Author: Mark
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Phaethon
Phaethon Gustave Moreau, 1878, Musée du Louvre, Paris Praise for Tales from Ovid: ‘A breathtaking book…To compare his versions with the Latin is to be awestruck again and again by the range and ingenuity of his poetic intelligence…He rescues the old gods and goddesses from the classical dictionaries and gives them back their terror. There…
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The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book II Part XI: Have Other Friends: But Be Careful
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD But the red-haired boar is not so fierce in mid-anger. when he turns and threatens the rabid pack, or the lioness giving suck to un-weaned cubs, or the tiny viper crushed by a careless foot, as a woman when a rival’s caught in her lover’s bed:…
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Whistling Sling Bullets: The Roman Troops’ Secret ‘Terror Weapon’
Some of the Roman sling bullets found at the Burnswark Hill battle site in Scotland. The two smallest bullets, shown at the bottom of this image, are drilled with a hole that makes them whistle in flight. (Image credit: John Reid/Trimontium Trust) Written by Tom Metcalfe and published on June 13, 2016 in Live Science Some…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book II Part X: Let Her Miss You: But Not For Long
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD But the winds that filled your sails and blew offshore, are no use when you’re in the open sea. While young love’s wandering, it gathers strength by use: if you nourish it well, it will be strong in time. The bull you fear’s the calf you…
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The Battle of Carrhae 53BC
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Battle of Carrhae – June 9, 53 BC “At first impression, the interminable series of wars between the Roman Empire and Persia… look almost inexplicable. They went on and on, century after century… Upper Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Syria had become an unfortunate playground for princes” –Michael Axworthy, historian The Battle of Carrhae (modern-day Harran in…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book II Part IX: Comfort Her in Sickness
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD Often in autumn, when the season’s loveliest, and the ripe grape’s dyed with purple juice, when now we’re frozen solid, now drenched with heat, the body’s listless in the changing air. Your girl’s well in fact: but if she’s lying sick, feels ill because of the…
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Boudicca’s Rebellion
Alex Kingston portraying Boudica in the 2003 film “Warrior Queen” Kingdom and household were plundered like prizes of war, the one by Roman officers, the other by Roman slaves. As a beginning his (Prasutagus) widow Boudicca was flogged and their daughters raped. The Icenian chiefs wre deprived of their hereditary estates as if the Romans…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book II Part VIII: Favour Her and Compliment Her
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD Then what you’re about to do, and think is useful, always get your lover to ask you to do it. You promised liberty to one of your slaves: still let him seek the fact of it from your girl: if you stay a punishment, forgo the…
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Tiberius: The reluctant emperor
“I say now and have often said before, Fathers of the Senate, that a well-disposed and helpful prince, to whom you have given such great and unrestrained power, ought to be the servant of the senate, often of the citizens as a whole, and sometimes even of individuals. I do not regret my words, but…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book II Part VII: Give Her Little Tasteful Gifts
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD I don’t tell you to give your mistress expensive gifts: give little but of that little, skilfully, give what’s fitting. When the field is full of riches, when the branches bend with the weight, let the boy bring a gift in a rustic basket. You can…
