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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part XI – Terence: From Slavery to the Roman Stage

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

Welcome to the final post in The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we’ve explored some of the research that went into our latest dramatic and romantic comedy set in the Roman Empire.

If you missed Part X on the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part XI, we’re going to take a brief look at the life and work of the ancient playwright who is central to the story of An Altar of Indignities: Terence.

We hope you enjoy…

Terence, 9th-century illustration, possibly copied from 3rd-century original

Whatever fortune brings, we will patiently bear.

– Terence

The Etrurian Players series is about the life, loves, struggles, and theatrical misadventures of a troupe of players in the Roman Empire in the early 3rd century C.E. Every book in the series revolves around the production of a particular Roman play, usually at the Gods’ command.

In the first book in the series, the multi award-winning Sincerity is a Goddess, The Etrurian Players put on a production of Plautus’ Menaechmi. Plautus was, of course, one of the great comedic playwrights of Ancient Rome, and his plays were raucous and comical, using wordplay and slapstick comedy. He really was the playwright of the Roman people. You can read our article about Plautus HERE.

For An Altar of Indignities, the choice of playwright was clear. It had to be Terence, certainly, but there were a few questions that needed answering before embarking on this story’s escapade… Which of Terence’s plays would The Etrurian Players perform? How did Terence’s life and personality differ from other playwrights, and how would that affect the story? Was the cast up to the challenge? Was I?

In the end (but really, it’s a beginning!), I chose to tackle what some believe to be Terence’s most difficult play: The Heautontimorumenos , ‘The Self-Tormentor’.

The research into this play, and the personage of Terence, has been an adventure in and of itself. What little is known of Terence hints at a short and difficult life filled with both tragedy and a degree of adulation. But, like most writers, it is the work that often speaks for the person, and in reading and re-reading Heautontimorumenos several times over, attempting to plumb the complex depths of the work’s meaning, I came to see that Terence truly was – is – one of history’s greatest, most sympathetic and insightful authors.

Engraving of Terence, though he did not live to be so old…

Obsequiousness begets friends; sincerity, dislike.

– Terence

Who was Publius Terentius Afer (c. 185 – 159 B.C.E.)?

Let’s take a brief look at the man and his origins.

According to Suetonius in his Life of Terence, Terentius was born in Carthage in North Africa between the end of the Second Punic War and the start of the Third Punic War. Generally, his birth is thought to be around 185 B.C.E, but 195 B.C.E is also a possibility. 

We do not know who his parents were, but we do know that he was born into slavery, the ‘property’ of a Roman senator by the name of Terentius Lucanus who was kind to Terence and gave the young man an education and his freedom.

A page from a manuscript of Terence, written about 825 AD

Terence was apparently a handsome young man who proved to be quite astute and brilliant. After being given his freedom and education, he made his way to Rome where he ended up moving in important and influential literary circles and was accepted into the family of the Roman consul, Lucius Aemilius Paulus, the general who had conquered Macedonia.

The story goes that at a dinner party in Rome, Terence was asked to read his own work to the famous playwright, Caecilius Statius, who was so impressed that he invited the young man to join him for dinner. Suetonius relays the events of that evening:

He wrote six comedies, and when he offered the first of these, the “Andria,” to the aediles, they bade him first read it to Caecilius. Having come to the poet’s house when he was dining, and being meanly clad, Terence is said to have read the beginning of his play sitting on a bench near the great man’s couch. But after a few lines he was invited to take his place at table, and after dining with Caecilius, he ran through the rest to his host’s great admiration.

(Suetonius – The Life of Terence)

Sometime after this entrance onto the Roman literary scene, Terence became a part of what was known as the ‘Scipionic Circle’, an informal group of Hellenophile intellectuals, poets, philosophers, and politicians who gathered around Scipio Aemilianus (185–129 B.C.E), the adoptive grandson of Scipio Africanus. This circle was deeply influenced by Greek culture, particularly Stoic philosophy, and played a key role in the Roman reception of Hellenistic thought and literature.

Artist impression of the ‘Scipionic Circle’

It is with human life as with a game of dice: if the throw you wish for happens not to come up, that which does come up by chance, you must correct by art.

– Terence

In his relatively short life, Terence wrote six comedic plays which were produced between 166 and 160 B.C.E. All of them survive.

He wrote what were known as fabulae palliatae, comedies based on Greek plays, mostly by Menander, and perhaps Apollodorus. You can read more about Roman drama by CLICKING HERE.

Terence’s six plays are as follows:

Andria (The Girl from Andros) – first performed at the Ludi Megalenses (the Festival of Cybele at Rome) in 166 B.C.E.

Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law) – first performed at the Ludi Megalenses in 165 B.C.E.

Heautontimorumenos (also Heauton-Timorumenos, The Self-Tormentor) – first performed at the Ludi Megalenses in 163 B.C.E.

Eunuchus (The Eunuch) – first performed at the Ludi Megalenses in 161 B.C.E.

Phormio (about a clever slave) – first performed at the Ludi Romani (the Roman Games) in 161 B.C.E.

and

Adelphoe (The Brothers) – first performed at the funeral games of Aemilius Paulus in 160 B.C.E.

All of the plays were produced by one Lucius Ambivius Turpio, an actor, stage manager, patron, promoter and entrepreneur who had also produced Statius’ plays. He also performed the lead in most of Terence’s plays. The music for the plays was composed by a musician, or tibicen, named Flaccus.

Scene from the Roman Playwright Terence’s Play Andria (engraving) by German School.

Do not do what is done.

– Terence

Terence’s work was celebrated for its refined language, realistic characterizations, and subtle humour which were a marked departure from the more boisterous style of earlier Roman comedy, including his predecessor, Plautus. His plays adapted elements of Greek New Comedy while emphasizing dialogue that was closer to natural speech. There was less musical accompaniment than in the average Roman comedy at the time, and his meters were much simpler than those used by Plautus, something that enhanced that natural feel of the dialogue. He had an uncanny ability to keep the audience’s interest.

He also used the prologus of his plays in a way that was different to others before him. Where playwrights such as Plautus used the prologus to explain the plot of the play to come, Terence used it to address criticisms of his own work such that his prologues were rhetorical in nature.

But Terence is perhaps best known for his impressive understanding of the human condition and ability to illustrate, through his dialogue and storytelling, the complexities of human behaviour. His work is truly heartfelt.

This wish to understand the human condition is perhaps best illustrated in what might be considered Terence’s most famous quote from Heautontimorumenos:

Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto.

I am human: nothing human is alien to me.

– Terence

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens where the drama plays out in An Altar of Indignities

Using Heautontimorumenos (The Self-Tormentor) as the play for An Altar of Indignities was quite a deliberate choice.

As the translator, A.J. Brothers, said,  it is “the most neglected of the dramatist’s six comedies… Yet the Self-Tormentor, for all its occasional imperfections, in many ways shows Terence at his best; the plot is ingenious, complex, fast-moving, and extremely skilfully constructed, its characters are excellently drawn, and the whole is full of delightful dramatic irony. It deserves to be better known.”

In truth, the play is so complex, so nuanced, that it required several readings to fully grasp all that Terence was trying to say. Perhaps in tackling this play, I discovered that there was something of a ‘self-tormentor’ in myself!

Nevertheless, I cannot imagine having chosen a different play to be featured in this novel for, in reading through it and developing an understanding of it, I came to admire the brilliance of Terence.

An image from a manuscript of Terence’s Heautontimorumenos depicting the characters Menedemus and Chremes

Heautontimorumenos, and Terence’s other plays, could be said to be ‘smart-funny’ as opposed to the slapstick humour of Plautus’ work. This is nicely illustrated in a review of the play by Sir Richard Steele, the 17th-18th century Anglo-Irish writer, in the Spectator (No. 502) when he aptly described the play:

“The Play was The Self-Tormentor. It is from the beginning to the end a perfect picture of human life, but I did not observe in the whole one passage that could raise a laugh. How well-disposed must that people be, who could be entertained with satisfaction by so sober and polite mirth! In the first Scene of the Comedy, when one of the old men accuses the other of impertinence for interposing in his affairs, he answers, ‘I am a man, and can not help feeling any sorrow that can arrive at man.’ It is said this sentence was received with a universal applause. There can not be a greater argument of the general good understanding of a people, than their sudden consent to give their approbation of a sentiment which has no emotion in it. If it were spoken with ever so great skill in the actor, the manner of uttering that sentence could have nothing in it which could strike any but people of the greatest humanity—nay, people elegant and skillful in observation upon it. It is possible that he may have laid his hand on his heart, and with a winning insinuation in his countenance, expressed to his neighbour that he was a man who made his case his own; yet I will engage, a player in Covent Garden might hit such an attitude a thousand times before he would have been regarded.”

Whereas Plautus’ plays had great appeal, especially among the Roman people, Terence’s plays seem to have appealed more to the upper educated classes. In fact, during the imperial period, long after his death, Terence was considered second only to Virgil as the most widely read Latin poet. His plays were read in Latin canonical schools on into the Middle Ages and beyond, and Terence himself was often quoted as an authority on human nature, including by St. Augustine who, though not always full of praise for the pagan playwright, quotes Terence thirty-eight times in his own works.

A gathering in Rome

As many men, so as many opinions.

