Author: AdamAH

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Cities for the Legions: A Brief look at the Roman Fortress

The Roman army. Those few words conjure images of blood and battle, marching legions spreading out across the ancient world. It was perhaps the most efficient military force in history, synonymous with skill, discipline, and invention.

Wherever we travel today in lands that were formerly part of the Roman Empire, we see the remains of that ancient civilization, and the remnants of Rome’s legions.

Few signs of ancient Rome’s built heritage compare with the military fortresses and forts that dot the landscape to this day. These ruins have been crucial in painting a picture of what life was like for the men of Rome’s legions, how they lived while on campaign.

There were, of course, many different types and sizes of camps and structures built by Rome’s armies across the Empire. There was the castrum (legionary fortress), the castellum (smaller camp or fort), the burgus (a small structure such as a tower, also known as a turris), signal stations and more.

In this blog, we’re going to take a brief look at that most important construction (other than roads!) of the Roman army: the legionary fortress.

Artist recreation of the Roman fortress at Chester

In the early days of the Roman Republic, the Roman army was a field army that went out, fought actions, and then returned. But as Rome conquered more of its neighbours around the Mediterranean basin, and north and northwest into Europe, it gathered more territories that would require garrisons if they were to be held.

There were two varieties of the Roman army camp, or castrum– the temporary summer marching camp, or castra aestiva, and the more permanent winter camp, or castra hiberna.

Temporary camps were constructed at the end of every day by the men of a legion on the march, and then torn down the next day before setting out again so that the fort could not be used by the enemy. Roman legionaries, who came to be known as ‘Marius’ mules’, carried everything they needed on their backs, and that included two wooden stakes for fortifications, and a dolabra, or pick axe, which they used to shift earth for those fortifications.

Can you imagine marching twenty to twenty-five miles in one day and then having to dig ditches and create fortifications at the end of it? The men of the legions did this as a matter of routine!

The temporary camps were a sort of organized tent city where every eight-man tent (leather or canvas) for a contubernium was pitched in the same place at the end of every day. Efficiency and order were the name of the game, and the Romans were masters of both.

Some of the Roman legionary’s kit included tools for the construction of a fort.

But the men of the legions, when at the outer reaches of Rome’s growing empire, needed warmer, more permanent quarters during the winter months outside of the campaigning season. Hence, the castra hiberna.

The requirement for permanent winter camps for every legion, in the provinces in which they were based, was issued by the emperor Augustus. The largest of these permanent camps could hold as many as two full legions! That’s over ten thousand men.

During the Julio-Claudian era, the walls of permanent camps were made of earth and wood, but from the Flavian era onward, walls were constructed of brick and stone, buttressed with earth. The structures within the permanent fortresses also evolved from their initial timber construction to more solid, long-lasting stone structures.

But how did the Romans decide where to put their camps, and how did they erect them? How were they defended? What did a legionary fortress or fort look like on the inside?

We’ll explore these questions next.

Reconstructed defences of a temporary Roman marching camp.

One simple formula for a camp is employed, which is adopted at all times in all places. (Polybius)

It would be a mistake to think that every legionary camp or base was exactly the same wherever you went in the Roman Empire. There was in fact a lot of variation due things like the terrain, the size of the force, and the preferences of the commander etc. But, there were certain features that were always the same, as is hinted at in the quote by Polybius above.

The first step would be to pick a suitable site for a fort that was both safe and strategic. A hill top was preferable, as was a site near to a waterway and water supply, as well as the road network if there was already one in place. Communication, hydration, and sanitation were essential!

Once a site was chosen, the ground was levelled by the troops (some stood on guard duty while most dug in). Generally, the first place to be marked out in a legionary fortress was the site of the principia, the headquarters building, at the intersection of the via Principalis and via Praetoria. This was marked with a white flag, and from here the rest of the fort’s grid was set up using a groma, a planning instrument with four plumb lines that helped to plan straight roads and to lay out the streets of the fort at perfect right angles.

Here is a short video (see minute 5:15) from historian Adam Hart Davis on how the groma was used for planning roads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUoSO5Rip7I

Using the groma, the intersections of the main streets of the fortress, the via Principalis and the via Praetoria, were laid out, thus allowing for the positioning of other buildings such as the tents or houses of the other officers, areas for cohorts, granaries etc.

Once the dimensions of the fort were set out, it was time to build what was perhaps the most important element of the fort: the walls.

When it came to linear defences, the Romans had everything covered. Actually, when it came to the defences of a fort, there were a few more elements besides the actual wall.

The fossa was a ditch in front of the rampart or wall of a Roman fort. There could be one or several fossae for a Roman fort, so this was variable. They could be up to twelve feet deep and three feet across, but these dimensions could also vary. Sometimes, sharpened stakes were also placed at the bottom, a little extra surprise for would-be attackers.

The defences of Ardoch Roman fort along the Gask Ridge frontier in Scotland

Behind the fossa or fossae of a fort were the vallum and agger, the raised embankments with sharpened stakes. So, after crossing the ditch of the fossa, an enemy would have to climb the embankment before tumbling down another ditch, after which he would be met with the wall of the fort.

The walls of camps varied in the materials used and the height they reached, but for the most part, the walls of permanent camps were eventually built in stone and could reach a height of ten to twelve feet, or up to four meters. During the Republican era, according to Polybius’ writings, forts tended to be square, but in the early Empire the preference was for irregular quadrilateral, and then a rectangular footprint. In the later Empire, any shape became possible, even circular!

Generally speaking, the walls of Roman forts were not very high, compared with their medieval equivalents, but the defences before those walls made it difficult for an enemy to breach the walls, especially under heavy fire from the legionaries on duty. There were not always towers on the walls of a Roman fort in the Republic and early Empire, but eventually, walls came to be toped by battlements called propugnaculae, and these were of different shapes and sizes.

Reconstructed, temporary defences at Alesia, site of Caesar’s defeat of the Gaulish forces led by Vercingetorix

Towers came into use too, with square ones being more common as they were quicker and easier to build, but later, after the reign of Marcus Aurelius, round and even pentagonal towers were built because of their superior strength. Sometimes, artillery was set atop the towers.

Because every Roman fort had four gates, these were also an important part of the fortress architecture, not least because they were a possible weak point. Early on, the gates were of a titulum or clavicula type, which means that an earthen wall was erected before the opening of the gate, directly in front (titulum) or on an angle (clavicula). However, from the time of Vespasian, gates were set into the walls themselves, sometimes with towers rising above them. These gates could allow up to ten men abreast to march through.

Recreation of the Roman gatehouse at Arbeia Roman fort, South Shields

The last of the linear defences was the intervallum. This was a broad open space between the inside of the wall and the first buildings of the fort. In addition to this being a sort of buffer zone against enemy fire, it could also be used to store supplies and graze animals. However, the intervallum was eventually done away with and the buildings of the legionary base were built right up to the side of the interior walls of the fort.

So, what did one find inside the walls of a Roman legionary base?

A city for a legion.

Full plan of the legionary fortress of Novaesium (Neuss), from The Imperial Roman Army by Yann Le Bohec

There were myriad buildings with as many purposes within the walls of a legionary fortress, and most of these would have been present, on a lesser scale, in smaller forts. At first, they would have been built in timber, and later, stone.

The most common structure was, of course, the barrack block. This was the long, rectangular building that housed the troops. For a legionary fortress, there would have been up to sixty-four barrack blocks. Each of these held a century of eighty men, and a contubernium of eight men would have shared one suite. Centurions had their own suite of rooms at the end of each block, possibly with their own lavatory. There might also have been a small mess room, and storage rooms.

A portion of the surviving barrack blocks of the fortress at Caerleon, Wales. This was the home of the II Augustan legion.

If you look at the previous blueprint of a fortress, you will see the barrack blocks in different sectors of the fortress.

