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Run for your life, the Spartans are coming!

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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 e

Clodius of the People: The Patrician Leader of the Plebs

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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

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

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"...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.  Bu

What Julius Caesar looked like

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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 fring

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

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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 ( benefi

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

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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

Wisdom of Ancient Men: Pearls of wisdom from Marcus Aurelius

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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 the same; 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 m

The Acropolis of Athens

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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.

Neil Faulkner on Rome

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

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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 Egy