N.S.Gill's Ancient History Blog February 2006 Archive

Since the Lenten period is of such importance to Christians, it seems appropriate to usher it in with a link to public domain English translations of the works of the ... Read More

The Jackson Hole Star Tribune's article "'Maggot bombs' and malaria" says that insect warfare hasn't been taught much in history, but that this is about to change when Jeff Lockwood, University ... Read More

We're having a bit of fun giving into megalomania as we use an online quiz to determine which ancient leader we would be. See for yourself whether you're more a ... Read More

On Oxbow Books, you can read about Adrian Murdoch, an historian and journalist who has written a biography of Julian the Apostate, in which he compares the modern and ancient ... Read More

In poetry, do authors speak through their narrators or are they distinct? If the narrator uses the same name as the author does that make it more likely that the ... Read More

BCNG's Finding the middle position, by Andrew Twiddy, ties in etymology and ancient history in an article on the golden mean, Buddha, and Horace. Specifically, it used to be that ... Read More

Historical Fiction host (on the Ancient/Classical History Forum) Rich asks:"If I were to go out and look for the "best" Latin-English, English-Latin dictionary, what would you recommend I buy? And, ... Read More

Irene Hahn's Roman history book blog contains information on the Roman historian Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus, from Gallia Narbonensis, a near contemporary of Livy who lived in the age of Augustus. ... Read More

A database of Pompeiian houses is now available online. Among the features of the site are lists of rooms and houses in which they are included, names in Italian, Greek, ... Read More

Poll:Which was the worst betrayal in ancient history and legend? Join the discussion Judas' betrayal of Jesus Brutus' betrayal of Caesar Delilah's betrayal of Samson Aeneas' betrayal of Dido Alcibiades' betrayal of Athens Ephialtes' betrayal of ... Read More

Called the Scourge of God by the Romans, Attila the Hun was King and General of the Hun empire from A.D. 433 to 453. Succeeding his Uncle, King Roas, in ... Read More

What is the essence of historical fiction? If you took out the historical setting but kept the historical figures in could you still meaningfully label it "historical fiction"? What about ... Read More

BBC History Magazine has created a basic interactive Latin tutorial specifically designed to make it possible to read medieval documents. See Beginners' Latin.

I received the following question from email: " I am very curious about one thing - in Norse Loki is known as the trickster, yet, I find no evidence of "his" ... Read More

Roman provinces (Lat. proviniciae) were administrative and territorial units of the Roman Empire. Governors of provinces were often former consuls. Former praetors could also serve as governor. In some places ... Read More

Cleopatra of Egypt, edited by Susan Walker and Peter Higgs (2001), is a lovely coffee table book and guide to the British Museum's exhibit on Cleopatra and her times. For ... Read More

Would anyone care to offer a suggestion for this forum poster who asks:"How would you say, “To Fight to Win is to Fight in Vain” in old Latin?" To answer, please ... Read More

In Why the Romans Are Important in the Debate About Gay Marriage, Robert Frakes says a look at Roman views on gay marriage are important for the modern debate in ... Read More

From the Forum:"How much did the Ancient Romans know about geography? I'm not talking about 'world' maps, but mundane stuff: * How did travelers know travel distances? ... Read More

The Indian Business Standard reports in Ruins of Harrappan city found in Haryana that a city thought to date back to the Hararappan era and thought to have been near the ... Read More

Thanks to the August 24, A.D, 79 eruption of Mt.Vesuvius, we have samples (from the area of Italy known as Campania) of how wealthy Romans decorated the interior walls of ... Read More

Many emperors had unusual sexual appetites and more were guilty of murder, but somehow these 5 stand out as too awful today. Read about them in Worst Roman Emperors.

During the Roman Republic, Spartacus led a famous revolt of slaves and gladiators, but his revolt was only one of the slave revolts. Read more about the slave revolts and ... Read More

A 1.5" x 1.5" neolithic, hammered gold pendant from around Thessalonica was found in a field and turned over to authorities, according to an article in Yahoo News, Greek Hiker ... Read More

In an article from the New Jersey Star-Ledger it is claimed that Olympic competitors in ancient Greece ate onions and rubbed it into their skin. The article also mentions that ... Read More

The amphitheater (from the Greek amphi ~ on both sides and theatron ~ semicircular viewing place or theater) was developed as an improvement over the the Circus Maximus for ... Read More

The Rogue Classicist mentioned an online abstract of an article on ancient surgery that pre-dates Hippocrates. Archaeology's Artful Surgery, by Anagnostis P. Agelarakis explains the procedure used by a surgeon from ... Read More

The name of Cleopatra has gone down in history as the seductress of Caesar and Mark Antony. She also had two of her brothers as husbands. The major men in ... Read More

Do you think you know when the first battery was created? Perhaps by Benjamin Franklin in 1748 or Alessandro Volta in 1800? Well, it just may have been invented sometime ... Read More

Professor Judith Hallett looks terribly familiar -- probably because she is one of PBS's experts when they feature histories of ancient Rome. Professor Hallett says that March 1 was the ... Read More

Filled with bravado from slaying the mighty python with his arrows, Apollo looked at the god of love's small bow and delicate little golden arrows paired with equally unthreatening dull, ... Read More

In Lunar Olympics, Yubanet reports that Plato was an Olympic champion, but was he? Fighting Arts.com reports that Plato was a competitor, an Olympic wrestler, and a herm of Plato ... Read More

Spero News reports in Underwater vehicle maps ancient Greek shipwreck "After lying hidden for centuries off the coast of Greece, a sunken 4th century B.C. merchant ship and its cargo ... Read More

You're welcome to try out our forum. Here you can take a break from the cares of the modern world by discussing the writing of historical fiction, or you can ... Read More

From the Roman historian Tacitus (A.D. c. 55-117), a contemporary of Suetonius and Pliny, and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, who may have lived and written into the reign of ... Read More

Here are some pictures of the site of the ancient Olympics, in Olympia, Greece. The first picture shows an historical map with a layout of some of the buildings. The ... Read More

In response to a site listing possible personal names for people in the Roman provinces, a forum poster writes:"I always get a bit muddled with the definitions of Celt and ... Read More

The Rogue Classicist has blogged 13 Black Classicists about an article from the Washington Post on 12 Black Classicists from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s. The Classicists named ... Read More

The SciFi Channel will be premiering Jason and the Argonauts Saturday night. If you want to familiarize yourself with the story in advance, look at these: Jason and the Argonauts - ... Read More

"'The earth loveth the shower,' and 'the holy ether knoweth what love is.' The Universe, too, loves to create whatsoever is destined to be made." Meditations. x. 21.Ancient Quotes A-Z ... Read More

Latin is rich in colloquial insults. From the Forum:"According to my understanding, domestic arguments were as common in ancient Rome as they are today. Instead of falling out over a ... Read More

It is clear there was at least occasional traffic down the western coast of Africa from the Mediterranean, if not all the way around the other way, from the Red ... Read More

David Meadows, the rogue Classicist, posted a blog yesterday about Scoop's report on Gore's comments on Tiberius, with reference to Bush: Gore on Tiberius. Although Meadows is still trying to ... Read More

Lupercalia was an annual Roman festival celebrated on February 15. Because Lupercalia has some connection with fertility it is like an early version of a Valentine's Day holiday.Read more about ... Read More

Although opinions of Emperor Septimius Severus are mixed and some, adhering to the economic reasons for the collapse of Rome, place much of the blame for the Fall upon him, ... Read More