tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66183814203638265312024-03-13T16:41:23.784+01:00Ancient and OldPatrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.comBlogger547125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-73657254471720912552014-06-23T19:36:00.000+02:002014-06-23T19:36:00.658+02:00I will..."Even so has Agamemnon angered me. And yet- so be it, for it is over; I will force my soul into subjection as I needs must; I will go; I will pursue Hector who has slain him whom I loved so dearly, and will then abide my doom when it may please Jove and the other gods to send it. Even Hercules, the best beloved of Jove- even he could not escape the hand of death, but fate and Juno's fierce anger laid him low, as I tooshall lie when I am dead if a like doom awaits me. Till then I will win fame, and will bid Trojan and Dardanian women wring tears from their tender cheeks with both their hands in the grievousness of their great sorrow; thus shall they know that he who has held aloof so long will hold aloof no longer. Hold me not back, therefore, in the love you bear me, for you shall not move me." <br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-313463743088406322014-06-23T19:34:00.001+02:002014-06-23T19:34:00.647+02:00Tears of a Goddess"Thetis wept and answered, "Then, my son, is your end near at hand- for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hector." <br /><br />Then said Achilles in his great grief, "I would die here and now, in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home, and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What is there for me? Return to my own land I shall not, and I have brought no saving neither to Patroclus nor to my other comrades of whom so many have been slain by mighty Hector; I stay here by my ships a bootless burden upon the earth, I, who in fight have no peer among the Achaeans, though in council there are better than I. Therefore, perish strife both from among gods and men, and anger, wherein even a righteous man will harden his heart- which rises up in the soul of a man like smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey."<br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-17537241665707963032014-06-23T19:32:00.000+02:002014-06-23T19:32:00.636+02:00Achilles vows to kill Hector"Achilles groaned and answered, "Mother, Olympian Jove has indeed vouchsafed me the fulfilment of my prayer, but what boots it to me, seeing that my dear comrade Patroclus has fallen- he whom I valued more than all others, and loved as dearly as my own life? I have lost him; aye, and Hector when he had killed him stripped the wondrous armour, so glorious to behold, which the gods gave to Peleus when they laid you in the couch of a mortal man. Would that you were still dwelling among the immortal sea-nymphs, and that Peleus had taken to himself some mortal bride. For now you shall have grief infinite by reason of the death of that son whom you can never welcome home- nay, I will not live nor go about among mankind unless Hector fall by my spear, and thus pay me for having slain Patroclus son of Menoetius." <br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-47935984222658194922014-06-23T19:31:00.000+02:002014-06-23T19:31:00.626+02:00Tell me about your sorrow"She left the cave as she spoke, while the others followed weeping after, and the waves opened a path before them. When they reached the rich plain of Troy, they came up out of the sea in a long line on to the sands, at the place where the ships of the Myrmidons were drawn up in close order round the tents of Achilles. His mother went up to him as he lay groaning; she laid her hand upon his head and spoke piteously, saying, "My son, why are you thus weeping? What sorrow has now befallen you? Tell me; hide it not from me. Surely Jove has granted you the prayer you made him, when you lifted up your hands and besought him that the Achaeans might all of them be pent up at their ships, and rue it bitterly in that you were no longer with them." <br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-8548843060144226212014-06-23T19:29:00.000+02:002014-06-23T19:29:00.707+02:00Thetis speech"Listen," she cried, "sisters, daughters of Nereus, that you may hear the burden of my sorrows. Alas, woe is me, woe in that I have borne the most glorious of offspring. I bore him fair and strong, hero among heroes, and he shot up as a sapling; I tended him as a plant in a goodly garden, and sent him with his ships to Ilius to fight the Trojans, but never shall I welcome him back to the house of Peleus. So long as he lives to look upon the light of the sun he is in heaviness, and though I go to him I cannot help him. Nevertheless I will go, that I may see my dear son and learn what sorrow has befallen him though he is still holding aloof from battle." <br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-73942191150517264762014-06-23T19:28:00.000+02:002014-06-23T19:28:00.698+02:00Sorrow"Then Achilles gave a loud cry and his mother heard him as she was sitting in the depths of the sea by the old man her father, whereon she screamed, and all the goddesses daughters of Nereus that dwelt at the bottom of the sea, came gathering round her. There were Glauce, Thalia and Cymodoce, Nesaia, Speo, thoe and dark-eyed Halie, Cymothoe, Actaea and Limnorea, Melite, Iaera, Amphithoe and Agave, Doto and Proto, Pherusa and Dynamene, Dexamene, Amphinome and Callianeira, Doris, Panope, and the famous sea-nymph Galatea, Nemertes, Apseudes and Callianassa. There were also Clymene, Ianeira and Ianassa, Maera, Oreithuia and Amatheia of the lovely locks, with other Nereids who dwell in the depths of the sea. The crystal cave was filled with their multitude and they all beat their breasts while Thetis led them in their lament."