Ancient Rome

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The World of The Hearts of Heroes – Part VII – Alexander Severus: The End of the Severan Dynasty

Greetings Readers and Romanophiles!

Welcome back to The World of The Hearts of Heroes, the blog series in which we are exploring the history, people, and places behind-the-scenes of the newest Eagles and Dragons historical fantasy novel. 

If you missed the previous post on the very first church at Glastonbury, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In this seventh and final article, we’re going to look at the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-235) and how it brought about the end of the Severan dynasty.

Let’s begin…

The Severan Dynasty (Wikimedia Commons)

Sunt lacrimae rerum et mentem mortalia tangunt.

‘There are tears for things, and mortal sorrows touch the heart.’

(Virgil, The Aeneid, 1.462)

It has been quite an adventure getting to this point in the Eagles and Dragons series for, like the hero Aeneas looking back on his memories of war and toil above, my time spent with the Severans, researching and writing about them, has come to an end.

The Severan dynasty is, strangely enough, often overlooked by historians, authors, and scriptwriters who tend to focus on the sensational Julio-Claudians or the stoic Antonines. This is somewhat surprising as the years from A.D. 193 to A.D. 235 not only saw the Roman Empire at its greatest extent and power, but the period also, as is believed by some historians, brought about the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire.

However, it was the lack of attention to the Severans that provided the opportunity with this series of books to cut a new path to explore the history of this dynasty through fiction. From the powerful rise of Septimius Severus and the ‘Syrian women’, their actions, and the mistakes of their heirs, we have received a masterclass in the nature of power and politics, the importance of military might, and the fragility of the Pax Romana. We have learned about the two-faced nature of trust and the fickle ways of fortune.

The dynasty that Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211) established through sheer will, blood, and determination eventually came to a lamentable end due to flawed nature of familial love, the shortcomings of his successors, and the jealousies and aspirations of others.

The Hearts of Heroes takes place in the final years of the Severans, during the reign of its last emperor, Alexander Severus. As we shall see, at the outset of his reign, he provided a much-needed glimmer of hope during a dark period in Rome’s history, but it was not enough to prevent the eventual downfall of that once-powerful family…

Map of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent (Oxford Research Encyclopedias)

Before we get into the reign of Alexander Severus, it is important to look at the brief reign of his slightly older cousin, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, known to us as Emperor Elagabalus, or ‘Heliogabalus’ (A.D. 218-222).

Elagabalus was the son of Julia Soaemias who was the daughter of the power Syrian woman, Julia Maesa, sister to Empress Julia Domna. That made him the great-nephew, by marriage, of Emperor Septimius Severus.

In hindsight, if there could be said to be a stain on the Severan line of succession, it would be Elagabalus, for though Caracalla’s reign was riddled with violent episodes, he did make an attempt at ruling the Empire and leading the army. Elagabalus’ reign, however, is marked by controversy, sexual debauchery, and murder which, if the sources are correct, seems akin to the madness of the reign of Caligula. In addition to this, and like Caligula, he made strange appointments to high positions, and disrespected Rome’s gods in favour of his dark Syrian god, Elagabal.

Elagabalus was set upon the imperial throne at just fourteen years old through the wiles of his grandmother, Julia Maesa, on year after the previous pretender, Marcus Opellius Macrinus (the only non-Severan of the period) conspired to have Emperor Caracalla murdered. Julia Maesa, took advantage of the unrest around Emperor Macrinus to instigate a rebellion and have Elagabalus declared emperor after the Battle of Antioch on June 8, A.D. 218.

Aureus of Elagabalus (c. A.D. 204-222)

It soon became apparent that Elagabalus was not suited to the role of Emperor, opting instead for dark rituals, cross-dressing, and generally disregarding the traditions of the Senate and people of Rome.

Perhaps most dangerous of all, he had lost the respect of the army. Cassius Dio, one of our main sources for the period, speaks to this:

The false Antoninus [Elagabalus] was despised and put out of the way by the soldiers. Thus it is that persons, particularly if armed, when they have once accustomed themselves to feel contempt for their rulers, set no limit to their right to do what they please, but keep their arms ready to use against the very man who gave them that power.

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, XVII)

Elagabalus’ grandmother, Julia Maesa, saw what was coming and, no doubt with the murder of Caracalla (with whom she had been very close) in mind, she began planning ahead so as to avoid another upstart like Macrinus.

