Fascinating History

Aristotle on happiness and relaxation

2009-03-15T17:01:00.005Z

In book X of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle tackles the concept of happiness. Happiness, he says, is not a state because if it were then everyone would possess it, even someone who is asleep throughout his life (we might say someone who is in a coma). Happiness ought therefore to be referred to an activity, one which is chosen for itself and not for the sake of anything else as it does not require anything else, it is self-sufficient.

According to Aristotle we choose almost everything in our lives for the sake of having something else. This is not the same though with happiness because happiness is the goal. He quotes Anacharsis, a Scythian philosopher who visited Greece in the early 6th c. B.C. "Play to work harder" to emphasize his view that amusement is not happiness but a mere form of relaxation as we nobody can work non-stop and needs to relax. Because relaxation is taken for the sake of continuing with another activity (i.e. work) it is not an end in itself.

Forum Romanum (The Roman Forum)

2008-04-13T10:12:00.008+01:00

The Forum was the center of the ancient city, a place to see and to be seen, to catch up on the latest news and gossip, do some shopping, business and even to be entertained. Nowadays all we see are ruins, mostly due to the plundering which took place in the Middle Ages as the great monuments were ravaged and had their marble and other elements stripped off them for the building of the Vatican and other Papal palaces and churches. Despite this it is still the best example of an open-air museum, offering the visitor a chance to go back in time somewhat and walk in the footsteps of the ancient Romans.

Over the centuries the Forum has gone through many changes. After a big fire in AD 283 it was already 1,000 years old and had been remodelled several times. The Forum started life as a marshy area, a meeting place for the early inhabitants of the surrounding hills. By the 5th century BC it had evolved into Rome's city-centre, a place for political assemblies, riots, demonstrations, trials, gladiatorial shows and various public festivities. The marshy ground had been drained, the Cloaca Maxima had been created and one could see lofty patrician houses amidst the hustle and bustle of a market filled with food stalls, various imported and local goods and even cattle in the area closer to the river (Forum Boarium). Plautus gives us an interesting description of the kinds of people lurking around the Forum:

"For perjurers, try the Comitium. Liars and braggarts hang around the Shrine of Cloacina: rich, married ne'er do-wells by the Basilica. Packs of prostitutes there too - but rather clapped-out ones. In the Fish-Market, members of the dining clubs. In the lower Forum respectable, well-to-do citizens out for a stroll; in the Middle Forum, flashier types along the canal. By the Lacus Curtius you will find bold fellows with a tongue in their head and a bad intent in their mind - great slanderers of others and very vulnerable to it themselves. By the old shops, the money-lenders - they will make or take a loan. Behind the Temple of Castor there are men to whom you wouldn't entrust yourself. In the Vicus Tuscus are men who sell themselves. In the Velabrum you will find a baker or a butcher or a fortune-teller, or men who will do a turn for you or get you to do a turn for them." [Plautus, Curculio 470-82]

As time went by the are transformed yet again into a showcase of Roman power, reminders of triumphs celebrated by victorious generals, the conquests of the empire, and elaborate temples and various public buildings built with the booty and slaves Rome had acquired.

Today it is interesting to see, as indeed one of my pictures above shows, that the alleged site of Julius Caesar's funeral pyre at the Ara di Cesare (Temple of Divus Julius) is still honoured by people who deposit flowers at the spot anonymously.

Solon on The Ten Ages of Man

2008-09-07T13:27:00.002+01:00

Solon, an ancient Athenian statesman and legislator credited for sowing the seeds of Athenian democracy, liked to write poetry in his spare time. In the below he describes what he sees as the the stages in the life of a man, each stage constisting of seven years.

The youthfull boy loses the first row of teeth

He grew while a baby in seven years;

When god has completed the next seven years for him

He shows the signs that yourthful prime is on its way;

In the third seven, while his limbs are still growing

His chin grows downy with the bloom of changing skin

In the fourth seven every man is at his best

In strength, when men give proof of valour.

In the fifth it is time for a man to think of marriage,

And seek a family of children to come after him.

In the sixth a man's mind is now disciplined in everything,

And he no longer wishes to do reckles deeds.

In the seventh he is now at his best in mind and tongue,

And in the eighth, that is fourteen years in total.

In the ninth he is still able, but less powerful than before

In both his speech and wisdom in matters of great prowess.

And if anyone comes to complete the tenth in full measure,

He will not meet the fate of death unreasonably.

Run for your life, the Spartans are coming!

2008-08-24T19:27:00.013+01:00

The image of the long-haired, armed and cloaked Spartan warrior was meant to evoke a sense of terror and induce severe abdominal cramping in all enemies of Sparta, the harshest and most fearsome city state in the ancient Greek world. Yet, despite this bloodcurdling reputation Herodotus tells us that when the Persian king Cyrus was visited by a delegation of rough-looking, long-haired, sun-baked men clad in red cloaks and with no desire for small-talk, and was duly warned to leave the Ionian cities alone or he would have to deal with them, the Spartans, the king allegedly turned to one of his advisors and asked "Who are the Spartans?" Suffice to say no Greek would have asked this question.

