Ciceronian @marcvstvllivstiro - Tumblr Blog

Figurines of mice greet the visitors on the steps of the temple of Apollo in Turkey.

The temple was built during the 2nd century B.C., in the Troas region. It is dedicated to Apollo Smintheus (Lord of mice). The friezes of the temple depicted the war, which Homer recounted in his epic Iliad. In the epic itself, Apollo invoked as Smintheus is a terrific plague bringer.

Miniature statues of mice are now being placed to the stairs of 2,000 years old temple. "They are real-size figurines of mice. We have 73 figurines in the first stage, but 100 more will be made", says Professor Coşkun Özgünel, the head of the excavations in the field. "Visitors of the temple are very surprised by the mice. They show great interest in the figurines. They take photos and share them on social media. This interest made us very pleased.”

p-clodius-pulcher

Late republican history always reads like:

In the consulship of whovius giveus ashittus, a plebeian tribune* proposed a law to stop setting poor people on fire to heat the homes of the senators. This sparked weeks of bloody fighting in the streets at the end of which the tribune was exploded badstyle and the law was unanimously voted down

* it is speculated that the tribune was seeking praetorship which is why the law was presented to the senate

doodleomi

every time i read catullus' plea for cybele to leave him alone at the end of cat63 i just imagine him being plagued by godly visions telling him to Become A Gallus Right Now

hortensius

The Dead Romans Society - Vates

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tes THDPSSSSPS 💜

wgat did u say

really enjoying this very specific bit of ancient literature I've come across that consists of "roman authors who clearly think it's very strange that greek houses have separate areas for men and women"

fluentisonus

"Men's dinner parties are held in these large rooms; for it was not the practice, according to Greek custom, for the mistress of the house to be present. On the contrary, such peristyles are called the men's apartments, since in them the men can stay without interruption from the women ... The Greeks call the large rooms in which men's dinner parties are usually held ἁνδρωνεϛ, because women do not go there."

-- Vitruvius trans. M.H. Morgan

"For instance, what Roman would blush to take his wife to a dinner-party? What matron does not frequent the front rooms of her dwelling and show herself in public? But it is very different in Greece; for there a woman is not admitted to a dinner-party, unless relatives only are present, and she keeps to the more secluded part of the house called 'the women's apartment,' to which no man has access who is not near of kin."

-- Cornelius Nepos trans. J.C. Rolfe

akinmytua2

I wonder if the Romans got that from the Etruscans? Because I think the Etruscan tombs show pretty equal husband/wife stuff going on.

fluentisonus

yeah ! *with the caveat that I wouldn't call women's circumstances anywhere in the ancient world 'equal'

I think this one pretty clearly has an etruscan/italian root to it! like you say, I think the strongest & most compelling evidence is we can see this in a lot of etruscan art of banquets and parties:

and then we also have a couple bits from greek authors — in athenaeus' deipnosophistae he quotes this classic bit from theopompus (huge grain of salt as theopompus is obviously just saying whatever here, but I think we can take what he says about mixed gender dining, if not the implications of promiscuity, as pretty true, given our other material):

"And they dine not with their own husbands, but with anyone who happens to be present; and they pledge whoever they please in their cups : and they are amazingly fond of drinking, and very handsome."

(trans. younge)

and then there's this other bit (also via athenaeus) that quotes aristotle on the etruscans, saying they dine with their wives:

(^ via the loeb trans. olson)

menecrates

#yes i can see it

necrophilologist

somehow it always boils down to catullus being the poet of all time

the-toastr-rat

I know it's a little early, but it's good to let people prepare!

uwmspeccoll

The Minotaur in the Labyrinth

The Minotaur in the Labyrinth stands as one of the ancient stories that has survived the test of time and continuously appears in mainstream entertainment. Most understand that this concept began with the story of Theseus of ancient Athens and how he navigated the labyrinth and slayed the beast within, but many don’t know the inspiration of this idea.

Nearly a millennia before Classical Greece rose to the height of its power (500-350 BCE) the two leading cultures of the Aegean Sea were the Mycenaeans on the mainland and the Minoans on modern day Crete, and it is on this island that we find the labyrinthian structures of Bronze age Greece.

The Bronze Age Palace at Knossos: Plan and Sections by British archaeologist Sinclair Hood and Canadian archaeologist William E, Taylor, Jr., published as Supplementary Volume No. 13 of The British School at Athens in 1981. It shows the archaeological remains of one of the many Minoan Palaces. Though mostly destroyed and crumbling, we can still see the complex layout of halls and rooms that twist, turn, and abruptly end. Beginning with the excavations of Sir Arthur Evans in 1900, scores of theories have been raised about the purpose of such confounding architecture, from a form of defense to a means of controlling foreign visits.

Besides the confusing architecture, through no depictions of minotaurs were found, Minoan Palaces such as the one at Knossos did contained several pieces of art that depicted bulls. Upon further inspection, the symbol of the Bull was quite prominent throughout the ancient culture from sports, such as bull leaping, to religious sacrifice.

When looking to those who lived in the past, one should remember that we are not the only ones who inquired about archaeological remains. These ruins would’ve been seen by the Classical Greeks, but by that time their imaginations about the great Palaces and Bull iconography of the Minoan civilization was transformed into the myth of the Minotaur in the Labyrinth.

View more posts on Ancient Greece.

– LauraJean, Special Collections Undergraduate Classics Intern

thoodleoo

pliny voice it's very simple. a porpoise is like a dolphin but sadder and with a sort of hateful aura to it

capacity2

Help

mcaelius

what do you mean catullus might not be poetic 😭

#excuse me???

charlesoberonn

This post gets notes every Ides of March even though it’s not a depiction of Julius Caesar’s assassination, it’s a depiction of the emperor Caligula’s assassination, who was killed on January 24th, 41 AD.

charlesoberonn

Happy 1983rd murder-versary, Caligula.

catilinas

hi Catilinas HOW do I get a copy of tom holland’s Attis. I checked Amazon and I checked Barnes and noble and I checked Apple Books and nobody has it. Point me to the right direction I’m begging you. Love ur blog btw

go here go in the internet archive

but if you want a physical copy i cannot help you :(

#prev no no i also got one. didn't know it was such a rare commodity