Tag Archives: Ancient Rome

The Only Library Ever Recovered from Antiquity

By Wu Mingren, Contributing writer, Ancient Origins The Villa of the Papyri is the name given to a private house that was uncovered in the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum. This city, along with nearby Pompeii, is perhaps best remembered for its destruction during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Because of this

Written on May 3, 2018 at 5:01 pm, by plato

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Categories: Archeology

Tags: ancient Library, Ancient Rome, Herculaneum, Mount Vesuvius, Papyri, scrolls, Villa, Weber

The Golden Rule

By Ben Potter All that glitters may not be gold, but that hasn’t stopped the shiny yellow stuff from being relentlessly pursued throughout mankind’s civilized existence. Twinkling goodness aside, gold has the virtue of being malleable, ductile, resistant to tarnishing, abundant, easily extracted and, above all else, useless! Well, perhaps not totally, but it is

Written on March 6, 2015 at 10:04 pm, by plato

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Categories: Economics

Tags: Ancient Rome, Caesar, Claudius, Gold, Minoans, Nero, Priam's treasure, Sumerians, Tory

Cato: The Roman Ron Paul?

By Ben Potter During his own era Marcus Porcius Cato (234-149 BC) was known as ‘Cato the Censor’, for his role in maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government’s finances. In times after, however, he was commonly referred to as ‘Cato the Elder’, in order to distinguish him from

Written on January 15, 2015 at 3:44 am, by plato

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Categories: Leaders

Tags: Ad filium, Ancient Rome, carmen de moribus, Cato, Cato the Censor, Cato the Elder, de agri cultura, De re militari, politician

Saturnalia: The Party don’t Stop

by Anya Leonard Catullus (XIV) describes it as “the best of days.” Seneca complains that the “whole mob has let itself go in pleasures” (Epistles, XVIII.3). Pliny the Younger writes that he retired to his room while the rest of the household celebrated (Epistles, II.17.24). It was a time when people rejoiced, visited friends, gave

Written on December 24, 2014 at 11:05 pm, by plato

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Categories: Traditions

Tags: Ancient Rome, Christmas, Nero, New Year, Saturn, Saturnalia

Cicero in Cilicia

By Ben Potter Rome’s ‘Golden Age’ is, quite rightly, thought to have reached its zenith in the days when it was making the transition from the greatest Republic to the greatest Empire of the Ancient World. Such is the breadth and depth of interesting and talented artists and statesmen from this period – Julius Caesar,

Written on June 13, 2014 at 10:46 am, by plato

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Categories: Leaders

Tags: Ancient Rome, Cicero, Cicero in Cilicia, Marcus Tullius Cicero, New man of Ancient Rome

The Dirty World of Ancient Graffiti

In a break from the norm I shall start this contribution not with a glib remark or unnecessary bit of pretentiousness, but with a warning. This week’s article will be a bit on the spicy side both in terms of language and sexual content. If either offend you then I strongly suggest that you stop

Written on January 15, 2014 at 10:05 pm, by Ben Potter

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Categories: Painting

Tags: Ancient Rome, Graffit, Pompeii

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