Based in the fertile plain of Laconia, with the banks of the river Eurotas on the east, in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece, Sparta was well positioned for further development and expansion. In the latter 8th century BC neighboring Messinia was annexed and its entire population enslaved (the Helots, i.e. slaves of Sparta). This action transformed Sparta into a major Greek city state. In the following centuries Sparta further consolidated its power in the Peloponnese while simultaneously developing what we would nowadays call an oppressive and heavily militaristic social system. This served the state well. Only a few thousand men were allowed to have citizenship. These citizens (also the state's landowners), barred from engaging in the 'joys' of agricultural labour and any form of business activity, would serve full time as hoplites (heavy infantry) in the army. While citizens dedicated their lives to the military helots, would toil away on the estates of citizens in order for food and other such necessities to be produced. The government constisted of two kings, the ephors (5 civil magistrates elected annually by the citizens for a one-year term of office) who to a certain level were able to influence and/or control the activities of the two kings, and the gerousia a formidable council of elders. Every Spartan male, (except for the two kings and their immediate heirs) from the age of 7 to 29 was subjected to a regime of public upbringing called agoge, which was basicaly military training combined with an extremely austere lifestyle, which entailed perpetual physical and psychological hardships of all kinds and demanded absolute obedience (thus today we use the phrase 'a spartan lifestyle'). At age 12 the budding citizen could expect to be paired off with a young adult who would act as their patron and guide. The relationship was also sexual on many occasions and this was seen as the done thing. (The ancient world did not really classify people and especially men as being either heterosexual or homosexual, but adopted more of a bisexual view, ie. that sexual urges and needs were to be satisfied with both sexes). During their years of training the young men would be routinely striped and paraded in front of young Spartan girls who would either praise them for their physical attributes of mock them as it was said a Spartan had nothing to hide (we do not know if penile size was on the agenda or not but we can assume physical fitness was a focal point). Aged 29 the young man would graduate the agoge and if he was one of the most promising students was promptly sent off into the mountains with other such young men thus forming a group called the Crypteia. The chosen graduates, dressed in a light tunic and armed only with a small dagger each, had one instruction to obey: kill a hated helot in Messenia and prove themselves as killers. These were the future leaders of Sparta and it was felt that no man was fit to lead unless able to kill on command.

At the age of 30 the Spartan citizen was finally considered a man and able to control his own finances and stand for office. Still, as a hoplite he was obliged to live in the army barracks and not with his family (he would visit wife during the pre-scheduled conjugal meetings whose primary purpose was the production of more Spartans).

Spartan women were also very tough and brought up to serve the state by keeping fit and healthy so as to give birth to the next generation of Spartan warriors and mothers. They were in every sense of the word, baby factories. However, the Spartan woman was also raised to be domineering, assertive and non-emotional while serving the state. To the amusement of other Greeks who felt women ought to be modest, shut away in the back of the house, not seen and not heard, the Spartan women were infused with fanatic patriotic pride, taught to read and write and speak their mind with characteristic bluntness. They also exercised in public, taking part in various sports, even wrestling. They would do this dressed in a short tunic with a slit up the thighs or even naked. All this was done so that as future mothers they could instruct their offspring on what it means to be a Spartan. The famous phrase Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς (I tan i epi tas = Either with your shield or on it) was the command Spartan mothers were said to give to their sons as they departed for battle. Her son in other words was to either come back from battle as a hero with his shield or die and be carried back home on his shield (a hoplite could not escape the battlefield unless he let go of his heavy, cumbersome shield, thus losing one's shield meant desertion). The Spartan bride had a shaven head and a no-nonsense attitude to go with it. If she produced three sons for the state, as a bonus her husband would be excused from garrison duty. Alternatively, if she died in childbirth she could look forward to being celebrated as having died for the state as her name would be specially carved on a tombstone for all to see and she would be remembered for eternity.

King Cyrus must have been indeed surprised and even intrigued or shocked when he was given his briefing on who the Spartans were....

Clodius of the People: The Patrician Leader of the Plebs

2008-08-17T11:22:00.005+01:00

Publius Clodius Pulcher, born 92BC, was the youngest of six children, son of Appius Claudius Pulcher, brother of the notoriously unprincipled Appius Claudius Pulcher and member of Rome's most influential and powerful patrician (aristocratic) family, the Claudii, renowned for their arrogance and outrageous behavior. He is chiefly remembered for trespassing during the Bona Dea festival, disguised as a woman (a women's only event) in Julius Caesar's house (allegedly to have a fling with Pompeia, Caesar's wife at the time) and vilified by most historians who characterize him as a mobster, demagogue and violent opportunist. To add insult to injury, he was pursued throughout his life by rumours of of incest with his sister Clodia, a lively and intelligent woman who enjoyed courting controversy and entertaining Rome's demimonde.