She pinned her hopes on her other grandson, Alexianus (later Alexander Severus)…

Observing his actions, Maesa suspected that the soldiers were outraged by his eccentricities. Fearing that if Heliogabalus were killed, she would become a private citizen again, she tried to persuade the youth, who was in every respect an empty-headed young idiot, to adopt as his son and appoint as caesar his first cousin and her grandson, the child of her other daughter, Mamaea.

She told the emperor what it pleased him to hear, that it was clearly necessary for him to have time to attend to the worship and service of his god and to devote himself to the rites and revelries and divine functions, but that there should be another responsible for human affairs, to afford him leisure and freedom from the cares of empire. It was not necessary for him, she said, to look for a stranger or someone not a relative; he should entrust these duties to his own cousin.

(Herodian, The Roman History, V 7.1, 7.2)

Julia Maesa (A.D. 160-224)

And so, in A.D. 221, Alexander, who was twelve at the time, was adopted by his cousin Elagabalus as his heir, and given the title of ‘Caesar’.

This was a very dangerous time for the young Alexander, for in being so close to his mad, older cousin, he was in greater danger. If not for the two strong women looking after him – his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and his mother, Julia Mamaea – he would certainly have fallen victim to Elagabalus and his retinue.

Herodian, the main source for the reign of Alexander Severus, describes what happened…

After adopting Alexander as caesar, Heliogabalus [Elagabalus] undertook to teach him his own practices; he instructed him in dancing and prancing, and, enrolling him in the priesthood, wanted the lad to imitate his appearance and actions.

But his mother Mamaea kept Alexander from taking part in activities so disgraceful and unworthy of an emperor. Privately, she summoned teachers of every subject and had her son trained in the lessons of self-discipline; since he devoted himself to wrestling and to physical exercise as well, he was, by his mother’s efforts, educated according to both the Greek and the Roman systems. Heliogabalus, much annoyed at this, regretted his decision to make Alexander his son and partner in the empire.

He therefore banished Alexander’s teachers from the imperial palace; he put to death some of the most distinguished and sent others into exile. The emperor offered the most absurd excuses for doing this, claiming that these men, by teaching Alexander self-control, educating him in human affairs, and refusing to allow him to dance and take part in the frenzied orgies, would corrupt his adopted son. The madness of Heliogabalus increased to such a degree that he appointed all the actors from the stage and the public theaters to the most important posts in the empire, selecting as his praetorian prefect a man who had from childhood danced publicly in the Roman theater…

…They kept continual watch upon the youth [Alexander] when they saw that Heliogabalus was plotting against him. His mother Mamaea did not allow her son to touch any food or drink sent by the emperor, nor did Alexander use the cupbearers or cooks employed in the palace or those who happened to be in their mutual service; only those chosen by his mother, those who seemed most trustworthy, were allowed to handle Alexander’s food.

(Herodian, The Roman History, V 7.4-8.2)

Alexander Severus (A.D. 208-235)

It was only by his grandmother’s ruthlessness, his mother’s love, the respect of the Praetorians, and the gold Maesa and Mamaea lavished upon them, that Alexander survived that period, despite several plots by the Emperor to have him killed.

Julia Maesa, who was well used to surviving the dangers of an imperial court, saw the great danger that Elagabalus posed to them all. She plotted with the Praetorians to have Elagabalus removed. The Praetorians, it seems, did not need a great deal motivation in this, for when many of them showed favour to the younger Alexander, Elagabalus had them arrested. This was the final straw.

In March, A.D. 222, when the Emperor, his mother Soaemias, and Alexander were at the Castra Praetoria, the deed was done:

The praetorians were enraged by this order; since they had other reasons, also, for hating Heliogabalus, they wished now to rid themselves of so disgraceful an emperor, and believed, too, that they should rescue the praetorians under arrest. Considering the occasion ideal and the provocation just, they killed Heliogabalus and his mother Soaemias (for she was in the camp as Augusta and as his mother), together with all his attendants who were seized in the camp and who seemed to be his associates and companions in evil.

They gave the bodies of Heliogabalus and Soaemias to those who wanted to drag them about and abuse them; when the bodies had been dragged throughout the city, the mutilated corpses were thrown into the public sewer which flows into the Tiber.

