Category: Everything Latin
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book II Part I: His Task
Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD Sing out the Paean: sing out the Paean twice! The prize I searched for falls into my net. Delighted lovers grant my songs the palm, I’m preferred to Hesiod and old Homer. So Paris the stranger sailed, from hostile Amyclae’s shore, under white sheets, with his…
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The Laurel Wreath
To the Romans, like the ancient Greeks before them, the laurel was sacred. The Greeks believed the laurel groves were the sacred dwelling places of the gods and nymphs. The Romans adopted the laurel wreath, and it became a symbol of military victory, worn by generals leading their troops in a triumph, on their arrival back…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book I Part XIX: Be Flexible
Ilustration by Frederico Righi Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD I’ve done, but there’s diversity in women’s hearts: a thousand minds require a thousand methods. One soil doesn’t bear all crops: vines here are good, olives there: this teems with healthy wheat. There are as many manners of heart as kinds of…
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Augustus: Shrewd operator
The Meroe head of Augustus – British Museum, London Augustus had a ruthless reputation. What he could not eliminate with the strength of arms, he did so by manipulation – Alvin Ang Augustus transformed Rome from a bitterly-divided, war weary republic into an empire in a series of superb strokes of political manipulation. Emerging victorious…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book I Part XVIII: Be Pale: Be Wary of Your Friends
Ilustration by Frederico Righi Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD A pale colour would shame a sailor on the ocean wave, who’s blackened by the rays of the sun: and shame the farmer who turns the soil with curved plough and heavy harrow, underneath the heavens. And you who seek the athlete’s…
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‘Extraordinary’ Roman helmet from ancient sea battle found in Mediterranean
Helmet was likely lost during battle of Aegades of 241 BC, researchers say Published on Tuesday 09 September 2025 in The Independent Written by Vishwam Sankaran Marine archaeologists have uncovered a rare Roman-era helmet from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea that was lost during an ancient naval battle in 241 BC. The military helmet, in an “extraordinary state of…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book I Part XVII: Tears, Kisses, and Take the Lead
lustration by Frederico Righi Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD And tears help: tears will move a stone: let her see your damp cheeks if you can. If tears (they don’t always come at the right time) fail you, touch your eyes with a wet hand. What wise man doesn’t mingle tears…
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Semele
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 should be a copy of his book in…
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Ovid: The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria) Book I Part XVI: Promise and Deceive
lustration by Frederico Righi Publius Ovidius Naso 43 BC – c. 17 AD Don’t be shy of promising: promises entice girls: add any gods you like as witness to what you swear. Jupiter on high laughs at lovers’ perjuries, and orders Aeolus’s winds to carry them into the void. Jupiter used to swear by the…
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Sarn Helen: The Remarkable Roman Road in Wales
It is one of the most well-preserved Roman roads in the UK, where it runs the entire length of a country from coast to coast, much of it still visible and even walkable. By Steffan Rhys : June 8th 2025 One of Britain’s best-kept secrets lies beneath our feet, a living piece of history that even…
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