.
Algidus: Extinct volcano south east of Rome, site of a battle between Rome and the Aequi in 458–7BC.
Ambrosia: Mythical food of the gods.
Amici: Latin, ‘friends’.
Ammaedara: Roman town on the eastern border of Tunisia; modern Haïdra.
Amouda: Town in north-eastern Syria, modern Amuda.
Amphorae: Large Roman earthenware storage vessels.
Angle: Member of a North German tribe, living in the area of modern Denmark.
Angrivarii: North German tribe living in the area of modern Saxony and Westphalia.
Antioch: Ancient city on the Orontes river in north-eastern Syria; second city of the eastern Roman empire.
Antoniniad: Epic poem alleged to have been written by Gordian the Elder on the Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius; only the title survives.
Aphrodite: Greek goddess of love.
Apollo: Greek god of music and culture.
Apollo Sandaliarius: Famous statue of Apollo in the street of the Sandal-makers (Vicus Sandaliarius).
Apulia: Modern Puglia, the ‘heel’ of Italy.
Apulum: Roman fort in the province of Dacia; modern Alba Iulia in Romania.
Aquileia: Town in north-eastern Italy.
Aquitania: Roman province of south-western and central Gaul, in modern France.
Arabia: Roman province covering much of modern Jordan and the Sinai peninsular.
Aramaic: Ancient language spoken in much of the Levant and Mesopotamia.
Araxes River: Greek name for the Aras River, rising in eastern Turkey and flowing towards the Caspian Sea.
Arca: Coastal town in Syria Phoenice.
Arch of Augustus: Monumental arch in the south eastern corner of the Roman Forum, commemorating a diplomatic victory over the Parthians in 19BC.
Arch of Germanicus: Monumental arch built on the right bank of the Rhine at Mainz-Kastel, commemorating the German campaigns of Germanicus in the early first century AD.
Arch of Titus: Monumental arch between the Roman Forum and Flavian Amphitheatre, commemorating the re-conquest of Jerusalem in AD70.
Ares: Greek god of war.
Arete: Fictional town on the Euphrates, modelled on Dura-Europus.
Argo: Legendary ship of the Argonauts.
Argonauts: Crew of Jason’s mythical ship the Argo.
Armenia: Ancient buffer kingdom between Rome and Parthia, occupying much of the area south of the Caucasus mountains and west of the Caspian Sea; much larger than the modern state of Armenia.
Arsacid: Dynasty that ruled Parthia 247BC–AD228.
Artaxata: Capital of the Kingdom of Armenia; modern Artashat in Armenia.
Artemis: Greek goddess of hunting.
Arzamon River: Greek name for the Zergan river in south-eastern Turkey and north-eastern Syria.
Asia: Roman province of western Turkey.
Athena: Greek goddess of wisdom.
Athenians: Citizens of the Greek city-state of Athens.
Atlantes: Tribe in western North Africa; gave their name to the Atlas Mountains.
Atrium: Open courtyard in a Roman house.
Augean Stable: In Greek myth, a giant stables finally cleaned by the hero Hercules by the redirecting of two rivers.
Augilae: Tribe of Libyans living around the Awjila Oasis.
Augusta Vindelicorum: Capital of the Roman province of Raetia; modern Augsburg in southern Germany.
Augustus: Name of the first Roman Emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office.
Auspex: Roman priest in charge of telling the future from various rituals and natural phenomena, including the flight of birds.
Auxiliary: Roman regular soldier serving in a unit other than a legion.
Bacchic: Fuelled by wine; from the religious frenzy of the worshippers of the god Bacchus.
Bacchus: Roman name for the Greek god of wine, Dionysos.
Baetica: One of the three Roman provinces of the Spanish peninsular, located in the south-eastern corner of modern Spain.
Baquates: Nomadic Berber tribe living in the Middle Atlas mountains of modern Morocco.
Barbaricum: Lands of the barbarians. Anywhere beyond the frontiers of the Roman empire, which were thought to mark the limits of the civilized world.
Basilica: Roman court building and audience chamber.
Basilica Aemilia: Court building on the north-eastern side of the Roman Forum, originally built in 179BC and restored on several occasions in antiquity.
Baths of Titus: Built by the Emperor Titus c. AD81 on the Esquiline Hill, just north of the Flavian Amphitheatre.
Baths of Trajan: Large bathing and leisure complex dedicated by the Emperor Trajan in AD109, built on the flank of the Esquiline Hill overshadowing the adjacent Baths of Titus.
Batnae: Town in south-eastern Turkey; modern Suruç.
Belgica: Roman province spanning modern Belg
ium and north-western France.
Bithynia-Pontus: Roman province along the south shore of the Black Sea.
Boeotia: Ancient area of central Greece north east of the Gulf of Corinth.
Boeotian: From the region of Boeotia.
Bona Vacantia: Latin legal term, literally, ‘unclaimed property’ of those dying intestate; a major source of income for the Emperors.
Bonchor: God worshipped by the Numidians, equated with Saturn, Roman father of the gods.
Borythenes: Greek name for the Dnieper river.
Britannia Inferior: One of two Roman provinces of Britain, located in northern England.
Brundisium: Important port on the south-eastern coast of Italy, modern Brindisi.
Bucolic: Ancient genre of poetry dealing with rural themes, from the Greek ‘cowherd’.
Bulla: Charm placed around the necks of children and worn until adulthood.
Byzantium: Greek city founded at the mouth of the Black Sea; modern Istanbul.
Caelian Hill: One of the seven legendary hills of Rome, lying south east of the Roman Forum.
Caesar: Name of the adopted family of the first Roman Emperor, subsequently adopted as one of the titles of the office; often used to designate an Emperor’s heir.
Caledonia: Area of Britain north of the Roman provinces; roughly modern Scotland.
Campania: Fertile region on the western coast of southern Italy much favoured as a holiday destination by the Roman elite.
Campus Martius: Latin, literally, ‘field of Mars’; name of a famous space in Rome; in general, name for a parade ground.
Cannae: Ancient village in Apulia, site of disastrous Roman defeat by Hannibal in 216BC.
Cape Malea: Headland on the south-eastern peninsular of the Greek Peloponnese.
Cappadocia: Roman province north of the Euphrates.
Capri: Island in the Bay of Naples, where the Emperor Tiberius spent his notorious retirement.
Capsa: Town in central Tunisia, modern Gafsa.
Carinae: Literally ‘the Keels’, fashionable quarter of ancient Rome on the Esquiline Hill; now S. Pietro in vincoli.
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