The heart of the legionary base, however, was the principia, or headquarters building at the centre of the fortress.

The principia of a fortress was one of the larger buildings because it included the offices of the legate, camp prefect, and the six tribunes assigned to every legion. There was also the armoury, and the tabularium legionis and tabularium principis, the records offices of the legion and its commanders. These would have been located around a central courtyard where offerings could be made and assemblies addressed.

But there was more to the principia than that.

The treasury was also located in the principia, as well as that all-important room known as the sacellum, the place where the sacred standards and imagines of the legion were kept along with the most important emblem of Rome’s legions, the aquila, or eagle.

The ruins of Lambaesis legionary fortress in Numidia (modern Algeria). You can see the large principia building toward the top left. What is unique about Lambaesis is that instead of a basilica there was an open air courtyard in front of the principia.

The treasury and the sacellum were often located within a covered basilica which was a part of the principia. In here, units could parade and officers could address the troops. This was especially useful in places like Britannia where the weather was often inclement.

Besides the principia of a fortress, the other important structure was the praetorium. This was the commanding officer’s, or legatus’, private house. The praetorium of a legionary fortress, and even of small forts, replicated the villas or town homes of wealthy Romans, complete with private baths, triclinium, several cubicula, a garden or peristylium, and more. These were rich accommodations befitting the senatorial status of a legionary legate.

Other officers too, such as the six tribunes (1 senatorial, and 5 equestrian) had private homes that were located along the via Principalis of the fortress. Though not as luxurious as the praetorium of the legate, the tribunes’ houses were also private and well-appointed, often with a smaller garden or peristylium.

Artist impression of a principia building, or headquarters building

But let us remember that this was pretty much a city that had to cater to upwards of five-thousand troops and various other workers. There was much more to a legionary fortress than offices, barracks, and officer accommodation.

There would also have been a large valetudinarium, a military hospital, that would have had enough space to accommodate up to ten percent of the garrison, whatever the size of the fortress or fort.

One would have found various fabricae, the workshops that made and repaired weapons and other armaments, bricks and roof tiles for building the fort and other projects nearby on which legionaries would have been employed.

Roof tile from the fabricum of the IXt Hispana legion

Horrea, the granaries of a legionary base, were crucial to the legion’s survival, and these were carefully constructed to avoid damp by having them raised from the ground. The men needed to eat!

The men also needed to relax, and so that meant proper thermae, or baths, were needed within a fortress. Bathing to the Romans was, of course, not just about cleanliness, but also about socializing and relaxing. This was an important element of the fortress, for health and for morale. Along the theme of relaxing, there would also have been scholae, or clubhouses for various groups such as members of the centurionate, where men could gather with their peers to talk, drink, gamble and more.

And there were certainly stables in a fortress or fort too, whether for the officers’ horses, beasts of burden, or for any cavalry auxilia who were attached to the legion. It was important for the horses to be safely housed.

The structures noted above give you a sense of the massive scale of a legionary fortress, and the needs of a legion. There was, undoubtedly, some variation, depending on the size of the fort and its intended garrison, but most would have contained the structures noted above on some scale.

Aerial view of Housesteads Roman fort long Hadrian’s Wall

There are numerous remains of Roman fortresses and forts that you can visit today, whether they are remote, like the impressive remains of Ardoch, or one of the many dotting the line of Hadrian’s Wall, or whether their bones lie beneath our modern towns and cities, only to be glimpsed in select locations.

Vienna (Vindobona), Florence (Florentia), Chester (Deva), Caerleon (Isca Augusta), and York (Eburacum) are just a few examples of cities and towns that grew up around what were originally Roman legionary fortresses. Many of today’s most popular European cities were Roman army camps!

So, whether you are visiting the lands of the Sahara dessert in Algeria or Tunisia, or go as far north as the Gask Ridge in Scotland, you can be sure of that fact that, as you walk around taking photos and video, the Roman army was there before you.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief look at the Roman fortress. Please share this post with your fellow history-lovers and Romanophiles!

If you are interested in a virtual tour of a Roman fortress, check out the video below.

Thank you for reading.

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Ancient Everyday – Education in Ancient Rome

It has to be admitted that learning does take something away – as a file takes something from a rough surface, or a whetstone from a blunt edge, or age from wine – but it takes away faults, and the work that has been polished by literary skills is diminished only in so far as it is improved… (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus)

Salvete, Romanophiles!

I think that most of us will agree that education is crucial to our quality of life and, if we are to take the Roman educator Quintilian’s word for it, learning only makes things better.

Education, however, is perhaps something that we take for granted in the West where most children have free access to a primary and secondary school education, and some beyond that. Today, education up to some level, is assumed.

But was it the same in ancient Rome?

In this new Ancient Everyday post, we’re going to take a very brief look at education in ancient Rome from the early Republican age on into the imperial period.

If you missed the previous two-part Ancient Everyday post on food and dining in ancient Rome, you can check that out by clicking HERE.

A Roman class

When I think of education in the ancient world, I have to admit that my first thoughts are of ancient Greece and the golden age of Athens which, let’s face it, created the foundations of education in the western world, especially a liberal arts education.

But even in ancient Greece, there were other systems. The Spartan agoge springs to mind, that educational machine of war that took young boys at 7 years of age and thrust them into a world of brutality and torture to create the best warriors of the ancient world.

When it comes to the Romans, however, education was more practical, a happier medium between philosophical discourses of Athens and the trials of Sparta’s agoge.

Throughout most of the Rome’s Republican age, homeschooling was how young boys, and sometimes girls, were educated. They were taught by members of their family, either the father and/or mother, or some other relative who may have been more qualified.

Boys were most often educated by their fathers in Republican Rome. The paterfamilias controlled everything, and made all the decisions about his children’s education, even whether or not they received one at all.

For another post on the role of the paterfamilias in Roman society, click HERE.

Cato the Elder

Cato thought it not right, as he tells us himself, that his son should be scolded by a slave, or have his ears tweaked when he was slow to learn, still less that he should be indebted to his slave for such a priceless thing as education. He was therefore himself not only the boy’s reading-teacher, but his tutor in law, and his athletic trainer, and he taught his son not merely to hurl the javelin and fight in armour and ride the horse, but also to box, to endure heat and cold, and to swim lustily through the eddies and billows of the Tiber. His History of Rome, as he tells us himself, he wrote out with his own hand and in large characters, that his son might have in his own home an aid to acquaintance with his country’s ancient traditions. (Plutarch, The Life of Cato the Elder)

From about the age of seven, Roman boys were trained by their fathers in the areas that were deemed most important to life as a Roman citizen: reading, writing, and weapons training. You can see from the quote above that Cato the Elder pursued this course with his own son.

Boys would also have accompanied their fathers on religious duties, as well as senatorial duties if they were from a senatorial family. Everything was geared toward an effective public life as a Roman citizen, and while boys were groomed for public life, girls were likewise groomed and trained in reading, writing, and arithmetic so as to be able to run an effective household.

Roman bronze statue of a girl reading

At sixteen years of age, the boys of nobles were given a political apprenticeship, and then at seventeen, they spent the campaigning season with the army so as to learn the business of war, Rome’s bread and butter, so to speak.

This system of traditional homeschooling went on into the imperial age in some families, but it was in the third century B.C. that things changed and new ideas crept into the Roman educational system.

With the capture of the Greek colony of Tarentum in southern Italy in 272 B.C., and then the annexation of Sicily in 241 B.C., there was an influx of Greek prisoners of war and slaves into Roman society, and with them came Greek ideas.

Antiquarian print of Livius Andronicus teaching a class

Many of the Greeks who were brought into Roman society became teachers or private tutors.

Perhaps the most famous of this first wave of Greeks was Livius Andronicus (284-205 B.C.) who became a slave and tutor to his dominus’ children. He later was freed, and decided to stay in Rome where he is said to have become the first teacher of Greek education. He was also responsible for translating the Odyssey into Latin.