– Terence

As praising as many were Terence and his work, he also had his detractors, and this is one reason for his use of the prologus in defending his work. Suetonius highlights some of the common gossip that swirled around Terence:

It is common gossip that Scipio and Laelius aided Terence in his writings, and he himself lent colour to this by never attempting to refute it, except in a half-hearted way, as in the prologue to the “Adelphoe”:

“For as to what those malicious critics say, that men of rank aid your poet and constantly write in concert with him; what they regard as a grievous slander, he considers the highest praise, to please those who please you and all the people, whose timely help everyone has used without shame in war, in leisure, in business.”

Now he seems to have made but a lame defence, because he knew that the report did not displease Laelius and Scipio; and it gained ground in spite of all and came down even to later times. Gaius Memmius in a speech in his own defence says: “Publius Africanus, who borrowed a mask from Terence, and put upon the stage under his name what he had written himself for his own amusement at home.”

– Suetonius (The Life of Terence)

Julius Caesar too criticized Terence, showing himself to not be the greatest of fans:

Thou too, even thou, art ranked among the highest, thou half-Menander, and justly, thou lover of language undefiled. But would that thy graceful verses had force as well, so that thy comic power might have equal honour with that of the Greeks, and thou mightest not be scorned in this regard and neglected. It hurts and pains me, my Terence, that thou lackest this one quality.

– Julius Caesar

Print from a manuscript of Terence’s work

Despite the few critics of his work, Terence’s plays have stood the test of time, being used to teach Latin in schools and influencing great playwrights. Even William Shakespeare is said to have been influenced by Terence’s comedy and scenic structure in plays such as The Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Othello, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Despite the success in Rome of his six initial plays, Terence, for some reason, felt that he had to leave Rome and Italy, and appears to have made his way to Greece, the birthplace of drama:

After publishing these comedies before he had passed his twenty-fifth year, either to escape from the gossip about publishing the work of others as his own, or else to become versed in Greek manners and customs, which he felt that he had not been wholly success­ful in depicting in his plays, he left Rome and never returned.

– Suetonius (The Life of Terence)

Sadly, Terence seems not to have survived for long, leaving this world at far too young an age at twenty-five years (or thirty-five, depending on the birth date). It is supposed that either he died in a shipwreck on the journey to or from Greece, or that he died of illness when in Greece while seeking to increase his knowledge and skill in the home of the playwrights he had so admired.

Suetonius writes that he was to return “from Greece with one hundred and eight plays adapted from Menander”, but due to his death, or the wrecking of the ship that contained his new works, all of them were lost. And so, the six, brilliant plays of Terence’s that have come down to us today are all that we have of this wonderful, young Roman poet’s work.

Artist impression of Terence writing in Athens along the banks of the Ilissos river

It does indeed seem tragic that a poet and artist who was so lauded after his death, appeared to struggle so much in life, despite some brief, shining moments.

Naught availed him Scipio, naught Laelius, naught Furius, the three wealthiest nobles of that time. Their aid did not even give him a rented house, to provide at least a place where his slave might announce his master’s death.

– Suetonius (The Life of Terence)

In An Altar of Indignities, it is this seemingly unfinished and, perhaps, glorious but ultimately unfulfilled life of the artist that is explored, and this is in large part due to Terence and his masterpiece, Heautontimorumenos.

It has been an adventure and a privilege to write about Terence, and explore his life and works. I think it fitting then to end with a quote by one of Terence’s most renowned admirers from the world of Ancient Rome:

Thou, Terence, who alone dost reclothe Menander in choice speech, and rendering him into the Latin tongue, dost present him with thy quiet utterance on our public stage, speaking with a certain graciousness and with sweetness in every word.

– Cicero

Thank you for reading.

Well, that is the end of The World of An Altar of Indignities. The curtain has fallen.

If you would like to read the plays of Terence for yourself, you can download a complete, FREE version for any device from Project Gutenberg by CLICKING HERE. To read Terence’s masterpiece, Heautontimorumenos (The Self-Tormentor), you can do so on-line HERE.

We hope you have enjoyed this blog series, and that you enjoy An Altar of Indignities if you read it. If you have read it, please leave a review on the Eagles and Dragons Publishing website or on the store web page where you purchased the book. Reviews are a wonderful way for new readers to find this dramatic and romantic comedy of ancient Rome and Athens!

If you missed any of the posts in this eleven-part blog series, you can read all of them on one web page by CLICKING HERE.

An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens is available in ebook, paperback and deluxe hardcover editions from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortar chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy and get the ISBN# for the edition of your choice.

Brace yourselves! The Etrurian Players are back!

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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part X – The Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

Welcome back to The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we’re taking a look at some of the research that went into our latest novel set in the Roman Empire.

If you missed Part IX on Spirits in Roman Religion, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part X, we’re going to take a brief look at one of the climactic settings in An Altar of Indignities: the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

We hope you enjoy…

This is unrivalled in size and magnificence, and was built by Herodes, an Athenian, in memory of his dead wife.

(Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7.20)

When writing historical fiction, bringing the setting of the time period and locations to life is everything. It anchors the reader in the chosen period and transports them.

Over the course of An Altar of Indignities, which is set in early third century Roman Athens, there have been many locations that have had a part to play, including the Parthenon, the Roman Agora, the Temple of Artemis Agrotera and several more. However, one could say that the location with the most important role in our dramatic and romantic comedy of ancient Rome and Athens is the Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus (c. 1870)

This theatre, the youngest of ancient Athens, is where The Etrurian Players are set to undertake their exciting, climactic performance before the Athenian people at the end of the Panathenaic Games. It is a place of haunting realization and transformation, a place of entertainment and of comic chaos.

For our Etrurian theatre troupe, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus is the setting of one of their most difficult trials to date…

So… What was this theatrical structure of ancient Athens, and how did it differ from the other theatres in the city?

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus was a covered theatre located on the southwestern slope of the Acropolis of Athens. Herodes Atticus, the wealthy and well-connected Greek who lavished gifts on Athens as well as other places across the Roman Empire, built the odeon in honour of his recently deceased wife, Annia Regilla, in 161 C.E. If you missed the article about Herodes Atticus, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

While the Romans did perform plays and put on theatrical productions in odea, they were primarily used for musical performances and poetry recitations.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus was the third odeon built in Athens, the previous two being the Odeon of Pericles, built directly beside the Theatre of Dionysus, and the Odeon of Agrippa, which was built in the middle of the ancient Agora.

This impressive Roman odeon seated 5000 spectators in a marble, semi-circular cavea that had thirty-two rows of seats divided into two horizontal sections with a gallery at the top. The marble orchestra before the raised stage, or pulpitum, was also a semi-circle. The cavea curved around this to the edges of the stage, enveloping the orchestra. Stairs at the sides of the pulpitum led to the upper level of the cavea. High above, the ceiling of the odeon was constructed of cedar from Lebanon and roofed with tiles.

Recreation of the Scaena Frons of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (from Ancient Greece: the famous monuments Past and Present – by Muses Publications)

Like most Roman theatres, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus had an elaborate scaena frons that was part of the twenty-eight meter high stage house that faced the audience and which was part of the scene. It was made up of three levels, two of which survive to this day. On the bottom level of the scaena frons, there were columns and statues in niches, and three doorways which could serve as part of the set for performances and from which the musicians and actors could come and go. The first two storeys were faced with marble while the third storey was dressed stone.

On the second and third storeys of the scaena frons, there were aspidal (arched) openings with statues flanked by pilasters. Behind these there was a gallery, or metaskenio, from where other performers could participate or look on. The second and third storeys of the scaena frons were reached by way of staircases that flanked the pulpitum.

Though smaller than other theatres around the Roman Empire and the Greek world, this odeon was an impressive addition to the polis where theatre was born.

At the back of the scaena frons of the odeon was a closed stage-house or basilica where set pieces could be kept and performers could prepare before taking to the stage. Today, this is visible as one approaches the Odeon of Herodes Atticus from the pedestrian street of Dionysiou Areopagitou. It is believed that this part of the odeon may have had a mosaic floor.

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus was a part of a sort of ancient theatre district on the southern slope of the Acropolis. It was connected to the great, open-air theatre and sanctuary of Dionysus by a long, covered stoa built by Eumenes II, King of Pergamon, around 160 B.C.E. This stoa was 163 meters long and provided shelter for theatre goers up until the third century C.E. Nearby, there were also fountains and monuments to past theatrical performers and patrons of Athens such as Thrasyllos and Nikias. In addition to an Asklepion (a healing sanctuary) behind the Stoa of Eumenes, there were fountains and a sanctuary of the Nymph.

Plan of the southern slope of the Acropolis of Athens (from South Slope of the Acropolis – Publication of the Association of Friends of the Acropolis) – labels added

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus was certainly a magnificent addition to the Goddess Athena’s city.

Sadly, like the stoa and so many other monuments of beauty and art in Athens, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus was gravely damaged during the Herulian invasion of the city in 267 C.E., a little over one hundred years after its completion.

Thankfully, between 1950 and 1961, the seating of the cavea was restored using Pentelic marble, and the orchestra floor was restored with marble from Mount Hymettus.

Modern performance during the Athens Epidaurus Festival

As a result, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus lives on as it is the primary venue for the modern Athens Epidaurus Festival which runs from May to October every year, and which has featured such world-renowned artists as Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Boccelli, Nana Mouskouri, Vangelis, Frank Sinatra and many others.

If you are ever in Athens (or Epidaurus!) during the festival, try and get tickets to one of the performances in this ancient odeon for an experience beneath the timeless stars that you will never forget.

Thank you for reading.

An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens is available ebook, paperback and deluxe hardcover editions from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortar chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy and get ISBN#s for the edition of your choice.

