Time and the Roman

Horologium Augusti

Time goes by quickly. From upstart village by the river Tiber to masters of the Mediterranean took a mere seven centuries for Rome. A period from Romulus to Augustus that featured so many illustrious generals, politicians and events that it is hardly surprising that the centuries rolled by.

When Augustus rose to power over the Roman Republic after decades of civil war, he began a building and regeneration program in the eternal city unrivalled by anything before him. Great swathes of the city were remodelled to reflect Augustus' individual power over Rome and one of the areas that was built upon was the Campus Martius.

The Campus Martius was steeped in Roman history. In ancient times it was were the men gathered before leaving to fight neighbouring villages. It was were the citizens assembled for the census and where the Ovile and the later Saepta Julia were located for voting. It was also the location of Pompey's theatre, the first permanent theatre in Rome and the site of Julius Caesar's murder.

"In fact, Pompey, the Deified Caesar, Augustus, his sons and friends, and wife and sister, have outdone all others in their zeal for buildings and in the expense incurred".

Strabo Book 5 Chapter 3

It was onto this large and essentially undeveloped field that Augustus set his sights and among the many things that he constructed was his Horologium Augusti. Made from Egyptian red granite, the Obelisk had been brought to Rome from Heliopolis after Augustus subjugated Egypt and made the whole country his own property. Dedicated in 10 BC, there are two theories as to the obelisk's use. Either as a sundial through its casting of a shadow, upon the marvel pavement inlaid with bronze to allow you to tell the time or as a simple meridian line to indicate the day of the year.

"That of marking the shadows projected by the sun, 

and so measuring the length of the days and nights"

Pliny Natural History Book 36 Chapter 15

The Horologium Augusti was associated with another building in the newly developed Campus Martius, the Ara Pacis, the Alter of Peace. The Ara Pacis was commissioned by the senate to celebrate Augustus' return from wars in Hispania and Gaul in 13 BC. Known for its decoration of the new Imperial family involved in a religious procession, it also depicts scenes of abundance and cornucopia, the result of the new Augustan age.

Ara Pacis

"The Senate voted in honour of my return the consecration on an altar to Pax Augusta

in the Campus Martius"

Augustus Res Gestae 12.2

The Horologium and Ara Pacis were aligned so that on the day of Augustus' birth, the shadow of the horologium would fall upon the Ara Pacis itself, intrinsically linking Augustus and the current peace the Roman world was enjoying. Not only the current peace brought about by Augustus' undeniable control, but also the linking of the current peace with an idealised, romanticised nostalgia for a Roman ideal of the farmer.

After a century of civil war, Rome was ready to accept anyone that would bring peace and each and every year Augustus' Horologium pointed a big shadowy finger right at the altar dedicated to peace, to show Rome exactly who they could thank.


Thanks for Reading
James

War Time Correspondents - The Battle of Gaugamela

Good Evening. Tonight we have a special report coming to you from our correspondent travelling with King Alexander of Macedon as he continues his march east in his war against the Persian's. Reports of extensive negotiations between the Macedonian and Persian diplomatic corps have filtered back to us over the last few months and now we go to our war correspondent, who is travelling with the Macedonian court.

Alexander and Darius

"Good evening. You join me on the open plain of Gaugamela. Opposite me the endless hordes of King Darius are lined up, while I am currently on the far right flank of the Macedonia army. A recent letter after the battle of Issus from Darius to Alexander has demand the withdrawal of the Greek forces from Asia. Shortly after these negotiations were rejected by Alexander, an offer of marriage to one of his daughters and an area of Asia was again rejected by the Macedonian king (1). A final attempt to appease Alexander has also fallen through, even with an offer of all land to the west of the Halys river, leading to these two armies facing each other here at Gaugamela.  

With Alexander unable to use the terrain to his advantage, like at Issus or Granicus the odds seem firmly in Darius's favour, their are reports of the Persian forces flattening the terrain around the proposed battle field to give better running to their two hundred war chariots.