In 59BC, at the age of 32 and in the midst of a most promising political career, he chose to give up his patrician rank and join the plebs via adoption into a plebeian family. This would mean giving up all privileges of the patrician class and become one of the "common" citizens of Rome. His request was granted by Julius Caesar and the following year Clodius (who had changed the aristocratic spelling of his family name 'Claudius' to the plebeian spelling) was elected tribune of the plebs by an overwhelming majority. Once in office, Clodius immediately set on implementing a number of reforms for the benefit of the people, the most well known of which are the free corn dole, the restoration of the collegia (Roman clubs: something between a guild and the modern trade union) which both free citizens and slaves could join and whose members became heavily involved in elections and political issues at the time , (the collegia had been banned by the Senate six years previously). Clodius also intoduced a bill making it illegal to condem a Roman citizen to death without a trial and also attempted to introduce voting rights for poor men and slaves. We can imagine how unpopular these measures would have been to the Roman senatorial elite who were prepared to viciously defend their status and way of life.

Cicero and Cato, well-known optimates (conservatives) were of course great enemies of his and there was a bitter feud between the former and Clodius. It is not surprising therefore that one of the first things Clodius did when he rose to power was to send Cicero into exile and arrange for the demolition of Cicero's luxurious mansion on the Palatine hill. The ultra-reactionary Cato was promptly sent off to annex Cyprus, where the local king Ptolemy of Cuprus committed suicide (upon news of Cato's arrival?). Clodius was prepared to fight the conservatives and therefore organised the plebs into groups (what has been called street gangs by most historians), ready to defend their newly-acquired rights. In 53BC, prior to another election where Clodius was running for Praetor and his enemy Milo for Consul, Milo's supporters organized armed gangs to fight Clodius's suporters. A vicious steet fight ensued during which Clodius was wounded, and despite attempts of his people to save him, was sought out by Milo's men and hacked to death in the street.

The end of Clodius was very much in accordance with his dramatic and stormy life. His body was taken by his outraged and grief-stricken supporters to the Senate house, inside which a funeral pyre was built for him. As the fire consumed the body of Clodius, it also laid waste to the ultimate symbol of patrician power - the Senate House, which been built by one of Cato's ancestors, was burned by revolting plebs.

Cicero's Advice on Friendships and False Friends...

2008-08-09T15:49:00.004+01:00

"...in the first place, pains must be taken that, if possible, so no discord should arise between friends, but in case it does then our care should be that the friendships appear to have burned out rather than to have been stamped out. And you must indeed be on your guard lest friendships change into serious enmities, which are the source of disputes, abuse and invective. Yet, even these, if endurable are to be borne and such respect is to be paid to the old-time friendship that he may be in the wrong who committed the offense and not he who suffered it.

In short: there is but one security and one provision against these ills and annoyances and that is neither to enlist your love too quickly nor to fix it on unworthy men. Now they are worthy of friendship who have within their souls the reason for being loved. A rare class indeed! And really everything splendid is rare and nothing is harder to find than something which in all respects is a perfect specimen of its kind. But the majority of men recognize nothing whatever in human experience as good, unless it brings them some profit and they regard friends as they do their cattle, valuing most highly those which give hope of the largest gain. Thus do they fail to attain that loveliest, most spontaneous friendship, which is desirable in and for itself; and they do not learn from their own experience what the power of such a friendship is and are ignorant of its nature and extent.

But most men unreasonably, not to say shamelessly, want a friend to be such as they cannot be themselves and require from friends what they themselves do not bestow. But the fair things is, first of all, to be a good man yourself and then to seek another like yourself. It is among such people that this stability of friendship may be made secure.

A troublesome thing is truth if it is indeed the source of hate which poisons friendship; but much more troublesome is complaisance...Obsequium amicos, veritas odium parit [complaisance, the desire to oblige and or fall in with another's taste or flatter another, gets us friends while speaking the truth gets us enemies]."

For more from or about Cicero please see my earlier posts below:

http://fascinatinghistory.blogspot.com/2008/07/friendship-roman-style-what-romans.html

http://fascinatinghistory.blogspot.com/2008/04/cicero-on-father-of-emperor-tiberius.html

What Julius Caesar looked like

2008-08-02T19:37:00.002+01:00

According to Suetonius in his Life of the Deified Julius (45.1-3):

"Caesar is said to have been tall, with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a rather full face and keen black eyes and to have had sound health, except that towards the end of his life he was subject to sudden fainting fits as well as nightmares. He also had two attacks of epilepsy while on campaign.

He was fastidious in the care of his person and so not only kept his hair carefully trimmed and shaved, but even had his body hair plucked. He was extremely vexed by the disfiguring effects of his baldness since he found it exposed him to the ridicule of his opponents. As a result he used to comb his receding hair forward from the crown of his head and of all the honours voted him by the senate and people, there was none that pleased him more or that he made use of more gladly than the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath on all occasions.

They say too that his dress was unusual; his purple-striped tunic had fringe sleeves down to the wrist and he always wore a belt over it, although it was loosely fastened. This it is said was the reason for Sulla's frequent warning to the optimates to beware of the 'loose-belted boy'."