It was people like Andonicus who introduced the literary education to Rome, for prior to that, the focus in Roman education was more practical and martial.

But there remained differences between the Greek and Roman educational mindset for some time. For example, in the Greek educational system, music and athletics were of prime importance. These two areas were not taken seriously in Rome. To Greeks, music enriched the soul, but to Romans, music was perceived as a path to moral corruption.

An ancient Greek depiction of a music class

I doubt that Cato the Elder was very musical!

Likewise, to the Greeks, the goal of athletic competition and training was to obtain a beautiful and healthy body, a noble goal in and of itself. In Rome, athletics were only seen as a way to maintain good soldiers who would fight for Rome.

Again, Romans were much more practical in their education and the goals of that education.

The study of literature, however, became more important in Rome as time went by, as it was seen to be beneficial in producing effective speakers. In a society where public life was so important, especially among the upper classes, this skill was crucial.

A depiction of an orator giving a rousing public speech.

So, generally, what were the stages of the Roman educational system?

The first step was a sound moral education, and this began at home with fathers and mothers teaching their children (boys and girls) what Roman mores dictated were right and wrong, duties to family, to Rome, and to the gods themselves. In ancient Greece, community was central to moral education, but in Rome, it was all about family.

Formal early education began at age seven and lasted until age eleven. This included reading, writing and arithmetic taught by a litteratoror, in Greek, a paidagogus. Both boys and girls received this early education.

The rich tended to have private tutors for their children, but there were supposedly schools for the poor. This sort of school was known as a ludus litterarius. Because of the low wages paid to a litterator of the time, many such teachers also set up private schools of their own along the Greek tradition. These private schools did not have set locations, but rather moved around.

Monument to Epaphroditus, a ‘grammaticus’

Secondary education in ancient Rome took place from twelve to fifteen years of age, and lessons were taught by a grammaticus.

The foci here were the literary subjects and the analysis and expression of ideas, and lessons were taught in both Greek and Latin. The purpose of the secondary education (more often of the upper classes) was for general education, but also to prepare for the all-important training in rhetoric. Many classical Greek texts were used, but as time passed and more Latin writers emerged, texts would have included the works of Ennius, Virgil and others.

Again, secondary education would have taken place in private, or in groups in various places.

The final major stage of education in ancient Rome was training in rhetoric.

Painting depicting Cicero speaking out against Cataline in the Senate – putting his rhetoric to good use!

Few studied rhetoric with a rhetor, but those who did tended to be boys over the age of sixteen years old with a view to public life and a long climb up the cursus honorem.

The goal of training in rhetoric was to perfect one’s political oratory and skill in debate so as to be ready for a senatorial career, or, during the imperial age when the senate lost influence, for a career as an advocate in the law courts.

After all of this, there was one possible final stage of education that was limited to a rare few from the elite of Rome’s upper classes, and that was the study of philosophy.

This required means, and perhaps leisure, but was seen as the pinnacle of education in philhellene circles. Students who sought an advanced education in philosophy usually went abroad to a centre of philosophy in Greece, such as one of the schools at Athens.

Most Romans did not pursue this course of learning, but those who did no doubt found their lives greatly enriched, and their speaking skills from the rostra of the forum expertly honed.

Mosaic of the school at Athens

So, there you have it! A whirlwind look at the educational system of ancient Rome.

I hope you’ve found it informative and useful, and that the next time you go to a class of your own (or look back on one), remember that in our learning, we are standing on the shoulders of giants.

Thank you for reading.

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Roman Ghosts – Roots of Death and the Imperial Spectre

Salvete, History-lovers!

It’s been several months now since our last Roman Ghosts blog post and, seeing as we are in the dark days of winter, I thought it was a good time for a new one that you can read by the light of a warm fire.

If you missed the previous post about the ghostly accounts of Pliny the Younger, you can read it by CLICKING HERE.

Guess who!

I was doing some research on ghost sightings in the city of Rome when I came across this fascinating story about the only known haunting by a Roman emperor.

Who was this purple-robed spectre?

Why, it was none other than Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, otherwise known as Emperor Nero (A.D. 54-68).

There are numerous stories and much gossip about Emperor Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. It is said he believed he was an actor and artist, more than anything else. He allegedly fiddled his way through the burning of Rome, and subsequently blamed the Christian community for doing it. His torture of the Christians after that has become the stuff of horrible legend.

Another of the labels applied to this young megalomaniac was that of a ‘matricide’, for Nero was supposed to have made three attempts on the life of his overbearing mother, Agrippina the Younger. He tried drowning her, and crushing her in a planned ‘accident’, and when neither of those worked, he had his men slay her.

Emperor Nero and Agrippina the Younger. Is she fixing his corona for him? Oh, Mother!

However, when the deed was done, Nero was haunted by the ghost of his mother for the rest of his days, so much so that he supposedly engaged the services of magicians and necromancers to help rid him of the Furies he believed to be harassing him, and to conjure the ghost of his mother so that he could ask her to leave him alone.

I guess it never was easy for a young Roman man to be completely rid of his mother!

Needless to say, Emperor Nero was a tortured soul.

But we are not here to determine whether the rumours about Nero were true or not. We are here to talk about the story of what happened after his death.

It seems that after he departed the mortal world, the shade of Nero lingered in Rome, and his is the only known imperial ghost on record.

Antiquarian print of Nero’s tomb after it was dug up.

You see, after his suicide, Nero was buried in the tomb of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, the family tomb at the foot of the Pincian hill. This was located near a grove of poplar trees in what is now the Borghese Gardens near Piazza del Popolo.

Legend has it that in the place where the tomb of Nero was located, adjacent to the Porta Flaminia, a sort of nut tree sprouted, and this tree was filled with black crows.

It was said that about the tree, or in it, Emperor Nero’s ghost continued his lavish feasts, except now he dined alongside demons and witches!

Over the centuries, Romans living in the area of the Pincian hill, near the Porta Flaminia, reported feelings of terror, possessions, beatings and injuries, inexplicable strangulations and killings. Hundreds of years later, in 1099, Nero’s ghost and his wicked dinner companions were still bothering the living.

Frightened Romans complained to Pope Pasquale II about the spectre and the terrible goings on around the tree at the foot of the Pincian hill. The pope stepped up and performed an exorcism in the area which ended with him striking the tree itself. When the pope did this, a series of loud screams apparently rent the air.

Pasquale II ordered the tree torn down then, and when it was removed, they found Nero’s tomb buried beneath it, among the tangled roots. The pope ordered the tomb and its contents to be thrown into the Tiber, and ordered a church built on the site, the altar of which was placed overtop of the spot where the tree had been.

Chiesa de Santa Maria di Popolo, built on the site of Nero’s tomb.

In 1475, Pope Sixtus IV enlarged the church that Pasquale built, and it was re-consecrated as the Chiesa de Santa Maria di Popolo.

Apparently, the hauntings of Nero did stop after the original chapel was built in 1099, however, it is said that some people still report supernatural activity there.

Who knows for certain…

What we can be pretty sure of, if one believes in such things, is that in a city as ancient and populated as Rome, there were plenty of ghosts to go around. But there was only one imperial ghost…the ghost of Nero!

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Guest Post: Archaeology and Living History: A Tasty Look at the Life of a Roman Re-enactor

Salvete, history lovers!

This week on the blog, I’m thrilled to invite archaeologist, Roman history re-enactor, and owner of Apicius Sauces Ltd., Rita Roberts, to share her story about her wonderful experiences with living history and how, through a bit of serendipity and creativity, she was able to launch a successful (and tasty!) enterprise with a little help from the famous gastronome of ancient Rome, Apicius.