My sources tell me that there are around a million Persian forces, comprising of horse, infantry and fifteen terrifying war elephants (2) against the Macedonian force of seven thousand cavalry and forty thousand infantry. I can just make out the Persian line across the field and they are formed up in their standard line, King Darius himself stands at the middle of the line. The Macedonian forces have been split in two, with Alexander in charge of the right and the left flank under the command of Parmenion.

A hush has fallen upon the Macedonian forces and the king himself has just ridden by, it looks like orders have been given. Yes the army is advancing, although the wings of the army are at an angle. It looks as if Alexander is trying to draw the Persian cavalry out. Yes, he has set off with the Companion cavalry on an extreme flanking move, taking off far to the right (3).

It looks as if Darius is responding now and in a thundering noise of hooves the Scythian cavalry have come crashing into the right flank of the Macedonian army. It looks as if a fresh supply of men are being moved up and an agreement seems to have been reached in using tactical charges to clear the Persians from our lines (4).

The battle has been going for around half an hour now and in the haze to my right I can see scythed chariots being despatched to intercept King Alexander on his wide out-ride. However the hidden javelin throwers among the cavalry are making short work of them and few are breaking through to the Macedonian front line. I was recently shown an example of a new tactic by the Macedonian forces and here it is in practice. The disciplined lines are opening up creating avenues which the enemy scythed chariots are simply passing through.

It looks as if King Alexander is preparing his final move. With his army engaged at the front and with reports that the left flank is suffering, a gap as formed in the Persian ranks as they have slowly moved around trying to flank the King and his cavalry. I can see he has formed his troops into a mighty wedge, and the sun glinting off his armour clearly shows me Alexander will be leading this charge himself (5).

They are lost to me in the dust of their horses hooves churning the plain, but I can hear the sound of the cavalry crashing into the Persian line.

A runner has just arrived from the left wing of the army requesting aid against the Persians. At the same time a man on a horse has just arrived from the charge. The wedge of the cavalry smashing into the weak Persian forces have scattered them, King Darius himself is in danger of being caught as his army is in full flight (6). Apparently runners have been sent to Alexander directly to request aid for the left flank and I can see the king is breaking off his pursuit of Darius and moving his troops to the left flank.

The battle seems far from over and the wounded and injured are being brought in to the camp, Hephaestion himself just passing me, however it is another stunning victory for the young King Alexander and one can only wonder where this man and his army will achieve next. Babylon seems a ripe target and it is my belief that my next report will be from beside the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates"

1. "wrote to Alexander advising his to bear his success as one who was only human and to release the captives in return for a large ransom. He added he would yield to Alexander the territory and cities of Asia west of the Halys river " Diodorus Siculus Book 17 Chapter 39.
2. "He marched against Darius, who was coming to meet him with a million men" Plutarch Life of Alexander Chapter 31.
3.

4. "The Macedonians sustained their assults, and assailing them violently squadron by squadron, they succeeded in pushing them out of rank" Arrian Book 3 Chapter 13
5. "the Macedonian cavalry, commanded by Alexander himself pressed on vigarously, thrusting against the Persians" Arrian Book 3 Chapter Fourteen
6. "the cavalry charged at full speed upon the enemy and the phalanx  rolled on after them like a flood. But before the foremost ranks were engaged the Barbarians gave way" Plutarch Life of Alexander Chapter 33

Thanks for Reading
James

20 Latin Phrases For The Modern World

Latin Inscription

There are times when you are lost for words. When all you can do is stare dumb-founded and slack jawed at the world around you. It's times like this that you need a catchy phrase. A pithy bon mot. The retort to end all retorts.

Several years ago I came across a little book, tucked away in the corner of an old, dusty, second hand book shop. The book in question is X-treme Latin by Henry Beard and all credit for this list goes to him and his wonderful books, well worth searching out. Please note several of these phrases are not suitable for young children or people of innocent dispositions, but despite being over two thousands years old they still apply to our twenty-first century lives.

