Incitatus was the mad emperor Caligula’s favorite horse. Below is my translation from the biographer Suetonius, our chief source for this imperial equine: “On the day before chariot races [Caligula] was accustomed to have soldiers proclaim silence throughout the neighborhood so his horse Incitatus wouldn’t be disturbed. Besides a marble stable, an ivory feeding trough, […]
Today we celebrate the warrior queen Boudicca, who led a revolt of the Iceni, a Celtic people of ancient Britain, against the injustices of Roman imperial rule. After her husband’s death the Romans betrayed her people, subjecting her to flogging and her daughters to rape before her eyes. These crimes would not go unavenged. She […]
Though the greatest warrior to fight in the Trojan War, Achilles was fated to die before he could see the city fall. As with Achilles’ dear companion Patroclus before him, the archer god Apollo was instrumental in Achilles’ own demise, guiding Paris’ arrow through his mortal heel. But as Achilles avenged Patroclus, so another would […]
The Trojan War, from antiquity to the modern day, remains the archetype of what a war is, and what happens when a city is besieged and sacked. The pages of Homer, Vergil, and the Greek playwrights give us insight not only into profound topics like the human condition and the nature of heroism and justice. […]
It is a strange thing that the Greek sea god Poseidon is somewhat underrepresented in classically inspired metal songs. Often he is incidental to narratives of the hero Odysseus, but not often is Zeus’ blue-maned, trident-wielding brother the main character. Poseidon is not only lord of the sea, but he is also the “earthshaker” with […]
The Iberian peninsula, comprising modern-day Portugal and Spain, was one of the hardest won provinces of the Roman Empire. Having taken over Carthage’s territory on the southeastern coast after defeating Hannibal’s forces in the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE), it took the Romans almost two centuries to fully pacify these rugged lands and their indomitable […]
The word ‘tyrant’ comes from the Greek ‘tyrannos,’ a word they borrowed from further east to designate a new type of leader who arose in the 600s and 700s BCE. During that period, most city-states were ruled by small cabals of aristocrats who owned much of the farmland, controlled the offices of government, and drove […]
The Finnish heavy metal band Legionnaire released their debut full-length Dawn of Genesis in 2017. Closing out the album in “epic” fashion, the track “Olympian Aegis” is delivered from the perspective of the Greek hero Odysseus, as a prayer to Zeus for his deliverance from his seven years of sex-slavery on the island of the nymph Calypso. […]
Next in our series of songs about Medusa is “Gorgon” by the British heavy metal band Angel Witch. Like Attacker’s “Armor of the Gods” (see previous post), this song takes on the original Greek myth by way of its adaptation in modern cinema. Instead of “Clash of the Titans,” here we look further back to […]
The US power metal band Attacker released their “Armor of the Gods” EP last year. The album art features a version of the iconic “Perseus the Head of Medusa” motif popularized by the Renaissance sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The eponymous track to the EP betrays the direct inspiration for the song, a sound clip from the […]
Heavy Metal Classicist 