Tag: Rome
-
The Art of Living with Caesars: The Calpurnii, the Villa of the Papyri, and Roman Home Architecture
“If a painter should wish to unite a horse’s neck to a human head, and spread a variety of plumage over limbs taken from every part, so that what is a beautiful woman in the upper part terminates unsightly in an ugly fish below; could you, my friends, refrain from laughter, were you admitted to…
-
Spin Dramatists & Dilettantes: Poetics and Statecraft in Augustan Rome
Study I not o’ermuch to please thee, Caesar and court thee, / Nor do I care e’en to know if thou be white or black. – Gaius Valerius Catallus Last week we saw how state sponsorship of the arts is older than PBS’ annual pledge drives, and how the right political patron can produce a…
-
The Rule of Threes Redux: A Crash Course in the Roman Civil Wars, Part 2
All right, last week we looked at the start of the Roman Civil War, in the 40s BC. The conclusion of this first phase of the war you’re already somewhat familiar with if you’ve read The God’s Wife, or have a passing knowledge of its setting. But as a brief recap: Pompey loses his head…
Sarah Holz 