1. "Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus!" - You want a part of me? Bring it on!
2. "Currus magnus, mentula minuscula" - Big car, little dick.
3. "Meditare de hoc, amice" - Meditate on this, pal.
4. "Te amat Iesus - ceteri te putant irrumatorem" - Jesus loves you - everyone else thinks you're an asshole.
5. "Stipator stulus es optimatum!" - You're a right-wing moron!
6. "Pedisequus parasiticus es popularium!" - You're a liberal stooge!
7. "Mande merdam et morere" - Eat shit and die.
8. "Omes paucis annis prosedae erunt" - In a few years they will all be hookers.
9.  "Mox corvos pasces" - You're toast.
10. "Mater tua tam obesa est ut cum Romae est, urbs habet octo colles" - Your mother is so fat, when she's in town, Rome has eight hills.
11. "Ascervus inutilium est!" -It's a hunk of junk!
12. "Recuso reverenter ne respondeam, quia quicquid dicam id sit mendacium impudens" - I respectfully decline to answer on the grounds that anything I might say would be a bald faced lie. 
13. "Tu tibi futuendus (futendave) es" - It is required of you to go fuck yourself.
14. "Coleus" - Bollocks!
15. "Illuc ivi, illud feci" - Been there, done that.
16. "Basia baliliscum meum" - Kiss my basilisk.
17. "Vomiturus sum!" - I'm going to throw up.
18. "Adloquere manum. facies nescit quid velis" - Talk to the hand, the face don't understand. 
19. "Quid nobis infeliciter fieri potest?" - What could possibly go wrong? 
20. "Eice id ex animo" - Fuhgeddaboutit.

Twenty phrases that when applied at the exact right moment will leave the object of your dislike completely flabbergasted. After all, quid nobis infeliciter fieri potest?

Thanks for Reading

James

Curing the Common Cold the Ancient Greek Way

I have a cold. It happened when someone at work caught a cold and quickly gave it to someone else who commenced sneezing every five minutes, which then resulted in someone else coughing on the alternate five minutes and before I knew it I was sat in the middle of a triptych of sneezing, coughing, germ spewing colleagues.

Hippocrates from the floor of the Asclepieion at Kos

Having suffered through my cold with a brave face and eschewing any paracetamol or the like, my mind turned to how I might of faired in Ancient Greece, perhaps under the care of the mighty Hippocrates or within the walls of the Temple of Asclepius.

It's highly likely however that my soar throat, headache and general state of illness wouldn't of warranted too much worry in ancient Greece. A journey to the Temple of Asclepius might have been in order and would have no doubt soon sorted out the problem. There is record of a lady scoffing at the "incredible or impossible" cures that the healing God offered within his temple. However falling asleep she was visited by the god in a dream who told her he would cure her, but she owed him a silver pig as recompense for her stupidity in not believing

"after saying this he operated on her diseased eye and poured a drug into it. And when day came she left the temple cured"

A Record of Cures from the Temple of Asclepius at Epidaurus from the Late 4th Century

The Culture of Athens CA 393 IG IV 121.4

This fragment describes how a treatment would occur at a Temple of Asclepius. The patient would enter an induced sleep, where upon they would have a dream in which the god would come to them and tell them the cure for their illness or perform an operation. If the treatment failed it was merely a case of asking the god to impart his wisdom again. 

In an attempt to cure my cold, it might have been better to visit the great father of medicine, Hippocrates. Famously a man who drank the urine of his patients to detect an imbalance in the body (as well as smelled their excrement and all other manner of bodily functions) he is seen as the founder of modern medicine.

"The body of man contains in itself, blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile, and these are the constituents of the nature of the body, and the cause of pain and good health"

Hippocrates On the Nature of Man 4

The Culture of Athens CA 389

A man was in the best health when all these composite parts, what he named "humours", were in perfect balance with each other and suffered a pain when one was in deficiency or not mixing with the others. Hippocrates also believed that through prognosis and the use of previous knowledge in the whole of the body, he would be able to cure someone.

