On Friday, November 22, 1963, C.S. Lewis died. While Lewis is known for his children's Narnia series and writings on Christianity, he was a scholar trained in the Classics. Among my favorite works by Lewis is Till We Have Faces, which is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, which comes from The Golden Ass of Apuleius. In Apuleius' version of the beauty and the beast motif, Psyche marries the goddess Aphrodite's son and then violates the rules of that marriage. To regain her divine husband, she must perform four impossible tasks, including a trip to the Underworld. C.S. Lewis puts on a spin on the story by telling it from the perspective of one of the wicked sisters.

On the day of Lewis' death, JFK and Aldous Huxley also died.
Also see the Guide to Classical Literature's review of a biography of C.S. Lewis.

Apuleius © Clipart.com

Has a joker ever tried to show you that instead of having the obvious 10 fingers, he actually has 11? This is done by bending down and counting fingers on one hand backwards from 10: "10, 9, 8, 7, 6...." The joker then says "... and 5 makes 11".

Counting on one's fingers seems a natural way to compute numbers, but the ancient Greeks and Romans didn't just count "on" their fingers. They counted with their fingers, and not to be quick and accurate with the finger symbols could be embarrassing.

Read more about ancient finger counting (technical term: dactylonomy):
Finger Numbers.

Also see Laura Gibbs's Blog on Roman Multiplication by Fingers.

On this day in 53 B.C. Marcus Licinius Crassus died. Crassus was a member of the first triumvirate, along with Pompey and Caesar. He was a very greedy, wealthy man, but not as capable a military leader as Pompey or Caesar. However, it was largely through Crassus' efforts that the rebellion of Spartacus was put down in 71 B.C., even though Pompey took the credit.

In 53 B.C., Crassus was governor of Syria. He was attempting to earn glory for himself by invading Parthia, even though there was no justification for it. It was after the battle at Carrhae that Crassus was killed.

Read more about Crassus in Bingley's Biography of Crassus.

• Parthians as Intermediaries Between China and Rome in the Silk Trade
• How Did Crassus Die?
• Plutarch on the Revolt of Spartacus
• Persian Empire Maps

This week there has been a flurry of activity in the forum, including posts in two threads on the topic of the famous Roman letters SPQR. Here is what veteran forum user Aulus has to say on the matter:

Truth be told, we really do not absolutely know what the acronym SPQR stood for. The most common interpretation is Senatus Populusque Romanus, but it could equally be Senatus Populusque Romae or a few other combinations which I cannot recall right now, but are rather tenuous.

In fact, the acronym SPQR, as far as I have been able to find it, does not seem to pre-date the reign of Augustus, either in inscriptions or in coinage. My opinion, and that of others, is that it was a bit of Augustan propaganda and a smoke screen for the reality of the establishment of the Principate, much like Augustus' line about "restoring" the republic.

Do you have more information/questions on SPQR? Please post in the forum thread.

It would be lovely if this could become a weekly feature, but that will only happen if people actively use the Ancient/Classical History Forum to post their questions about ancient history, literature, and mythology. Please do so. If you forget the forum URL, it's on the pages of this site with my photo where it is simply called "my forum".