"Gyofu Maruko-no Mita Yume" (A Dream Of A Fisherman Marco) by SHIONO Nanami and MIZUTA Hideho

This is a picture book written by Ms. Shiono. The illustrations are drawn by Mr. Mizuta. I don't know him, but the pictures are good.

Marco was a 16-year-old fisherman who lives on an island Lido off Venice. Usually he passed the captured fishes to his boss, but one day the boss was inconvenient and Marco had to go to Venice by himself. And he caught a glimpse of the adult world...

(Finished reading on May 3, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* MIZUTA Hideho : 水田秀穂
* Gyofu Maruko-no Mita Yume : 漁夫マルコの見た夢

"Shiono Nanami'Romajin-no Monogatari' special guide book" edited by Publishing Project Team in Shintyou-sya

This is a supplementary reader of 'Romajin-no Monogatari' series written by Shiono Nanami. It contains many pictures related to each books of the series, various rankings selected by editors and readers, a conversation, an interview, and so on. Full of interesting articles about 'Romajin-no Monogatari'!

(Finished reading on Mar.9, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* Publishing Project Team in Shintyou-sya : 新潮社出版企画部
* Shiono Nanami'Romajin-no Monogatari' special guide book : 塩野七生『ローマ人の物語』スペシャル・ガイドブック

c.f.
"Romajin-no Monogatari" series:
No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5
No.6
No.7
No.8
No.9
No.10
No.11
No.12
No.13
No.14
No.15

"Romajin-no Monogatari (XV)" by SHIONO Nanami

This fifteenth and the final book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series contains the history of the Roman Empire after the Emperor Theodosius. The Empire was divided into two - western and eastern, and the Western Roman Empire was vanished in 476. The Eastern Roman Empire lasted until 1453. However, Ms. Shiono thinks the destroy of the Western Empire was the end of the Roman Empire, because Rome was ruled by other people.

The 1st part: The last Roman (395-410)
The 2nd part: The destroy of the Roman Empire (410-476)
The 3rd part: After the Empire (476-)

At last the last book was finished reading! It took about 5 months to read this series. Of course this contains the history of the ancient Rome. However, this also seems to reveal the fundamental thinking and actions of the people which does not depend on the historical background.

(Finished reading on Mar.1, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

*** Ref. ***
"Romajin-no Monogatari" series:
No.1
No.2
No.3
No.4
No.5
No.6
No.7
No.8
No.9
No.10
No.11
No.12
No.13
No.14
No.15(this page!)

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Roma Sekai-no Syuuen : ローマ世界の終焉

"Romajin-no Monogatari (XIV)" by SHIONO Nanami

This fourteenth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series contains the history of the Roman Empire between Constantinus and Theodosius, which corresponds to the middle and the later 4th century. Some researchers insist that the Roman Empire was destroyed at the end of Diocletianus, but Shiono continues writing this series until the last people who have Roman spirit was died.

The contents of this book is as follows.

The 1st part: Emperor Constantinus (Reign: 337-361)
The 2nd part: Emperor Julian (Reign: 361-363)
The 3rd part: Saint Ambrose (Reign: 374-397)

As you can see, the 3rd part is not titled 'Emperor Theodosius' but 'Saint Ambrose'. Theodosius declared the Christianity as the Roman national religion, and Bishops had more power than the Emperor! So the subtitle of this book is 'Kirisuto-no Syouri' which means 'The Victory of Christianity'. The end of the Roman Empire will come soon...

(Finished reading on Feb.23, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Kirisuto-no Syouri : キリストの勝利

"Romajin-no Monogatari (XIII)" by SHIONO Nanami

This thirteenth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series contains the history of the Roman Empire after the crisis of the 3rd century. Diocletianus (Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus) started a system called "Tetrarchy" or "rule of four". He could prevent the entering of northern barbarians with this system, but it failed just after his retirement. Constantinus (Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus) won the following conflicts of Emperors and tried to build a new Roman Empire. He moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople, and allowed the spread of Christianity. But the Christianity was a method for him to control the huge Empire...

(Finished reading on Feb.14, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Saigo-no Doryoku : 最後の努力

"Romajin-no Monogatari (XII)" by SHIONO Nanami

This twelfth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series contains the history of the Roman Empire between Caracalla and Carinus. During this 87 years in the 3rd century 22 Emperors appeared and disappeared, and it is called 'The crisis in the 3rd century'. The subtitle of this book is 'Meisou-suru Teikoku' or 'The wondering Emperor' which expresses the situation of the Roman Empire in this period.

