GCSE Ancient History for the Witty

11CLB's official Tumblog for our ancient history studies. Scroll for a questionable sense of humour, quick facts and revision resources to help get that A*! Our posts will be loosely centred around the OCR Ancient History GCSE Course but we will cover anything to do with Classics, really! We'll even take requests. If you would like to revise, use our navigation page to search through the tags for each option which we have studied and specialise in. Most importantly, enjoy the blog! Feel free to contact us any time with any questions or queries about anything Classics related- from question types and time management to Assyrian religion and Egyptian coins.

[historyfilia-deactivated2025061]

Biriciana, Roman fort

The Roman fort at Weissenburg called Biriciana in ancient times, is a former Roman Ala castellum, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located near the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes. It lies in the borough of Weißenburg in the Middle Franconian county of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in Germany. Today the castellum is one of the most important sites of research in the Roman limes in Germany. The site contains partly subterranean building remains, a reconstructed north gateway, large thermal baths and a Roman Museum with an integrated Limes Information Centre.

Photos from wikipedia

[whencyclopedia]

[ancientromebuildings]

Temple of Diana, Nimes

Dates back to 1st/2nd century CE. Original purpose of the bulding is  unknown, but some some scholars have claimed that it was actually a library.

Source: By P. De Praetere (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[historical-nonfiction]

[romegreeceart]

Roman tomb fresco

Viminacium, Moesia Superior (Serbia)

[cannae-u-not-omg]

Taken from the Classical Art Memes Facebook page

[thoodleoo]

decipher your teen’s texts

lol: lots of legions

brb: bring rome back

tbc: to become consul 

wwjd: what would julius do

ttyl: totally trusting your lares

omg: overthrowing mutinous gauls

fibtcmbd: furthermore i believe that carthage must be destroyed

[likeavirgil]

On April 19th I made bread

Latin graffiti in Pompeii (CIL IV.8792) live fast die young, Romans (via likeavirgil)

#HAPPY ANNIVERSARY OF THE TIME THAT ROMAN GUY MADE BREAD (via audible-smiles)

4/19 bake it (via inquisitorpsyduck)

[whencyclopedia]

[jeannepompadour]

Portrait bust of Cleopatra (69 B.C.-30 B.C.) Roman artwork 

[whencyclopedia]

OSTRACISM: 

OSTRACISM was a political process used in 5th-century BCE Athens whereby those individuals considered too powerful or dangerous to the city were exiled for 10 years by popular vote. Some of the greatest names in Greek history fell victim to the process, although, as the votes were often not personal but based on policies, many were able to resume politics after they had served the statuary 10 years away from their home city. Nevertheless, ostracism was the supreme example of the power of the ordinary people, the demos, to combat abuses of power in the Athenian democracy.

The decision whether or not to ostracise individuals was taken once each year. First, the decision to hold a vote on ostracism was presented to the popular assembly of Athens, the ekklesia, which met on the hill of Pnyx. There up to 6,000 male citizens voted to proceed or not. If agreed, a special meeting known as the ostracophoria was organised in the agora on a particular day in the eighth prytany in the year (which was divided into ten such units). 

The voting was supervised by the executive council of 500 (boule) and the 9 highest administrative officials, the archons (archontes). Citizens voted against a particular candidate by scratching his name on a piece of pottery, an ostrakon. Voting was done anonymously.

Read More 

Article and photos by Mark Cartwright on AHE

[cannae-u-not-omg]

Themistocles, the Athenian politician who provoked the Battle of Salamis by allegedly inviting the Persians to attack the Greek fleet, was ostracised from Athens in 472 BC for his perceived arrogance.

[pidgeling]

i’m so upset

I just realized that the reason ghosts say Boo! is because it’s a latin verb

they’re literally saying ‘I alarm/I am alarming/I do alarm!!

I can’t

[life-of-a-latin-student]

present active boō, present infinitive boāre, perfect active boāvī, supine boātum

[interretialia]

Recte!

[flightcub]

if it comes from the latin word, they’re actually saying “I’M YELLING!” which is even cuter

[grizzlyhills]

do they speak latin because it’s a dead language

[snilliamsnakespeare]

@mi-mariposita

[cannae-u-not-omg]

The truth about Hannibal’s route across the Alps

How exactly did the Carthaginian general and his elephants reach Italy? Scientists have got their hands dirty to come up with an answer

Pretty good article about Hannibal’s trek across the Alps! It also has some quick facts about the Second Punic War, so could be good revision for ‘The Rise of Rome’ unit.

[romanemperorshaming]

[archaeologicalnews]

Archaeologists discover earliest known stone wall in Poland

Góra Zyndrama (Zyndram Hill) in Maszkowice (southern Poland) has been known as an archaeological site since the early 20th century. The first excavations were carried out between 1959-1975, when a well-preserved prehistoric settlement was discovered. The village was inhabited over a period spanning roughly 1000-50 BC. In 2010, an expedition from the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, begun excavating an area of the site which hadn’t previously been investigated; where the upper plateau rapidly ends, passing into its eastern slope. The fieldwork which was continued in 2012 and 2014, showed that beneath the later settlement existed an earlier one.

The settlement was dated to the Early Bronze Age, and its residents were not the local people who had inhabited Małopolska since the Late Neolithic, but a relatively small (150-200) group of colonists who had arrived from the Tisa River basin to the south (an area of present-day Hungary). Read more.

[historical-nonfiction]

Birds of prey are also known as “Raptors”. The term “raptor” is derived from the Latin word “rapere” meaning to seize or take by force. You can probably think of a few other words derived from that root.

[tearthepagesopen-blog]

When Greek tragedy sounds like a shampoo advert

[cannae-u-not-omg]

No wonder Mark Antony identified with Dionysus :)