"His treatment would be most effective if based on foreknowledge of the consequences of the present symptoms"

Hippocrates Prognostic 1

Culture of Athens CA 387

Colossal Head of Asclepius from the British Museum

Perhaps I would of been safer still to visit Galen. Practising medicine in the early 2nd Century AD, he added a great deal to the teachings of Hippocrates. Galen rose to be the doctor to the emperors, men like Lucius Verus, Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus were all his patients. He was in Rome for the time of the Antonine Plague and is revered for his diagnostic skills and how particular he was in the writing out and prescribing of his medicines.

Whether a visit from Asclepius in my dreams, Hippocrates tasting my urine for an imbalance or the careful prescribing of medicine by Galen would of had more affect on curing my cold than the very hot bath and long nap that I prescribed myself, is a question never to be answered. 

However medicine, operations and specialists did exist in the ancient Greek world. The temples of Asclepius specialised in different areas of the body, Hippocrates was so famous and successful that doctors still swear his oath today and Galen influenced knowledge of the human body, more than few others. 

So next time you reach for the paracetamol, perhaps a silver pig as payment to the god and a dream inspired cure in the Temple of Asclepius would be a better option.

Thanks for Reading

James 

Sex in the Forum

In 2 BC a scandal hit Rome. There in the civic heart of the eternal city, a woman was found by her father to be indulging in every form of vice and revelling in immorality. The old man having the rights of Patria Potestas, dealt with his daughter in a swift and decisive manner, exiling her to a harsh life on a small island. 

A simple tale of Roman law punishing immoral behaviour. However the players in the tale are not simple citizens of the ancient city. They are Julia and her father Augustus, the Princeps of Rome. The very first Emperor. Suddenly this isn't a simple case of a father exercising his Pater Familias power over his family, but a scandal that would rock the city. 

The Roman Forum

Julia had led a structured life, being married off by her father to various allies to help secure his position of power. Married to a cousin Marcus Claudius Marcellus, he had died when she was sixteen. At the age of eighteen she was married to Augustus' great ally, trusted friend and general, Agrippa. Agrippa passed away in 12 BC (and after the birth of their child named Agrippa Postumus, who Julia was pregnant with at the time) she was betrothed and immediately married to Tiberius, her step-brother and for all intents and purposes Augustus' new heir. 

Their's was not a happy marriage, blighted by the death of their child in its infancy. By 6 BC Tiberius had withdrawn from Rome, public life and his wife to Rhodes, giving Julia free reign of the city.

"He [Augustus] at length discovered that his daughter Julia was so dissolute in her conduct as actually to take part in revels and drinking bouts at night in the Forum and on the very rostra"

Cassius Dio Roman History Book 55

Augustus's response to his daughter can be seen as both harsh and lenient. At the time of the scandal breaking Augustus had been imposing laws to promote traditional Roman values. The shame of Julia's activities becoming public knowledge would have been highly embarrassing. It seems unlikely that Augustus wouldn't of already known of his daughters activities, it is hard to think of anything happening in Rome without his knowledge, but it is the public shaming of a man presenting himself as a model Pater Familias that probably resulted in her punishment. 

"He informed the Senate of his daughters fall through a letter read in his absence by a quaestor, and for every shame would meet no one for a long time, and even thought of putting her to death"

Suetonius Life of Caesar Chapter 65

A Marble Statue Identified as Julia the Elder

In any event, Julia was banished to the island of Pandetria to live a spartan and harsh lifestyle. She was forbidden to drink wine and there were no men on the island. No visitors were allowed to visit without Augustus's express permission. Five years after her initial exile, Augustus relented a little and allowed her to return to the mainland, but not Rome. A divorce was directly sent to Tiberius, her husband, in his own self imposed exile.

