The Ancient World

Synopsis:  The death of Octavian, elevation of Tiberius, and early military careers of Germanicus and Ptolemy.

“Even during the years when he lived at Rhodes, in ostensible retirement and actual exile, (Tiberius) had studied nothing save anger, hypocrisy, and secret lasciviousness.” – Tacitus, The Annals, Book I 

“Yet the temper of the soldiers remained savage, and a sudden desire came over them to advance against the enemy: it would be expiation of their madness; nor could the ghosts of their companions be appeased till their own impious breasts had been marked with honorable wounds.  Falling in with the enthusiasm of his troops, (Germanicus) laid a bridge over the Rhine, and threw across twelve thousand legionaries.” – Tacitus, The Annals, Book I

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Synopsis:  The death of Gaius Caesar, and Juba’s return to Mauretania. 

Tropaion (Greek):  A battlefield monument, erected at the “turning point” where the enemy’s phalanx broke.

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Synopsis: Juba accompanies Gaius Caesar on his Eastern expedition. 

“Tigranes…marched forth with an army of such huge proportions that he actually laughed heartily at the appearance of the Romans present there.  He is said to have remarked that, in cases where they came to make war, only a few presented themselves, but when it was an embassy, many came.”  – Cassius Dio, Rome, Book 36 

“Pompey…announced to his soldiers that Mithridates was dead…Upon this the army filled with joy and, as was natural, gave itself up to sacrifices and entertainments, feeling that in the person of Mithridates ten thousand enemies had died.”  – Plutarch, The Life of Pompey 

Map of the Near East c. 1 BC:

https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/Near_East_1BC.jpg

Near East Family Trees:

https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/3_Near_East_A.pdf

https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/4_Near_East_B.pdf

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Synopsis: The birth of Juba and Selene’s children, Ptolemy and Drusilla, and the death of Cleopatra Selene.

“The moon herself grew dark, rising at sunset,

Covering her suffering in the night,

Because she saw her beautiful namesake, Selene,

Breathless, descending to Hades,

With her she’d had the beauty of her light in common,

And mingled her own darkness with her death.” – Crinagoras of Myteline, Epigram for Cleopatra Selene 

Updated Octavian Family Tree:

 

https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/2_Octavian_Clan_1BC.pdf

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Synopsis: Juba and Selene begin their rule of Mauretania.

“Cato said…they must make no prayer for him; prayer belonged to the conquered, and the craving of grace to those who had done wrong; but for his part he had not only been unvanquished all his life, but was actually a victor now as far as he chose to be, and a conqueror of Caesar in all that was honorable and just.” – Plutarch, The Life of Cato the Younger

“My husband has died and I have no son.  They say about you that you have many sons.  You might give me one of your sons to become my husband.  I would not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband… I am afraid.” – Queen Ankhesenamun of Egypt, Letter to King Suppiluliuma I of Hatti

Map of Mauretania:

 

https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/Mauretania.jpg

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Synopsis: Juba accompanies Octavian during the conquest of Egypt.

“Thus was Egypt enslaved.” – Cassius Dio, Rome, Book LI

Octavian Family Tree:

https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/Octavian_Clan.pdf

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Synopsis: The early years of Juba II, fostered in the family of Octavian and Octavia.

“(Scipio) increased the honor by observing, that among the Romans there was nothing more magnificent than a Triumph; and that those who triumphed were not arrayed with more splendid ornaments than those with which the Roman people considered Massinissa alone, of all foreigners, worthy.” – Livy, The History of Rome, Book XXX

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Synopsis: The early years of Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra and Mark Antony.

“And herein particularly did he give offense to the Romans, since he bestowed the honorable and solemn rites of his native country upon the Egyptians for Cleopatra’s sake.” – Plutarch, The Life of Marcus Antonius

“Pity fixed the eyes of the Romans upon the infants; and many of them could not forbear tears, and all beheld the sight with a mixture of sorrow and pleasure, until the children were passed.” – Plutarch, The Life of Lucius Aemilius Paulus

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“I am a faithful servant of the king, and I have not rebelled and I have not sinned, and I do not withhold my tribute, and I do not refuse the requests of my commissioner.  Now they wickedly slander me, but let the king, my lord, not impute rebellion to me!…If the king should write to me, ‘Plunge a bronze dagger into thy heart and die!,’ how could I refuse to carry out the command of the king?”  – Labayu (Caananite warlord) writing to Amenhotep III 

Discoveries at Tell El Amarna and the Valley of the Kings showed the wealth and influence of the Egyptian New Kingdom, while archives uncovered in central Anatolia shed light on Hittite civilization.  Excavations and Knossos confirmed Mycenaean Greek dominance and revealed the majesty of Minoan Crete.

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“Surpassing all kings, powerful and tall

beyond all others, violent, splendid,

a wild bull of a man, unvanquished leader,

hero in the front lines, beloved of his soldiers –

fortress they called him, protector of the people,

raging flood that destroys all defenses…” – the Epic of Gilgamesh 

George Smith’s 1872 discovery of the Mesopotamian Flood tablet won him widespread acclaim.  Four years later, his ill-timed expedition to Nineveh would end in tragedy.

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