'Friendship' Roman style: What the Romans would have thought of Facebook

2008-07-20T11:40:00.003+01:00

Today we have various social and/or professional networking sites (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.). The Romans would have liked this but they would have wanted to ensure that 'friends' and 'connections' would be of use to each other.

On meeting a stranger a Roman would express intense interest in where he comes from and what they do. (How this Roman would react on any potential second meeting would very much depend on how convinced he was after that first one, that the amicitia (friendship) of the new acquaintance would be worth having.) Amicitia, which is often translated as 'friendship' was best described by the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca as "mutual serviceability". Therefore, amicitia would mean trading gifts and favours with an amicus (meaning something between 'friend' and useful contact'). Roman society relied on interlocking networks of such 'friendships' and the favours Romans did for one another (beneficia) were the social currency of ancient Rome. As Cicero put it: "We do not hesitate to dutifully perform services for those whom we hope will assist us in the future" [Cicero, On Duties, 47]

Favours between friends could get quite complicated. For instance, if a friend asked someone to do a favour for another of his friends, delicate negotiations would ensue to establish just how much this favour had obliged the friend asking for the favour and to what extent the friend of the friend. Also, a friend who accepted beneficia (favours) without returning the favours would eventually be viewed as a client and not an amicus. (Clients were not supposed to return their patron's benefits in kind, but they had different obligations, like perhaps to offer loans to the patron when required.)

Picture: Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, (3 Jan 106 BC - 7 Dec 43 BC), Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist and philosopher, one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

Misogyny in Ancient Rome a.k.a. The plight of being a clever woman in Rome

2008-07-06T11:31:00.014+01:00

A Roman woman was expected to be educated just enough in order to understand her husband's opinions and work. Anything more than this was frowned upon and considered off-putting and therefore an intelligent woman would have to be particularly careful not to exhibit this (in fact she would have to go to great pains to mask her cleverness) as this might show her as being more clever and / or educated than the men around her which was definitely not on for Roman men. (Any of this sound familiar? Hm. It seems some things never change! Anyway, getting back to the Romans....)

The Roman poet Juvenal even went so far as to write a caustic attack on women, thus revealing to us the precise forms of behaviors which vexed Roman men. For instance, the men would be greatly embarrassed by and indeed dislike women who were more learned or clever than they were. Juvenal writes the below particularly misogynist foul passage, which openly conveys the fierce contempt and loathing with which intelligent women were met:

'Really annoying is the woman who, as soon as she takes her place on the dining couch, praises Virgil [Rome's greatest epic poet] excuses Dido's suicide, compares and ranks in critical order the various poets and weighs Virgil and Homer [the greatest Greek epic poet] on a pair of scales. Grammar teachers surrender, professors of rhetoric are defeated, the entire group of guests is silent; neither a lawyer nor an auctioneer nor even another woman will get a word in. So loud and shrill are her words that you might think pots were being banged together and bells were being rung...Like a philosopher she defines ethics. If she wants to appear so learned and eloquent, she should shorten her tunic to mid-calf! [Juvenal is here emphasizing that this is male behavior by suggesting that this woman dress as a man - his suggestion is clearly demeaning and derogatory and not meant to be taken literally, but rather as a way of implying there is something unnatural and unwomanly in such behavior]. Don't marry a woman who speaks like an orator or knows every history book. There should be some things in books which she doesn't understand. I hate a woman who reads and re-reads Palaemon's treatise on grammar, who always obeys all the laws and rules of correct speech, who quotes verses I've never even heard of, moldy old stuff that a man shouldn't worry about anyway. Let her correct the grammar of her stupid girlfriend! A husband should be allowed an occasional "I ain't"! ' [Juvenal, Satires 6.434-456]

In short, the average Roman male liked his woman to be pretty and ignorant (hopefully even more ignorant than himself!).

Today we might recognize this in the attitude of successful men who wish to surround themselves with and or marry women whose behavior and level of intelligence Juvenal would very much approve of. The so-called trophy girlfriends and wives, who perhaps (one hopes!) are not so ignorant as people may think but have cottoned-on to this expectation certain men have of them, thus adapting their outward behavior and attitude accordingly to please their self-satisfied male partners.

Wisdom of Ancient Men: Pearls of wisdom from Marcus Aurelius

2008-06-21T11:13:00.006+01:00

On the importance of utilizing the present time in life:

"Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not thesame; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him? These two things then thou must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not." (Meditations, Book Two, 167 AD)

On change:

"It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change."

On time and things that happen in life:
"Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too."

"Everything which happens is as familiar and well known as the rose in spring and the fruit in summer; for such is disease, and death, and calumny, and treachery, and whatever else delights fools or vexes them."

(Meditations, Book Four, 167 AD)

On pondering on what one has...

"Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not. At the same time however take care that thou dost not through being so pleased with them accustom thyself to overvalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou shouldst not have them. " (Meditations, Book Six)

Each to his/her own:

"Different things delight different people." (Meditations, Book Eight)

Consider the person's character:

"Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice every hour? Wouldst thou wish to please a man who does not please himself? Does a man please himself who repents of nearly everything that he does? " (Meditations, Book Eight)

"If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong." (Meditations, Book Nine)

A little less conversation, more action please...