 

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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part VIII – The Panathenaea of Ancient Athens

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

Welcome back to The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we take a look at some of the research that went into our latest novel set in Ancient Rome and Athens.

If you missed Part VII on Herodes Atticus, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part VIII, we’re going to be exploring the great event that is at the heart of An Altar of Indignities: the Panathenaic Festival of Ancient Athens.

Not only does this ancient festival provide the backdrop for all of the chaos that ensues in the book, but it is the very reason The Etrurian Players find themselves in the city of the Goddess Athena in the first place.

We hope you enjoy…

Painting of ‘Golden Age’ Athens by Leo von Klenze (1846)

The Panathenaic Festival, or the ‘Panathenaea’, was a religious festival held at Athens in honour of the city’s patron goddess, Athena. It took place from about the twenty-third to the thirtieth day of the Attic month of Hekatombaion, which was mid-July to mid-August. It promoted unity among all Athenians, and eventually among all Greeks.

The Panathenaea was the most important religious festival of ancient Athens. There were annual and quadrennial celebrations of the festival in the form of the ‘Lesser’ and ‘Greater’ Panathenaea.

The ‘Lesser’ Panathenaea was held every year and appears to have been a slimmed-down version of the larger festival, though still a time of great import on the Attic calendar.

The ‘Greater’ Panathenaea – that which takes place in An Altar of Indignities – was held every four years, and included an array of religious ceremonies, athletic competitions, cultural events, poetry and music competitions, and of course the great Panathenaic Procession immortalized on the Parthenon Frieze (the ’Parthenon Marbles’), sculpted under the direction of Phidias.

Recreation of the west pediment statue group of the Parthenon showing the competition for Athens between Athena and Poseidon (Acropolis Museum)

And they that held Athens, the well-built citadel, the land of great-hearted Erechtheus, whom of old Athena, daughter of Zeus, fostered, when the earth, the giver of grain, had borne him; and she made him to dwell in Athens, in her own rich sanctuary, and there the youths of the Athenians, as the years roll on in their courses, seek to win favour with sacrifices of bulls and rams…

(Homer, Iliad, Book II, 549-550)

Before we get into the timeline of events that made up the Greater Panathenaea, let’s discuss what we know about the origins of the festival.

In mythology, it is supposed that the Panathenaea was founded by Erechtheus (continued by his son, Erichthonius), King of Athens, seven hundred and twenty-nine years before the first Olympiad which was held in 776 B.C.E. This first festival may have been called the ‘Athenaea’.

Later, after the sunoikismos under King Theseus of Athens, the amalgamation of the villages of Attica, it became known as the ‘Panathenaea’.

Historically, the Athenian ‘tyrant’, Peisistratos, and the ‘archon’ of the period, Hippoclides, are credited with the reorganization of the Panathenaic Games in 566 B.C.E.

The festival grew to symbolize Athenian unity and cultural excellence. It also became a stage for Athens to assert its influence within the Greek world, as foreign dignitaries and representatives from allied states participated in the festivities. The Panathenaea evolved into a multifaceted event blending religious devotion, athletic competition, musical performance, and civic pride.

It is believed the Panathenaea were held until about 410 C.E.

Statue of Athena – Full-sized recreation in the Nashville Parthenon

The Panathenaea was something of a beacon for the Greek world, just as the Goddess Athena was.

For Athenians, the Panathenaea was more than a religious celebration; it was a manifestation of their identity. The festival underscored their devotion to Athena, the goddess who safeguarded their city, and reinforced communal bonds through shared rituals and competitions. It was an occasion for political expression, with the display of Athens’ military and cultural supremacy.

The festival also offered a platform for social stratification. While the elite funded and organized events, the entire populace participated in the procession, showcasing Athenian democracy in action. Moreover, the Panathenaea fostered a sense of pan-Hellenic unity, attracting participants and spectators from across the Greek world.

Phidias Showing the Frieze of the Parthenon to his Friends (1868) by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

The Panathenaic Festival, and especially the Greater Panathenaea, was an enormous and costly undertaking. During the Classical period, Greeks from around the Mediterranean would come to honour the Goddess Athena and to compete in everything from athletic and equestrian events to music and poetry competitions.

And it wasn’t just men who competed. There were also categories for boys, with divisions for paides (12-15 years), ageneioi (16-20 years), and andres (men over 20).

From inscriptions on artifacts, we know that there were prizes for winners, second place runners-up, and even others down the line, depending on the event. For musical contests, for example, a golden crown and money (valued around 1500 drachmae) was given to the winner, but also up to sixty amphorae filled with valuable Attic olive oil in red and black ware Panathenaic vases. Second place winners could receive a smaller sum of money, plus six amphorae of oil.

Some events were more richly-rewarded too. For example, the winner in the chariot race received money and one hundred and forty Panathenaic amphorae of olive oil! Another inscription indicates that a winner in the athletic races, however, could receive 1450 amphorae of olive oil and 2700 drachmae!

These amounts would likely have varied over time, but it is clear that victors could suddenly find themselves quite wealthy.

Panathenaic amphora depicting the Goddess Athena

But what was the Panathenaea actually like? Was there an order to the events?

Despite the perhaps chaotic atmosphere in the city, and the excitement that no doubt pulsed through participants and attendees, the Panathenaea appears to have been highly organized and reverent, as befitted the goddess whom the festival honoured.

Let’s take a brief look at the eight days of events during the Greater Panathenaea…

Artist impression of what the interior of the Parthenon might have looked like during the Panathenaea

There can be little doubt that, as this was primarily a religious festival, every day would have included offerings and sacrifices to the gods, and especially to Athena, whom the festival honoured.

Day one of the festival was reserved for the musical and rhapsodic contests, and these were reserved only for the Greater Panathenaea.

Musical contests were instrumental and would have included musicians playing the aulus, which was a single or double reed pipe, and the cithara, which was sort of stringed lyre. In addition to contests for playing these instruments, there were also competitions of citharody, which was singing to the aulus and cithara.

The rhapsodic contest, introduced to the festival by Peisistratos, consisted of dramatic recitations of Homeric poetry from the Iliad and Odyssey. There were also poetry competitions with readings of Homer, Pindar, and Hesiod.

These contests were most often held in the odeon built by Pericles, which was beside the theatre of Dionysus, on the southern slopes of the Acropolis.

Ancient depiction of a musician playing the aulos

Day two of the festival was reserved for the athletic competitions for boys and youths, and these would have been held in the Panathenaic stadium which was located on the other side of the Ilissos river, between the hills of Ardittos and Agras.

Day three consisted of the athletic contests for men over twenty years of age. These would also have taken place in the stadium.

Some of the events that made up the athletic contests included the stade race, the pentathlon, wrestling, boxing and pankration.

Vase depicting Ancient Greek boxers

On day four, the highly popular equestrian events took place, and these would have included four-horse (tethrippon) and two-horse (synoris) chariot races, as well as horseback riding races, javelin throwing from horseback, and the apobates races which involved athletes jumping in and out of moving chariots at high speed. The latter is believed to be the oldest equestrian event, tradition assigning its introduction to Erechtheus.

The equestrian events would have taken place in the Panathenaic stadium and in the hippodrome to the south of the city.

The equestrian events highlighted the wealth and prestige of the participants, as owning and training horses was a costly endeavour. However, amateurs were also encouraged to participate, and their prizes are thought to have been the highest, the thinking being that they would then put the funds into horse breeding afterward.

Panathenaic amphora depicting a synoris, or two-horse chariot

Day five was when the tribal contests took place.

The first of the tribal contests was the Euandria, a procession in which leaders from tribes of Athens chose twenty-four (same number as in a theatrical chorus) of the tallest and best-looking of their tribe, and arrayed them in colourful, festive garments. They competed with the same number from an opposing tribe. This appears to have been a sort of ancient ‘manliness’ contest that emphasized qualities like physical fitness, strength, and overall excellence, things that were prized by Ancient Greek society, and closely tied to notions of citizenship and civic pride in Classical Athens.

The other tribal event was the Pyrrhic Dance. This was a sort of war dance performed again by twenty-four men from each of the tribes. It was a martial dance that symbolized readiness for battle and which was closely associated with military training, patriotism, and the worship of Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom. The dancers wore armour, including helmets and shields, and they may also have carried swords or spears. It would have required strength, agility, and coordination, all attributes of a skilled warrior.

The Pyrrhic Dance – painting by Lawrence Talma-Tadema

On the night before the sixth day of the Panathenaea, a sacred event known as the ‘Pannychis’ took place on the Acropolis of Athens. This involved a night of songs, offerings, prayers and thanksgivings by the high-ranking priestesses who expressed joy for the birth of the Goddess Athena. Younger priestesses also danced in honour of the goddess, and toward the morning, choruses of youths and men sang songs to honour Athena.

The night of the Pannychis led into the most important and sacred day of the Panathenaea, on the 28th day of Hekatombaion. This was the day of the Panathenaic Procession, the hecatomb sacrifices at the great altar of Athena on the Acropolis, and subsequent distribution of meat to the people. There may also have been a torch race on this day.

The central event of the Panathenaea, however, was the procession which was immortalized on the Parthenon frieze on what is now known as the ‘Parthenon Marbles’.

Horsemen of the Panathenaic Procession, from The Parthenon Frieze

This was a massive event with many Athenians and non-Athenians involved. There were priestesses and priests, past and present victors in the games (athletic and artistic), as well as magistrates and other officials. There were Athenian women, and young girls who danced, and others who led sacrificial animals that had been adorned with garlands and gold-tipped horns for the goddess. There were young boys, and elders carrying sacred olive branches, military officers, soldiers and musicians and representatives of the various demes of Athens. And then there were the horsemen of the Panathenaea who are so magnificently represented on the Parthenon frieze.

