By BRENDAN BOYLE
September 19, 2007
Mary Beard's new book "The Roman Triumph" (Belknap Press, 448 pages, $29.95) needs some italics in its title. The book isn't about the "Roman" triumph; that is, it isn't about the motley achievements — gladiatorial and otherwise — which have come to us courtesy of Russell Crowe and other famous Romans. It's about the Roman "triumph," a kind of lavish parade held in honor of a conquering general upon his return to Rome. Think of Admiral George Dewey celebrating his victories in the Spanish-American War with a parade that wended its way through New York, en route to a triumphal arch built especially for the occasion at Madison Square. Or, better, of Napoleon sauntering through Paris bedecked with the loot he plundered from the Italians.
