Translated from french (please notify us of errors) Why does the year begin on January 1st? The answer lies in a reform carried out at full speed by Julius Caesar. At the end of the Republic, the Roman calendar had become a real headache. Heir to a very ancient organization, originally based on only ten […]
Celebrating Saturnalia in the 21st Century!
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) Saturnalia is an ancient Roman festival celebrated from December 17 to 23 in honor of Saturn, the god believed to have introduced agriculture and the arts of civilized life. It marked the end of the agricultural season and was a joyful, relaxed celebration. During Saturnalia, ordinary activities […]
An ancient shopping list
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) “Hey bro, how are you? Could you bring me some poultry, bread, lupin seeds, chickpeas, beans and fenugreek, please?” In this apparently banal form, a letter written in Greek in the 3rd century after our era has come down to us, preserved on papyrus and now held […]
The Saturnalia under Lucian’s critical gaze
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) Lucian has a caustic tongue and a biting satire. Born around 120-125 CE in Samosata, on the banks of the Euphrates in present-day southeastern Turkey, he is today readily presented as one of the great figures of critical thought. His trajectory is striking: coming from a modest […]
Yoghurt, barbarian delicacy for Roman palates
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) Pliny the Elder, in the 1st century, didn’t mince his words: for him, curdled milk was a barbarian affair. One can picture it: nomadic horsemen traversing the steppes with sheepskin bags of sheep’s milk attached to their saddles, fermenting under the jolting… He marvelled: “It is surprising […]
A spicy history of pepper
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) With wine and garum, pepper is the star ingredient in Apicius. The Roman cook used it in all his sauces. He did not hesitate to prescribe it for cooking, then recommend sprinkling it over the dish again before serving. Of the 500 recipes in the De re […]
For the dough to rise
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) Framing the entrance to Modestus’s bakery in Pompeii[1], two plaques set into the wall greeted arriving customers. The first, on the right, is relatively discreet. It depicts a phallus arranged horizontally, without exuberance. The other, on the left, is quite different: the organ is completely disproportionate to […]
From amphora to barrel…
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) It is one of the iconic objects of Antiquity. The amphora still covers part of the Mediterranean seabed today, serves as a tourist trap in souvenir shops and carries with it a whole mythology specific to these ancient objects now vanished. Well, not quite! The amphora has […]
Sentia Amarantis, tabernaria at Emerita Augusta
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) At the Museo Nacional de Arte Romano in Merida, a marble stele of modest dimensions attracts attention through its originality. Dated to the late 2nd or 3rd century CE, it commemorates Sentia Amarantis, who died at the age of 45 in ancient Emerita Augusta, capital of the […]
Feasting and Playing: An Etruscan Art of Living
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) Two passions dear to Nunc est bibendum –feasting and playing–meet upon a stone twenty-five centuries old: the Peruzzi stele, now kept at Villa Corsini a Castello, near Florence. Dated to the late sixth or early fifth century BC, this grey-arkose funerary stele from Varlungo, east of Florence, belongs […]