The procession was not only a great show of worship for the Goddess Athena, but it was also an event in which Athenians showed their civic pride and military might.

The Peplos scene from the Parthenon Frieze

The centrepiece of the Panathenaic procession was the peplos of the goddess. This was an enormous, beautiful garment woven and embroidered for the goddess’ statue by the ergastinai, the sacred weavers, who were accompanied by priestesses. This sacred peplos of the goddess was suspended like a sail from the mast of a massive ship that supposedly moved through the streets by way of some ingenious mechanism that made it appear to sail on land. This Panathenaic ship may normally have been kept on a platform on the Hill of Agras beside the Panathenaic Stadium when not in use.

The sacred weavers, or ergastinai, from the Peplos scene of The Parthenon Frieze

The organization of the Greater Panathenaic procession was, no doubt, a massive task, and organizing all of the people and animals involved would have required a lot of planning. Gathering all of them for the start of the procession would have required a large space. The marshalling of everyone involved in the procession happened just inside the great Dipylon Gate of the city, at the Keramikos, the location of the potters’ district and cemetery, near where the River Eridanos entered the city.

The Dipylon Gate and Keramikos – marshalling area for the Panathenaic Procession

Once everyone was had marshalled for the procession in the early morning hours, they were arranged in a specific order and processed along the Panathenaic Way, from the Dipylon Gate, through the ancient agora and up to the staircase that led to the great propylaea onto the Acropolis itself. Along the way, offerings were made at altars to the gods, including Athena Hygiaea.

When the procession arrived on the Acropolis and the sacred peplos was offered to the goddess, it would have been time for the sacrifices. This involved the sacrifice of a hundred oxen – what is known as a hecatomb – at the great altar of Athena located on the Acropolis between the Parthenon and the Erechtheum.

The sacrificial oxen in the Panathenaic Procession – from The Parthenon Frieze

One can imagine the sacrifices, including the butchering, took the better part of the sixth day of the Panathenaea. During this time, the meat was apportioned out to each deme of the city to be distributed to the people.

On the seventh day of the Panathenaea, there were boat races that took place at Piraeus, the port of Athens. These were in honour of Poseidon and Athena who had both competed for patronage of that proud city. As Athens was a mighty sea power, this event also played an important part in displaying the city’s military might.

Finally, on the eighth day of the Greater Panathenaic Games, the prizes were given to the winners and runners-up from all competitions, making some of them very wealthy and famous as a result. There were then feasts and celebrations into the night.

Parthenon temple on a sunset with pink and purple clouds. Acropolis in Athens, Greece

One can imagine the excitement that gripped the city during the Panathenaea. Civic pride would have been at an all-time high, the city sparkling and adorned in honour of Athena. Greeks from across the Greek world would have come to Athens for the event, to watch, to compete, to trade, and to pay their respects to the goddess.

We have had but a brief look at the Panathenaea in this article, but in An Altar of Indignities, we get to experience the excitement and grandeur of the Panathenaea like never before, and the reader gets fully immersed in the central event, the Panathanaic Procession, along with all of its participants.

And how does an Etrurian theatre troupe fit in to this majestic festival of Ancient Athens?

You’ll have to dive into the book to find out!

Thank you for reading.

An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens is now available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook editions from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortar chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy and get ISBN#s information for the edition of your choice.

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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part VII – Herodes Atticus: The Man and his Deeds

Salvete Readers and Romanophiles!

Welcome back to The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we delve into the research that went into our new, dramatic and romantic comedy of ancient Rome and Athens.

If you missed Part VI on the Hill of Ardittos and the Temple of Artemis Agrotera in Athens, you can read that by clicking HERE.

Today, in Part VII of this blog series, we’re going to taking a brief look at the life of a man who successfully (most would agree) straddled the Greek and Roman divide in the second century C.E. This person exerted a great deal of influence in both societies and became one of the most well-known and, perhaps, important people of the age.

The person we are referring to is Herodes Atticus…

A Bust of Herodes Atticus

Herodes Atticus was born ‘Lucius Vibullius Hipparchus Tiberius Claudius Herodes Atticus’ in 101 C.E. at his family’s villa at Marathon, not far from Athens. His father was Herodes Atticus Tiberius Claudius, who was from a wealthy Athenian family. His mother was Vibullia Alcia Agrippina, a wealthy Roman heiress.

The family claimed mythological descent from Theseus and Cecrops of Athens, and from Aeacus, a king of Aegina and son of Zeus.

In the world of Classical Athens, the family of Herodes Atticus was directly related to the Athenian noblewoman, Elpinice, the half sister of the general and politician, Cimon of Athens (c. 510-450 B.C.E), and granddaughter of the hero-general of Marathon, Miltiades, Cimon’s father.

Concerning Herodes the Athenian the following facts ought to be known. Herodes the sophist on his father’s side belonged to a family which twice held consulships and also dated back to the house of the Aeacids, whom Greece once enlisted as allies against the Persian. Nor did he fail to be proud of Miltiades and Cimon, seeing that they were two very illustrious men and did great service to the Athenians and the rest of Greece in the wars with the Medes. For the former was the first to triumph over the Medes and the latter inflicted punishment on the barbarians for their insolent acts afterwards.

(Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, Book II, 2.1.1)

Helmet of Miltiades, given as an offering to Zeus at Olympia by Miltiades after the Battle of Marathon.

Herodes Atticus senior, like his son would do later, held important roles in the Roman administration. In 104 C.E. he was made Suffect Consul by Emperor Trajan, and then Procurator of Judaea in 107 C.E. Then, in 128 C.E. he was once more made Suffect Consul by Emperor Hadrian, after which he served as chief priest of the imperial cult at Athens. Perhaps most importantly however, Herodes Atticus senior became the first Athenian to be admitted to the Roman Senate.

The family’s ties to Rome went back even farther as Herodes Atticus’ great, great, great grandfather, Eucles, became close with Julius Caesar and Augustus, both of whom gave to Athens. Subsequently too, the family was granted Roman citizenship by the Emperor Claudius, and that is why the name ‘Claudius’ appears in the full names of Herodes Atticus senior and his son and heirs.

So, Herodes Atticus, of whom we are speaking today, came from a very privileged background and family that, as we shall see, enjoyed imperial favour.

The Forum Romanum with the Curia/Senate building at the back left, and the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina back centre (covered with scaffolding). This was the heart of Rome.

With all of this wealthy and illustrious background, however, what kind of life did Herodes Atticus lead? What sort of man did he become?

One could argue that Herodes Atticus could not have lived in more favourable circumstances, not just because of his family’s wealth and position, but also because he lived during what was perhaps the most prosperous period of the Roman Empire, during the reigns of three of its greatest emperors – Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius.

Emperor Hadrian

Because his father was a Roman senator, Herodes Atticus spent much of his childhood between Greece and Italy, although his cultural outlook remained largely Greek. As was the case with most young, wealthy noblemen, he received the very best education to prepare him for public life. He became a philosopher, a writer, a statesmen and, as we shall see later, a great patron and benefactor.

He was trained in the ‘Second Sophistic’ school of thought which flourished from the time of Nero until about 230 C.E. He was a student of the Roman sophist and skeptic philosopher, Favorinus, with whom he had a close relationship and from whom he inherited a vast library.

He made his way up Cursus Honorum, the ‘course of honours’ in a Roman political career, and had a talent for engineering, especially the design and construction of water supply systems. This talent and love of engineering would contribute to his patronage of great building projects in many cities across the Greek world.

Re-creation of Roman Athens around the time of Herodes Atticus

In 125 C.E., Emperor Hadrian, who was a friend, made Herodes Atticus Prefect of the cities of Asia that were under Roman control. After that posting, he returned to Athens to become a teacher. He was known as a fine speaker. He was also a writer, though little of his work survives except for a Latin translation of a story in Gellius, and a speech to the Athenian the council, the Boule.

In 140 C.E. Herodes Atticus was made Archon of Athens which, by that point in time during the Roman principate, meant that he was a sort of governor of the Athenians. We’ll discuss this relationship between the man and the people shortly.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Herodes Atticus’ career occurred when Emperor Antoninus Pius invited him to Rome to teach his two adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. This is an interesting turn, as Marcus Aurelius, as we know, would turn out to be one of the great Stoic philosophers of history and, as a Sophist, Herodes Atticus may have been quite against the precepts of stoicism. Nevertheless, this new posting put Herodes Atticus in the orbit of some of the most important and influential people of the age.

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

It was soon after this that Herodes Atticus was betrothed to a wealthy Roman aristocrat who was related to Faustina the Elder, the wife of Antoninus Pius. Her name was Appia Annia Regilla and she was just fourteen years old at the time, much younger than her new husband who was forty. They had a large landholding along the Appian Way known as the Triopio and they travelled frequently between Italy and Greece. Together, Atticus and Regilla had six children, three of whom – Elpinice, Athenais, and Atticus Bradua – survived to adulthood.

Then, in 143 C.E., Emperor Antoninus Pius made Herodes Atticus Consul of Rome.

