What Julius Caesar looked like

According to Suetonius in his Life of the Deified Julius (45.1-3):

"Caesar is said to have been tall, with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a rather full face and keen black eyes and to have had sound health, except that towards the end of his life he was subject to sudden fainting fits as well as nightmares.  He also had two attacks of epilepsy while on campaign.  

He was fastidious in the care of his person and so not only kept his hair carefully trimmed and shaved, but even had his body hair plucked.  He was extremely vexed by the disfiguring effects of his baldness since he found it exposed him to the ridicule of his opponents.  As a result he used to comb his receding hair forward from the crown of his head and of all the honours voted him by the senate and people, there was none that pleased him more or that he made use of more gladly than the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath on all occasions.  

They say too that his dress was unusual; his purple-striped tunic had fringe sleeves down to the wrist and he always wore a belt over it, although it was loosely fastened.  This it is said was the reason for Sulla's frequent warning to the optimates to beware of the 'loose-belted boy'."

'Friendship' Roman style: What the Romans would have thought of Facebook

Today we have various social and/or professional networking sites (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.).  The Romans would have liked this but they would have wanted to ensure that 'friends' and 'connections' would be of use to each other.

On meeting a stranger a Roman would express intense interest in where he comes from and what they do.  (How this Roman would react on any potential second meeting would very much depend on how convinced he was after that first one, that the amicitia (friendship) of the new acquaintance would be worth having.)  Amicitia, which is often translated as 'friendship' was best described by the Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca as "mutual serviceability".  Therefore, amicitia would mean trading gifts and favours with an amicus (meaning something between 'friend' and useful contact').  Roman society relied on interlocking networks of such 'friendships' and the favours Romans did for one another (beneficia) were the social currency of ancient Rome.  As Cicero put it:  "We do not hesitate to dutifully perform services for those whom we hope will assist us in the future" [Cicero, On Duties, 47]

Favours between friends could get quite complicated.  For instance, if a friend asked someone to do a favour for another of his friends, delicate negotiations would ensue to establish just how much this favour had obliged the friend asking for the favour and to what extent the friend of the friend.  Also, a friend who accepted beneficia (favours) without returning the favours would eventually be viewed as a client and not an amicus.  (Clients were not supposed to return their patron's benefits in kind, but they had different obligations, like perhaps to offer loans to the patron when required.)

Picture:  Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero, (3 Jan 106 BC - 7 Dec 43 BC), Roman statesman, lawyer, political theorist and philosopher, one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.

Misogyny in Ancient Rome a.k.a. The plight of being a clever woman in Rome

A Roman woman was expected to be educated just enough in order to understand her husband's opinions and work.  Anything more than this was frowned upon and considered off-putting and  therefore an intelligent woman would have to be particularly careful not to exhibit this (in fact she would have to go to great pains to mask her cleverness) as this might show her as being more clever and / or educated than the men around her which was definitely not on for Roman men.  (Any of this sound familiar?  Hm.  It seems some things never change!  Anyway, getting back to the Romans....)  

The Roman poet Juvenal even went so far as to write a caustic attack on women, thus revealing to us the precise forms of behaviors which vexed Roman men.  For instance, the men would be greatly embarrassed by and indeed dislike women who were more learned or clever than they were.  Juvenal writes the below particularly misogynist foul passage, which openly conveys the fierce contempt and loathing with which intelligent women were met:

'Really annoying is the woman who, as soon as she takes her place on the dining couch, praises Virgil [Rome's greatest epic poet] excuses Dido's suicide, compares and ranks in critical order the various poets and weighs Virgil and Homer [the greatest Greek epic poet] on a pair of scales.  Grammar teachers surrender, professors of rhetoric are defeated, the entire group of guests is silent; neither a lawyer nor an auctioneer nor even another woman will get a word in.  So loud and shrill are her words that you might think pots were being banged together and bells were being rung...Like a philosopher she defines ethics.  If she wants to appear so learned and eloquent, she should shorten her tunic to mid-calf! [Juvenal is here emphasizing that this is male behavior by suggesting that this woman dress as a man - his suggestion is clearly demeaning and derogatory and not meant to be taken literally, but rather as a way of implying there is something unnatural and unwomanly in such behavior].  Don't marry a woman who speaks like an orator or knows every history book.  There should be some things in books which she doesn't understand.  I hate a woman who reads and re-reads Palaemon's treatise on grammar, who always obeys all the laws and rules of correct speech, who quotes verses I've never even heard of, moldy old stuff that a man shouldn't worry about anyway.  Let her correct the grammar of her stupid girlfriend!  A husband should be allowed an occasional "I ain't"! ' [Juvenal, Satires 6.434-456]

In short, the average Roman male liked his woman to be pretty and ignorant (hopefully even more ignorant than himself!).

Today we might recognize this in the attitude of successful men who wish to surround themselves with and or marry women whose behavior and level of intelligence Juvenal would very much approve of.  The so-called trophy girlfriends and wives, who perhaps (one hopes!) are not so ignorant as people may think but have cottoned-on to this expectation certain men have of them, thus adapting their outward behavior and attitude accordingly to please their self-satisfied male partners.

Wisdom of Ancient Men: Pearls of wisdom from Marcus Aurelius

On the importance of utilizing the present time in life:

"Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not thesame; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him? These two things then thou must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not." (Meditations, Book Two, 167 AD)

On change:

"It is no evil for things to undergo change, and no good for things to subsist in consequence of change."

On time and things that happen in life:
"Time is like a river made up of the events which happen, and a violent stream; for as soon as a thing has been seen, it is carried away, and another comes in its place, and this will be carried away too." 

