Tag: Rome
-
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,…
-
The Law of Unintended Sequels: Ten Unusual and Obscure Roman Deities
“[E]vidently Forculus [the god of the threshold] can’t watch the hinge and the threshold at the same time.” – St. Augustine Nobody enjoys mocking the Egyptian pantheon for its weirdness than the supposedly straight-laced Romans, so I thought as a companion to last week’s entry, we’d give them a taste of their own medicine and…
-
Mediterranean Bandstand: Music in the Ancient World
Slide your feet up the street, bend your backShift your arm then you pull it backLife is hard you know (oh way oh)So strike a pose on a Cadillac – The Bangles, Walk Like an Egyptian This week, I thought we’d get back into some more historical pursuits and take a look at the diverse…
-
Field Day Part 2: The Carnegie Museums and the Classical World in Imitation
As promised, this week we’re going to continue our tour through the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) and Natural History (CMNH), but I also promise to finally let all of you out of the single room I confined you to last week. [Pictured: People fleeing my attempts to keep them in the Hall of Architecture]…
-
Field Day Part 1: The Carnegie Museums and the Classical World in Replica
“One of them said we made going to the moon as exciting as taking a trip to Pittsburgh.” — Henry Hunt, Apollo 13 Now that we’re fortunate enough stateside to be (finally) enjoying a reprieve from Covid restrictions, I was able to resume my nineteen year-strong love affair with Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in some semblance of…
-
Guess Who’s Coming to the Sacrifice: The Ara Pacis and Speculative Archeology
“When I returned from Spain and Gaul after successfully settling the affairs of those provinces, in the consulship of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilius, the Senate decreed that the Ara Pacis should be consecrated for my return near the Campus Martius, and ordered that the magistrates, preists, and the Vestal Virgins should there make an…
-
Beer Here! : Potent Potables of the Ancient World
Candy/ is dandy/ But liquor/ is quicker — Ogden Nash Over some lovely late-spring cocktails with my parents this past weekend, I asked my mother what I should talk about here this week, and she pointed out I haven’t talked about consumables yet. Ancient food and drink covers a lot of ground, so I thought…
-
Horses of a Different Color: Equines in the Ancient World
“I create thee, Oh Arabian. To thy forelock, I bind Victory in battle. On thy back, I set a rich spoil and a Treasure in thy loins. I establish thee as one of the Glories of the Earth… I give thee flight without wings.” — Bedouin legend So, I’m sure people who know me IRL…
-
Animal House: Pets of the Ancient World
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats, living together…mass hysteria!” – Dr. Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters I thought this week we’d talk about something relatable, especially in a pandemic world where we’ve still barely left the house: our non-human cohabiting partners. As long as people have been able to convince animals to let us touch them, we’ve had…
-
The Jester of Tortuga: Caesar and the Pirates
Zoot: Hey man, I can’t figure out what side we’re on. Are we with the pirates or the frog captain? Floyd Pepper: Oh, hey, man. Just play the gig. Never get involved in politics… — Muppet Treasure Island Well, folks, it’s the Ides of March, so I bet you all came here for some dank…
Sarah Holz 