The politician, general, and real estate mogul Marcus Licinius Crassus was one of the major players in Roman history in the turbulent first century BCE. He became the richest man in Rome through ruthless business tactics, including the strategy of having a private fire brigade that would put out fires provided that the building’s owner […]
The ancient Romans had a reputation for efficiency, and one example of this was their combination of criminal justice and popular entertainment. The Romans developed punishments as a means to reinforce class hierarchies. Only those of the lowest social status received the most humiliating punishments. Runaway slaves, foreign spies, common soldiers who betray or desert, […]
We reflect on the legacy of the Roman general, dictator, and would-be king Gaius Julius Caesar. As a military strategist and charismatic leader of men he is arguably outmatched only by Alexander himself. In his career as a general in foreign and civil wars he was virtually undefeated. Those victories, however, came at a great […]
The Roman poet Ovid is well known for his poetry on erotic themes, including a handbook on how to seduce women that likely got him exiled by the emperor Augustus. However, he is more or less equally famous for his 15-volume epic poem Metamorphoses, a loosely connected anthology of myths from the creation of the […]
The Roman epic poet Vergil, in the sixth book of the Aeneid, placed these words in the mouth of the Cumaean Sibyl, an aged prophetess who guides the Trojan hero Aeneas into the Underworld: facilis descensus Averno: noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis;sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras,hoc opus, hic labor est. Which may […]
Plato is perhaps the most well known philosopher from ancient Greece, and among his many influential theories about the nature of morality, psychology, and physics, the Allegory of the Cave is the most iconic. This comes as no surprise, as a major factor in Plato’s profound influence was his skill as a writer in presenting […]
Like Caesar, a lot of you should have seen this coming. While the Romans (and especially Julius Caesar himself!) gave us the 365-day calendar and names of the 12 months we still use today, they did not refer to individual days of the month as, for instance, the 15th of March or the 1st of […]
The role of fate, of the destiny of mortals divinely predetermined, is an essential feature of the epic and tragic tales of classical myth and literature. In ancient Greek, there are a handful of terms to express the concept of Fate: Aisa, Heimarmene, and Moira. All three basically contain the idea of “apportionment” or “allotment.” […]
“Many have sung about the Gates of Fire.” Indeed, the story of King Leonidas and the 300 Spartans is one of the most iconic episodes in the history of ancient Greece, and it is especially popular among metal bands who take on classical themes. The Manilla Road album “Gates of Fire”, for instance, takes its […]
The mythic imagination of the ancient Greeks populated the Underworld with a host of terrifying monsters, both in imprisonment and employment. Among the latter is the original hellhound Cerberus, who stands watch over the infernal gates lest any soul escape. It was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon, formidable monsters in their own right, and […]
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