SEX, HATE & LOVE - Catullus & Roman Relationships

"Call me to you

at siesta

we'll make love

my gold and jewels

my treasure trove

my sweet Ipsithilla,

when you invite

me lock no doors

nor change your mind

& step outside

but stay a home

& in your room

prepare yourself

to come nine times

straight off together,

in fact if you should want it now

I'll come at once

for lolling on the sofa here

with jutting cock

and stuffed with food

I'm ripe for stuffing you,

my sweet Ipsithilla".

Catullus I Hate and I Love No32

Gaius Valerius Catullus wrote his poems of hate and love during the late Roman Republic. A member of a prominent equestrian family, his poems are widely recognised as showing a deep (poetical) insight into the world of the Romans. The details of Catullus's life are sketchy, but his almost obsessive and consuming love of "Lesbia", the subject of many of his poems, give us great personal insight into the thoughts of an 'ordinary' Roman. 

Catullus the Poet

"Lesbia" is widely assumed to be Clodia Metelli, sister of the infamous late Republic troublemaker, Clodius Pulcher. Catullus among his many poems describes several stages of his relationship with Lesbia, from his burning lust and love through to his feelings of rejection and loneliness. 

The poem above tells of Catullus' longing and desire for a girl named Ipsithilla. What is most wonderful about the poem is its abrupt and explicit language. Sexual explicitness aside, the detail of telling Ipsithilla to stay indoors alludes to a freeness that women had in their own comings and goings. However there is no mistaking this poem is an invite, this is a man looking for sex and nothing more. A bragging, brash, strutting man firing off a quick poem to the object of his desire. 

In his poems Catullus mentions at least five other men who were also the lover of "Lesbia". After Lesbia broke off her dalliance with Catullus, his initial reaction was to attack the character of Lesbia and her infidelities. The lovelorn poet takes his revenge by writing witty poems bad mouthing the lady who jilted him. The slander of a 'lady' of a prominent household skulking around the back alleys of Rome and performing sexual acts on the young men of Rome, is a stain not only upon the lady but also her family name. It also highlights what was seen as "taboo" for women among the aristocratic families. A prominent lady is a matron, the great motherly figure at the centre of a family, a lady in the back streets of Rome would have been scandal enough.  

"Lesbia, our Lesbia, the same old Lesbia,

Caelius, she whom Catullus loved once

more than himself and more than all his own,

loiters at the cross-roads and in the backstreets

ready to toss-off the 'magnanimous' sons of Rome"

Catullus I Hate and I Love No58

In the end Catullus' feelings of rejection and anger turned to musings on the nature of his "love" for Lesbia. These poems give rare insight into a complex mind filled with feelings of love, desire abandonment, resentment and loss against the landscape of Rome. Catullus himself presents his feelings of angst and neglect in a poignant way, feelings that are too often lost among the great men, battles and events of history.

Catullus is a rare example of a "normal" Romans feelings of love and loss. None more so than in his most passionate and heartbreaking of poems,

"I hate and I love. And if you ask me how,

I do not know: I only feel it, and I'm torn in two"

Catullus I Hate and I Love No85

Thanks for Reading

James

Eclipsing the Romans

The morning of the 20th March 2015 saw the moon pass over the sun and the very north of Europe experience a solar eclipse. As a celestial event, even to our modern scientific brains it is still something to be marvelled at, as the sunlight slowly dims and an ethereal twilight takes hold, the world is quieted to an Elysium dusk.

Solar Eclipses

But what would a Roman mind make of the dimming of the sun? Perhaps unsurprisingly, the event of an eclipse was taken to be the sign of a portentous event. So portentous in fact that they show up in the ancient sources with remarkable frequency.

Towards the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate, over a time of roughly eighty years, three solar eclipses are recorded as having occurred at ominous moments. The death of Caesar, the death of Augustus and also the co-incidence of a solar eclipse on Claudius's birthday.

Caesar

Pliny in his Natural History wrote on all aspects of geology, geography, nature and history before his death in AD 79 while trying to rescue people from the famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When discussing the heavens and the stars, Pliny also wrote on the phenomenon of eclipses, Giving two examples, one that occurred after the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC and an eclipse that lasted for almost a whole year during the war between Anthony and Octavian (Augustus).

"Eclipses of the sun also take place which are portentous and unusually long"

Pliny the Elder Natural History Book 2 Chapter 30

Solar Eclipses in Ancient Rome

The two events follow Pliny's guidelines of eclipses happening during monumental and fated moments of history. The murder of Julius Caesar threw the Roman world into civil war, while the war between Anthony and Octavian saw the last two factions in a long, bloody, continuous civil war fighting for final supremacy.

