428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire starts with Traina's current main interest, Armenia, which had just lost its independence by forcing out the last king. Armenia, a Christian country, was now part of the Zoroastrian Persian Empire rather that the Christian Roman one. This allowed Christianity to spread further east, providing future refuge for Christians who didn't believe what Rome and Constantinople mandated, but that's in the future. For the Roman Empire, 428 is not much of a pivotal year, but a lot was happening and interesting people making news. Simeon Stylite was credited with producing miracle cures from his increasingly high pedestal -- making the reader wonder how he performed basic functions since the pinnacle was too tiny even to sit. The Sassanid Persian king of the time was the legendary, powerful Bahram V, known as the Onager, who may have made deals with the tribes besetting the Roman Empire. Two powerful Roman women, Pulcheria and Galla Placidia, exerted their influence, bringing the very capable Aetius to the political forefront, which is connected to what I especially appreciated in 428 A.D. -- the integration of the Vandal sack of north Africa into the flow of migrations and Roman imperial policy.
The idea of covering a year intently is a great one. It's on the order of television series that show the interconnection between myriad, seemingly unrelated events. However, if you're looking for earth-shaking events in the Roman Empire, you might prefer another year.
The book is a translation of a 2007 Italian edition (428 dopo Cristo. Storia di un anno). There were several places where I wish my Italian were good enough to check the references. Sometimes I wasn't sure which "Empire" was under discussion, and at other times, I couldn't follow the play of pronouns.
Comments
Thanks for reviewing this. And as it is it’s already very nearly at the top of my To Buy list.
I hope when you finish it you’ll tell us what you think of it (here).
Since my work often involves translation, I am sensitive, very sensitive, to translations that imply my personal bias or, as some would say, my political correctness. Such is the case here with this book’s title, “428AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire.”
Traina’s original title, in Italian, literally translates “428 dopo Cristo. Storia di uno anno,” or, in English: 428 (years) after Christ: The history of one year.”
My thought here is that the translator’s religious bias is showing. I wonder what the author thought of the new English title?
Writing this comment, I am reminded of Yevgeny Yeutushenko’s anger-producing commentary on translations:
” Translation is like a woman. If it is beautiful, it is unfaithful. If it is faithful, it is certainly not beautiful.”
In any case, I look forward to reading this book this summer.
I beg to differ with Prof.Joe. The title of a book has a significant bearing on its marketability. A more direct translation of the title to something like “428 Years After Christ. A Year’s History” might lead quick-decision book buyers to believe the book is some sort of ecclesiastical or religious treatise, in contrast to a history book. The chosen title is very good and says NOTHING about any bias the translator might have had about the religions involved.
Since the book is Italian, Italy and Rome would be part of the context automatically. Translated into English for places outside of Italy, that wouldn’t be the case. I think the note about Rome is appropriate, but it does show how much an art translation can be.
Is this a buy or not?
That depends on you. If the period interests you, do so, especially since it’s not one of the pricier books. It doesn’t have the oomph of a story with a neat conclusion, because it really seems to be a new approach to writing — or an ancient one, like taking a year in an Annals.
I didn’t know anything about this book before today, but I’d have to say that anyone with even a passing interest in the history of the Romans would have to place this book high in the list of books to read. The 5th century, in particular, is saturated with lessons in all dimensions of human experience, having been so cataclysmic particularly for the people of today’s Italy. It’s hardly imaginable for us now to appreciate the uncertainties and random events they endured from migrating peoples–in contrasts to the unsettled 3rd century, when the profoundly unsettling events were endogenous.
There is a review of this book in London Review of Books, Volume 31, Number 18, by Michael Kulikowski of the University of Tennessee, who is not, unlike me, very enthusiastic about it.