With all of these prestigious postings, his marriage, and the trust given to him, it must have seemed like Herodes Atticus was blessed by the Gods, his star constantly on the rise…

No man employed his wealth to better purpose. And this we must not reckon a thing easy to achieve, but very difficult and arduous. For men who are intoxicated with wealth are wont to let loose a flood of insults on their fellow-men. And moreover they bring this reproach on Plutus that he is blind; but even if at all other times he appeared to be blind, yet in the case of Herodes he recovered his sight. For he had eyes for his friends, he had eyes for cities, he had eyes for whole nations, since the man watched over them all, and laid up the treasures of his riches in the hearts of those who shared them with him. For indeed he used to say that he who would use his wealth aright ought to give to the needy that they might cease to be in need, and to those that needed it not, lest they should fall into need; and he used to call riches that did not circulate and were tied up by parsimony “dead riches” and the treasure-chambers in which some men hoard their money “prison-houses of wealth”…

(Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, Book II, 2.1.1)

The Odeon of Herodes Atticus under the ruins of Acropolis, Athens, Greece. Horizontal.

It was this generosity, referred to by Philostratus, that Herodes Atticus is perhaps most famous for.

As a wealthy engineer, philanthropist, patron, benefactor, governor and consul, Herodes Atticus was well placed to make positive contributions to Greek and Roman society. His building projects in Asia Minor, Italy, and Greece were numerous and many of them survive to this day.

The most well-known monument to his generosity is, of course, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the ‘Herodeon’. He built this magnificent theatre in honour of his wife, Regilla, on the southwest slope of the Acropolis of Athens, and it is still used to this day as the main venue for the Athens Festival.

As the Odeon of Herodes Atticus is one of the main settings in An Altar of Indignities, we will discuss it more fully in a separate post in this blog series.

The other building projects paid for and sponsored by Herodes Atticus were also quite stunning as well.

The Panathenaic Stadium at the edge of Pangrati, with the Hill of Ardittos on the right

He renovated the ancient Panathenaic Stadium of Athens by rebuilding it in marble. If you have ever been to Athens to see this monument pressed up against the side of the Hill of Ardittos, you will know what a feat of engineering this was!

In Ancient Olympia, which was notorious for having a water shortage problem, Herodes Atticus attended the Olympic Games with his wife Regilla, who was permitted to also attend as an honorary priestess of Demeter. After having experienced the water problem there, he decided to build the Nymphaeum of Olympia which was a monumental fountain dedicated to the Nymphs and the Emperors of Rome. We should remember that water supply systems were his specialty when it came to engineering and this one was decorated with statues of the imperial family and his own family. By the next Olympiad, the Nymphaeum was operational.

The Nymphaeum of Olympia, designed and built by Herodes Atticus and Regalia. The inscription upon the bull reads “Regilla, priestess of Demeter, dedicated the water and the things around the water to Zeus.”

At various places throughout Greece, Herodes Atticus had aqueducts built, including at Marathon where he was born. This greatly improved the urban water infrastructure and supply to the city of Athens at the time. Today, the main water supply for the city comes from Lake Marathon, created by the modern dam there.

At Corinth, previously destroyed by the Romans long before, Herodes Atticus paid for the renovation of the existing theatre there, adapting it to better suit contemporary Roman tastes in performance venues such as a larger stage house, or scaena frons.

Herodes Atticus built various public buildings and facilities in Greece, including thermae, bathhouses, such as those at Thermopylae, site of the hot springs that gave the site its name, and on the island of Euboea not far from Athens. He also contributed to the building of gymnasia, athletic facilities and educational institutions, across the Greek-speaking world.

In addition to the grand projects above, Herodes Atticus saw to the improvement of infrastructure in several cities and regions by building and improving Roman roads and other urban amenities with the aim of improving connectivity and civic life.

It is no wonder that he was responsible for more building projects in the Empire than any other citizen, other than Rome’s emperors. As Philostratus alluded, Herodes Atticus was celebrated for his generosity and dedication to the arts, infrastructure, and the cultural revival of Greek cities under Roman rule.

Impression of Herodes Atticus and his young wife, Regilla

It probably seemed that Herodes Atticus could do no wrong, or that everyone loved him.

Certainly, before this research, I thought that was the case as well. But, as history teaches us, those who are adored and privileged often fall even harder than the average person. And Herodes Atticus was no exception.

While it seems that most people admired the man, including Emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, there were those who sought to bring him down.

In the 150s C.E., Herodes Atticus apparently had quite a large quarrel with another imperial tutor by the name of Fronto who was from Cirta, in Numidia, and was the tutor in Latin rhetoric to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Whether the argument was over their shared students, we do not know for certain, but the quarrel was worthy of record.

Herodes Atticus was also later publicly accused by the Athenians who complained to Emperor Marcus Aurelius of his allegedly tyrannical behaviour. This, however, was dealt with after the emperor mediated between Herodes Atticus and the people of Athens. The two parties were reconciled, and the people of Athens honoured him again.

The darkest shadow to hang over Herodes Atticus, however, relates to the tragic death of his wife, Regilla, when she was eight months pregnant with their sixth child in 160 C.E.

Apparently, Herodes Atticus’ freedman – a man named Alcimedon – brutally kicked Regilla in the abdomen causing her to go into premature labour.

Regilla and the baby died, and accusations of domestic abuse were brought against Herodes Atticus by Regilla’s brother, the Consul Appius Annius Atilius Bradua, who accused Atticus of having ordered his freedman to deliver the beating. Philostratus relates the tale…

A charge of murder was also brought against Herodes, and it was made up in this way. His wife Regilla, it was said, was in the eighth month of her pregnancy, and Herodes ordered his freedman Alcimedon to beat her for some slight fault, and the woman died in premature childbirth from a blow to the belly. On these grounds, as though true, Regilla‘s brother Braduas brought a suit against him for murder. He was a very illustrious man of consular rank, and the outward sign of his high birth, a crescent-shaped ivory buckle, was attached to his sandal. And when Braduas appeared before the Roman tribunal he brought no convincing proof of the charge that he was making, but delivered a long panegyric on himself dealing with his own family. Whereupon Herodes jested at his expense and said: “You have your pedigree on your toe-joints.” And when his accuser boasted too of his benefactions to one of the cities of Italy, Herodes said with great dignity: “I too could have recited many such actions of my own in whatever part of the earth I were now being tried.” Two things helped him in his defence. First that he had given orders for no such severe measures against Regilla; secondly, his extraordinary grief at her death. Even this was regarded as a pretence and made a charge against him, but nevertheless the truth prevailed. For he never would have dedicated to her memory so fine a theatre [the Herodeon of Athens] nor would he have postponed for her sake the casting of lots for his second consulship, if he had not been innocent of the charge; nor again would he have made an offering of her apparel at the temple of Eleusis, if he had been polluted by a murder when he brought it, for this was more likely to turn the goddesses into avengers of the murder than to win their pardon.

(Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, Book II, 2.1.6)

Tomb presumed to be that of Annia Regilla in Rome’s Caffarella Park (Wikimedia Commons)

It is truly a tragic episode in the life of so seemingly great a man. Was he speaking the truth? Did his freedman lash out of his own accord for some unknown reason? Or was this yet another horrific case of domestic abuse to add to the sad tables of history?

It is possible that Herodes Atticus’ extreme grief was feigned, that the delaying his bid for the consulship was a necessary inconvenience, and even that the building of the great odeon in Athens, in honour or Regilla, was something he had planned on doing anyway.

But Philostratus does make an excellent point in the end. If Herodes Atticus was guilty of murder, would he have dared to offer Appia Annia Regilla’s clothing to the Goddess Demeter at her holy sanctuary in Eleusis? Regilla had been an honorary priestess of the goddess, remember, so to do such a thing while tainted with blood-guilt would indeed have been spiritually damning to Herodes Atticus. This would have been an extremely serious offence to the Gods in ancient religion.

Was it this one act that saved Herodes Atticus and proved his innocence?

Whether it was this, a discussion behind closed doors with his old tutor, or other factors, Emperor Marcus Aurelius declared that the charges against Herodes Atticus were unproven and he exonerated him.

Acropolis of Athens with the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in the middle.

Herodes Atticus never married again.

The odeon was finished soon after his wife’s death, and he fell ill with a sort of wasting disease which eventually took his life in 177 C.E.

The people of Athens, who had loved him, and who also despised him for a short time, are said to have buried him in the Panathenaic Stadium which he had renovated, or on the sacred Hill of Ardittos beside it.

Despite the tragic end, Herodes Atticus and Appia Annia Regilla were considered two of the greatest benefactors of Greece and especially of Athens. Streets are named after them today – Herodou Attikou St., and Regillis Street and Square in Athens. In Rome, their names are recorded on the modern streets in the Quarto Miglio, in the area of Triopio where they had their lands.

But there can be no doubt that their biggest legacies are the many grand monuments of infrastructure and art that they gave to the people of Rome’s empire, and it is this legacy that comes down to us today.

Thank you for reading.

The Athens of Herodes Atticus, and the monuments he built and renovated for his beloved city, come alive in our story and provide the settings for An Altar of Indignities.

An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens is now available in ebook, paperback and deluxe hardcover edition from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortal chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy and get ISBN#s information for the edition of your choice.

 

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New Release! – The Asp of Saqqara: A Novel of Alexander the Great

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

Today, Eagles and Dragons Publishing is thrilled to announce the launch of an all new title and series set during one of the most exciting periods in ancient history: the campaigns of Alexander the Great.

This book is unlike any other work that we’ve previously released. It’s the first book that Adam has written from a first person perspective, and it is in the form of a fictional memoir that gives readers an intimate look at one of the most epic journeys in history.

We are proud to announce the launch of The Asp of Saqqara: A Novel of Alexander the Great, Book I in the ‘Killing a God’ series.