Augustus

In many ways it is difficult to write about any subject on Roman history without mention the great Caesar Augustus in some way. In direct "control" of Rome for forty years the legend of his life is filled with portents, omens and premonitions.

Shortly before his death in AD 14, Cassius Dio tells us that there were several portents of Augustus's coming fate, one of which was,

"the sun suffered a total eclipse and most of the sky seemed to be on fire; glowing embers appeared to be falling from it and blood-red comets were seen"

Cassius Dio Book 56 Chapter 29

Augustus "saved" the Republic from its unending cycle of bloodshed and civil war. The peace he brought to the Roman people and her Empire meant that his passing could only be marked by the greatest of portents, the dimming of heavens lights.

Claudius

Bronze Head of Claudius from the British Museum

The solar eclipse that occurred during the reign of Claudius is significant for different reasons. The predicted eclipse was to take place on the Emperor's birthday, a rare and portentous event. Knowing that eclipses were seen as portents of misfortune and ill omens, Claudius in an attempt to forestall any unrest,

"issued a proclamation in which he stated not only the fact that there was to be an eclipse, 

and when, and for how long, but also the reasons for which this was bound to happen"

Cassius Dio Book 60 Chapter 26

Cassius Dio then gives the explanation for the reasons for eclipses that Claudius issued in his proclamation. This solar eclipse is significant for two reasons. One, Roman astronomers were able to accurately predict the day a solar eclipse would occur to the day. Two, the Emperor understanding a scientific reasoning for the events attempted to educate his people to stop any unrest among his people. 

Celestial events are common throughout Roman history, significant comets trailing blazing tails over the sky, strongly shining stars and eclipses. Eclipses, dimming the light of sol and putting ominous shadow over the world. A grey Elysium dusk. 

Thanks for Reading

James

Caligula and A Bridge Too Far

When you're a megalomaniac Emperor of most of the known world, childhood mascot of the army and part of the mighty Julian lineage of Caesar and Augustus, you can do pretty much whatever you want. But as the history of Caligula's own "great-grandfather" Julius Caesar shows, there is only so much you can get away with before the knives are drawn.

Emperor Gaius "Caligula"

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or "Caligula" (which means little boots or bootikins as he was affectionately nicknamed by the army) was the Emperor of Rome from AD 37 to AD 41 and is often viewed as one of the worst rulers Rome ever had, despite his short reign.

Recorded in the sources as being cruel, insane and a sexual deviant,

"Let there be one Lord, one King"

Suetonius Life of Caligula Book 22

Caligula's short but prolific reign is filled with examples of this megalomaniac behaviour, but their are two examples both involving bridges that illustrate this behaviour effecting both the wider empire and its very heart, the city of Rome itself. 

In AD 37 Caligula ordered a bridge constructed over the Bay of Baiae, from the town of Baiae on one side to the town of Puteoli on the other. So many ships were assembled to build the bridge that

"a very severe famine occurred in Italy, and particularly in Rome"

Cassius Dio Book 59 Chapter 17

Suetonius then tells us that Caligula spent two days riding back and forth over the bridge, the second day taking with him a Persian boy named Darius as a spoil of war, while Cassius Dio adds the tantalising detail of "resting places and lodging-rooms" constructed along the length of the bridge.

There are a few possible reasons for the construction of this bridge, the sources suggesting both an attempt to inspire some level of fear in the Germanic and British tribes, always a ripe source for future conquests, or to rival the great Persian King Xerxes' bridging of the Hellespont.

Caligula's Palace & Bridge by Turner from the Tate 

What the bridge over the Bay of Baiae illustrates is the awesome power that the Emperor had to command the resources of his empire, despite the negative consequences that it might have. However the argument put forward by Suetonius that it was merely to prove Thrasyllis the Astrologer wrong is a nice apocryphal tale, in keeping with the madness of Caligula's reign.

"Gaius had no more chance of becoming Emperor than of riding over the gulf of Baiae with horses"

Suetonius Life of Caligula Book 19

Caligula also "bridged" the residence of the Princeps on the Palentine Hill with the Roman Forum below, building out a precinct that split the Temple of Castor and Pollux in two, so that the Dioscuri were his "gate-keepers". This act was a ceremonial bridging of the role of the Princeps with that of divinity, a role that had been growing since the early days of Augustus's reign, who from a very young age was the "son of a god" before being linked with the divine himself.  

