Innholdsfortegnelse for AH 35 i Ancient History Magazine

The Nebra Sky Disk is named for its possible find site in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The object may be a religious object, an astronomical tool, or both. The disk was modified over its lifetime, with additions that include arcs indicating the sunset position on the summer and winter solstice. Dating is contentious. The disk has been placed as far back as 1600 BC, proving that European Bronze Age peoples had a better understanding of astronomy than previously thought. On the other hand, it may date only to the first millenium BC, making its existence much less significant.…

At different times in their history, the Roman state employed up to five places of imprisonment: the Carcer, the Tullianum, the Lautumiae, ergastula, and al- lied towns. Somewhat confusingly, ‘carcer’ is a term that can mean both a prison (general) and the Carcer (specific), referring to the small stone structure in the Roman Forum bearing that name. The Carcer and the Tullianum The Carcer, located just behind the Senate House and beside the Gemonian Stairs, was Rome’s state-operated prison. Made up of two single-cell levels, the top cell was called the Carcer and the bottom the Tullianum; entry to the Tullianum was exclusively through a manhole-sized opening in the floor of the Carcer. Not everyone agrees about the origin of these cells, but one prevailing theory comes from Livy, who…

Thucydides outlines two reasons that provoked both Harmodius and Aristogeiton to act in such a violent manner. At this particular time, Peisistratus had died and Hipparchus’ brother, Hippias, had succeeded him, although it seems that both may have shared in the governance. We shall examine each cause separately. A romantic threat “The daring action … was undertaken in consequence of a love affair.” As stated above, Hipparchus made advances on Harmodius, who was “in the flower of youthful beauty”, but those advances were rejected. Harmodius, possibly flattered by the interest shown in him from one in such a high station, informed his lover, Aristogeiton, of the incident and of his subsequent fidelity. Aristogeiton, though, became “an enraged lover”. His anger was further inflamed as Hipparchus continued his attempts to solicit…

For these cute fish cakes I combined two recipes from the Apicius cookbook. In the second chapter of the book, there is a recipe for seafood forcemeat, and in the first chapter, a recipe for cumin sauce for oysters and shellfish. These spicy Roman fish cakes in cumin sauce are a delicious appetizer if you serve them with a green salad or a grilled fennel salad. They are also very tasty as a snack. Ingredients for the fish cakes » 1 slice of white bread, without the crust » 250 g shellfish of your choice* » ½ tsp ground long pepper or black pepper » 2 tsp lovage » ½ tsp ground cumin » ¼ tsp devil’s dung (asafoetida) » 1 egg » Flour Ingredients for the cumin sauce »…

In AD 43, the Roman general Aulus Plautius invaded Britain with his legions of well-drilled and efficient soldiers. It was this seismic event that dominated Cartimandua’s life. Her origins are, like so much at this time, shrouded in mystery. We don’t even know that Cartimandua was her Celtic name; the Romans very often ignored ‘barbarian’ names and simply gave people Roman ones. She survives only in the writings of the Romans, as the Brigantes themselves had no written language or culture. We are therefore forced to rely on archaeological evidence and the words of Rome when we search for Cartimandua. Cartimandua: Ruler in her own right It is in these Roman writings, flowing from the stylus of Tacitus, that Cartimandua first appears in AD 51. Tacitus tells us that she…

Want to learn more about science & engineering in antiquity? Here are some books to check out. WRITING SCIENCE BEFORE THE GREEKS: A NATURALISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMICAL TREATISE MUL.APIN By Rita Watson and Wayne Horowitz Brill, 2011 ISBN: 978-9004202306 The authors place the seventh century BC Mesopotamian cuneiform astronomy texts at the forefront of ancient scientific thought, written well before the Greek civilisation (long thought of as the originators of scientific thought) inherited their tradition. THE AQUEDUCTS OF ANCIENT ROME By Thomas Ashby Clarendon Press, 1935 ISBN: 978-0282655129 The classic analysis in English of the eleven major Roman aqueducts, including their history and construction. Ashby, along with only a handful of others (as well as Sextus Julius Frontinus’ De Aquis treatise from the late first century AD) should…

EDITORIAL – SCIENCE AND THE STARS I‘m not terribly handy, so learning about how something works has always interested me – from simple things that make our day-to-day lives easier (and that we take for granted), such as the wheel, to complex devices and architectural feats that leave one in awe, such as aqueducts. In terms of the latter, for example, I spent May 2017 in the South of France and was lucky enough to visit the Pont du Gard aqueduct. That visit will forever stay with me. I walked beneath its grand arches and wondered: exactly how did the Romans create these massive stone structures that helped carry water across the Empire? In this issue, I got my answer as it’s one of the things that we explore, while…

The period of focus here is the Archaic (ca. sixth century BC) and Republican (ca. fifth to first centuries BC) eras, when the dominant technique for monumental construction in the city of Rome was ashlar masonry, that is, construction using tightly fitted squared stone blocks. We have very little contemporary written evidence relating to construction from this period. The most important surviving source is the architect Vitruvius, whose ten books on architecture were written early in the reign of Augustus, probably in the 20s BC, but which represent a compendium of knowledge from previous generations, albeit sometimes in idiosyncratic ways. Beyond Vitruvius and occasional passages in other authors, as well as rare iconographic evidence, we have to rely on archaeological evidence from the remains of the buildings themselves to understand…