Get ready for a fascinating look at the life of a Roman re-enactor. Be sure to read all the way to the end for an amazing recipe!

Take it away, Rita!

Living History

While working as an archaeologist at the Hereford and Worcestershire Archaeology Section in England, analyzing ancient pottery, I had the opportunity to travel around schools of the area. At this particular time, the Roman period was entered in the school curriculum. This meant that on occasion I was able to talk to the children in a class whose age varied between eight and twelve years old about the Roman pottery which I had been working on.

At this age children are very receptive and were eager to learn, besides the fact I had the original roman pots for them to see and handle. I was delighted at their reaction and soon realized that the living history, and hands on the objects, I was demonstrating was likely to be a real boost for education purposes.

Roman re-enactor of Legio Vlll Augusta

Once teachers heard of my enterprise I was called to some of the schools regularly, especially to review the homework I gave the children once I had finished talking about the different types of Roman pottery. I was amazed as the teacher had made them draw the different shapes of the vessels.

One of the children wanted to know what kind of food was cooked, and in which vessel it was cooked in. It was from this little girl’s question I decided that on my next visit to a school, I would take along with me a Roman mortarium and mix the sauce which would have been served with chicken.  Their teacher had already agreed on my return visit to demonstrate this to the class. Upon my arrival, and with the ingredients needed to make the sauce, I found the history teacher was waiting with the children who were all dressed up in Roman style outfits.

A Roman ‘mortarium’ (Wikimedia Commons)

This seemed to make the children even more excited because after all, it was a living history lesson and they were eager for me to proceed. But first I needed to explain about the Roman cook Apicius.

Gaius Apicius lived during the reign of Emperor Tiberius in the 1stcentury A.D. The cookery books which he wrote were published some three hundred years later and are the main source of our knowledge of Roman food.

Apicius was able to buy a large selection of herbs and spices from Roman and Greek traders who travelled to the spice markets of South Asia. These were then offered for sale in the markets of Rome. Some of the sauces made by Apicius were flavoured with up to twelve different herbs and spices. Many spices such as pepper, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves came from India, Sri Lanka and China.

The highly flavoured sauces made by Apicius were often used to mask food which may have become stale or rancid because of over-storing. The most commonly-used seasoning was called liquamen. Apicius became a very wealthy man, but it is believed he committed suicide by poisoning himself. As a result of his buying so many expensive foods from every part of the known world, he realized that he had only about ten million sesterces left and he did not consider this enough to maintain his high standard of living.

Rita always displayed this Living History leaflet on the stall at each historical venue she attended.

Procedure for Making Apicius Sauce

Once I had the ingredients displayed on the table in front of the class, the children interacted by passing the herbs and taking turns in grinding them in a Roman mortarium, after which the  liquids were added. The sauce was then ready for tasting. Mr Townsend, the history teacher, had the first sample. Then one by one the pupils very gingerly came forward to taste. There were many different comments such as ‘it’s quite nice really’, or ‘better than I expected’. Some of them did not like it at all. Another said it tasted a bit like curry.

However, Mr. Townsend was quite impressed, saying it had a unique flavour and that I should market it. I thought about this but knowing there would be a lot involved such as adhering to the Trading Standards and Health and Safety regulations. But first I thought about a trial period where I could sell my produce from a stall at The Woman’s Institute, and also The Woman’s Guild, which held events all year round. This proved successful, so after passing all exams needed for Trading Standards and Health and Safety Regulations,  Apicius Sauces Ltd., was launched.

I had approached many museums, historical houses, English Heritage and The National Trust who all agreed to sell Apicius Sauces in their gift shops.  We were also producing a variety of sauces from other historical times by request, ranging from the Medieval to the Stuart and Tudor times. Also, we were invited to join the Re-enactors Societies with the offer of a special stall with which to trade from. Below are some photographs taken at Kirby Hall.

Rita with an Indian Scout outside a re-enactor’s stall.

Re-enactor outside a stall at Tewkesbury.

Rita at her stall. The jars displayed in the dish were for people to sample. The taste surprise always led them to purchase not only for themselves, but to take home for friends who could not attend the re-enactment show.

Our product proved a positive success for almost fifteen years.  We then retired to the island of Crete Greece.

The following is my recipe for ‘Sauce Apicius’ adapted for the modern kitchen and to be used with chicken. This recipe is for just one serving.

Ingredients for Sauce Apicius

A pinch each of   –  Pepper, cumin, thyme, fennel seeds, mint and rue.

A drop of asafoetida essence – obtained from a pharmacy and used sparingly

2 tablespoons of vinegar

4 oz of stoned dates

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of anchovy essence. This is to replace the roman liquamen or garum as anchovy was one of the ingredients used by the Roman cook to make the liquamen.

Method

First mince the dates then pound all the herbs in a mortar and moisten with the asafoetida essence. Add the vinegar and minced dates and pound until well blended. Stir in the honey, olive oil and anchovy essence. The mixture will then become a little sticky. Stir again until a smooth consistency is formed.  Of course this is much easier with modern equipment. Serve with your favourite poultry warm or cold. You can also spread a little over the chicken once cooked and pop it back in the oven for about 5-10 mins giving it a nice crispy coating.

It took many hours, in fact days, to work out the quantities of herbs and the liquids needed to make a large mix of the sauce, for an order of about 96 of each variety for the British Museum. This was their usual order per month. Besides other people’s orders we had to meet.

Although referred to as a sauce I prefer to use it as a relish but if you require it as a pouring sauce just add a little more of the liquids to your liking.

Try the sauce with turkey, ham, or even pork pie.

My book Toffee Apples & Togas can be obtained from Amazon Books.

I’d like to thank Rita for taking the time to tell us her story. It really was fascinating, and I can’t wait to try out that sauce recipe!

Having worked as an historical re-enactor myself in museums, I can stress enough how effective living history is in getting people interested in history, especially children who always love to see history come to life. It’s so much more interesting than being lectured to!

Living history demonstrations and re-enactors also do a lot to further our knowledge of the ancient world, so it is thanks to people like Rita, who have a passion for history, that we are able to sample a bit of the ancient world.

Be sure to check out Rita’s book, Toffee Apples and Togas, for a more in-depth look at her life and the journey she has taken. You can get a copy by CLICKING HERE.

If you have any questions for Rita, be sure to leave a comment a the bottom of the blog.

Thank you again to Rita, and as ever, thank you to all of you for reading.

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A New Year for Eagles and Dragons Publishing

Happy New Year, everyone!

Erm… Well… To honest, I’ve never been crazy for New Year. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s because I’m an historian, and I prefer looking to the past…the distant past.

I don’t usually do a ‘round-up’ post for the past year, or a ‘looking ahead’ post for New Year.

However, this year is different.

You see, 2019 is the 10-year anniversary of this blog, Writing the Past.

Amazing, right? Ten years! I still can’t believe it. I remember starting this blog on the Blogger platform (Click Here to see the old site) after hearing someone from a think-tank in Boston speak about the power and importance of blogging as a way to get ideas out into the world.

Ten years later, and here we are.

Time flies when you’re having fun writing!

Eagles and Dragons Publishing was born out of the Writing the Pastblog. Some of you have been along for the ride since the beginning, but most of you joined this mailing list after 2016.

And let me tell you, the Eagles and Dragons publishing team and I thrilled you’re here!

For this post, I’m not going to go into the history of Writing the Past– we’ll save that for some special posts later this year – but rather, I wanted to touch on some of the great things that happened last year, and then get into what you can expect in 2019.

One of the things we were really excited about last year was the launch of Eagles and Dragons Publishing’s new non-fiction series of books, Historia.

I had been wanting to get these titles out for some time, but fiction always took precedence. However, it was enormously gratifying to see that when the first three books in the Historiaseries did come out, all three of them were #1 New Releases in the Amazon store.