"No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such. " (Meditations, Book Ten)

On false friends:

"How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair way.- What art thou doing, man? There is no occasion to give this notice. It will soon show itself by acts. The voice ought to be plainly written on the forehead. Such as a man's character is, he immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith readseverything in the eyes of lovers. The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not. But the affectation of simplicity is like a crooked stick. Nothing is more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship (false friendship). Avoid this most of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking." (Meditations, Book Eleven)

(Picture: Bronze gilded statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback, Capitoline Museum, Rome)

The Acropolis of Athens

2008-06-20T09:31:00.006+01:00

View of the Acropolis from the Agora.

View of the Acropolis.

The Acropolis, the citadel of Athens, was primarily used as a sanctuary and refuge in ancient times. Built on hard limestone which rises from the Athenian landscape at around 150 metres above sea level, the sun-baked rock has gone through numerous constructions and demolitions from the Bronze Age to the 19th century.

During the 5th century B.C. the Acropolis became a key part of the Golden Age of Pericles, a time when democracy was born and exercised as well as a time of great architectural and artistic accomplishments. The acropolis became indeed the focus of Pericles' rebuilding of the city and under the direction of the great Pheidias, the Propylea, the Parthenon and the Erehthion were copmpleted in the second half of the 5th century B.C. which can still be seen today, albeit in ruins and in the process of being meticulously restored by the Greek government. Nowadays it is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For more information on the Acropolis please visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384

http://asclepieion.mpl.uoa.gr/Parko/slides/images/Acropolis%20and%20Asklepieion%20artist%20reconstruction%20.gif

http://www.athensguide.com/acropolis.html

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/404

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon

View of the Acropolis walls while ascending.

The Propylea, the entrance to the Acropolis.

The Parthenon.

Neil Faulkner on Rome

2008-05-18T17:22:00.002+01:00

A very interesting lecture by Neil Faulkner, also author of "Rome: Empire of the Eagles". Please click on link below to listen.

Eunuchs in Byzantium

2008-05-04T12:20:00.003+01:00

Byzantium, the medieval Eastern remnant of the ancient Roman empire, a powerful empire in its own right, dominated the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor for over 1,000 years, from the 4th c.AD to its eventual fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD.

The Byzantine empire was a melting pot of East and West, with the Eastern Orthodox church reigning supreme and influencing almost all aspects of people's lives, while the pagan elements from the time when Emperor Constantine relocated Rome to Byzantium as an intended new capital for the Roman empire, provided for an interesting and strange mixture of pious and fanatical Orthodoxy with a simultaneous exploration of ancient thought and lifestyle. As might be expected in such a situation there were many contrasts within the empire's way of life and belief-system, the Byzantine eunuch being one of these.

Over the centuries we see eunuchs, essentially castrated men, employed as guards for the mighty in many cultures including ancient Egypt, China, Japan and the Muslim Caliphate. Court eunuchs, who were viewed as exotic, highly prized for their soft skin, high-pitched voices and hairless bodies, were also seen as safe in the sense that they could not produce heirs. Crusaders from the West were amazed and horrified when they saw how plentiful and even powerful Eunuchs were in Byzantium, many times gaining powerful administrative positions in government, the church and great estates of the nobility.

Eunuchs were clearly used for sexual reasons as well, and the passive role was more than often reserved for them in particular, despite this being abhorred and condemned by the clergy.

A eunuch was "created" at a young age, typically just before reaching puberty. As the "operation" was considered humiliating and repugnant, this treatment was mainly administered to prisoners of war. They would have both their penis and testicles removed and those who survived this horrendous amputation would often be shipped to markets to provide slave labour for the Islamic countries too. (Such a famous market existed in Verdun, in northern France during the 10th c.AD.

There were certain key offices in Byzantium though, reserved especially for eunuchs. Among those we find the position of praipositos and klarissimos, who acted as chamberlain to the emperor and directed court ceremonies - clearly a position of power and influence. He would be the chief eunuch. Other important roles were that of the parakimomenos who would sleep on the floor of the emperor's bedroom and the protovestiarios who was in charge of the emperor's wardrobe. There were also eunuchs in charge of the dining room and wine cellars, to mention but a few.

Notable eunuchs in Byzantine history are Chrysaphios (5th c.AD), Euphratas under the reign of emperor Justinian and Basil Lekapenos (10th c.AD). Basil was an illegitimate son of the emperor Romanos I and was known with the nickname "Nothos", meaning 'bastard', who managed to have a particularly successful career.

Roman Banquets

2008-04-20T11:24:00.003+01:00

In republican ancient Rome banquets where just about the only place where a respectable patrician could be fickle and indulge in sensuality without damaging his carefully cultivated reputation. Once the men had been relaxed sufficiently by the wine, in the absence of family women and children, the noble Roman could indulge in the presence of salacious dancers, good-looking flute-players, and performers of various kinds and of both sexes. These activities were not considered serious and anything that occurred during a banquet would be conveniently brushed aside by the next day.