<br /><br />Den stora geometriska krukan från NM i Athen<br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-84088246173489079502014-06-23T19:24:00.001+02:002014-06-23T19:24:00.548+02:00Grief"A dark cloud of grief fell upon Achilles as he listened. He filled both hands with dust from off the ground, and poured it over his head, disfiguring his comely face, and letting the refuse settle over his shirt so fair and new. He flung himself down all huge and hugely at full length, and tore his hair with his hands. The bondswomen whom Achilles and Patroclus had taken captive screamed aloud for grief, beating their breasts, and with their limbs failing them for sorrow. Antilochus bent over him the while, weeping and holding both his hands as he lay groaning for he feared that he might plunge a knife into his own throat." <br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-10069247453034499892014-06-23T19:23:00.001+02:002014-06-23T19:23:00.547+02:00Patroclus has fallen"As he was thus pondering, the son of Nestor came up to him and told his sad tale, weeping bitterly the while. "Alas," he cried, "son of noble Peleus, I bring you bad tidings, would indeed that they were untrue. Patroclus has fallen, and a fight is raging about his naked body- for Hector holds his armour."<br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-13427964070581911452014-06-23T19:22:00.002+02:002014-06-23T19:22:00.436+02:00The fear of Achilles"Thus then did they fight as it were a flaming fire. Meanwhile the fleet runner Antilochus, who had been sent as messenger, reached Achilles, and found him sitting by his tall ships and boding that which was indeed too surely true. "Alas," said he to himself in the heaviness of his heart, "why are the Achaeans again scouring the plain and flocking towards the ships? Heaven grant the gods be not now bringing that sorrow upon me of which my mother Thetis spoke, saying that while I was yet alive the bravest of the Myrmidons should fall before the Trojans, and see the light of the sun no longer. I fear the brave son of Menoetius has fallen through his own daring and yet I bade him return to the ships as soon as he had driven back those that were bringing fire against them, and not join battle with Hector."<br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-66025911354169760442014-06-23T19:07:00.001+02:002014-06-23T19:07:00.020+02:00The Iliad, book XVIIIIntroduction<br /><br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.18.xviii.html">The Iliad, book XVIII</a> - translation by Samuel Butler in 1898.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-53316995145358469752011-06-12T21:22:00.000+02:002011-06-12T21:23:23.677+02:00The Athenian Acropolis<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i54.tinypic.com/9apr34.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 427px;" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/9apr34.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />"There is but one entry to the Acropolis. It affords no other, being precipitous throughout and having a strong wall. The gateway has a roof of white marble, and down to the present day it is unrivalled for the beauty and size of its stones." <br /><br />- Pausanias, A Description of Greece I.22.4<br />Trans. W.H.S. Jones 1918</center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-34271768876572599022011-05-04T16:42:00.002+02:002011-05-04T16:51:48.434+02:00Tower of Diateichisma<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i54.tinypic.com/2r5q70m.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/2r5q70m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The Tower of Diateichisma in Troezen, dated to the 3rd century BC.<br /><br />This is one of the best preserved towers I know from the Greek period. You can find some others in Messene and the Athenian fortresses Eleutheria and Aigosthena. The upper part in brick is later than the original building.</center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-30297124140325992312011-03-11T22:58:00.003+01:002011-03-11T23:56:37.649+01:00Rhamnous<center>Well, I went for a short trip to Rhamnous, a site in to the North-East of Athens.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i53.tinypic.com/x4hvn6.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://i53.tinypic.com/x4hvn6.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The Acropolis of Rhamnous from the Temple of Nemesis. Too bad that the site is closed.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i55.tinypic.com/2yltfkn.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 427px;" src="http://i55.tinypic.com/2yltfkn.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The Temple of Nemesis and a smaller sanctuary (joint between Nemesis and Themis).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i53.tinypic.com/20tjakl.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 426px;" src="http://i53.tinypic.com/20tjakl.