(Finished reading on Feb.11, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Meisou-suru Teikoku : 迷走する帝国

"Romajin-no Monogatari (XI)" by SHIONO Nanami

This eleventh book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series starts from the last 'Five Good Emperors' Aurelius Antoninus through the period of civil wars to Septimus Severus.

The subtitle of this book is 'Owari-no Hajimari' which means 'The beginning of the end'. As this subtitle shows, according to the author SHIONO Nanami, the fall of the Roman Empire had begun already during the period of 'Five Good Emperors'. The empire was too safe to gain experience of wars for Marcus Aurelius before he became the emperor.

And another important thing is the change of the Roman military system by Septimius Severus. With this change the military became very comfortable, and this lead to the separation of civilian people and military people. And later this caused the increase of the military budget and it became a reason of the fall of the Roman Empire. Of course Septimius Severus did this system change, thinking of the Roman military and the Roman Emperor...

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (Reigh: 7 Mar.161 - 17 Mar.180)
Lucius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Reigh: 18 Mar.180 - 31 Dec.192)
Publius Helvius Pertinax (Reigh: 1 Jan.193 - 28 Mar.193)
Marcus Didius Salvius Julianus Severus (Reigh: 29 Mar.193 - 1 Jun.193)
Lucius Septimius Severus (Reigh: 2 Jun.193 - 4 Feb.211)

(Finished reading on Jan.29, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Owari-no Hajimari : 終わりの始まり

"Ai-no Nendaiki" by SHIONO Nanami

This is a independent (not included in any series) book, and it contains people mostly lived in Italy in Middle Ages, who almost (but not completely) buried in the flow of history following many annals, legends, and so on.

(Finished reading on Jan.19, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Ai-no Nendaiki : 愛の年代記

"Romajin-no Monogatari (X)" by SHIONO Nanami

This tenth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is slightly different from other books. It is written about the infrastructure made and maintained in Ancient Rome. There are two kinds of infrastructure. One is hard-infra like roads, bridges, and water-works, while another is soft-infra like medical treatment, and education. It is very surprise that those were made and maintained in one century BC...

(Finished reading on Jan.14, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Subete-no Michi-ha Roma-ni Tsuuzu : すべての道はローマに通ず

"Romajin-no Monogatari (IX)" by SHIONO Nanami

This ninth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is written about the central three emperors of Five Good Emperors. The Roman Empire was in a very good situation during the reign of these emperors, but that made historians of these days not write the history. That made us difficult to know about these period.

Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus (Reign: 27 Jan.98 - 9 Aug.117)
Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus(Reign: 9 Aug.117 - 10 Jul.138)
Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pontifex Maximus(Reigh: 10 Jul.138 - 7 Mar.161)

(Finished reading on Jan.12, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Kentei-no Seiki : 賢帝の世紀

"Romajin-no Monogatari (VIII)" by SHIONO Nanami

This eighth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is written about seven emperors after the fifth emperor Nero. The death of Nero caused confusion of the Roman Empire. In particular the Emperor changed three times in a year of 69 AD. So the subtitle of this book is 'Kiki-to Kokufuku' or 'Crisis and Overcome'. The Emperors in this period (about 30 years) are listed below. The last of the list, Nerva, is the first emperor of 'Five Good Emperors'.

Servius Sulpicius Galba (Reign: 18 Jun.68 - 15 Jan.69)
Marcus Salvius Otho (Reign: 15 Jan.69 - 15 Apr.69)
Aulus Vitellius Germanicus (Reign: 16 Apr.69 - 20 Dec.69)
Caesar Vespasianus Augustus (Reign: 21 Dec.69 - 24 Jun.79)
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (Reign: 24 Jun.79 - 13 Sep.81)
Titus Flavius Domitianus (Reign: 14 Sep.81 - 18 Sep.96)
Marcus Cocceius Nerva (Reign: 19 Sep.96 - 27 Jan.98)

(Finished reading on Jan.5, 2008)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Kiki-to Kokufuku : 危機と克服

"Romajin-no Monogatari (VII)" by SHIONO Nanami

This seventh book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is written about four emperors after the first emperor Augustus. The second emperor Tiberius Caesar Augustus (Reign: 14 Sep.14 - 16 Mar.37) was an economist, the third emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus who is known as Caligula (Reign: 18 Mar.37 - 24 Jan.41) was a lavish spender, the fourth emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Reign: 24 Jan.41 - 13 Oct.54) was a historian, and the fifth emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Reign: 13 Oct.54 - 9 Jun.68) was an artist. They all have relationship to Augustus, but after them the relation was disconnected. The historians of the Roman Empire, Tacitus and Svetonius, wrote these emperors very badly in their writings, and the subtitle of this book is "Akumei-takaki Koutei-tachi" or Emperors of Ill Fame.