Banquet love affairs were in fact common, even if sexual relations hardly ever took place during the actual banquet. The attendees, despite all knowing each other's identity, would assume nicknames for the evening and dress up in exotic costumes - perhaps in a further effort to highlight the fickle and non-serious nature of any subsequent activities and separate it from everyday life. The poet Catullus for example, tells us of a certain Clodia who called herself Lesbia during these occasions. He subsequently wrote of her (approximate translation):

"You ask how many kisses will please me, oh Lesbia. As many as the grains of sand in the desert of Libya....as many as the number of the stars in a quiet night witnessing stolen loves of men. So many kisses dear Lesbia, they would be enough for your insane Catullus; so many kisses that gossiping eyes cannot count them and malicious people cannot put the evil-eye on...."

The kisses Catullus was alluding are generally thought to refer to the act of fellatio, however many banquets relied on their attendees using the power of suggestive talk and poetry to excite and scandalize each other while actual physical manifestation of these sexually charged verbal outpourings, during the cena (banquet) was indeed frowned upon and perceived as weakness in most patrician circles.

Sulla: Rome’s Brutal Butcher

2008-04-15T19:06:00.002+01:00

Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138-78 BC) was born into a poor aristocratic family in Rome, a very unfortunate situation for an ambitious young patrician. Fortunately for him and not necessarily for the thousands who would have good reason to dread and fear him in later life, he was a man who always seemed to have luck on his side.

As a young man with golden-blond hair, piercing grey-blue eyes, striking good looks and a charming personality, Sulla managed to create such a strong and lasting impression on one of Rome’s richest courtesans that when she died she left all her money to him, thus enabling him, along with an inheritance from his step-mother, to pursue the cursus honorum, the expected but costly career path for a male member of the Roman aristocracy.

Thus, via a combination of good looks, luck and no-doubt careful cultivating of his political acquaintances, Sulla became the Consul Marius’s Quaestor in 107 BC. (The Quaestorship being the first step of the cursus honorum). After taking part in successful military campaigns in north Africa against King Jugurtha and in the northernmost parts of Italy defending against migrating Germanic tribes, Sulla was elected Praetor Urbanus. Rumour had it that he achieved this via bribery. The next year he was posted as Pro-Consul of Cilicia, one of the richest Roman provinces, offering even more potential for advancement. There, during a meeting with the Parthian ambassador Orobazus who brought along a Chaldean seer with him, Sulla was told he would die at the height of his fame, a prophecy which would haunt him for the rest of his life.

Sulla returned to Rome in 93 BC and aligned himself firmly with the Optimates, the ultra-conservative political faction in Rome, serving primarily the interests of the patricians. Shortly afterwards, in 91 BC a civil war broke out which was to solidify Sulla’s reputation as a general in the battlefield, as he won the grass crown Corona Graminea for his services. In 88 BC he was elected Consul, the most coveted magistracy in Rome and the top of the cursus honorum.

One of the most notoriously bloody and terrifying times in ancient Rome’s history came about shortly after Sulla was declared dictator by the Senate in 82/81 BC. He was granted absolute power and proceeded to proscribe around 1,500 Roman nobles (although some say the number may be larger than that). Sulla had proscription lists drafted and posted in the Roman Forum [proscriptio] and widespread butchering ensued as Sulla eradicated all his enemies or those he was suspicious of. Any man whose name appeared on the list was ipso facto stripped of his citizenship and excluded from all protection under law. Reward money was given to any informer who gave information leading to the death of a proscribed man and any person who killed a proscribed man was entitled to keep part of his estate (the remainder went to the state). No person could inherit money or property from the proscribed men, nor could any woman married to a proscribed man remarry after his death. Many victims of proscription were decapitated and their heads were displayed on spears on the Rostra in the Forum.

Cicero on the father of Emperor Tiberius

2008-04-13T11:50:00.004+01:00

The father of emperor Tiberius, called Tiberius Claudius Nero, was a quaestor to Julius Caesar in 48 BC and Praetor in 42 BC.
(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_Nero)
We know little about him but Cicero offers some interesting insight on the young man in a letter to Minucius Thermus, governor of Asia, in April 50 BC. The letter reads:

"My friend Nero has told me of his enormous gratitude to you in the best of terms, absolutely unbelievable...In all our patrician families there is no man I value more." [ Cicero, Letters to Friends, Letter 138 (XIII.64)]

Suetonius on the Death of Emperor Claudius

2005-07-10T21:40:00.002+01:00

Claudius

"Most people think that Claudius was poisoned; but when and by whom is disputed. Some say that the eunuch Halotus, his official taster, administered the drug while he was dining with the priests in the Citadel; others that Agrippina did so herself at a family banquet, poisoning a dish of mushrooms, his favourite food. An equal dicrepancy exists between teh accounts of what happened next. According to many, he lost his power of speech, suffered frightful pain all night long, and died shortly before dawn. A variant version is that he fell into a coma but vomited up the entire contents of his overloaded stomach and was then poisoned a second time, either by a gruel - the excuse being that he needed food to revive him - or by means of an enema, the excuse being that his bowels required relief and must be emptied too."

