N.S.Gill's Ancient History Blog April 2008 Archive

Hannibal (in profile) as a young man © Clipart.com This week's main article features Mithridates of Pontus, in Asia Minor. The Romans fought 3 wars against this Asian enemy of ... Read More

Marcus Aurelius © Clipart.com On this day in A.D. 121, the future Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was born. Marcus Aurelius was the last of the "five good emperors" and was the ... Read More

Flora © Clipart.com From April 28 - May 3, the ancient Romans celebrated the Roman festival known as the Floralia, in honor of the Roman goddess Flora. Although the ancient ... Read More

When you try to Google most "greatest" topics in ancient history, you need to insert the keyword "ancient". Not so for warriors or military leaders, although the medieval, rather than ... Read More

There are 3 major Greek poets (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides) whose tragedies we have, but we haven't been so lucky with Greek comedy. Aristophanes is the only representative of Old ... Read More

April 21 is Rome's 2761st birthday. The date of the founding of Rome is 753 B.C. Feriae in Roma Antiqua et Hodie! has some information on the Palilia and the ... Read More

On this Day in Ancient History in the year A.D. 359, the future Roman emperor Gratian was born. Gratian was the son of Emperor Valentinian I. When Valentinian died, ... Read More

The Romans celebrated a festival of Ceres (Greek Demeter) at around this time each year. The final day and greatest celebration was on the 19th of April, according to "Curiosities ... Read More

On this day in ancient Rome, in the year of the 4 emperors, the short reign of Emperor Otho ended when he, like Nero two emperors earlier, committed suicide. Read ... Read More

De rerum is an epic, written in 6 books, which explains life and the world in terms of Epicurean principles and Atomism, a philosophy that said everything was created of tiny ... Read More

Alexander the Great Battle of IssusPublic Domain Alexander the Great defeated the Great King of Persia, Darius III, at the Battle at Issus in November 333 B.C. Alexander's army was ... Read More

Although I do support the efforts of eLatin eGreek eLearn (AP Latin Literature Cancelled -- Please Add Your Name and An Alternative to AP), I've hesitated to post my ... Read More

Ceres, the name of an asteroid that may become a planet, is also the name of a Roman goddess associated with the Greek goddess Demeter. Ceres, whose name gives ... Read More

One of the luckier forum posters is going to Greece for a guided tour with a native Spartan, but before he reaches the Aegean he will be spending a few ... Read More

Lesbian originally referred to something or someone from the Greek island of Lesbos. The Online Etymology Dictionary says the term was used by the philosopher Aristotle to refer to a ... Read More

Caracalla came to power honestly enough, but when he succeeded his father, Septimius Severus (of the Severan Dynasty), in A.D. 211, he was supposed to share the imperial purple ... Read More

Ovid (aka Naso 'nose') was a prolific Roman poet, best known for his Metamorphoses (a collection of stories from mythology) and love poetry. Ovid counted among his friends ... Read More

Macedonian Empire Under Alexander the Great © Clipart.com The Battle of the Granicus was the first major battle Alexander the Great fought against the Persians. It was not so much an ... Read More

Hannibal (in profile) as a youth © Clipart.com At first, Rome was just one small city-state in the area of Latin-speaking people known as Latium, on the west side of the ... Read More

Marble Bust of Homer. Public Domain Courtesy of Wikipedia Ancient Greeks (and Romans) revered Homer, so if you had lived in ancient Greece you would have been well-versed in your Homer. His stories ... Read More

The Roman month of April honored the goddess Venus, just as the previous month honored her lover Mars. While we have etymological traces of various Roman and Norse gods and ... Read More

Marble Bust of Homer. Public Domain Courtesy of Wikipedia Since April is Poetry Month, you can expect to meet several ancient Greek and Latin poets in this spot. Today's highlight is ... Read More