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A Necropolis on the way from the sanctuary of Nemesis to the city. Too bad it was closed off.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i56.tinypic.com/2ep6i9u.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://i56.tinypic.com/2ep6i9u.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A statue (at the Marathon museum) from the Egyptian Sanctuary and Balneum at Brexiza. There was unfortunately nothing indicating it's date or which god/person it might depict.</center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-26246105269611542782011-03-08T18:57:00.006+01:002011-03-08T20:25:59.115+01:00Sounion, Menelaus and the Fall of Troy<center>"When we [Nestor, Menelaus and their men] got to Sunium [Gre. Sunion], which is the point of Athens, Apollo with his painless shafts killed Phrontis the steersman of Menelaus' ship (and never man knew better how to handle a vessel in rough weather) so that he died then and there with the helm in his hand, and Menelaus, though very anxious to press forward, had to wait in order to bury his comrade and give him his due funeral rites."<br /><br />Homer - Od. IX<br /><a href="http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html">Translated by S. Butler</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i54.tinypic.com/4lr7fm.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 184px;" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/4lr7fm.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The east bay of Sunion. This is probably where they ancient Greeks imagined that Menelaus landed. A shot of the so famous temple can be found <a href="http://ancientandold.blogspot.com/2010/03/sounion-and-vari-cave.html">here</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i55.tinypic.com/2mznrb.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://i55.tinypic.com/2mznrb.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Cape Sounion, the southernmost point of Attica. This site has somehow always reminded me of a poem a read a long time ago, Achilles in the Trench by Patrick Shaw-Stewart. In it he very much captures the feeling of standing there, at the edge of the sea, on a short leave from hell, soon to return to battle. A battle in which he was to be killed. Did he know? It is perhaps this feeling of an impending doom, shared by Achilles and Shaw-Stewart alike, that makes me recall these lines as I imagine the many times near and dear must have stood here, searching the sea and awaiting the ships their beloved, hoping for their safe return – far too often to be disappointed.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I saw a man this morning <br />Who did not wish to die; <br />I ask, and cannot answer, <br />if otherwise wish I.<br /><br />Fair broke the day this morning <br />Upon the Dardanelles: <br />The breeze blew soft, the morn's cheeks <br />Were cold as cold sea-shells. <br /><br />But other shells are waitind<br />Across the Aegean Sea; <br />Shrapnel and high explosives, <br />Shells and hells for me. <br /><br />Oh Hell of ships and cities, <br />Hell of men like me, <br />Fatal second Helen, <br />Why must I follow thee? <br /><br />Achilles came to Troyland <br />And I to Chersonese; <br />He turned from wrath to battle, <br />And I from three days' peace. <br /><br />Was it so hard, Achilles, <br />So very hard to die? <br />Thou knowest, and I know not; <br />So much the happier am I. <br /><br />I will go back this morning <br />From Imbros o'er the sea. <br />Stand in the trench, Achilles, <br />Flame-capped, and shout for me.</span><br /><br /><br /></center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-21027141514872012972011-03-05T09:53:00.001+01:002011-03-05T09:55:35.458+01:00The Acropolis MuseumYou would perhaps expect the Parthenon, towering over the city from the top of its cliff, to be the first thing you notice when you get up from the Athenian metro station called Ακρόπολι, Acropolis. But it probably isn’t. I am willing to bet almost anything that your eyes will fall on the (New) Acropolis Museum...<br /><br />Read the full article by me <a href="http://www.unrv.com/museum/acropolis-museum.php">here</a>.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-80943124610575862732011-02-22T19:46:00.005+01:002011-02-24T14:27:40.389+01:00Artemis of the Laphira type<center>Here's a statue that I've been unable to post for almost a year as the original RAW file was terribly overexposed thanks to a horrendous spotlight. Well, now it's here thanks to some photoshop magic.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i52.tinypic.com/2gt9on8.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 449px; height: 640px;" src="http://i52.tinypic.com/2gt9on8.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Anyway, the statue is believed to be a Roman copy of 3rd century original of the Praxitelean school. I am ,however, very caution about the later - far too many ancient works are, in my opinion, attributed to specific artists and sometimes, even worse, to their "schools". The piece is,even so, beautiful and of high quality.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i51.tinypic.com/141r50g.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 427px; height: 640px;" src="http://i51.tinypic.com/141r50g.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />And a detail of the head.