(Herodian, The Roman History, V 8.8-8.9)

Elagabalus was just eighteen when he died so ignominious a death. Cassius Dio, who would have known all of them, describes their end in gruesome detail:

His mother [Soaemias], who embraced him and clung tightly to him, perished with him; their heads were cut off and their bodies, after being stripped naked, were first dragged all over the city, and then the mother’s body was cast aside somewhere or other, while his was thrown into the river.

(Cassius Dio, Roman History, LXXX, 20)

Thus, Julia Maesa succeeded in having her own daughter and grandson removed, and her other grandson proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard at just fourteen years old.

Julia Mamaea (A.D. 180-235)

A period of normalcy returned to the Empire with Alexander Severus being given the title and role of Emperor while his grandmother and mother managed and controlled imperial affairs in a more moderate and equitable administration that appeared to lean more toward common sense and nurturing the loyalty of the troops, a lesson they had all learned the importance of from Septimius Severus.

Together, they chose from members of the Senate an advisory council of sixteen wise men to guide the Emperor in decision making. This also gave a measure of power (at least perceived power) back to the aristocracy. The insults done to Rome’s gods were also fixed as their statues were replaced and those of Elagabalus’ choosing were removed. And, in the business of government, matters of state and public affairs were entrusted to competent lawyers and orators rather than actors, and military affairs were given over to actual men experienced in war.

It seemed like a new and hopeful age was upon the Empire and the Roman people.

But then, in A.D. 226, the matriarch of the Severan dynasty, Julia Maesa, died of old age. She received imperial honours and was deified.

And so, Julia Mamaea was now alone with the Emperor who was now about eighteen years old.

The Forum Romanum – The Heart of Ancient Rome with the Arch of Septimius Severus (centre left)

Julia Mamaea knew that she and her son were in a precarious position at this point in time and so, according to Herodian, she took steps to protect him with extreme vigilance. She also sought to control him, no doubt traumatized by the years of her nephew’s rule.

Now left alone with her son, Mamaea tried to govern and control him in the same fashion. Fearing that his vigorous young manhood might plunge him into the errors of adolescence because his power and position were assured, Mamaea kept the palace under close guard and allowed no one suspected of debauchery to approach the youth. She was afraid that his character would be corrupted if his flatterers aroused his growing appetites to disgraceful desires.

She therefore induced him to serve as judge in the courts continually and for most of each day; occupied with important matters and the necessary business of the empire, he would have no opportunity to indulge in scandalous practices. Alexander’s deportment was governed by a character naturally mild and civilized, and much inclined to benevolence, as was made clear when the youth grew older.

At any rate, he entered the fourteenth year of his reign without bloodshed, and no one could say that the emperor had been responsible for anyone’s murder. Even though men were convicted of serious crimes, he nevertheless granted them pardons to avoid putting them to death, and not readily did any emperor of our time, after the reign of Marcus, act in this way or display so much concern for human life. Indeed, over a period of many years, no one could recall that any man had been condemned to death by Alexander without a trial.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 1.5-1.7)

The Praetorian Guard

According to historian Michael Grant, Julia Mamaea’s tenure as Mater Augusti et Castrorum, ‘Mother of the Augustus and Mother of the Camp’, was the “climactic point of feminine power” in Ancient Rome. In addition to being highly protective of the Emperor, she was also a prudent and intelligent ruler, maintaining good relations with the advisory council, the Senate, and with the Christian community. She did, apparently, argue with Alexander Severus’ empress, Sallustia Barbia Orbiata, whom he married in A.D. 225, and whose father, Seius Herennius, was later executed for plotting against the Emperor. In the wake of that event, the young empress was exiled and Alexander Severus was left with his mother to rule alone, with help from advisors like Cassius Dio.

Though Alexander’s reign appeared to be a sort of Golden Age of peace and prosperity for a time, there were issues that arose. Official supervision of trade and industry grew steadily, and the coinage was debased. State subsidies of education and tax rebates for guilds and property owners contributed to a financial crisis.

It also seems that Julia Mamaea had developed a paranoia when it came to protecting her son and, as a result of this, she amassed a fortune in gold and riches, some of which was taken by legal means (or otherwise) from wealthy landowners and aristocrats. She appears to have been obsessed with gold, which she hoarded, but also used to keep the Praetorians paid.