Our fiction offering for 2018, however, was Saturnalia: A Tale of Wickedness and Redemption in Ancient Rome.

Most of you will be familiar with this title, as it was launched just a couple of months ago. If you missed the announcement blog, or the blog about the Roman festival of Saturnalia itself then be sure to check them out.

I’m happy to say it was pretty well-received, and I’m grateful for the emails some of you have sent me to say now much you have enjoyed this Roman retelling of a classic tale.

Lots of readers enjoyed this book at the Holidays!

I think that perhaps the most exciting thing for me last year was when I finished the first drafts of the next two Eagles and Dragons novels: Isle of the Blessed, and The Stolen Throne.

I know many of you have been waiting patiently for these next books, and though it will still be a few months before they come back from the editor, 2019 will be the year!

2018, all said, was a pretty good year. Sure, there were ups and downs of different kinds, but when are there not?

But what is coming for me, and for Eagles and Dragons Publishing in 2019?

With the 10-year anniversary of Writing the Past, we’ve decided that we need to do something special. We’re not sure what yet – maybe a contest with prizes of some sort, a Facebook Live event? We’ll have to wait and see. If you have any ideas, let us know in the comments below!

For me personally, it’s about writing and new releases.

As I mentioned, the next two books in the Eagles and Dragons series are forthcoming, and I can’t wait to share them with you. They are…well…epic and moving. It has been quite a journey!

But there is also another Eagles and Dragons book that will be coming out soon, and this will be available only for Eagles and Dragons Publishing subscribers. It will not be for sale anywhere else. I’ve been writing this book for a little under two months, getting up at 5 a.m. every morning to do so. I only have two more chapters of the first draft to write and, as ever, when it comes out, there will be some accompanying ‘World of’ blog posts.

So, if you haven’t yet signed up for the mailing list, you’ll want to do so immediately so you don’t miss out! You can do that HERE.

Join the Legions!

In 2019 we will also launch the fourth book in the Historianon-fiction series. This one is exciting because it will also be accompanied by a mini-documentary that we filmed in Britain a little over a year ago. We’re still polishing off that book and sifting through the raw video footage, but itiscoming in 2019.

For those of you who are Arthurian enthusiasts and archaeologists, you will definitely be interested in Historia IV!

2019 may also see the emergence of some new endeavours for Eagles and Dragons Publishing, perhaps in the form of an on-line course. We’ll have to wait and see. However, fiction is always our focus, so we need to be mindful of time since, when it comes to history, our enthusiasm can indeed get the better of us!

But that’s a good thing!

There will of course continue to be bi-weekly blog posts in the Ancient Everyday and Roman Ghosts series, as well as one-off posts about various topics on ancient and medieval history, archaeology, writing and more. And if you are one of our special Patreon patrons, then you can expect some special offerings just for you throughout the year, such as short stories and behind-the-scene pics and sneak-peeks! If any of you’re interested in becoming a patron, you can check out the website HERE and watch me in my awkward, but honest video.

There is a lot more Eagles and Dragons Publishing would like to do, and you can see the list of these goals on the Patreon page. Who knows? Perhaps someday, we’ll get there!

In the meantime, I just want to say that the Eagles and Dragons Publishing team and I are thrilled to have you along for this amazing journey into the past through our fiction, the blog, non-fiction and more. It really isan honour to create content for you, so if there is anything you would like to see more of, let us know in the comments below or send us a message through the Contact Us page.

May 2019 be an epic year for us all!

Thank you for reading.

The road ahead looks good!
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Happy Holidays from Eagles and Dragons Publishing!

 

Adam and the Eagles and Dragons Publishing team would like to wish all our followers a safe, healthy and joyous Holiday Season.

It’s been a wonderful year with several exciting releases and new ventures, ancient history blog posts, completed novels, and so much more! We would like to thank all of you for joining on this stage of the journey. You really are the very best of fans!

There is a lot more to come in 2019, such as another Historia release and, perhaps most exciting, three more Eagles and Dragons series novels.

For now, before we take a break, we wanted to thank you for the interactions, support, reviews, kind comments and so much more.

See you in 2019!

Thank you for reading,

Adam and the Eagles and Dragons Team

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Io Saturnalia! – Celebrating ‘The best of days’ in Ancient Rome

Happy Saturnalia, everyone! Or, as the Romans said, Io Saturnalia!

December 17th was the official start of Saturnalia in the Roman Empire, and for seven days the Roman world, and especially Rome itself, experienced what can only be described as a carnival atmosphere.

Just as Christmas is a time of year that many people look forward to, so too was Saturnalia for Romans, free and slave.

Today we’re going to take a brief look at some of the customs that surrounded this ‘the best of days,” as the poet Catullus called it.

The God Saturn

Saturnalia was basically a winter solstice festival in honour of the god Saturn, the chthonic (of the earth) Roman god of seed sowing, who was often equated with the Greek god Cronus. As an agricultural deity, his symbol was a scythe.

The primary temple for this Roman deity was at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, across from the Rostra, the Temple of Concord, and the arch of Septimius Severus.

The festival of Saturnalia was originally a single day, but eventually ran from December 17th to December 23rd, ending on the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, or the birthday of the Unconquerable Sun. The three days from December 17th to the 19th were considered to be legal holidays on which no work was done. Schools, gymnasia and courts were closed, and no war was waged.

The Temple of Saturn (centre)in the Forum Romanum, Rome

Saturnalia was a sacred time of year in the Roman calendar, but oddly enough, there is no single, full description of the festival. What we know comes from various references in ancient sources, mainly Macrobius whose work on Roman religious lore is set during the festival.

So, what do we know about the festival of Saturnalia, and what traditions did people keep at that time of year?

A bit of public gambling during Saturnalia!

In ancient Rome, we know that the festivities began on December 17th with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn in the Forum, in which the priest performed the ceremony in the Greek fashion, ritus Graecus, with his head uncovered. In the temple, the feet of Saturn’s statue were normally bound up with wool, but for Saturnalia, the wool was removed, and some believe this symbolized the liberation that many felt during the festival.

After the sacrifice, which may have been a suckling pig, there followed a grand public banquet, or convivium publicum, which was paid for by the state. A statue of Saturn was placed upon a couch for this event so that the god could preside over the festivities.

Candles, or cerei were a big part of Saturnalia

As a festival of light, or the solstice, wax candles, or cerei, were lit everywhere and given as gifts. The light may also have been considered a symbol of the quest for knowledge and truth, something to go along with this season of hope for many in the dark days of winter.

Another symbol of the season was holly, which was considered sacred to Saturn. Sprigs of this were also given as token gifts. Many other gifts were given at this time of year, mainly on December 19th, which was the day of the sigillaria, the day of gift-giving.

Holly was sacred to Saturn

In addition to wax candles, gifts could include pottery, writing tablets, dice, knucklebones, combs, toothpicks, hats, knives, lamps, balls, perfumes, and toys for children. If you were among the rich, exotic animals or slaves might even be given!

Figurines were also a gift that was given, and these have something of an interesting history. One thought is that this particular gift stemmed from the giving of toys to children. However, another, darker possibility for the giving of figurines is that they were intended as substitutes for the human blood offerings that may have originally been offered to the earth god Saturn, in the early days of Rome, perhaps in the form of gladiatorial combat to the death.

Some sigillaria were similar to the gifts we get in Christmas crackers today, but they could be much more elaborate too.

In addition to the public celebrations of Saturnalia, the festivities continued at home.

On December 18th and 19th, domestic rituals of the family were observed, such as bathing, and the common sacrifice of a suckling pig to Saturn.

Gifts were given among the family on the day of the sigillaria, but also in the days to come.

One interesting tradition was that the usual clothes worn by Romans, such as the toga or plain tunica, were discarded during Saturnalia in favour of colourful clothes known as synthesis, which were a mish-mash of patterns and colours. They were the Roman party clothes of Saturnalia! Along with the synthesis, Roman men also wore a felt or leather conical cap known as a pileus.

