Tag: Classical literature
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When the Corn is as High as an Elephant’s Eye: A Not-So-Serious Look at Pliny’s Naturalis Historia (Part Two)
As promised, this week we’re back with Pliny the Elder and his Natural History, and we’re here to tackle Books 12-27, the dreaded plant books. Since we’ve already introduced Pliny and his general deal, we’ll pretty much delve straight in, but if you missed the first part, you can find it here. As with the…
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A Not-So-Serious Look at Pliny’s Naturalis Historia (Part One)
Like with the English literature canon, I have reached a point where I’ve read a lot of the “normal” stuff in the Classical canon, and I am now left with plumbing the depths of the more esoteric stuff. Pliny the Elder’s massively influential Naturalis Historia (Natural History) may not, at first blush, seem like a…
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Secret’s in the (Fish) Sauce: A Brief History of Rome’s Favorite Condiment
This week I want to take another look at some ancient cuisine, and specifically garum,—a fermented fish sauce that is particularly associated with the Romans, but was actually extremely popular throughout the Mediterranean. We’ll talk a bit about its composition and manufacture, its use and reputation, and then we’ll wrap things up with the triumphant…
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Mister Sandman: Artemidorus’ Oneirokritikon and the Surprising Science of Ancient Dream Interpretation
Caroline: I had this dream…Lloyd: Do we have to do dreams?Caroline: I’m in this restaurant, and the waiter brings me my entree. It was a salad. It was Lloyd’s head on a plate of spinach with his penis sticking out of his ear. And I said, “I didn’t order this.” And the waiter said, “Oh…
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Amateur Historian Hour: Velleius Paterculus’ History of Rome
“His [Paterculus’] admiration of Caesar is questionable, of Augustus justified, of Tiberius excessive.” — Jacket copy to the Loeb edition “Velleius Paterculus does not rank among the great Olympians of classical literature either as a stylist or as historian.” — Introduction to the same Some of you probably breathed a sigh of relief that I…
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Babes in the Woods: Longus’ Daphnis & Chloe
“[A]bsolutely no one has ever escaped Love nor ever shall, as long as beauty exists and eyes can see.” — Daphnis & Chloe, prologue “For our part, may the gods grant us proper detachment in depicting the story of others.” (ibid—and my new writing mantra) As threatened multiple times, we’re circling back to more of…
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A (Fake) True Story: Lucian and the Birth of Modern Sci Fi
“To put yourself in another man’s shoes and say what he would of said was a regular exercise of the schools, but to laugh in your sleeve as you said it was not the way of the ordinary rhetorician.” – A.M. Harmon (introduction to Phalaris) Okay, as promised, we’re going to talk about Lucian (c.…
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Reading in Review: My Best Books of 2022
Well, my lovely readers, we’ve managed to make it to the end of another year, and while all signs point to 2023 not likely to be existentially any easier, making it to the new year is always to be commended. I had intentions of doing an entry on the satirist Lucian this week, but I…
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Accidental Adventures in Antiquity: The Works of Ausonius
“For when the Emperor Octavianus was reigning, they [the Golden Age poets] vied with one another in presenting him with their works, and set no limit on to the number of the poems which they composed to his praise. You may be sure that though he may perhaps have admired these authors as much as…
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The Seven Against the Seven Hills: The Ancient-Medieval Mashup of the Roman de Thèbes & the Roman d’Eneas
“If lord Homer and lord Plato, and Virgil and Cicero, had concealed their knowledge, there would never have been any talk of them. For this reason I do not wish to keep my intelligence hidden, or to suppress my knowledge, rather does it please me to recount something worthy to be remembered.” — Roman de…
Sarah Holz 