(Finished reading on Dec.22, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Akumei-takaki Koutei-tachi : 悪名高き皇帝たち

"Romajin-no Monogatari (VI)" by SHIONO Nanami

This sixth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is written about Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, who is the first Roman emperor and called Augustus. By defeating Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium, he succeeded to finish the Civil War, and that was the beginning of 'Pax Romana' or the Roman Peace which is the subtitle of this book. He was not a great soldier, but he has a good cooperator Agrippa. He also has a good speaker Maecenas. They changed the Rome Republic to the Roman Empire before people know it. This book contains until the death of Augustus.

(Finished reading on Dec.5, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Roma-jin no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Pax Romana : パクス・ロマーナ

"Romajin-no Monogatari (V)" by SHIONO Nanami

This fifth book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is also about Gaius Julius Caesar like the fourth one. The subtitle is "Julius Caesar - after the Rubicon", and it contains his history after crossing the Rubicon river in 49 BC and the events occurred after his assassination on March 15 in 44 BC. After he destroyed Pompey and his fellows in the Civil War, he tried to change the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, but before he succeeded to do this, he was assassinated. But his grand-nephew, Gaius Octavius, continued to have the Caesar's will, and succeeded to change.

(Finished reading on Nov.21, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* Julius Caesar - after the Rubicon : ユリウス・カエサル　ルビコン以後

"Romajin-no Monogatari (IV)" by SHIONO Nanami

The fourth and fifth books of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is about Gaius Julius Caesar, and this fourth one, which has the subtitle of "Julius Caesar - before the Rubicon", describes his history before he crossed the Rubicon river in 49 BC. This means that the Gallic War is mainly written.

(Finished reading on Nov.11, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* Julius Caesar - before the Rubicon : ユリウス・カエサル　ルビコン以前

"Romajin-no Monogatari (III)" by SHIONO Nanami

The third book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is about the struggles after the establishment of a large country around the Mediterranean Sea. There are some famous people in this period including Gaius Gracchus (154-121 BC), Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (153-121 BC), Gaius Marius (157-86 BC), Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (138-78 BC), and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC). The enemy in this period is mainly in Rome as the subtitle of this book 'Syousya no Konmei (Confusion of the winner)' shows. After them the famous Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) appears, but that is written in the next book.

(Finished reading on Oct.31, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* Syousya no Konmei : 勝者の混迷

"Romajin-no Monogatari (II)" by SHIONO Nanami

The second book of the "Roma-jin no Monogatari" series is about the Punic Wars, which were fought between Rome and Carthage. (264 BC to 146 BC) The subtitle of the book is 'Hannibal Senki' or Hannibal War. I think many European people know very much about these wars, but we Japanese do not know so much. In fact I studied the world history in the senior high school, but I have almost no knowledge in my memory (^_^;;; According to the author SHIONO, a typical text of the world history for Japanese students of senior high schools contains only five lines for the description of this book.

After Rome pushed away the Carthage from Sicily by the First Punic War (264 BC to 241 BC), there were some peaceful time in Rome. However, when the Carthaginian Hannibal crossed the Alps, the Second Punic War (218 BC - 241 BC) started in the main land of Italy. The Roman armies were defeated many times by him, but at last a young Roman commander Scipio succeeded to run Hannibal out of Italy. Rome destroyed the Macedonia in 167 BC, then Carthage was also ruined after the Third Punic War (149 BC to 146 BC).

(Finished reading on Oct.19, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* Hannibal Senki : ハンニバル戦記

"Romajin-no Monogatari (I)" by SHIONO Nanami

SHIONO Nanami is a famous Japanese writer. She lives in Italy and writing many books mainly about Italian history. One of the series of her books is this "Roma-jin no Monogatari" or 'the tales of Romans'.

I read the first book of this series whose subtitle is "Roma-ha Ichinichi-ni-shite Narazu" or 'Rome cannot be built in a day'. This contains the history from the founding of Ancient Rome in A.D. 753 to the unification of the Italy Peninsula in A.D. 270.

(Finished reading on Oct.8, 2007)

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The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* SHIONO Nanami : 塩野七生
* Romajin-no Monogatari : ローマ人の物語
* Roma-ha Ichinichi-ni-shite Narazu : ローマは一日にして成らず