"Everything which happens is as familiar and well known as the rose in spring and the fruit in summer; for such is disease, and death, and calumny, and treachery, and whatever else delights fools or vexes them."

(Meditations, Book Four, 167 AD)

On pondering on what one has...

"Think not so much of what thou hast not as of what thou hast: but of the things which thou hast select the best, and then reflect how eagerly they would have been sought, if thou hadst them not. At the same time however take care that thou dost not through being so pleased with them accustom thyself to overvalue them, so as to be disturbed if ever thou shouldst not have them. " (Meditations, Book Six)

Each to his/her own:

"Different things delight different people." (Meditations, Book Eight)

Consider the person's character:

"Dost thou wish to be praised by a man who curses himself thrice every hour? Wouldst thou wish to please a man who does not please himself? Does a man please himself who repents of nearly everything that he does? "  (Meditations, Book Eight)

"If any man has done wrong, the harm is his own. But perhaps he has not done wrong." (Meditations, Book Nine)

A little less conversation, more action please...

"No longer talk at all about the kind of man that a good man ought to be, but be such. " (Meditations, Book Ten)

On false friends:

"How unsound and insincere is he who says, I have determined to deal with thee in a fair way.- What art thou doing, man? There is no occasion to give this notice. It will soon show itself by acts. The voice ought to be plainly written on the forehead. Such as a man's character is, he immediately shows it in his eyes, just as he who is beloved forthwith readseverything in the eyes of lovers. The man who is honest and good ought to be exactly like a man who smells strong, so that the bystander as soon as he comes near him must smell whether he choose or not. But the affectation of simplicity is like a crooked stick. Nothing is more disgraceful than a wolfish friendship (false friendship). Avoid this most of all. The good and simple and benevolent show all these things in the eyes, and there is no mistaking."  (Meditations, Book Eleven)

(Picture:  Bronze gilded statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback, Capitoline Museum, Rome)

The Acropolis of Athens

View of the Acropolis from the Agora.

View of the Acropolis.

The Acropolis, the citadel of Athens, was primarily used as a sanctuary and refuge in ancient times. Built on hard limestone which rises from the Athenian landscape at around 150 metres above sea level, the sun-baked rock has gone through numerous constructions and demolitions from the Bronze Age to the 19th century.

During the 5th century B.C. the Acropolis became a key part of the Golden Age of Pericles, a time when democracy was born and exercised as well as a time of great architectural and artistic accomplishments.  The acropolis became indeed the focus of Pericles' rebuilding of the city and under the direction of the great Pheidias, the Propylea, the Parthenon and the Erehthion were copmpleted in the second half of the 5th century B.C. which can still be seen today, albeit in ruins and in the process of being meticulously restored by the Greek government.  Nowadays it is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For more information on the Acropolis please visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acropolis_of_Athens

http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2384

http://asclepieion.mpl.uoa.gr/Parko/slides/images/Acropolis%20and%20Asklepieion%20artist%20reconstruction%20.gif

http://www.athensguide.com/acropolis.html

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/404

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon

View of the Acropolis walls while ascending.

The Propylea, the entrance to the Acropolis.

The Parthenon.

Neil Faulkner on Rome

A very interesting lecture by Neil Faulkner, also author of "Rome:  Empire of the Eagles".  Please click on link below to listen.

Eunuchs in Byzantium

Byzantium, the medieval Eastern remnant of the ancient Roman empire, a powerful empire in its own right, dominated the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia Minor for over 1,000 years, from the 4th c.AD to its eventual fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD.

The Byzantine empire was a melting pot of East and West, with the Eastern Orthodox church reigning supreme and influencing almost all aspects of people's lives, while the pagan elements from the time when Emperor Constantine relocated Rome to Byzantium as an intended new capital for the Roman empire, provided for an interesting and strange mixture of pious and fanatical Orthodoxy with a simultaneous exploration of ancient thought and lifestyle. As might be expected in such a situation there were many contrasts within the empire's way of life and belief-system, the Byzantine eunuch being one of these.

Over the centuries we see eunuchs, essentially castrated men, employed as guards for the mighty in many cultures including ancient Egypt, China, Japan and the Muslim Caliphate. Court eunuchs, who were viewed as exotic, highly prized for their soft skin, high-pitched voices and hairless bodies, were also seen as safe in the sense that they could not produce heirs. Crusaders from the West were amazed and horrified when they saw how plentiful and even powerful Eunuchs were in Byzantium, many times gaining powerful administrative positions in government, the church and great estates of the nobility.

Eunuchs were clearly used for sexual reasons as well, and the passive role was more than often reserved for them in particular, despite this being abhorred and condemned by the clergy.

A eunuch was "created" at a young age, typically just before reaching puberty. As the "operation" was considered humiliating and repugnant, this treatment was mainly administered to prisoners of war. They would have both their penis and testicles removed and those who survived this horrendous amputation would often be shipped to markets to provide slave labour for the Islamic countries too. (Such a famous market existed in Verdun, in northern France during the 10th c.AD.

There were certain key offices in Byzantium though, reserved especially for eunuchs. Among those we find the position of praipositos and klarissimos, who acted as chamberlain to the emperor and directed court ceremonies - clearly a position of power and influence. He would be the chief eunuch. Other important roles were that of the parakimomenos who would sleep on the floor of the emperor's bedroom and the protovestiarios who was in charge of the emperor's wardrobe. There were also eunuchs in charge of the dining room and wine cellars, to mention but a few.

Notable eunuchs in Byzantine history are Chrysaphios (5th c.AD), Euphratas under the reign of emperor Justinian and Basil Lekapenos (10th c.AD). Basil was an illegitimate son of the emperor Romanos I and was known with the nickname "Nothos", meaning 'bastard', who managed to have a particularly successful career.