The pileus was a conical felt or leather cap worn by men during Saturnalia

Saturnalia was a time of role reversal, a time when the opposite of normal was acceptable.

For instance, during Saturnalia gambling was permitted in public, with the stakes being either coins or, oddly enough, nuts!

Overeating and drunkenness were common, as was guising, which was the wearing of masks or costumes to take on another persona.

Thou knowest not what evening may bring.
(Macrobius. Saturnalia)

However, perhaps the most commonly known tradition of Saturnalia was the role reversal of masters and slaves. Traditionally, masters would serve their slaves a meal of the sort that they would usually enjoy, sigillaria would be given, and the slaves were even at liberty to insult their masters without fear of retribution.

Citizens or slaves might even be elected the ‘King of Saturnalia’ at the banquet at which time they could give absurd orders that had to be obeyed.

Guising and the wearing of masks occurred during Saturnalia

If this seems like a hectic summary with myriad different traditions and goings on, you’d be right. Just as with Christmas today, everyone likely had their own unique take on the traditions of the season. Roman religion was highly customizable!

You’d also be correct in assuming that some of the traditions of Saturnalia feel very familiar. At Christmastime, people eat and drink more than is usual (if they are so fortunate), there are a couple of days off work, gifts are given, holly (and perhaps ivy) is hung, candles are lit, and more.

Around the winter solstice, it seems that many cultures and religions find cause to celebrate.

So, from December 17th this year and in the run-up to Christmas, spare a thought for the Romans who certainly knew how to throw a good party this time of year.

Thank you for reading, and Io Saturnalia!

Io Saturnalia!

For those of you who are fans of historical fantasy set in ancient Rome, you may want to check out one of Eagles and Dragons Publishing’s latest releases, Saturnalia: A Tale of Wickedness and Redemption in Ancient Rome.

Much of the research for this post was done for the writing of this new book, so if you would like to see many of these ancient traditions come to life, you’ll want to check it out by CLICKING HERE.

Lastly, and for a bit of fun at this festive time of year, check out this hilarious video and song by the Ashmolean Latin Inscriptions Project and members of Oxford’s Faculty of Classics:

 

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Ancient Everyday – Food and Dining in Ancient Rome – Part II

Welcome back, Romanophiles!

In part one of this two-part series on food and dining in ancient Rome, we looked at the various foods that would have appeared on the tables of average Romans and how this varied depending on economic status or geographical region. If you missed that post CLICK HERE to read it.

This week, in part two, we’re going to take a brief look at the eating habits and formalities of dining in ancient Rome.

When it comes to eating, we seem to have inherited some of our modern-day habits from the Romans.

They normally ate one large, main meal a day, along with two smaller ones. However, the ientaculum, that is, breakfast, to the Romans, was not the most important meal of the day as we are sometimes told. In fact, Romans might have skipped this altogether before heading down to the Forum or visiting with clients or benefactors.

Breakfast in ancient Rome was light, and most likely involved puls, a sort of porridge, or some bread, perhaps dipped in honey or olive oil. They didn’t attack the day with a lumberjack breakfast in their stomachs!

In the early days, the midday meal or lunch, known as the cena, was the main, large meal of the day. This would perhaps have coincided with the sexta, the sixth hour of daylight or siesta time of day. For more about the Roman siesta, CLICK HERE.

Lastly, the Romans would have enjoyed a lighter evening meal called the vesperna, perhaps involving bread and cheese, or some fruit.

Sensible eating for those early Romans!

Over time, however, the midday lunch became a lighter meal known as the prandium, and the cena, the main meal, was moved to the evening.

For the poor, most meals would have consisted of puls or bread, sometimes with some sort of meat, or vegetables if they were available. There was certainly less variety among the different meals of the day if one was not wealthy or at least well-off.

For the rich and well-to-do, things were different. As the cena was the large meal of the day it would have included three courses of food.

The first course was the gustatio or promulsis, and this would have involved appetizers of olives, eggs, raw vegetables, and simple fish or shell fish.

The second, or main course, the prima mensa, often included cooked vegetables and meats, the types and amounts varying greatly, depending on the occasion and wealth of the family or individual.

And lastly came the sweet course, the secunda mensa. This is when fruit and sweet pastries would have been served.

Fresco of eggs, wine, and songbirds. The makings of a cena, perhaps?

But what about the etiquette of dining? What was the etiquette? How did they sit? Did the Romans just move from course to course, gobbling up all that was placed before them?

Not exactly. In fact, there was a rigid system of seating, or placement. Contrary to modern views, most Romans ate while sitting, but when it came to the wealthy, they tended to recline on couches, especially at dinner parties.

At a banquet, or convivium, there would also have been entertainment between courses, perhaps by clowns, dancers, or readings by poets.

Food was eaten with fingers, and cut with knives. Spoons were also used, but forks were not.

Hypothetical triclinium visualisation (created by Martin Blazeby)

Today, when one attends a dinner, there are sometimes places assigned to guests. There might even be name cards, and some hosts might distance themselves from their least favourite guests at the table.

Well, this was also true in ancient Rome!

I want you to imagine you’re invited to an evening cenaat a senator’s home. You’re greeted in the atrium and led through the house to the dining room, the triclinium, just off of the peristyle garden. It’s dark out, and the scent of lemon blossoms and jasmine are on the night air. After a cup of watered wine, you’re shown into the triclinium by one of the well-dressed slaves who shows you to the couch known as the lectus medius, the middle couch of three, the couch of honour.

At this point, you’re very happy, for your host, seated with his wife on the lectus imus, the low couch, has honoured you above all other guests. The other guests behind you grin and bear it as they are shown to the high couch. From where you are, you have a wondrous view of the night garden and all of the other guests, and conversation comes easily, for you do not have to twist and turn.

Sound like a good evening? It could be. But the Romans took seating of this sort very seriously.

Horace (65 B.C. – 8 B.C.), in Satire VIII presents us with a scene depicting the seating arrangements and the trials of being a host in ancient Rome:

‘I was there at the head, and next to me Viscus

From Thurii, and below him Varius if I

Remember correctly: then Servilius Balatro

And Vibidius, Maecenas’ shadows, whom he brought

With him. Above our host was Nomentanus, below

Porcius, that jester, gulping whole cakes at a time:

Nomentanus was by to point out with his finger

Anything that escaped our attention: since the rest

Of the crew, that’s us I mean, were eating oysters,

Fish and fowl, hiding far different flavours than usual:

Soon obvious for instance when he offered me

Fillets of plaice and turbot cooked in ways new to me.

Then he taught me that sweet apples were red when picked

By the light of a waning moon. What difference that makes

You’d be better asking him. Then Vibidius said

To Balatro: “We’ll die unavenged if we don’t drink him

Bankrupt”, and called for larger glasses. Then the host’s face

Went white, fearing nothing so much as hard drinkers,

Who abuse each other too freely, while fiery wines

Dull the palate’s sensitivity. Vibidius

And Balatro were tipping whole jugs full of wine

Into goblets from Allifae, the rest followed suit,

Only the guests on the lowest couch sparing the drink.’

Horace (by Giacomo Di Chirico) Is he writing about the banquet he attended the night before?

Seems like Horace had a lot of fun with this, and his satires are certainly good for a laugh! I do feel for that host.

But what was all this ‘status seating’ about?

In a relatively well-off Roman household, three couches in a triclinium were standard. These were arranged around a low table, or mensa, and these couches had specific names and purposes.

The lectus medius, the middle couch, was the couch of honour, and was where important guests were placed. Because of its position, guests seated here were able to talk easily with other guests and had the best view, whether onto a peristyle garden or some sort of rural landscape.

