Fall semester 2009

I got into the 1st-century Roman Empire research seminar I was hoping for with Prof Richard Hoffman at SFSU, which means we'll be reading Tacitus, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, Petronius and Pliny's letters pretty much in toto, with two interim essays and then a research paper due December 16th. I'll be writing about the Roman invasions of Germania in the first century, which involves reviewing all the astonishing material culture discoveries made in Germany in the past few decades -- the site of the Varus battle in 9 AD at Kalkriese, the discovery of Roman shipyards at Haltern on the River Lippe, and last year's sensational find of a Roman battlefield site at Kalefeld. If this works out, I should know pretty much all there is to know about the Roman presence in Germany by December 16th, after which I can return to human society for a short while before the spring semester begins end of January.