Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) From the top of these four jugs, almost 2,000 years look down on us. The fresco was discovered in a street in Herculaneum in 1961, at eye level, i.e. 1.70 metres above the ground. It is almost certainly a shop sign[1], a rare find since […]
Institutio alimentaria: children, let’s eat!
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) A skilful military strategist, a sensible statesman, loved by his soldiers and the people. And generous. Emperor Trajan was highly praised, both by his contemporaries and by ancient historians. In fact, it was under the reign of Optimus Princeps that the Empire reached its territorial […]
Take the grain and be quiet!
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) The news has caused quite a stir. Not only in archaeological circles, but also beyond: the recent discovery of a portion of the Porticus Minucia, one of the places where the Roman authorities distributed free wheat. Even if the place and its function were already […]
Drink or play Kottabos, there’s no need to choose
Translated from french (please notify us of errors) You don’t play with food. But in the Greek world, around the 5th century BC, this modern rule of etiquette did not apply. Imagine: at the end of a banquet, the guests, having drunk as much as philosophised, engage in a game of skill. In turn, with a […]
Don’t ever call me “Thermopolium” again…
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) Repeated again and again in the media and museums, the word thermopolium has become the standard term used to describe ancient fast-food establishments. But the Romans probably did not call these places that. The word has been very successful. First among archaeologists and historians, then […]
A viral love poem in the ancient world
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) From present-day Spain to Mesopotamia, the same Greek words can be found, generally engraved on inexpensive precious stones (agate, onyx or sardonyx). The best-preserved examples were found on a piece of jewellery around the neck of a young woman in a sarcophagus at Aquincum, in […]
Smelling divinely good, on the trail of ancient perfumes
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) Votre navigateur ne prend pas en charge la balise vidéo. The most basic method of creating pleasant scents was to burn branches, gums, resins or aromatic mixtures. It was probably in temples that the art of perfumery flourished, through the use of purifying fumes in […]
Ancient cheese: the mozzarella mystery
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) A 1st-century Roman agronomist describes a strangely familiar cheese: curds plunged into boiling water, shaped into balls and preserved in brine. Had he encountered the ancestor of mozzarella? In the West, cheese is a must. Switzerland, France and Italy, for example, have several hundred varieties. […]
The Gallic rooster, a tough cookie
Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors) Roosters are not usually cooked. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, apart from its reproductive function, the animal is useless. It is therefore rare in the poultry yard: one rooster, many hens. Finally, when it is replaced by a younger, more hardy specimen, the […]
A Richly Littered Floor
Translated from French with ChatGPT (please notify us of errors) Upon the mosaic floor, one can discern a fish, of which only the head and bones remain, a half-eaten bunch of grapes, crustacean shells, an opened nut being nibbled by a mouse, and dozens of other food remnants. The artist’s meticulous depiction, with subtle plays […]