"He learned that his wife Julia had been banished because of her immorality and adulteries and that a bill of divorce has been sent her in his name by authority of Augustus"

Suetonius Life of Tiberius Chapter 11

The case of Julia and Augustus is an interesting one. In many ways Augustus acts exactly within his powers as the traditional Pater Familias of his family. This gave him the power of punishment over his children, even as far as to sentence them to death legally. But there are also signs that this is no normal Roman family. A speech was delivered to the Roman senate to explain what was happening. It is possible that Augustus' imposing of a divorce upon Tiberius indicate a wish to keep a possible future heir in place and relatively untainted from scandal. The situation is handled both within the family and as part of public business. 

The women of the Julio-Claudian family show up throughout the reign of the first emperors and it must be noted usually involved in some sort of scandal. Livia, Agrippina the Elder, Messalina and Agrippina the Younger are all fine examples. Perhaps it was due to Augustus' attempts to pass laws on morality that saw Julia punished so? Perhaps it was the public embarrassment of her father? However this first scandal is unique as being one involving a father and a daughter. A real family affair. 

Thanks for Reading

James

 

Perseus's Meteors

If you have been looking up at the sky the last few nights you may have noticed points of lights cartwheeling graceful parabolas across the heavens. They are meteors, the sons of Perseus streaking across the blackness of space to tell his tale.

Perseus and his Surrounding Constellations

They are named the Perseid Meteors because they originate from an area of space within the constellation of Perseus, and every August this prolific meteor shower lights up the night sky with its pyrotechnic display. However what few people may realise is that the myth of Perseus and his great deeds are written right there in the night sky.

A story in the stars, Perseus is visible in the northern skies, saving Andromeda from her terrible fate at the hands of the dreadful sea monster Cetus, while her parents Cepheus and Cassiopeia lie nearby.

Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini

The Constellation of Perseus, shows him in full heroic pose, sword thrust forward while the head of the gorgon, Medusa in his other hand, in the act of saving Andromeda. Andromeda herself lies to the right of Perseus in the night sky, chained to her rock, ready to be sacrificed to the dreadful sea monster Cetus, who eternally chases her across the night sky.

Above Andromeda sit her parents, Cassiopeia and Cepheus. Cassiopeia however did not escape punishment from the god Poseidon, for boasting to be more beautiful than all the nymphs of the ocean. She was placed high in the night sky, permanently spinning around the pole star, spending half her time upside down. Cepheus, her husband resides in the sky next to her, permanently reminded of his guilt and shame by the stars around him.

But how do these stories tell the myth of Perseus? Well they don't tell the whole myth that's true, but they do show one of the most exciting parts. Ridiculed by the king of Seriphos for liking his mothers company when he should be out doing daring deeds, Perseus was tasked with proving his courage by killing the gorgon Medusa.

With the aid of the gods, a shining shield from Athena, the winged shoes and sickle of Hermes and Hades helmet of invisibility, Perseus completed his quest to kill Medusa. Avoiding her gaze that turned a man to stone by looking in the reflection of his shield, Perseus set off home on his winged sandals.

Black Glaze Mug Showing Perseus Beheading Medusa
from the British Museum

Flying over the land of Aethiopi the hero came across the beautiful Andromeda in the act of being sacrificed to the sea monster Cetus, an attempt by her parents to appease Poseidon. Her mother Andromeda had claimed that the she and her daughter were more beautiful than the nymphs of the sea and Poseidon had flooded the kingdom at this boasting. The Orcale of Ammon had announced that the only way to assuage Poseidon was to sacrifice their daughter to the monster Cetus and that is where Perseus finds her.

Using either his sword to kill the monster or the Medua's head to turn Cetus to stone, Perseus was victorious and claimed Andromeda's hand in marriage. Returning home Perseus stopped the wicked advances of the king towards his mother, by turning him to stone with Medusa's head.