Harmodius and Aristogeiton planned to carry out their attack on the Pei sistratid household at the Panathenaea, because those taking part in the procession were able to bear arms without suspicion. However, they first targeted Hippias, the prime mover of the tyranny, naively hoping that others would join them and their accomplices in this plot to destroy the first family. On the day of the festival, Hippias was at the Dipylon Gate of Athens, arranging the procession before it passed through the city. As they pre pared to strike, they witnessed an accomplice talking familiarly with Hippias. Believing their conspiracy to have been betrayed, the pair lost their nerve and panicked. They decided to take immediate revenge upon Hipparchus and found him at the northern end of the Athenian agora…

The Temple People who inhabited the Maltese Islands were farmers who lived in domestic settlements. Archaeologists have discovered a few of their villages, although evidence is difficult to find since they were not characterized by megalithic architecture and mostly consisted of mud-brick houses with stone foundations. The 5000-year-old apsidal-shaped buildings that modern archaeologists refer to as ‘temples,’ are, however, hard to overlook. These megalithic structures, built both above and underground as burial complexes, would have been focal points for nearby agricultural communities. Neolithic temples: location and design Many temple sites comprise multiple buildings, usually in close proximity to similar complexes. Research demonstrates that the Temple People were practical and built their temples near springs and fertile land. Resources important to survival have often been honoured and revered in a superstitious…

The movement and maintenance of water was central to Rome’s earliest occupation, as the site itself was initially very marshy, with recurrent flooding from the nearby Tiber being a constant concern for its settlers. The proximity of the Tiber to the famous seven hills of Rome was a major reason for its settlement and continued occupation, which is reflected by the proliferation of shrines to water deities and nymphs in these initial stages. Yet, for the longevity of the community, it was essential that the floods could be controlled without losing the supply of water. Aqueducts and emperors Eventually, through drainage and landfill schemes between the tenth and seventh centuries BC, the early Roman community was able to control the flooding, albeit only partially. For drinking and washing, the Tiber…

Babylonian astronomy is attested in several thousand clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform writing. The oldest stem from the nineteenth century BC, the youngest date to the first century AD. The earliest preserved texts contain celestial omens. They are concerned with omens pertaining to lunar eclipses, other lunar phenomena, and the weather. The Babylonians valued their traditions: astrological texts were faithfully transmitted, copied, and edited over two millennia. During the first 1200 years, Babylonian astronomy seems to have evolved slowly and hardly changed at all. The textual record is sparse, so of course, it is difficult to follow any development closely. From at least the eighth century BC, the astronomers in Babylon and Uruk assiduously made celestial observations and recorded them systematically, an endeavour that continued uninterrupted up until the first…

Cooking techniques were not only used to show off, but also to get the best out of ingredients. It is surprising how many of our current cooking techniques were already used by the Romans. They are not necessarily all complicated, but they are clever techniques to retain flavour or, for example, to make meat tender or to keep it tender during preparation. But indeed, the Romans’ cooking skills were also used to get appreciation from guests, to have fun, and to amaze at the table. To impress At the dinner party thrown by Trimalchio, in the Satyricon of Petronius, a lot of impressive dishes were served. Of course, this antique text is a satire, but there is more truth to the recipes than you might imagine, at least if we…

Like many other ancient sites, Malta’s Neolithic monuments have attracted a wide range of weird and wild theories about who built them, including the belief that the island is the site of the legendary Atlantis or that the dwellings once belonged to extraterrestrials. These ideas have been spurred by the discovery in 1910 of eleven unusual skulls at the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum by archaeologist Themistocles Zammit (1864-1935). The skulls were reported as being elongated, which some have associated with the head binding practices of ancient Peru, while others have even seen them as evidence of alien life. Recently, more detailed scientific research has shown that only one skull was actually unusual, and this belonged to a person with a medical condition that causes abnormal cranial development. Today, Malta’s temples still…

The Ever-Changing Past Why All History Is Revisionist History By James M. Banner, Jr. ISBN: 978-0300238457 Yale University Press (2021) - $28.00 www.yalebooks.yale.edu Historians examine their subjects with respect to their political leanings, or themes such as colonialism, resistance, race, sexual orientation, or war. Occasionally a critic will call out a new book of history as ‘revisionist’, which is usually meant pejoratively. This criticism is based on the belief that there is some immutable ‘objective history’. It turns out this is an almost unattainable goal; it is an aspiration. “All history is revisionist history,” argues James M. Banner, Jr. in The Ever-Changing Past. The roots of revisionist history go back right to the start. When Herodotus wrote his Histories, he was doing more than chronicling; he was engaging in inquiry.…

THE TUFFS OF ROME (Dan Diffendale) • S. Bernard, Building Mid-Republican Rome: Labor, Architecture, and the Urban Economy (Oxford, 2018). • G. Cifani, Architettura romana arcaica: edilizia e società tra Monarchia e Repubblica (Rome, 2008). • D.P. Diffendale, F. Marra, M. Gaeta & N. Terrenato, ‘Combining geochemistry and petrography to provenance Lionato and Lapis Albanus tuffs used in Roman temples at Sant’Omobono, Rome, Italy’, Geoarchaeology 34, 2 (2018), pp. 1-13. • M. Jackson and F. Marra, ‘Roman Stone Masonry: Volcanic Foundations of the Ancient City’, American Journal of Archaeology 110 (2006), pp. 403-436. • M. Jackson, F. Marra, R. Hay, C.A. Cawood, and E.M. Winkler, ‘The Judicious Selection and Preservation of Tuff and Travertine Buildin Stones in Ancient Rome’, Archaeometry 47.3 (2005), pp. 485-510. • R. Volpe, 2014, ‘Dalle cave…