<br /><br /></center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-59473273201072711032011-02-09T10:35:00.002+01:002011-02-09T10:48:26.156+01:00An Ancient Athenian Tetradrachm<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i55.tinypic.com/34ypk76.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 640px;" src="http://i55.tinypic.com/34ypk76.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Here's a so called Tetradrachm (thus the equivalent of four drachmae), an Athenian coin from the classical period. I reckon that one Drachma was the normal pay for a worker (depending on what he did and how skilled he was) and it might be of interest to compare it to the passage below.<br /><br />"Do you think you are accusing Anaxagoras, my dear Meletus, and do you so despise these gentlemen and think they are so unversed in letters as not to know, that the books of Anaxagoras the Clazomenian are full of such utterances? And forsooth the youth learn these doctrines from me, which they can buy sometimes for a drachma in the orchestra and laugh at Socrates, if he pretends they are his own, especially when they are so absurd!"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0170:text%3DApol.">Plato - The Apology</a> 26d-26e<br />Translated by H.N. Fowler 1966</center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-10130625033168756032011-01-26T11:34:00.003+01:002011-01-27T20:15:03.404+01:00Mt. Hymettus<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i51.tinypic.com/hra5cg.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 243px;" src="http://i51.tinypic.com/hra5cg.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />This is Mt. Hymettus in Attica, known to archaeologists and historians for it's marble quarries and Sanctuary of Zeus. The ridge is abuot 19 km long and 1000 meters high at it's peak. Photo from the Philopappos.<br /><br /></center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-33700966643979071502011-01-20T10:38:00.002+01:002011-01-20T14:40:24.386+01:00The theatre of Dionysus<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i52.tinypic.com/3509i4g.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 373px;" src="http://i52.tinypic.com/3509i4g.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The theatre of Dionysus where so many of the great plays were first shown.<br /><br /><br />Lysistrata addressing the women, explaining how they will be able to stop the war:<br /><br />"We must refrain from every depth of love.... [i.e πέους (peous), or penis in Lat. and Eng.]<br />Why do you turn your backs? Where are you going?<br />Why do you bite your lips and shake your heads?<br />Why are your faces blanched? Why do you weep?<br />Will you or won't you, or what do you mean?"<br /><br />Aristophanes - Lysistrata<br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0242:card%3D1">Translated by J. Lindsay</a><br /><br /></center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-80774429032522016342011-01-10T21:17:00.004+01:002011-01-10T22:58:35.364+01:00Caesar Crossing the RubiconToday, 2060 years ago (according to the old Roman calendar), Caesar crossed the Rubicon and uttered the so famous phrase alea iacta est – the die is cast. But what did really happen that day and how much do we really know about the event? I am by no means an expert on Caesar and the civil wars, but I will attempt to at least present our primary sources.<br /><br />First of all, it seems as if the nobility had realised for some time that a civil war was to be. It is interesting to read Cicero's own words on the matter:<br /><br />"I have often told you [M Caelius Rufus] in my letters that I see no chance of peace lasting a year; and the nearer the struggle comes, which must come, the clearer does that danger appear. The point, on which the men in power are bound to fight, is this - Cn. Pompeius has made up his mind not to allow C. Caesar to become consul, except on condition of his first handing over his army and provinces: while Caesar is fully persuaded that he cannot be safe if he quits his army."<br /><br />Cicero - Letters CCLXXIX<br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0022&redirect=true">Translated by E. S. Shuckburgh 1908-1909</a><br /><br />The first person to describe the event was Caesar himself. He is, however, clearly aware of the fact hat to cross the river is to break the law and much more attention is given to explaining his motifs and reasons behind the act than to describe the event itself. <br /><br />“What could all this [the actions of Caesars enemies] aim at but his destruction? That, nevertheless, he was ready to agree to any proposal, and expose himself to any danger, for the sake of his country.”<br />Caesar - Commentarii de Bello Civili I.9<br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0076:book%3D1:chapter%3D11">Translated by W. Duncan 1856</a><br /><br />He even mentions how the soldiers were enraged by the behaviour of the senate:<br /><br />“The soldiers of the thirteenth legion, who were present, and whom he had sent for in the beginning of the troubles, (the rest not being yet arrived,) cried out, that they were determined to maintain the honour of their general, and to revenge the wrongs done to the tribunes.” <br /><br />Caesar - Commentarii de Bello Civili I.7<br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0076:book%3D1:chapter%3D11">Translated by W. Duncan 1856</a><br /><br />The crossing itself was, however, all but omitted - it is quite possible that Caesar had no intention of drawing attention to it:<br /><br />“He [Caesar] [...] sent Antony to Arretium [on the other side of the Rubicon], with five cohorts; remained himself at Rimini, with two, where he resolved to levy troops; and seizing Pisaurum, Fanum, and Ancona, left a cohort in each for a garrison.”