Historia Augusta Puns

So we all know that the HA is sketchy at best and fiction at worst, and the further in you go the worse it gets. But how accurate or innacurate is it regarding the Five Good Emperors? From what I've read I haven't seen any contradictory information, and it is known that the author(s) worked from now lost histories / biographies. How do we know what's true and what's not true?

But idk, some of my favourite stories are from there so maybe I just want to Believe

A pretender is someone who claims to be the rightful ruler of a country although not recognized as such by the current government. The term is often used to suggest that a claim is not legitimate. The word may refer to a former monarch or a descendant of a deposed monarchy, although this type of claimant is also referred to as a head of a house.

Ancient Rome knew many pretenders to the offices making up the title of Roman emperor, especially during the Crisis of the Third Century. These are customarily referred to as the Thirty Tyrants.

The Thirty Tyrants were a series of thirty rulers who appear in the Historia Augusta as having ostensibly been pretenders to the throne of the Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Gallienus.

Given the notorious unreliability of the Historia Augusta, the veracity of the list is debatable; there is a scholarly consensus that the author deliberately inflated the number of pretenders in order to parallel the Thirty Tyrants of Athens.

The Historia actually gives 32 names; however, because the author (who wrote under the name of Trebellius Pollio) places the last two during the reigns of Maximinus Thrax and Claudius II respectively, this leaves thirty alleged pretenders during the reign of Gallienus.

Notwithstanding the author's pretensions regarding the time during which these persons aspired to the throne, this list includes:

• two women and six youths who never claimed imperial dignity
• seven men who either certainly or probably never claimed imperial dignity
• three probably and two possibly fictitious persons
• two pretenders admittedly not contemporary with Gallienus
• three pretenders not contemporary with Gallienus

Leaving nine pretenders roughly contemporary with Gallienus. According to David Magie (the editor of the Loeb Classical Library edition of the Historia Augusta), at least some of these men issued coins.

Pretty much the title, we all know the usual suspects, Aristotle’s Logic and whatnot, JS Mill mentions that in his autobiography he went through them as a kid. But how would an European elite of the olden days fair against a Classics undergrad or hardcore amateur?

>The Historia Augusta is without question or rival the most enigmatic work that Antiquity has transmitted.

—Ronald Syme

I've been getting into classical history recently and stumbled upon a fascinating mystery, one that has yet to be subjected to a popular treatment and remains confined to academia. The literature spawned by this episode is far too vast and dense to do justice here, but I'll try.

Our understanding of the late Roman Empire owes much to the Historia Augusta, a collection of imperial biographies spanning the years 117 to 284 AD, a period which includes the Crisis of the Third Century. Indeed, this massive work is our only Latin guide to that era, during which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed. Each of its 30 books describes one or more lives in lurid detail, beginning with Emperor Hadrian and ending with the Carus dynasty.

While long apparent to readers that this work was mediocre and unreliable, though credible enough to be cautiously referenced, it was not until the late nineteenth century that historians realized the bizarre extent of its distortions and fabrications. Some biographies are of fictitious persons, virtually all of the 150 or so letters, speeches, and senatorial records it excerpts are forgeries, 35 of the authorities it cites have never been mentioned elsewhere and likely never existed, its purported authors are imaginary, and it pretends to have been written decades earlier than it was. So baffling are its falsehoods that scholars still remain divided as to its purpose and origin. Why all this effort to produce a tome of lies? The Historia has been variously accused of being propaganda, a satire, a spoof, a prank, a riddle, and an inside joke.

The Historia's many deceptions begins with its authorship. Each chapter is attributed to one of six scriptores, supposedly of the senatorial class: 6 by Aelius Spartianus, 10 by Julius Capitolinus, 1 by Vulcacius Gallicanus, 4 by Aelius Lampridius, 4 by Trebellius Pollio, and 5 by Flavius Vopiscus Syracusanus. Group projects of this kind are extremely unusual for its time. Their names do not correspond to any figures known to history. Rather, they appear to be partially lifted from politicians mentioned in the first-century works of Cicero.

Ignoring the many controversies of the work, I am looking for a visually pleasing copy of the Historia Augusta to fit nicely in my bookshelf. I’ve got the Loeb edition, but I like to have one more «prominent» and «pretty» if that makes sense. It’s a bit superficial for sure, but having nice and old books on the shelf gives me a lot of joy! Any suggestions of nice editions of the Historia Augusta?

So I was reading How Rome Fell by Adrian Goldsworthy when I came across this line, “Pertinax’s son, who had been too young and unimportant to be worth killing in 194, died now, because he could not resist making a pun referring to the murder of Geta.” (Goldsworthy 71) and stopped. Two questions really. First and obviously did this actually happened. And two what was the dreaded pun that earned Pertinax’s son his PUNishment.

Hi. Looking for solid accounts on the five good emperors, doesn’t have to be all of them - just at least one. I would prefer for this to be from Romans. I am aware of Cassius Dio’s books, and am looking for something beyond this. Thanks.

https://preview.redd.it/65ke21x4r8u71.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40e635c45f0d55436c3ac9df579a881f7b4d4708

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

They’re on standbi

Pilot on me!!

Nothing, he was gladiator.

Dad jokes are supposed to be jokes you can tell a kid and they will understand it and find it funny.

This sub is mostly just NSFW puns now.

If it needs a NSFW tag it's not a dad joke. There should just be a NSFW puns subreddit for that.

Edit* I'm not replying any longer and turning off notifications but to all those that say "no one cares", there sure are a lot of you arguing about it. Maybe I'm wrong but you people don't need to be rude about it. If you really don't care, don't comment.

When I got home, they were still there.

What did 0 say to 8 ?

" Nice Belt "

So What did 3 say to 8 ?

" Hey, you two stop making out "

I won't be doing that today!

[Removed]

You take away their little brooms

This morning, my 4 year old daughter.

Daughter: I'm hungry

Me: nerves building, smile widening

Me: Hi hungry, I'm dad.

She had no idea what was going on but I finally did it.

Thank you all for listening.

There hasn't been a post all year!