It is the story of an assassin, the son of a god, and an epic journey into the unknown…

Would you kill a god to save your family?

On the fringes of the great necropolis of Saqqara, Hanbal, son of Akil, has always lived a life of peace and plenty on his family’s horse farm. That is, until the hordes of King Darius’ Persian army arrive and the people of Egypt find themselves persecuted and enslaved, and their ancient gods disrespected.

When Hanbal’s family and fortune are destroyed by the invaders, he takes up the mantle of an assassin, one who fights from the shadows for the people of Egypt.

Then, one day, hope springs out of the west at the coming of Alexander of Macedon and his army. The land of Egypt is liberated and the people welcome their new pharaoh with open arms.

That hope, however, turns to bitter disappointment for Hanbal the day that two Athenian spies appear at his door with an ultimatum…

He must kill Alexander of Macedon or else lose his wife and children to pain and death.

Can Hanbal save his family? Can he bring himself to kill the king who has liberated his homeland? Or will he be swept away in a river of blood to the ends of the Earth?

Only the Gods know…

We are thrilled to release this latest novel, and we hope that you all enjoy it!

The Asp of Saqqara is now available in ebook, paperback, and deluxe hardcover editions from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortar chains, and your local public library.

It is available for a limited time for the special launch price of 1.99!

CLICK HERE to buy a copy, get ISBN# information for the edition of your choice, and check out all new merchandise related to this epic new release!

You can also purchase the ebook directly from Eagles and Dragons Publishing by clicking HERE.

We’re so excited to share this exciting new adventure in the ancient world with you!

Thank you for reading!

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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part VI – The Hill of Ardittos and the Temple of Artemis Agrotera

Happy New Year, and welcome back to The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we look at some of the research that went into our latest novel set in the Roman Empire.

If you missed Part V on the Roman Agora of Athens, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part VI, we’re going to be exploring two ancient sites that are not really known to the average tourist but which were important in the world of ancient Athens: the Hill of Ardittos, and the Temple of Artemis Agrotera.

We hope you find it interesting…

In deciding to set An Altar of Indignities in Athens, I came to discover a history of the neighbourhood of Pangrati which I had not been aware of. Our family home is located in Pangrati, where I had been coming for over twenty-five years, and yet it was the research for this dramatic and romantic comedy of ancient Rome and Athens that helped me to truly discover its ancient past.

Pangrati is located on the lower slopes of Mount Hymettos, just the other side of the sacred Ilissos river which now runs from the shadow of the Temple of Olympian Zeus and then curves around beneath the modern streets of Ardittou and Vasileos Konstantinou. It is a neighbourhood of local families who have inhabited it for generations, and who now share their streets with artists and immigrants. The streets are lined with apartment blocks where people and drying laundry hang over the edges of run-down balconies watching the world go by and listening to the chorus coming from the weekly farmer’s markets, or laiki as they are called.

To me, however, beneath the grubby veneer of graffiti, trash, and construction dust, I can now see the rich and wondrous history of this ancient neighbourhood. And I don’t mean the beautiful curves of the massive Panathenaic stadium at Pangrati’s edge, first built by Lycurgus in 339 B.C.E, which we mentioned in Part III of this blog series.

Rather, I mean the mysterious hills of Agras and Ardittos that flank the stadium in the Ilissos river valley, particularly, the Hill of Ardittos, and the Temple of Artemis Agrotera beside it.

These are the two sites we will focus on.

The Panathenaic Stadium at the edge of Pangrati, with the Hill of Ardittos on the right

The hill of Ardittos in Athens lies directly beside the Panathenaic Stadium, to your right as you stand before the ancient athletic monument, between Archimidous and Arditou streets. It is about two-hundred and thirty-five meters high and can only really be accessed from behind the stadium at the entrance on Archimidous street.

The Hill of Ardittos is a small green oasis in the middle of the chaotic city, and it is often overlooked, despite its guarded stance beside the Panathenaic Stadium. Its pathways and slopes are dotted with massive agave plants and eucalyptus, cacti, pine, olive, almond, cypress and carob trees where crows – the birds of Apollo – keep a watchful eye.

Admittedly, I had walked by the hill many times over the years, simply noting its ancient slopes, the gnarled vegetation and the rocks protruding from beneath the soil. To be sure, the fence around it dissuaded me before, even as I walked by the hill on my way to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the neighbourhood around the Acropolis, the Plaka.

Ardittos is a community park where locals jog, walk their dogs, workout, make-out, sneak a peek of paid events in the stadium, or just hold to a little peace at the heart of the city.

If you can find your way there through the steep and winding roads and pathways of Pangrati, you are rewarded with magnificent views of the stadium, the Acropolis, and the Olympeion, the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

View of the Acropolis from the Hill of Ardittos (photo source: ekathimerini.com – Irene Anastasiadis)

Apparently, Ardittos was named after a hero of ancient Athens named, Arditis. In ancient times, there were several sanctuaries in the vicinity, along the shores of the Ilissos, including sanctuaries of the Nine Muses, Pan, and Herakles.

But the Hill of Ardittos itself was also a religious and legal centre. It is believed that there were temples to Pan, Hecate, and Hera on or near the hill, but the remains that are visible today are thought to belong to the Temple of Tyche, the Goddess of Luck, who was a daughter of the Titans, Oceanus and Tethys.

Remains of the Temple of Tyche on the Hill of Ardittos (Wikimedia Commons)

Archaeologists and historians believe it possible that the Temple of Tyche on Ardittos was the site of offerings to Demeter and Persephone during the lesser Eleusinian Mysteries when piglets were offered, purified in the Ilissos River beforehand. There were also rites carried out here in honour of Dionysos during the festival of the Anthesteria.

There is no doubt that the Hill of Ardittos holds many mysteries, including a tradition that Herodes Atticus, that great Greco-Roman patron of the city, may even have been buried on it.

As I walk around Pangrati, a part of me doesn’t see the broken marble sidewalks or the apartment buildings that jut up to provide shade from the hot Athenian sun. Rather, I imagine and see the wooded lower slopes of Hymettos thick with pine and cypress, bees flitting about wild thyme, and boar crashing through the scrub while ancient Athenians made their offerings, or herded their goats and sheep on the mountainside.

It must have been beautiful and calm.

Artemis – The Huntress

According to legend, it was not only the Athenians who roamed the wooded slopes of Ardittos, Agras, and Hymettos.

This was also said to be the domain of Artemis Agrotera, the Huntress.

Just the other side of the Hill of Ardittos, there is another site that provides one of the settings for An Altar of Indignities, and that is the Temple of Artemis Agrotera.

Pausanias described the setting in the second century C.E:

The rivers that flow through Athenian territory are the Ilissos and its tributary the Eridanus, whose name is the same as that of the Celtic river. This Ilissos is the river by which Oreithyia was playing when, according to the story, she was carried off by the North Wind. With Oreithyia he lived in wedlock, and because of the tie between him and the Athenians he helped them by destroying most of the foreigners’ warships. The Athenians hold that the Ilissos is sacred to other deities as well, and on its bank is an altar of the Ilissian Muses. The place too is pointed out where the Peloponnesians killed Codrus, son of Melanthus and king of Athens.

Across the Ilissos is a district called Agrae and there is a temple of Artemis Agrotera (the Huntress). They say that Artemis first hunted here when she came from Delos, and for this reason the statue carries a bow. A marvel to the eyes, though not so impressive to hear of, is a race-course of white marble, the size of which can best be estimated from the fact that beginning in a crescent on the heights above the Ilissos it descends in two straight lines to the river bank. This was built by Herodes [Herodes Atticus], an Athenian, and the greater part of the Pentelic quarry was exhausted in its construction.

(Pausanias; Description of Greece, 1.19)

Antiquarian plate of facade of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera (by Stuart and Revett)

When we went in search of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera, it was on a hot Athenian morning when the temperature had already reached a blistering 45 degrees Celsius. Our path took us down the hill from Pangrati to the back of the Panathenaic Stadium, along Archimidous street, and then past the entrance to the Hill of Ardittos. We sweat our way up and down the steep side streets of the ancient district of Agrae until, arriving at Ardittou street, we found a lot where no apartment blocks stood.

We had arrived at the site of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera to find this:

Modern site of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera wit the Acropolis in the background

It was indeed a shock to behold this, but before we go any further, here is bit of history of the once-graceful temple that stood on this site…

The Temple of Artemis Agrotera was built between 435-430 B.C.E above the left or southern bank of the Ilissos river. But the temple was not only built here because this wood was thought to be the goddess’ first hunting ground.

Apparently, before the great Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.E, when the Athenians crushed a more numerous invading Persian force, the Athenians made a vow to Artemis Agrotera – they were going on the hunt, after all! – that a goat would be sacrificed to her for every enemy killed in battle. The Athenians slew 6,400 Persian invaders.

Needless to say, the Athenians could not find enough goats to fulfill their vow to the goddess, but 500 goats were offered every year on the anniversary of the battle in early September.

For when the Persians and their followers came with a vast array to blot Athens out of existence, the Athenians dared, unaided, to withstand them, and won the victory. And while they had vowed to Artemis that for every man they might slay of the enemy they would sacrifice a goat to the goddess, they were unable to find goats enough; so they resolved to offer five hundred every year, and this sacrifice they are paying even to this day. 

(Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.2)

Antiquarian plate of the plan of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera (by Stuart and Revett)

The temple to honour Artemis Agrotera, who had helped the Athenians, was built some years later by Callicrates, who also designed the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis, and for which it provided the precedent.