There is of course more to the tale of Perseus, there always is with the heroes of ancient Greece, but each year, in the early weeks of August small darts of light call you to look up into the night sky and see the hero in his greatest moment, saving a pretty damsel from a terrifying monster. A story in the stars.


Thanks for Reading
James

The Flavian Amphitheatre - Nero's Greatest Legacy

At the heart of the Rome, in the very centre of the Eternal City, stood a temple to its people. A place where 50,000 Romans could come together to worship their own empire and power. An icon, and one of the tallest buildings within the city. The Flavian Amphitheatre was started by the Emperor Vespasian, upon his rise to power after the chaos and civil war of the Year of the Four Emperor's, in AD 72. It was finished eight years later by Vespasian's son the Emperor Titus, and it's opening games were said to have been some of the biggest ever held, involving animal hunts, gladiatorial combat and even saw the theatre flooded.

 "Animals both tame and wild were slain to the numbers of nine thousand"

Cassius Dio Roman History Book 66 Chapter 25

So why is it, that this imposing and impressive building is not more widely called the Flavian Amphitheatre, but by the name it is known by all over the world, the Colosseum.

The Flavian Amphitheatre or the Colosseum?

In AD 64 the centre of Rome was swept clear by one of the most devastating fires to ever savage the city. Fire was common in Rome, over population, timber buildings one on top of the other and a population using oil lamps for lighting, meant fire was a continual problem. Despite the popular apocryphal tale that Nero fiddled while Rome burnt, Tacitus records that he was not even in the city at the time. However Nero seized upon a "golden" opportunity when it came along. 

"The report had spread that, at the very moment when Rome was aflame,

he had mounted his private stage, and typifying the ills of the present by the calamities of the past,

had sung the destruction of Troy"

Tactitus Annals Book 15 Chapter 39

The Emperor wasted no time in finally building himself a home right in the centre of the city, worthy of his stature, the Domus Aurea. His Golden House. The Golden House covered the slopes of three of Rome's seven hills, the Palatine, Esquilline and Caelian hills and is estimated to have covered an area of 300 acres. Within these grounds were groves and vineyards, fields of pasture on which flocks were kept and most imposingly an artificially dug lake. 

The house itself was no less impressive, with the huge amount of gold leaf used giving the buildings its name, pools and fountains, rooms individually decorated with frescos and semi-precious stones and most famously a supposed dining room with a revolving roof from which flower petals could be showered upon its guests. 

"He deigned to say nothing more in the way of approval that he was at last beginning to be housed like a human being"

Suetonius Life of Nero Chapter 31

As you might expect this opulence and excess didn't go down well with the people or the historians of Rome. Which is why, after the death of Nero, the chaos of civil war and the rise of the Flavian's as the new ruling dynasty of Rome, one of Vespasian's first actions was to build his temple for the people on the site of Nero's golden house. 

Colossal State of Nero outside the Colosseum

So why is it that the Flavian Amphitheatre is Nero's lasting legacy? Well, arguably its very construction was a response to the whole of Nero's "tyrannical" reign. Vespasian took the heart of the Roman's city and returned it too them. The Flavian Amphitheatre, was a visible symbol of what had been taken from them, and what had been returned. 

Secondly is the very name of the building itself. Part of Nero's great Domus Aurea complex was a colossal statue of himself within the grounds, a Colossus Neronis. Originally in the vestibule to his mighty palace complex, after his death, the statue was changed with a solar crown to a statue of the god Sol. 

"Its vestibule was large enough to contain a colossal statue of the emperor a hundred and twenty feet high"

Suetonius Life of Nero Chapter 31

During the reign of Emperor Hadrian, probably around AD 128, the statue was moved to just outside the Flavian Amphitheatre in order to create space for a temple. The proximity of this colossal statue to the Amphitheatre is one of the popular theory as to how the building got its nickname, the Colosseum. So, Nero's legacy lived on, even if it was in negative connotations, the Colosseum is just as much Nero's building and legacy as it was Vespasian's and the Flavians. 

Thanks for Reading

James