Sex Trivia from Ancient Rome

2005-10-08T08:59:00.001+01:00

Priapus

To be the agressor during sexual activity was to be the one in charge, the honourable one. Thus the sex of the partner or the type of experience was not so much the issue as was the person who was doing the actual thrusting. This was an issue set in stone for the Romans, so much so that they had two different verbs to descibe vaginal, anal or oral sex; one verb to indicate the active and another the passive role in the act. This meant that the agressor would be the futuere, pedicare or irrumare, whereas the recipient of all this action was the crisare, cevere or fellare and could risk becoming an outcast of society.

The most humiliating punishment possible for an adult Roman male, was to be sexually assaulted. Statues of the god Priapus got this message across very clearly as they were painted bright red and possesed a huge and menacing erection. According to the Songs of Priapus the god would threaten anyone who stole crops or meddled with gardens (he was the protector of gardens) with the following: "I warn you, woman, you will be fucked; boy, you will be buggered; and as for the bearded man, he can give me his mouth!" says the god. And he continues: "This rod shall enter the thief's guts as far as the hair and hilt of my balls."

Similar punishment awaited a married woman's lover. The cheated husband was legally entitled to sodomize the man by force.

Sex, Ancient Rome etc...

2005-12-26T19:18:00.001Z

Links:

1) Porn & Sexuality in Ancient Rome

2) Marriage in Ancient Rome

3) The History of Sex website has something to say on Rome.

Dante and Beatrice

2006-01-29T08:54:00.000Z

Dante meets Beatrice (painting by Henry Holliday, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool)

The story of Dante and Beatrice is one of the greatest of unrequited, distant love.

Durante degli Alighieri, better known as Dante, (c. June 1, 1265 – September 13/14, 1321) was an Italian Florentine poet. His greatest work, La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy), is considered the greatest literary statement produced in Europe in the medieval period, and the basis of the modern Italian language.

Dante was nearly nine years old when he first set eyes on Beatrice Portinari, in a gathering at her father's palazzo in Florence. She was a few months younger than Dante and dressed in a crimson dress. She captivated him completely. As he later wrote, "From that time forward love fully ruled my soul." For the next nine years he remained absolutely besotted with her but only from a distance and it was only in 1283, when he was 18, that she spoke to him as they passed each other in the street.

In 13th century Florence arranged marriages were the norm, especially amongst the uppers classes, to which both Dante and Beatrice belonged. So, at the age of 21 Dante was married off to Gemma Donati, to whom he had been betroted since the age of 12 and Beatrice married a year later too, only to die three years after that, at the tender age of 24. Dante was devastated. He remained devoted to Beatrice for the rest of his life and she was his principal inspiration for much of his well known work, such as La Vita Nuova (The New Life) and La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy).

When Dante first saw Beatrice, he tells us she was dressed in soft crimson and wore a girdle about her waist. He fell in love with her at first sight and thought of her as angelic with divine and noble qualities. He frequented places where he could catch a glimpse of her, but she never spoke to him until nine years later. Then one afternoon he saw her dressed in white, walking down a street in Florence. Accompanied by two older women, Beatrice turned and greeted him. Her greeting filled him with such joy that he retreated to his room to think about her. Falling asleep, he had a dream that became the subject of the first sonnet in his La Vita Nuova, one of the world's greatest romantic poems. Two chapters from La Vita Nuova are quoted below:

When exactly nine years had passed since this gracious being appeared to me, as I have described, it happened that on the last day of this intervening period this marvel appeared before me again, dressed in purest white, walking between two other women of distinguished bearing, both older than herself. As they walked down the street she turned her eyes toward me where I stood in fear and trembling, and with her ineffable courtesy, which is now rewarded in eternal life, she greeted me; and such was the virtue of her greeting that I seemed to experience the height of bliss. It was exactly the ninth hour of day when she gave me her sweet greeting. As this was the first time she had ever spoken to me, I was filled with such joy that, my senses reeling, I had to withdraw from the sight of others. So I returned to the loneliness of my room and began to think about this gracious person. (La Vita Nuova III)
Whenever and wherever she appeared, in the hope of receiving her miraculous salutation I felt I had not an enemy in the world. Indeed, I glowed with a flame of charity which moved me to forgive all who had ever injured me; and if at that moment someone had asked me a question, about anything, my only reply would have been: ‘Love’, with a countenance clothed with humility. When she was on the point of bestowing her greeting, a spirit of love, destroying all the other spirits of the senses, drove away the frail spirits of vision and said: ‘Go and pay homage to your lady’; and Love himself remained in their place. Anyone wanting to behold Love could have done so then by watching the quivering of my eyes. And when this most gracious being actually bestowed the saving power of her salutation, I do not say that Love as an intermediary could dim for me such unendurable bliss but, almost by excess of sweetness, his influence was such that my body, which was then utterly given over to his governance, often moved like a heavy, inanimate object. So it is plain that in her greeting resided all my joy, which often exceeded and overflowed my capacity. (La Vita Nuova XI)