The lectus imus, the low couch, was reserved for the hosts. It allowed them to speak with the high status guests on the lectus medius, and also the guests sitting directly across on the lectus summus.

Last and least, the lectus summus, or the high couch. This was not like the high table at a wedding today. No. The lectus summus in ancient Rome was the opposite. It was reserved for the lower status guests, maybe even for children if they were permitted to attend. This couch possessed less of a view, though still allowed its occupants the chance to participate in the conversation, though they might have had to turn awkwardly to do so. If you were shown to the lectus summus, then it seems you knew your place at the gathering.

If it was a rather large banquet, we can assume that the farther from the hosts and guest of honour you were on lectus summus side of the triclinium, the less important you were considered, or at least less influential.

Plan of typical Roman couch placement in a triclinium (from Reclining and Dining (and Drinking) in Ancient Rome by Shelby Brown; The Iris – Behind the Scenes at the Getty)

I hope you’ve enjoyed this two-part blog series on food and dining in ancient Rome.

In researching this for the books Saturnalia: A Tale of Wickedness and Redemption in Ancient Rome, and the forthcoming title Isle of the Blessed, I found that some of the modern perceptions we have about Roman banquets are indeed true, while others are clearly not. If one was eating in a tenement in the Suburra, you were not reclining on a couch eating grapes and drinking wine. It was a table and chair for you.

The food consumed, as well as the eating and dining habits of the poor and the rich were often separated by a wide gulf. Nevertheless, the wonderful colour and variety of the world of ancient Rome never ceases to delight me!

More Ancient Everyday posts will be along in the future, but in the meantime, may your winter dining be pleasant.

Thank you for reading.

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Ancient Everyday – Food and Dining in Ancient Rome – Part I

Salvete history-lovers!

The holiday season has begun for many of us whom Fortuna has blessed, and even if you might not be one for the orgy of buying and selling presents that usually occurs at this time of year, you no doubt think of food, drink, and friendly gatherings.

And so, I thought it was time for a new, two-part Ancient Everyday series on food and dining in ancient Rome.

Recreation of Roman foods

In this first blog, we’re going to touch briefly on food, what the average Roman diet entailed, and cooking. This is a vast topic, so we’re taking a general look at this subject, a little something to whet your appetite.

In the Roman Empire, diet, and the food that made up that diet, changed according to geographic region and the economic situation of the folk you are talking about. It wasn’t like today where we can just head down the street and buy a pineapple at any time of year. As a rule, there was no mass, global transportation of foods. Romans ate local for the most part, unless you were talking about wine, olive oil, olives and specialty items like garum. We’ll talk about those later.

First off, we need to dismiss the perception that Romans always ate elaborate meals with trays of songbirds, dormice, buckets of wine, and mountains of exotic fruits. This was not a usual occurrence, and when it did happen, it was usually the super-rich or imperial family who ate like that, and then, only once in a while.

The truth is that the Roman diet was rather simple and, dare I say it, probably pretty healthy. Think Mediterranean diet.

Generally, the staples were various grains, often used in a sort of porridge known as puls, and breads made from a species of wheat known as frumentum. There was no such thing as pasta in ancient Rome! Panem et pulswere the go-tos! Beans and lentils were also staples, and research has shown that these, rather than meat, were the breakfast of champions for gladiators!

To hear more about various types of grains from Pliny the Elder, CLICK HERE.

Fruits such as figs, grapes, and olives (yes, olives are technically, a fruit!) were eaten when available, as were a large variety of vegetables that made up the Roman diet. They did not have tomatoes or potatoes in ancient Rome, but they did eat a lot of cabbage, onions, garlic, parsnips, marrows, radishes, lettuce (not Caesar salad BTW!), asparagus, beets, and celery.

Mosaic depicting asparagus

When it came to meats, these were usually consumed as part of the main meal of the day, however that was not as likely or often for the poor. Sausages and domestic fowl were relatively common, as was pork, the latter being a special feature of certain festivals such as Saturnalia. Oysters and fish were very popular in ancient Rome, but there was the constant challenge of keeping them fresh when being delivered from the seaside to the city. It has been suggested that these were transported live, in barrels, to the places where they were to be consumed.

Needless to say, food poisoning may have been a common occurrence in ancient Rome, especially if one had a taste for oyster and other shell fish.

But let’s not think that there was nothing exotic on the Roman dining table. Well-to-do Romans would have consumed game such as venison or wild boar, snails and dormice (yes, little mice!) that were especially bred for the purpose of consumption, as well as small, wild birds or songbirds. If one attended a really fancy convivium, or banquet, one might even have had the chance to eat some peacock or swan.

Mosaic depicting typical Roman foods

With all of the foods mentioned above, I would be remiss if I did not make mention of the wide variety of fresh herbs and spices (too many to name here!) that Romans put on their food.

Romans liked their food highly spiced and cooked in sauces. Garum, a fermented fish sauce, was among the most popular. You can read more about garum, by CLICKING HERE.

And there were desserts too! But these were not sweetened with sugar as we know it, but rather with honey. Romans, when they did have sweets, had a variety of cakes, pastries and tarts all sweetened with sticky goodness from our buzzing apian friends.

Lastly, what Roman shopping list would be complete without the two greatest liquid staples in the Empire? I am, of course, talking about wine and olive oil. These were both common in any household and came in varying qualities, depending on one’s income.

Amphorae that would have been used to transport and store wine and olive oil.

So how and where were all of these foods prepared?

Once again, this depended on the means of the household. Some kitchens were bigger than others, the same as today. In the case of tenement apartments in the Suburra, for instance, they did not have kitchens or cooking spaces which would have taken up much-needed space and been a severe fire-risk in the building.

In the case of tenement dwellers without kitchens of their own, there were communal ovens that were used, as well as plenty of food stalls where meals could be purchased – ancient Rome’s answer to take-out curry!

For those homes that did have kitchens (indoor or outdoor) the space often consisted of a round, or domed oven where a cook-fire was kindled with wood or charcoal. Cauldrons were also suspended over fires, as were frying pans or skillets.

When meat was cooked, it was more often boiled with a sauce, rather than roasted or grilled, although skewered roast meats were available, likely sold street-side.

I tell you, souvlaki has been around a long time!

Preservation of food was also important in ancient Rome, and so the curing and smoking of meats was common, as was the use of salt and pickling in vinegar for preservation.

What some archaeologists believe to be a sort of ancient souvlaki rack

Now we come to it, however, the nectar of the gods – wine!

Eight glasses of water a day?

Not in ancient Rome.

The most common drink in ancient Rome was wine. It was usually watered down, as it was considered barbaric to drink it undiluted, which is a shame if you ask me. But watered wine is not so bad. Go on, give it a try!

Just as with olive oil and garum, there were varying qualities of wines made at home and outside of the Italian peninsula.

Wine and bread? Yes please!

In addition to the fine Falernian and Chian vintages that might have graced the tables of the wealthy, there was also a wine concentrate that had to be diluted in water.

Among the poor, the drink of choice was posca, a sort of watered down acetumakin to wine vinegar. It might have had a bite, but perhaps it helped to keep one’s innards clean?

I prefer medieval Chianti Classico myself.

In Rome, beer and mead were not widely available and were much more common in the northern provinces.

And milk? Not so much. It was considered uncivilized to drink, the preferred use of dairy being to make cheeses, which were central to the Roman diet.

What’s available in the market today?

As mentioned, we have only scratched the surface of the topic of food in ancient Rome, but I hope this has given you an idea as to the day-to-day flavour of what might have graced the tables of Romans rich and poor.

If you would like to read more about specific recipes, the surviving go-to text for cooking in ancient Rome is by gourmand of the rich and well-to-do of Rome, Apicius.

You can read more about him and try out his recipe for Roman hamburgers by CLICKING HERE.

