Tag: Rome
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East Meets West: The Unexpectedly Diverse History of the Parthian Empire
Getting back in into harder history, I thought after talking a little bit about the Roman Republic’s greatest enemy, Carthage, last week that this week we’d shift forward and look at the Roman Empire’s most stubborn foe: Parthia. Despite ruling a majority of the Middle East from Turkey to Afghanistan for nearly five hundred years and…
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Vives Annos: Foreign Influences on the Saturnalia
“Well (since our ancestors would have it so), use the freedom of December [and] speak on.” – Horace to his slave, Davus, on the Saturnalia (Satires, II, 7.4) I’m writing this up on the Sigillaria (December 23rd), the last day of the best known of the Roman festivals, the Saturnalia. The Sigillaria was devoted to…
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Rome’s Mystery Goddess: Bona Dea and Her Cult
“[C]um fuget a templis oculos Bona Diva virorum, praeterquam siquos illa venire iubet.” (“Bona Dea bars the eyes of men from her temple, except such as she bids come there herself.”) – Ovid, Ars Amatoria This week I thought we’d jump back into some ancient festivals, and coming up next week on December 3rd is the…
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The Bones Are Their Dollars: Ghosts in the Ancient World
“Hail thou One, who shinest from the moon. Grant that this one may come forth among thy multitudes who are at the portal. Let [me] be with the Light-god. Let the Duat be open to [me].” – The Book of Coming Forth by Day “We’ve been going about this all wrong. This Mr. Stay Puft’s okay!…
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Lost, Cursed, and Found: The Ring of Silvianus and Latin-Celtic Britain
Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. – The curse of the One Ring, The Lord of the Rings A lot of times when I’m writing about things here, I’m delving into stuff that has come up in my book research, or is a topic I’ve always been interested in. But this…
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“That Best of Men”: Virgil, Horace, and a Friendship in Verse
As usual, I spent most of the past couple of days being completely stymied as to what to talk about this week, but then I remembered that today (October 15th) is Virgil’s birthday (he’s turning 2,091). So in his honor, I thought we’d talk a little about ancient Rome’s most famous poet. But since Virgil…
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The Iceman Cometh: The Birth of Gaius Octavius and Roman Myth-Making
In the interest of continuing to mix things up, I had meant to pivot back away from Rome this week, though those of you who managed get through last week’s nonsense will be incredulous that I was still finding unused Teutoburg memes among my photo files days after posting. But as I was meditating on what to…
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Missteps and Mayhem: The Battle of Teutoburg Forest and the End of Early Roman Imperial Expansion
“There is a sweeping curve of glen, made for ambushes/ and devices of arms. Dark thick foliage hems it in on either hand,/ and into it a bare footpath leads by a narrow gorge and difficult entrance./ Right above it on the watch-towers of the hill-top lies an unexpected level, hidden away in shelter, whether…
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Barefoot in Rome: The Political Iconography of the Prima Porta Augustus
I’ve been talking a lot about Egypt and Greece for the last month or so, I thought I’d circle back to Rome and talk about some more political art during the early imperial era. Specifically, we’re going to take a deeper look at the the Augustus of Prima Porta, the best-known of Octavius’ portraits and arguably…
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Glory of the Gods: A Brief History of the Ancient Olympic Games
You must be swift as the coursing river/ With all the force of a great typhoon/ With all the strength of a raging fire/ Mysterious as the dark side of the moon — “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, Mulan This week, I thought we’d tackle something topical and talk about the original Olympic Games,…
Sarah Holz 