Alexander the Great

2006-01-21T08:20:00.000Z

I love this article on Alexander from Wikipedia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great

The Seductive Lady Hamilton

2005-08-02T14:32:00.000+01:00

Lady Hamilton

Lady Hamilton was born Emma Lyon, in Cheshire, England on the 26th April 1765. As the daughter of a blacksmith she didn't have the necessary background to mix with polite society. However, she was determined to do so and so she polished up her act, changed her name to Emma Hart and went off to London. By 1782 she had already become notorious as the mistress to several influential men. A rumour even went round that she had had an illegitimate child with Sir Harry Featherstonehaugh. The girl was apparently named Emma Carew and sent off to live in Wales for the rest of her life.

She was living with Charles Francis Greville when he sent her to Italy to be the mistress of his uncle, Sir Wiliam Hamilton, in exchange for a cancellation of his debts. Hamilton was a diplomat. He fell for Emma and they were married in 1791.

After having become a close friend of Queen Marie Caroline of Naples, she met Nelson in 1793. Now Nelson was no handsome young guy. In fact he had lost his teeth, an arm, could hardly walk and was ravaged by bouts of coughing. It is said that when Lady Hamilton first saw Nelson she fainted. However, the two soon got on intimate terms with each other. Nelson was a war hero so Sir William Hamilton did not object to his wife lavishing her attentions on him.

In January 1801 Emma gave birth to Horatia Nelson Tompson and when her husband died in 1803 she lived openly with Nelson until his death in 1805. By 1813 she had spent all her inheritance and was deeply in debt. Nelson had left instructions to the government to look after Emma after his death, but these were ignored, so she died in Calais an alcoholic in 1815.

The assassination of Julius Caesar

2005-07-30T16:23:00.000+01:00

On the 15th March 44 B.C (Ides of March), Julius Caesar was assassinated. Suetonius, not surprisingly, gives us a detailed account of those events.

"As soon as Caesar took his seat the conspirators crowded around him as if to pay their respects. Tillius Cimber, who had taken the lead, came up close, pretending to ask a question. Caesar made a gesture of postponment, but Cimber caught hold of his shoulders. 'This is violence!' Caesar cried, and at that moment, as he turned away, one of the Casca brothers with a sweep of his dagger stabbed him just below the throat. Caesar grasped Casca's arm and ran it through with his stylus; he was leaping away when another dagger blow stopped him. Confronted by a ring of drawn daggers, he drew the top of his gown over his face and at the same time ungirded the lower part, letting it fall to his feet so that he would die with both legs decently covered. Twenty-three dagger thrusts went home as he stood there. Caesar did not utter a sound after Casca's blow had drawn a groan from him; though some say that when he saw Marcus Brutus about to deliver the second blow, he reproached him in Greek with: 'You too my child?'
The entire Senate then dispersed in confusion and Caesar was left lying dead for some time until three slave boys carried him home in a litter, with one arm hanging over the side."

Seneca on the Shortness of Life

2005-05-29T18:43:00.000+01:00

Seneca was a Roman stoic philosopher and dramatist. He was unfortunate enough to be Nero's tutor and in 65 A.D. Nero forced him to commit suicide, after accusing him of taking part in a conspiracy to assasinate him.
Seneca wrote several plays and philosophical essays and was also a prolific letter-writer. One of his most famous essays tackles the shortness of life and argues that "life is long if you know how to use it". This particular essay has been very influential over the centuries, as many consider it to be a source of timeless wisdom.

Some interesting excerpts are:

"Why do we complain about nature? She has acted kindly: life is long if you know how to use it. But one man is gripped by insatiable greed, another by a laborious dedication to useless tasks...Many are occupied by either pursuing other people's money or complaining about their own...Some have no aims at all for their life's course, but death takes them unawares as tehy yawn languidly - so much so that I cannot doubt the truth of that oracular remark of the greatest of poets: 'It is a small part of life we really live.'...You are living as if destined to live forever; your own frailty never occurs to you; you don;t notice how much time has already passed, but squander it as though you had a full and overflowing supply."

Also...

"...he says, 'When will vacation come?'. Everyone hustles hi life along and is troubled by a longing for the future and weariness of the present."

Seneca apparently provides a solution for the above state of mind. He says:

"...the man who organizes every day as though it were his last, neither longs for nor fears the next day."

And about white hair:

"You must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just existed long. For suppose you should think that a man had had a long voyage who had been caught in a raging storm as he left the harbour, and carried hither and thither and driven round and round in a circle by the rage of opposing winds? He did not have a long voyage, just a long tossing about."

More information on Seneca and his work:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Seneca-the-Younger

Marcus Aurelius on Gossip

2005-07-23T22:19:00.000+01:00

"Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbours, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so-and-so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming...means a loss of opportunity for some other task."