Apicius’ Roman hamburgers

That concludes part one of this short series on food and dining in ancient Rome.

Stay tuned for part two in which we will be looking at the eating habits of the rich and poor, as well as some of the formalities of dining itself.

Cheers, and thank you for reading!

What Roman food surprises you? If you’ve come across a particularly surprising dish in your own reading or research, please share it with us in the comments below.

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Do YOU have what it takes to become the next Emperor?

Salvete, fellow Romanophiles!

This week on the blog we have a special guest post by author, game designer, and all-around Roman history-lover, Ben Joshua.

As many of you know, though I spent many years in the academic world, I also believe it is important to nurture a love of history through popular culture. This is often done through television, movies, and popular fiction.

But there is another area in which folks can meet history face-to-face, or even take part in it…

I’m talking about gaming, Role Playing Games to be precise, or RPGs.

This is a somewhat new area for me, so I was fascinated when I found out how Ben translated his love of the Roman world and history into a fresh new gaming environment that will, from the sound of it, suck you right in.

So, strap on your lorica segmentata, and grab your gladius! Let’s see if we all have what it takes in the world of Immortal Empires…

Take it away Ben!

Do YOU have what it takes to become the next Emperor?

By: Ben Joshua

That’s the question many of us, in our ambitious youth, ask ourselves. Of course, we might not aspire to become Princeps, but we do aspire to become something (great). I admit I did. My studies at West Point helped me to appreciate how the Roman war machine, with its state-of-the-art legion structure, gave them victory after victory on the battlefield. From there, I began to admire Imperial Rome in its entirety: military strategy, architecture, government (our Congress derives from their Senate), and especially their culture of strong, independent women and the conniving men who love them (or was it the other way around? LOL!).

My interest deepened years later when it dawned on me that Jesus Christ was born during the Pax Romana, and later crucified during the reign of Tiberius Caesar, and how utterly significant that was! That Tiberius’s reign of terror made senators shake for fear of being thrown off the Tarpeian Rock for imagined treason…well no wonder Pilate shuddered and finally caved when the Jews insinuated he would not be a friend to Caesar if he let Jesus live! That realization blew my mind; Roman history had suddenly become one of my favorite hobbies.

So when my friend Clay, a Jewish Romanophile, invited me to help develop a game he hoped would bring Imperial Rome to life, I jumped at the chance. What we developed was a phenomenal game system of esoteric delight that celebrates the ruthless political intrigue of a magical and immortal, Imperial Rome. The object of the game is to become Emperor/Empress by any means possible. We called the game: Immortal Empires Role-Playing Game for Mature Players.

Immortal Empires Role Playing Game for Mature Players is a tabletop Role-Playing Game designed especially for Romanophiles like us, as well as stalwart RPG’ers who may never have been enthusiastic about Roman history (but who will be educated by the game). It can also be played over the internet using Skype, zoom, or any other camera-based communication platform.

Set in the backstabbing era of Imperial Rome, players must manipulate their characters to power through webs of Romanesque intrigue. Magic, fey, the undead, and immortals that your enemies might send against you all complicate your ascent. Defeat them, outwit the enemies who sent them, and you can become the next Princeps!

The game is definitely not a watered-down role-playing game. There are myriad ways to tweak your character. It also builds vocabulary (Latin and English), hones simple math skills, educates on historical events and milieu, and emphasizes problem solving in a mature (and oftentimes scheming) way. The game system, developed for over 15 years, relies on ten-sided dice for random generators (attacks, skills rolls, etc.). It has an open magic system (create your own spells to do what YOU want them to do), a whopping ten major (and magical) fighting arts (with over 375 unique powers), hundreds of Talents, Traits and Flaws, and so much more.

Even better, a series of novels set in the game world help you get to know the “official storyline” personalities and milieu, with more on the way. They tell the story of one Thascius Gildo’s rise to power, without ignoring the struggles of other powerful women and men vying for dominance.

If you’re the storytelling type, you can become The Storyteller, bringing your players through the story you’ve prepared for them. You, the Adept Romanophile, can decide to make your story about Personalities your players must outwit, or about an event in which they play a starring role. You decide how much actual history you want to insert into the game, as you challenge your players to rise to power in spite of the obstacles you place before them. You’ll have to be prepared for your players trying to outwit you at every turn, because you’ll be role-playing the game world personalities they meet.

The game assumes every major civilization is at its own zenith of power (with the very magical Ancient Races ruling). It takes the most interesting events and items from our history and allows you to insert them into your Story. The exact details are left to you; but there are spathas, onagers, triremes, togas, cognomens, frumentarii, fgens in Rebus, senators, the Cursus Honorum (and Militim, Scholasticus), Imperium, and so much more.

While your players might have to deal with undead and fey abominations, these are generally not considered the true enemy (that would be too adolescent a game, in our opinion). Instead, the true enemy might consist of that powerful senator (played by the Storyteller) who is trying at every turn to ruin your house by sleeping with your spouse. Or, perhaps even more sinister, the elusive enemy might be the friendly player sitting next to you, whom you trust as she smiles at your every suggestion but is plotting to assasinate your pater familias! Does anyone remember Brutus…?

This sophisticated game is generally not for the uneducated. It is not for children. It is assumed that there will be adult situations in your scheming and betrayals as you gather power through subterfuge and with Machiavellian supremacy. Hence, the two core game books (The Storyteller’s Codex and The Adventurer’s Rulebook) are written for you, the highly educated reader, who understands innuendo and nuance.

We at subrosa.games are striving to get Immortal Empires RPG into the hands of more Romanophiles so we can build a fun community of players and storytellers, Emperors and Empresses, who enjoy challenging each other’s intellects while immersed in a milieu we love. We hope to some day have conventions (Saturnalias?) and tournaments. We hope to some day help direct films with great actors and actresses set in accurate, if magical, panoramas of the majesty of Imperial Rome.

Dreams, certainly. For now, we just want to let you know the tabletop version is available, as are three novels (I’m writing book 4 now): Mirror Motives, The Starborn War, and Keeper of the Myst. We are working on our websites that we hope to have interactive in the coming year (so that people can network with each other to find gaming sessions and storytellers).

Subrosa.games and ImmortalEmpires.com are currently under development (but you can sign up on ImmortalEmpires.com to receive an invite when we’re done). We’re thinking about setting up a GoFundMe or similar page once the websites are done; rewards for contributions would take the form of game books, novels, and free online memberships. We are also looking for angel investors who share our greater vision.

I don’t want it to sound like a sales pitch, but if you are interested in trying it out, you can start playing the game now by ordering the two core books from Amazon.com. These are beautiful 8.5×11 Hardcover books with full color printing on quality paper. Even if you’re not a role-player-gamer, you might still enjoy the novels.

Thank you in advance for your support. When we launch the websites, we’ll need you as seasoned Storytellers and Players to show other intelligent schemers how to properly play Immortal Empires — the Roman way!

Sincerely and with profound respect and gratitude to Adam and his fans for letting me share this guest blog post.

 Ben (Maximillian Rufus, Legate, in the “Official Story”)

 

The author grew up an avid reader and writer, served as Vice President of the Wargames Committee at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and later as a military intelligence officer stationed in Germany. He currently lives a quiet life with his dog, writes novels and music, and serves from time to time as Project Director for a small development company. He enjoys oil painting, Roman architecture and history, reading over-the-top historical fiction, and playing saxophone to EDM and smooth jazz.

I’d like to thank Ben for taking the time to tell us about his RPG game set in the world of ancient Rome.

I’m not a hardcore gamer myself, but after reading about this, I just might become one!

A virtual life in the Roman Empire?

Yes please!

For those of you who are interested, be sure to head on over to www.immortalempires.com to sign-up for the mailing list and receive all the updates on the game.

Sounds like this is going to be a wild ride!

Cheers, and thank you for reading.

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