<br /><br />Caesar - Commentarii de Bello Civili I.11<br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0076:book%3D1:chapter%3D11">Translated by W. Duncan 1856</a><br /><br />Later authors were, on the other hand, very interested in the event and it soon became myth. It is unfortunate that Livy's 105th book is lost and we must turn to a somewhat later source for our next accound; Plutarchos' Parallel Lives.<br /><br />“He [Caesar] himself spent the day in public, attending and watching the exercises of gladiators; but a little before evening he bathed and dressed and went into the banqueting hall. Here he held brief converse with those who had been invited to supper, and just as it was getting dark and went away, after addressing courteously most of his guests and bidding them await his return. To a few of his friends, however, he had previously given directions to follow him, not all by the same route, but some by one way and some by another. He himself mounted one of his hired carts and drove at first along another road, then turned towards Ariminum. When he came to the river which separates Cisalpine Gaul from the rest of Italy (it is called the Rubicon), and began to reflect, now that he drew nearer to the fearful step and was agitated by the magnitude of his ventures, he checked his speed. Then, halting in his course, he communed with himself a long time in silence as his resolution wavered back and forth, and his purpose then suffered change after change. For a long time, too, he discussed his perplexities with his friends who were present, among whom was Asinius Pollio, estimating the great evils for all mankind which would follow their passage of the river, and the wide fame of it which they would leave to posterity. But finally, with a sort of passion, as if abandoning calculation and casting himself upon the future, and uttering the phrase with which men usually prelude their plunge into desperate and daring fortunes, "Let the die be cast," he hastened to cross the river; and going at full speed now for the rest of the time, before daybreak he dashed into Ariminum and took possession of it.”<br /><br /><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Caesar*.html">Plutarchos - Βίοι Παράλληλο (Parallel lives) Caesar</a> XXXII. 4-8<br />Translated by B. Perrin<br /><br />You can clearly see how Plutarchos either had better sources than Caesar himself, wanted to portray it in a different manner or embellished the story.<br /><br /><br />Suetonius, another very famous Roman author, publish another version of the event around 120 AD, some 50 years later than Plutarchos.<br /><br />"[...] when word came that the veto of the tribunes had been set aside and they themselves had left the city, he at once sent on a few cohorts with all secrecy, and then, to disarm suspicion, concealed his purpose by appearing at a public show inspecting the plans of a gladiatorial school which he intended building, and joining as usual in a banquet with a large company. It was not until after sunset that he set out very privily with a small company, taking the mules from a bakeshop hard by and harnessing them to a carriage; and when his lights went out and he lost his way, he was astray for some time, but at last found a guide at dawn and got back to the road on foot by narrow by-paths. Then, overtaking his cohorts at the river Rubicon, which was the boundary of his province, he paused for a while, and realising what a step he was taking, he turned to those about him and said: "Even yet we may draw back; but once cross yon little bridge, and the whole issue is with the sword."<br /><br />As he stood in doubt, this sign was given him. On a sudden there appeared hard by a being of wondrous stature and beauty, who sat and played upon a reed; and when not only the shepherds flocked to hear him, but many of the soldiers left their posts, and among them some of the trumpeters, the apparition snatched a trumpet from one of them, rushed to the river, and sounding the war-note with mighty blast, strode to the opposite bank. Then Caesar cried: "Take we the course which the signs of the gods and the false dealing of our foes point out. The die is cast," said he."<br /><br /><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Julius*.html">Suetonius - Divus Julius</a> 31-32<br />Translated by J.C. Rolfe<br /><br /><br />Appian, however, turns down some of the mythical content in his version, which was written in the middle of the 2nd century AD, another 30 years or so after Suetonius.