There were no precise, ancient descriptions of the temple of Artemis Agrotera. Thankfully, in the 1750s, two curious architects by the names of James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, went in search of the temple and recorded the details of what they saw, sketching what they could. Thanks to them, we know what the temple looked like.

Antiquarian plate of Temple of Artemis Agrotera architectural details (by Stuart and Revett)

On the southern bank of the Ilissos… stands a little Ionic temple, the mouldings of which differ much from all the examples of that order, hitherto published; their forms are extremely simple, but withal so elegant, and the whole is so well executed, that it may doubtless be reckoned among those works of antiquity which best deserve our attention.

(Stuart and Revett, The Antiquities of Athens, Volume l, 1762, Chapter 2, Page 7)

From Revett and Stuart’s records, it was a simple temple with four Ionic columns on the front porch, or tetrastyle, as well as four at the back. It had a deep pronaos, and a square cella, or inner sanctum, something that is thought to be unique to this temple. There was also a continuous frieze about the temple, fragments of which are now in the Staatliche Museum in Berlin.

There was also a temple precinct created by a low retaining wall, remains of which, along with parts of the temple foundations, are visible on-site today.

As happened with many ancient temples, the Temple of Artemis Agrotera was converted into a Christian basilica in the 5th century C.E. Sadly, it was later destroyed for building materials by the Ottomans when they occupied Athens.

Gouache painting of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera’s ruins (by Stuart)

As you stand on the site today, it is difficult to imagine the temple as it once was, on the edge of the wood, offerings crowding its altars, inside and out. Where the sacred Ilissos once flowed, sparkling in the Athenian sun, cars and mopeds now shake the ground. But you can still stand at the edge of the ancient wall of the temple precinct and gaze across the modern layer of the city to see the Temple of Olympian Zeus with the soaring beacon of the Acropolis beyond. What a site it must have been!

3D recreation of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera with the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Acropolis in the background (Dimitris Tsalkanis & Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos – www.AncientAthens3d.com)

When you are finished reading this article, be sure to watch our video tour of this archaeological site!

In researching and writing An Altar of Indignities, I came to discover the Hill of Ardittos and the Temple of Artemis Agrotera, and their importance in the mythology and history of the landscape of ancient Athens. Both became settings in the book and the story is the richer for it.

When I make my way around Athens today, I don’t follow the names of streets, but rather use the city’s ancient sites as my markers to guide me to where I want to go. Now, in addition to the stadium, I also have the Hill of Ardittos and the Temple of Artemis Agrotera to guide me on my way.

Thank you for reading.

An Altar of Indignities is now available in ebook, paperback and deluxe hardcover edition from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortal chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy and get ISBN#s information for the edition of your choice.

 

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Silver for Heart of Fire: A Novel of the Ancient Olympics!

 

Happy New Year!

Eagles and Dragons Publishing is thrilled to announce that Adam and Heart of Fire: A Novel of the Ancient Olympics have won SILVER in the ‘Jules Verne Historical Fantasy and Sci-Fi’ category of the 2024 Historical Fiction Company (HFC) book awards.

See the full list of winners HERE.

On top of this award, earlier in 2024 The Historical Fiction Company awarded Heart of Fire the ‘Highly-Recommended’ Award of Excellence, and also wrote a lengthy and shining editorial review of the book. You can read the full review on the Historical Fiction Company’s website at the link below:

https://www.thehistoricalfictioncompany.com/post/a-mercenary-a-princess-olympic-glory-an-editorial-review-of-heart-of-fire

This past autumn, Heart of Fire also won the ‘Distinguished Favorite’ award in the Historical Fiction category of the 2024 NYC Big Book Award competition.

We are all very proud of this epic novel’s international successes!

If you haven’t read this award-winning book, you can get a copy at the following link:

https://eaglesanddragonspublishing.com/books/heart-of-fire-a-novel-of-the-ancient-olympics/  

Thank you to all of our fans and readers, and thank you for reading!

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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part V – The Roman Agora of Athens

Welcome back to The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we are taking a look at some of the research that went into our latest novel set in the Roman Empire.

If you missed Part IV on food and dining in Roman society, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part V, we are going to be taking a tour of the commercial heart of Roman Athens, that is, the Roman Agora of Athens.

We hope you find it interesting…

Aerial photo of the Roman Agora of Athens with the gate of Athena Archegetis in the foreground

When one thinks of the great cities of the ancient world the first that most often comes to mind is Athens. It is a beacon of light, learning, and invention in the far-distant past that continues to inspire and influence us to this day.

It is also my second home, for I have been fortunate enough to return to Athens many times over the years to visit family, and to acquaint myself with the countless historical monuments that still stand, from the Parthenon and Kerameikos, to the often overlooked shrines along the Ilissos River which runs beneath the city streets.

When I find my way around the city of Athens, I do so by way of its ancient monuments. They have always been my guides, my markers for navigating the warren of streets and alleyways of the city of the Goddess Athena.

Athens, Greece – Monastiraki Square and ancient Acropolis with rainbow

But Athens is not just a place for those fascinated by mythological and Classical Greece. There is also a great deal for the most ardent of Romanophiles to see, for ancient Athens was loved and admired by a few Roman emperors, foremost among them being Hadrian (A.D. 117-138).

The Roman Agora of Athens is one of the main settings in An Altar of Indignities and, without spoiling any of the story, it is the site of a most riotous chapter.

Before we get into my visit to the site, we should talk a bit about its history and what there is to see…

Plan of the Roman Agora

The agora of an ancient Greek city was the central public gathering place. It was the political, social, business, athletic, and religious heart of the city. The agora was where anything of import happened or was decided.

And the city of Athens was, later in its history, fortunate enough to have two of them.

The first agora of Athens was, of course, the ancient one located at the northwest corner of the Acropolis and covering the area between it, the Areopagus, and the massive Dipylon Gate of the city. And the great route of the Panathenaic Way ran through it, all the way to the entrance to the Acropolis.

The ancient agora was filled stoas and temples and monuments to heroes and to the Gods. There were fountains, a library, a mint, offices, altars, sanctuaries and more. And in around 14 B.C., the Roman general, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa built an odeon in the middle of the ancient agora which had an auditorium for about one thousand spectators.

The Roman Agora from the eastern propylon

Just prior to the time that General Agrippa built his odeon, another building project began to take place in the city of Athens, this time sponsored by Emperor Augustus in fulfillment of a promise previously made by Gaius Julius Caesar. This new project was the Roman Agora, also known as the ‘Roman Forum’ of Athens. It was begun in 19 B.C. and finally finished in 11 B.C.

It is said that the reason for this new building project was because the ancient agora had become so full of monuments and buildings that there was no longer a wide open, public gathering place. As we shall see, the new Roman Agora would serve other purposes.

Gate of Athena Archegetis

The new agora, built by Caesar (posthumously) and Augustus, became the commercial centre of Roman Athens and the main oil market of the city. It was the beating heart of Roman Athens.

The monumental western entrance to the agora at the Gate of Athena Archegetis confirms who sponsored the building of the gate and agora with the following inscription:

The People of Athens from the donations offered by Gaius Julius Caesar the God and the Reverend Emperor son of God To Athena Archegetis, on behalf of the soldiers of Eukles from Marathon, who curated it on behalf of his father Herod and who was also an ambassador under the archon Nicias, son of Sarapion, from the demos of Athmonon

Of course, it was dedicated to Athena as the patron goddess of the city, and because it was Athena who had given Athens the olive tree, and hence the all-important olive oil which was sold in the agora.

The importance of the Roman agora as Athens’ main oil market during the Roman period is also reinforced by the inscription bearing Hadrian’s olive oil law on the doorway of the agora which outlined taxes and fines for false declarations of the production, export, or sale of olive oil there.

Atop the Gate of Athena Archegetis was an equestrian statue of Lucius Caesar, the grandson of Emperor Augustus.

The Roman Agora of Athens consisted of a large paved, open-air courtyard that was surrounded by colonnades of white and grey marble from the mountains of Penteli and Hymettos. The colonnades were covered and had spaces for shops and merchants selling various goods, storerooms, the offices of the market, and a fountain.

There were two propylaea, including the Gate of Athena Archegetis at the west end, and another propylon at the east end. Both entrances aligned with the ancient roads at either side.

The ‘South Colonnade’ with the remains of the fountains and agora offices on the left

Today, about a third of the north side of the Roman Agora lies beneath the modern streets and buildings, but the south colonnade remains largely intact. Remains, including inscriptions on columns, show that parts of the colonnade were set aside for specific merchants such as oil merchants or butchers. In some of the surviving stylobates, there are also round cavities of varying sizes in the marble that are supposed to have been used to measure out goods.

In the middle of the south colonnade, there was also a fountain with two cisterns at different levels. This was fed from springs on the north slope of the Acropolis just to the south. Also in this location were the market offices where citizens and merchants could pay taxes and take care of other business.

When there was heavy rain, the large court of the agora had an open air drain which allowed for runoff to be carried underground and diverted to the Eridanos River.

Tower of the Winds behind the eastern propylon of the agora

The Roman Agora today is, perhaps, most famous for what is known as the ‘Tower of the Winds’.

This octagonal structure, located just outside the eastern wall of the Roman Agora, contained the horologion built by the astronomer, Andronikos Kyrestes, in the mid 1st century B.C.

