Category Archives: Rome

Hair Apparent

I was turning for comfort and relief to Seneca, as I often do, when he turned around and stabbed me in the eyeball with this triple-forked slam. He’s writing about his contemporaries who have screwed-up priorities. His contemporaries, but maybe … Continue reading

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Wearing the Mask

I’m rereading Seneca’s De Beneficiis, using Kaster’s shiny new OCT edition, and came across this crunchy line: hanc personam induisti: agenda est.—Seneca, De Beneficiis 2.17.2“You’ve put on this mask; you have to act out the part.” Seneca’s line is almost … Continue reading

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Actaeons Have Consequences

“διὰ τί, πολλῶν ὄντων ἐν Ῥώμῃ ναῶν Ἀρτέμιδος, εἰς μόνον τὸν ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Πατρικίῳ στενωπῷ ἄνδρες οὐκ εἰσίασιν;” ἢ διὰ τὸν λεγόμενον μῦθον; γυναῖκα γὰρ αὐτόθι τὴν θεὸν σεβομένην βιαζόμενός τις ὑπὸ τῶν κυνῶν διεσπάσθη, καὶ ἀπὸ τούτου δεισιδαιμονίας … Continue reading

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Eldritch Lore of Lightning, Stars, and Magic

On Facebook, Michael Swanwick mentioned a historical (or maybe apocryphal) episode when the Pope invited Etruscan seers to use lightning magic to defend Rome against Alaric and his Ostrogoths. It’s a pretty good story, whether or not it’s actually history. … Continue reading

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Vintage Archaeology

Emlyn Dodd has a nice piece up today at The Conversation about a newly excavated winery from the later Roman Empire. The property originally belonged to the Quintilii brothers, and then became part of the emperor’s holdings after Commodus had … Continue reading

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Trump or Carinus?

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Goa, Going, Gone

I was scrolling through an electronic edition of a venerable Latin dictionary, which is a totally normal thing to do, and I was brought up short by the entry for superstitio: “excessive fear of the goas; unreasonable religious belief.” I … Continue reading

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Let’s Give Vespasian a Great Big Hand

Prandente eo quondam canis extrarius e trivio manum humanam intulit mensaeque subiecit. —Suetonius, Divus Vespasianus 5.4 “Once, while he was having lunch, a stray dog carried in a human hand  from the crossroads and threw it under his table.” This is one of the … Continue reading

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Merv?

A gryphon holding up the corner of a sarcophagus. I took this photo in the Vatican Museum, in the now-distant summer of 2008. I was collecting gryphons that year.

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Delusions of Grandeur

divinam ex eo maiestatem asserere sibi coepit; datoque negotio, ut simulacra numinum religione et arte praeclara, inter quae Olympii Iovis, apportarentur e Graecia, quibus capite dempto suum imponeret. —Suetonius, CALIGULA 22 “From that time he began to claim godhood for … Continue reading

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