Παρουσίαση

"There are some who would have it seem that the name "Rome" was first thought of by Evander. Coming across a town there, already built, which the young men called in Latin "Valentia", he paid heed to the meaning of the prior name, and called it in Hellenic Ρώμη. And since he and his Arcadians lived on the highest part of the hill, the derivation followed that the safest parts of cities were in later times called arces... But according to Heracleides, after Troy was captured, certain of the Argives came by way of the Tiber to the place where Rome is now. They were persuaded by Roma, a most noble lady among their captives, who was as a companion to them, to bum their ships. They set up a base, built walls and named the resulting town "Rome" after her. Agathocles writes that it was not the prisoner Roma, as is said above, but rather the daughter of Ascanius, granddaughter of Aeneas, who was the reason for the name... No-one doubts that the Arcadians were the founders of the Palatine". (Gaius Julius Solinus, Polyhistor, Book I, Chapters 1-14, translated by Arwen Apps)

"...Why did I drag you along on such a long journey? What difference does it make to add to my list Antenor, the founder of Patavium, or Evander, who relocated the Arcadian Hellenes to the shores of the Tiber? What about Diomedes and all the others -the winners and the losers- who dispersed to foreign lands after the Trojan War? Of course, the Roman state has respect for its founder, although he was an exile - a captured homeland, necessity, and fear of the conqueror led him, dragging along a small band of survivors and seeking a distant land, to Italy. And this nation has sent many, many colonies into lands it controls! Every place a Roman conquers, he inhabits". (Lucius Annaeus Seneca, De consolatione ad Helviam matrem, translated by Peter J. Anderson)

"...The practical identity of the old Hellenic alphabet with the present Latin one will be proved by an ancient Delphic tablet of bronze, at the present day in the Palace (in the Palatine Hill), a gift of the Emperors, dedicated to Minerva, with the following inscription: ΝΑΥΣΙΚΡΑΤΗΣ ΑΝΕΘΕΤΟ ΤΑΙ ΔΙΟΣ ΚΟΡΑΙ ΤΑΝ ΔΕΚΑΤΑΝ". (Gaius Plinius Secundus, Naturalis Historia, Book VII, Chapter 57, translated by Harris Rackham)

Περιεχόμενα

The Author's Address to the Reviewers
Proemial Remarks
Preface
Introduction
Prolegomenon: The Pelasgian Migration
The Second Wave: The Anabasis of Evandros
The Trojan Paragon
The Corinthian Kings of Rome
The Oracle of Delphi
The Pan-Hellenic Games
The Laws of Solon and the Dictates of Lycurgus
"First Contact" - The Pyrrhic War 280-275 BC
Latins: The semi-Hellenic archenemies of embryonic Rome
Final Remarks
Appendix I
Phrygian settlers of Latium, a Hellenic ethnos of Asia Minor
Appendix II
Rome in the consciousness of the Diadochi
Appendix III
Lycophron "the obscure", the prophecy of Cassandra and the Etruscan Enigma
Appendix IV
The Sibylline Books: Rome's most sacred texts written in Hellenic hexameter
Appendix V
Roman Patricians: Aristocrats of Hellenic descent in service to the Republic
Epilogue
Maps/Annex
Afterthought: King Numa, Argive Shrines & Forbidden Libraries