Silver Coin of Caligula from the British Museum

Caligula set up a temple to himself with all the finest trappings and trimmings and the rich of Rome flocked to secure themselves a place as a member of his priesthood in his temple,

"and exhibited himself there to be worshiped by those who presented themselves;

and some hailed him as Jupiter Latiaris"

Suetonius Life of Caligula Chapter 22

Suetonius is the only source that actually mentions a physical bridge that Caligula built between the Capitol and the Palantine, so that he could be nearer to Jupiter Capitolinus. This physical bridge seems unlikely, one for the fact that no archaeological trace of one can be found and two it would of been a truly monumental feat, but it is again example of how Caligula was linking the role of Princeps with that of the divine. 

When it comes to being a megalomaniac possibly insane emperor (but that is a topic for another time) there are only so many "bridges" you can build until the knives are sharpened and that is exactly what happened. In AD 41, finally pushed too far, a member of the Praetorian Guard stabbed the emperor to death in a corridor. A bridge too far for little bootikins. 

Thanks for Reading

James

Three Buildings to Define Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a complicated mess of warring Poleis, enigmatic leaders, foreign invasions, powerful kings, wicked tyrants and democracy (and all of that is before Phillip V and Alexander the Great even show up on the page of history).

The history of Ancient Greece is filled with famous buildings too. The labyrinthine Palace of Knossos, the citadel of Mycenae and the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (site of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). But I think there are three "buildings" that help define Ancient Greece and its diverse culture, history and politics.

The Erechtheion

Caryatid from theBritish Museum

The Erechtheion was a temple on the north side of the Acropolis complex in the centre of Athens, named after a legendary king, Erechtheus who is mentioned in the Iliad. It was dedicated to both Athena and Poseidon and is home to the famous Porch of the Caryatids, six female statues used as columns.

The temple was the site of the holy relics of Athens. When the polis was founded Athena and Poseidon engaged in a competition to see who could give the city the best gift and thereby win the opportunity to name it. Poseidon striking the rock formed a well, giving the Polis access to the sea so it could come rich and powerful through trade. Athena created the olive tree as her gift, providing food and oil and allowing the city to grow rich. Athena won and named the city.

The Erectheion was the temple where the marks of Poseidon's trident could be found from the contest, Athena's olive tree and also the burial site of mythical kings. This one building was split into two, serving both the cults of Athena Polias and Poseidon Erectheus.

"Athene finished... and came to Marathon and the broad streets of Athens, 

where she entered the great palace of Erechtheus"

Homer The Odyssey Book 7.80

The building and the mythological items it held within tell the whole story of Athens. A city built on naval power and trade, which led to the city becoming, for a time, the strongest power in Ancient Greece. The Athenian navy spread out over the whole of the Aegean and their story starts in the Erechtheion.

The Walls of Sparta

The agoge school was founded by Sparta's legendary law maker Lycurgus, however it is more likely that the system evolved over the 7th and 6th centuries, as Sparta slowly formed into its classical martial state.

Degas Young Spartans Training fromNational Gallery

The "Walls of Sparta" are not actually a physical defensive boundary. They are a metaphorical building. Sparta was the only city in ancient Greece that did not have defensive walls, Lycurgus had demanded that Sparta's walls be demolished.

"A city will be well fortified which is surrounded by brave men and not by bricks"

Plutarch Life of Lycurgus Chapter 19

The "Walls of Sparta" were forged in the agoge school that trained Spartans males into being the feared fighting force that would dominate the Peloponnese. The symbolism of the "Walls" is shown through the history of Sparta, they were not afraid to move out of their territory to conquer and fight, with their city only guarded by their men.

The Omphalos of Delphi

The Oracle at Delphi is one of the most important sites of Ancient Greece, the place where Apollo killed the fearful Python. The oracle itself shows up in many tales, for example that of rich king Croesus of Lydia, who was told if he went to war a mighty empire would fall, only to find out it was his own.

"the judgement given to Croesus by each of the two oracles was the same:namely, that if he should send an army against the Persians he would destroy a great empire"

Herodotus The Histories Book 1 Chapter 53

However it is the Omphalos that is the important feature. Part of the temple, it marked the centre of the world and the bellybutton of Gaia, Goddess earth. The placing of the bellybutton of the world in Delphi, which is pretty much central Greece, shows remarkable understanding by the Greeks of their geographical place in the world.

Oracle of Dephi

The ancient Greeks spread out east over Asia Minor and west to Italy and Sicily. However, through all this colonisation and expansion, the many poleis knew where the centre of that world was. Not politically or militarily, but as a geographical understanding of their world, the Omphalos shows a sophistication of Greek learning that we still prize today.

 These three "buildings" help define a Greece that was as diverse as it was uniform and as sophisticated as it was archaic. An ancient world that defined itself and its place in history through its buildings.


Thanks for Reading
James