<br /><br />"Toward evening Caesar himself rose from a banquet on a plea of indisposition, leaving his friends who were still feasting. He mounted his chariot and drove toward Ariminum, his cavalry following at a short distance. When his course brought him to the river Rubicon, which forms the boundary line of Italy, he stopped and, while gazing at the stream, revolved in his mind the evils that would result, should he cross the river in arms. Recovering himself, he said to those who were present, "My friends, to leave this stream uncrossed will breed manifold distress for me; to cross it, for all mankind." Thereupon, he crossed with a rush like one inspired, uttering the familiar phrase, "The die is cast: so let it be!" Then he resumed his hasty journey and took possession of Ariminum about daybreak"<br /><br /><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/home.html">Appian - Bella Civilia</a> XXXV<br />Translated by H. White 1912-1913<br /><br />It is interesting that we find the same pattern in Dio Cassius histories, which were written roughly between 201 and 223 AD. The crossing has now changed again, from a mystical event to one out of many important affairs that had to be recorded.<br /><br />"When Caesar was informed of this, he came to Ariminum, then for the first time overstepping the confines of his own province, and after assembling his soldiers he ordered Curio and the others who had come with him to relate to them what had been done."<br /><br /><a href="http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html">Cassius Dio - Roman History </a>XLI. 4<br />Translated by E. Cary 1914-1927Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-57210075204887377062010-12-13T14:19:00.002+01:002010-12-13T14:48:10.897+01:00The Antikythera Mechanism<center>I am sure that most of you have already heard of this device – it was found in the first years of the 20th century among many other impressive finds in the so called Antikythera wreck. This mechanism, generally accepted as some sort of astronomical instrument, is very likely to be the by far most advanced piece of technology that has survived since antiquity. For another find from the Antikythera wreck, see <a href="http://ancientandold.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-theme-odysseus-and-palladium.html">here</a>.<br /><br />I apologize for the bad quality pictures - they store the device in a terribly dark room.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i52.tinypic.com/2cmtbaa.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 426px;" src="http://i52.tinypic.com/2cmtbaa.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The mechanism itself, these are the three main fragments.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i54.tinypic.com/19s3r.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 426px;" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/19s3r.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The other side is somewhat better preserved. The device contain no less than 32 gear wheels.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i53.tinypic.com/21evorr.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 426px; height: 640px;" src="http://i53.tinypic.com/21evorr.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />This is a reconstruction made by Prof. Derek de Solla Price.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i53.tinypic.com/i4h0k9.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 441px; height: 640px;" src="http://i53.tinypic.com/i4h0k9.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The other side of the reconstruction.<br /><br /><br />Fortunately we also have literary evidence for this kind of mechanisms, as Cicero, among others, tells us about them:<br /><br />”we have learned to survey the stars, not only those that are fixed, but also those which are improperly called wandering; and the man who has acquainted himself with all their revolutions and motions is fairly considered to have a soul resembling the soul of that Being who has created those stars in the heavens: for when Archimedes described in a sphere the motions of the moon, sun, and five planets, he did the very same thing as Plato’s God, in his Timæus, who made the world, causing one revolution to adjust motions differing as much as possible in their slowness and velocity.”<br /><br />Cicero - The Tusculan disputations I. 25<br /><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14988/14988-h/14988-h.htm">Translated by C.D. Yonge</a><br /><br />”But if that sphere which was lately made by our friend Posidonius, the regular revolutions of which show the course of the sun, moon, and five wandering stars, as it is every day and night performed, were carried into Scythia or Britain, who, in those barbarous countries, would doubt that that sphere had been made so perfect by the exertion of reason?”<br /><br />Cicero - The Nature of the Gods II. 34<br /><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14988/14988-h/14988-h.htm">Translated by C.D. Yonge</a></center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-28544739540544830202010-12-09T13:43:00.003+01:002010-12-09T18:23:30.218+01:00Villa Poppaea/Oplontis and a toilet in the Stabian BathsIt has been argued that it should be possible to identify different painters and workshops in Campania, due to the large amount of remaining frescoes. I am, however, sceptic – it kind of strikes me about as ridiculous as when historians and archaeologists try to attribute red and black figure vessels to specific Athenian masters, or even worse, their pupils and co-workers. <br /><br />I, however, found a very interesting example where I believe that a connection can be made as I noticed that the public latrine at the Stabian baths are decorated in the same very easily recognizable style as the perisyle and grand corridor at Oplontis/Villa Poppaea. I unfortunately cannot provide any pictures of my own from the Stabian baths as they are currently under reconstruction, but you can see how the latrine looks at <a href="http://pompeiiinpictures.com/pompeiiinpictures/R7/7%2001%2008%20north.htm">Pompeii in Pictures</a>. It should probably be noticed that I can not imagine that nobody else have recognized this already, it is simply too obvious to be overseen.