The Roman architect, Vitruvius, wrote about the tower in his work De Architectura…

…those who have inquired more diligently lay down that there are eight (winds): especially indeed Andronikos of Kyrrhos, who also, as an example, built at Athens an octagonal marble tower, and, on the several sides of the octagon, had representations of the winds carved to face their currents. And above that tower he caused to be made a marble upright, and above it he placed a bronze Triton holding a rod in his right hand. He so contrived that it was driven round by the wind, and always faced the current of air, and held the rod as indicator above the representation of the wind blowing. 

(Vitruvius, De Architectura, c. 20s B.C.)

The Tower of the Winds is said to be the oldest meteorological station in the world with sundials on the exterior, a hydraulic clock inside, and its bronze weather vane on top indicating the eight winds which is thought to have allowed merchants in the agora to know the winds and estimate the arrival of shipments coming from the port of Piraeus.

Lastly, a few steps from the Tower of the Winds, also just outside the main precinct of the Roman Agora was a large public latrine, or vespasianae, with openings on four sides with a small court for ventilation.

The Roman Agora and the large precinct of the great Library of Hadrian beside it made this area the main administrative centre of the city of Athens, supplanting the classical agora in this role, especially after the Herulian invasion of Athens in A.D. 267.

Adam exploring the Roman Agora

As stated, this was not my first time visiting the Roman Agora of Athens. The site has also appeared in the #1 bestselling Eagles and Dragons series prequel novel, A Dragon Among the Eagles. However, each time I go, it is with a different purpose and perspective. This time, it was to research it as a setting for An Altar of Indignities.

We left our home in Pangrati early so as to try and beat the heat, and because archaeological sites were closing from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. during the heatwave. Nevertheless, when we arrived it was a scorching 45 degrees Celsius with no intact colonnades to hide beneath as they would have had when the agora was whole.

After making our way through the crammed alleyways of Plaka and Monastiraki, we purchased our tickets at the office across the street and made our way in beside the Gate of Athena Archegetis.

Remains on-site

Once you enter, you are struck by the expanse of the open courtyard of the agora, even though a large portion of it is covered by the streets and buildings to your left. From there, you make your way along the remains of the south colonnade. Here, there are numerous column capitals, a sarcophagus, and other artifacts lying in the parched grass beneath palms where the resident cats and lizards doze and scurry.

As I walked, I could almost hear the crowds of the market around me, the sounds of the merchants selling their wares. I could imagine the tang of the olive oil in my nostrils. The marble courtyard must have been blinding in the midday sun, but one has to imagine that most of the shops would have closed by the sixth hour of daylight for the afternoon rest, as the Greeks and Romans were wont to do.

Site of fountain in the Roman Agora

We walked past the fountain and the remains of offices in the middle of the south colonnade and, at the end, found the carved hollows in the stylobate where merchants measured out (fairly, one hopes!) products such as grain or beans.

From there, the small forest of columns and a staircase indicate that you have reached the eastern propylon, the monumental entrance on the other side of the agora. As you walk up the stairs, you are keenly aware of the presence of what is the focal point of the archaeological site: The Tower of the Winds.

The Tower of the Winds – the oldest meteorological station in the world

The Tower of the Winds is a mesmerizing monument, as simple as it is. But one cannot take one’s eyes off of the images of the winds portrayed about the top. The smooth, white marble surface is beautiful, the lines of the sundials faintly visible.

One can imagine the citizens of ancient Athens walking up to it to check the time, the same as some do today with modern clock towers on some city halls. But this was the heart of Roman Athens, and so this meteorological monument was a fitting addition to this ancient gathering place.

Interior floor of the Tower of the Winds which held the mechanism of the water clock of the ‘horologion’

After exploring the area around the Tower of the Winds, including the vespasianae, the public latrine, we walked back across the open space of the great courtyard, taking time to pause.

I imagined this vast, ancient market place bustling with life, filled with people, with myriad things for sale, and the scenes of my novel that I was searching for began to take shape. I could see a beautiful comedic chaos unfolding!

For a writer of historical fiction, the city of Athens is a dream come true, for the bones of the ancient world are still there to see, to feel, and to inspire.

As the heat reached a literal fever pitch, I was finished with my research for the day and sought the nearest taverna for a cold drink in the shade, something which the Greeks and Romans would gladly have done at that time of day.

Thank you for reading.

Be sure to check out the video of our tour of The Roman Agora of Athens in order to experience this site for yourself. You can view it below, or visit the Eagles and Dragons Publishing YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE.

There are more posts coming in The World of An Altar or Indignities, so make sure that you are subscribed to the Eagles and Dragons Publishing Newsletter so that you don’t miss any of them. When you subscribe you get the first prequel book in our #1 best-selling Eagles and Dragons series for FREE!

If you haven’t yet read any books in The Etrurian Players series, we highly recommend you begin with the multi award-winning first book Sincerity is a Goddess: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome.

In celebration of drama in the ancient world, be sure to check out our ‘Ancient Theatre’ Collection in the Eagles and Dragons Publishing AGORA on Etsy which features a range of ancient theatre-themed clothing, glassware and more! CLICK HERE to browse.

An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens is now available in ebook, paperback and deluxe hardcover editions from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortar chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy or get ISBN# information for the edition of your choice.

Brace yourselves! The Etrurian Players are back!

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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part IV – Food and Dining in Roman Society

Readers and History-lovers!

Welcome back to The World of An Altar of Indignities, the blog series in which we share the research for our latest novel, An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens.

If you missed the third post on Roman monuments of Athens, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In part four of this blog series, we’re going to be looking at food and dining practices in the Roman world because, let’s face it, food is a big part of culture, past and present!

Let’s get started.

Recreation of Roman foods

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 the 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 we 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 puls were 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 the hive.

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.

Roman pans and skillets for cooking

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 acetum akin to wine vinegar. It might have had a bite, but perhaps it helped to keep one’s innards clean?

We prefer medieval Chianti Classico.

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.

Fresco of a Roman dining scene

Now 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!

Imagine you’re invited to an evening cena at 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! We 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)

We hope you’ve enjoyed this article on food and dining in Roman society.

In researching this topic for An Altar of Indignities, and for other books such as Saturnalia: A Tale of Wickedness and Redemption in Ancient Rome, and Isle of the Blessed, we found that some of our modern perceptions 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!

Thank you for reading.

What a Roman market might have looked like.

There are more posts coming in The World of An Altar or Indignities, so make sure that you are subscribed to the Eagles and Dragons Publishing Newsletter so that you don’t miss any of them. When you subscribe you get the first prequel book in our #1 best-selling Eagles and Dragons series for FREE!

If you haven’t yet read any books in The Etrurian Players series, we highly recommend you begin with the multi award-winning first book Sincerity is a Goddess: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome.

In celebration of drama in the ancient world, be sure to check out our ‘Ancient Theatre’ Collection in the Eagles and Dragons Publishing AGORA on Etsy which features a range of ancient theatre-themed clothing, glassware and more! CLICK HERE to browse.

An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens is now available in ebook, paperback and deluxe hardcover editions from all major online retailers, independent bookstores, brick and mortar chains, and your local public library.

CLICK HERE to buy a copy or get ISBN# information for the edition of your choice.

Brace yourselves! The Etrurian Players are back!

 

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New Video Tour! – The Temple of Artemis Agrotera

Greetings History-Lovers and Hellenophiles!

Eagles and Dragons Publishing is proud to present a new video tour on our YouTube and Rumble pages.

The Temple of Artemis Agrotera was a small Ionic temple that once sat on the hill the other side of the sacred Ilissos river

This is a site that most visitors to Athens never see, and also one which many locals don’t even know about. It is also one of the settings in An Altar of Indignities, Book II in our award-winning series, The Etrurian Players.

This beautiful temple on the lower slopes of Hymettos, beside the Hill of Ardittos, was built by the Athenians between c.435-430 B.C.E. in honour of the Goddess Artemis Agrotera (Artemis the Huntress) in thanks for their mighty victory at the battle of Marathon years before, in 490 B.C.E.

For when the Persians and their followers came with a vast array to blot Athens out of existence, the Athenians dared, unaided, to withstand them, and won the victory. And while they had vowed to Artemis that for every man they might slay of the enemy they would sacrifice a goat to the goddess, they were unable to find goats enough; so they resolved to offer five hundred every year, and this sacrifice they are paying even to this day.

(Xenophon, Anabasis, 3.2)

This temple was of the same order and style as the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis of Athens for both of them were designed and built by the architect, Callicrates.

It occupied a prominent position on the other side of the Ilissos river as Plutarch relayed in the first century C.E…

Across the Ilisos is a district called Agrae and a temple of Artemis Agrotera the Huntress). They say that Artemis first hunted here when she came from Delos, and for this reason the statue carries a bow. A marvel to the eyes, though not so impressive to hear of, is a race-course of white marble, the size of which can best be estimated from the fact that beginning in a crescent on the heights above the Ilisos it descends in two straight lines to the river bank. This was built by Herodes, an Athenian, and the greater part of the Pentelic quarry was exhausted in its construction.

(Plutarch, Description of Greece, 1.19)

In the 5th century C.E. the temple was converted into a Christian basilica. Centuries later, it was destroyed by the Turkish invaders for building materials.

Today, on the edge of the neighbourhood of Pangrati, the temple remains are scant and in sad disrepair, but they still have an echo of Athens’ ancient and sacred past.

Now, without further ado, join us on a short tour of the archaeological site of the Temple of Artemis Agrotera.

*Eagles and Dragons Publishing would like to thank Dimitris Tsalkanis & Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos of Ancient Athens 3D for permitting the use of their amazing 3D renderings of this beautiful temple for the video. Visit their website at: www.AncientAthens3d.com

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