<br /><br />Anyway, the matter makes me terrible curious. What this possible connection could be made up by can of course be discussed – it could be as simple as an imitation, or the work of a specific workshop. It could also be speculated that this was a standard pattern (although I very much doubt that, considering that I’ve only seen it at two different places) or that the person who owned the villa liked the style and ordered it to be painted at other locations as well. The later explanation would, however, suggest that the owner of the villa at Oplontis had something to do with the Stabian baths - and that he, if this was the case, wanted to use the same style in a (presumably) public and important part of his own, very luxurious, villa and in a public latrine.<br /><br /><center><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i51.tinypic.com/2i9p46o.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 426px;" src="http://i51.tinypic.com/2i9p46o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The Peristyle at Oplontis (Villa Poppaea). Notice the wall paintings.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i52.tinypic.com/28ulpoh.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 426px; height: 640px;" src="http://i52.tinypic.com/28ulpoh.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Detail of the painting I'm interested in at the moment.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i53.tinypic.com/11j7si0.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 426px; height: 640px;" src="http://i53.tinypic.com/11j7si0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />The same style can be found in the grand corridor somewhat further into the villa.</center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-12978308386576531022010-11-21T15:46:00.002+01:002010-11-21T15:48:48.041+01:00PauseI am unfortunately going to have to take a pause in my blogging. It's simply taking to much time and I a unfortunately haven't enough around anyway.<br /><br /><br />It is my hope that I will be able to continue posting in the future.<br /><br />Thanks to everyone that has followed this blog.Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-63998354763627414272010-11-18T19:40:00.002+01:002010-11-18T19:53:46.883+01:00Horse racing<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i56.tinypic.com/j67axf.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 635px; height: 640px;" src="http://i56.tinypic.com/j67axf.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A mosaic depicting the four teams. Beginning of the third century AD.<br /><br />Tertullian, an churchfather, tells us about the legendary beginnings of chariot racing in Rome:<br /><br />"Chariots, being by such inventors brought into use, with good reason caused the charioteers also to be clothed in the colours of idolatry. For at the first there were two horses only, white and red. The white was sacred to the winter because of the white snow, the red to the summer because of the redness of the Sun. But afterwards, when luxury as well as superstition had advanced in growth, some consecrated the red to Mars, others the white to the Zephyrs, and a green one moreover to the Mother Earth or to the Spring, an azure one to the Heaven and the Sea or to the Autumn."<br /><br />Tertullian - De spectaculis IX<br /><a href="http://www.tertullian.org/lfc/LFC10-13_de_spectaculis.htm">Translated by Dodgson 1842</a></center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6618381420363826531.post-87881625806442380472010-11-17T20:16:00.002+01:002010-11-17T20:22:03.979+01:00The origin of glass<center><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i54.tinypic.com/11av779.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 561px; height: 640px;" src="http://i54.tinypic.com/11av779.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />A Greek <span style="font-style:italic;">kantharos</span>, drinking vessel from the 1st century AD.<br /><br />"The story is, that a ship, laden with nitre, being moored upon this spot [the river Belus], the merchants, while preparing their repast upon the sea-shore, finding no stones at hand for supporting their cauldrons, employed for the purpose some lumps of nitre which they had taken from the vessel. Upon its being subjected to the action of the fire, in combination with the sand of the sea-shore, they beheld transparent streams flowing forth of a liquid hitherto unknown: this, it is said, was the origin of glass."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Plin.+Nat.+36.65&fromdoc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137">Pliny the Elder - Naturalis Historia (the Natural History) XXXVI.65</a><br />Translated by J. Bostock and H.T. Riley</center>Patrik Klingborghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12226082545364338091noreply@blogger.com3