Alexander blamed his mother for her excessive love of money and was annoyed by her relentless pursuit of gold. For a time she pretended to be gathering funds to enable Alexander to gratify the praetorians readily and generously, but in truth she was hoarding it for herself. And her miserliness in some measure reflected discredit upon his reign, even though he personally opposed it and was angry when she confiscated anyone’s property and inheritance illegally.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 1.8)

Throughout the history of Imperial Rome, the Praetorian Guard was often a danger to those in power, even though they were intended to protect the emperors.

When Septimius Severus became sole emperor after the civil war, one of his first acts was to punish the Praetorians for auctioning off the throne after the death of Commodus. He then replaced the Praetorians with loyal men from his own legions. Notwithstanding that Severus had wrongly trusted his kinsman, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus, as sole Praetorian Prefect, he had known that the Guard needed to be controlled.

However, by the time of Alexander Severus’ reign, the Praetorians had regained much of their lost power. After they had slain Elagabalus and acclaimed Alexander Severus as Emperor, in A.D. 223 they slew Domitius Ulpianus, the Praetorian Prefect.

Ulpianus, a lawyer and protege of Papinianus, the former Praetorian Prefect under Severus and Caracalla, was appointed to the prefecture by Alexander Severus. However, the Praetorians did not respect him. He was a lawyer, not a soldier, and so they slew him.

19th-century statue of Ulpian in the neoclassical Palais de Justice in Brussels, Belgium (Wikimedia Commons)

Around this time, according to Cassius Dio, the Praetorians also clashed with the Roman people for three days of fighting with many losing their lives. When the Praetorians began to lose, they began setting parts of the city on fire. A truce was reached, for fear of the city burning down.

Cassius Dio, who was made consul for the second time by Alexander Severus in A.D. 229, was also at odds with the Praetorians who had threatened his life such that the Emperor, who valued Dio’s council and friendship, insisted that Dio live away from Rome for his own safety, in Campania. It is at around this time, when The Hearts of Heroes takes place, that Cassius Dio ends his history and removes himself from public service, not only due to his ailing health, but also because of the threat posed by the Praetorians.

17th Century Illustration of Cassius Dio

It was now that Alexander Severus was to face his greatest threat: War.

In the year A.D. 231, Alexander Severus received dispatches from the Roman governors of Syria and Mesopotamia that a new Persian king by the name of Artaxerxes (Ardashir I) had killed the client Parthian king, Artabanus, and was now crossing the borders of the Roman Empire.

Alexander Severus wrote to Artaxerxes to warn him to stay within his own borders or else face defeat as he had at the hands of Septimius Severus and others.

Gold dinar of Artaxerxes (Ardashir I, c. A.D. 230)

But Artaxerxes ignored Alexander’s efforts; believing that the matter would be settled by arms, not by words, he took the field, pillaging and looting all the Roman provinces. He overran and plundered Mesopotamia, trampling it under the hoofs of his horses. He laid siege to the Roman garrison camps on the banks of the rivers, the camps which defended the empire. Rash by nature and elated by successes beyond his expectations, Artaxerxes was convinced that he could surmount every obstacle in his path.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 2.5)

Alexander had no choice but to go east to meet the enemy. With his massive army divided into three as they marched against the Persians, attacking them in different regions so that Artaxerxes had to hurry his men from one sector to another to meet them.

It might have been a good strategy had the Roman forces been in a better state of preparedness for the terrain and better disciplined. However, they were all but defeated.

All three Roman armies had been ordered to invade the enemy’s territory, and a final rendezvous had been selected to which they were to bring their booty and prisoners. But Alexander failed them: he did not bring his army or come himself into barbarian territory, either because he was afraid to risk his life for the Roman empire or because his mother’s feminine fears or excessive mother love restrained him.

She blocked his efforts at courage by persuading him that he should let others risk their lives for him, but that he should not personally fight in battle. It was this reluctance of his which led to the destruction of the advancing Roman army. The king attacked it unexpectedly with his entire force and trapped the Romans like fish in a net; firing their arrows from all sides at the encircled soldiers, the Persians massacred the whole army. The outnumbered Romans were unable to stem the attack of the Persian horde; they used their shields to protect those parts of their bodies exposed to the Persian arrows.

Content merely to protect themselves, they offered no resistance. As a result, all the Romans were driven into one spot, where they made a wall of their shields and fought like an army under siege. Hit and wounded from every side, they held out bravely as long as they could, but in the end all were killed. The Romans suffered a staggering disaster; it is not easy to recall another like it, one in which a great army was destroyed, an army inferior in strength and determination to none of the armies of old. The successful outcome of these important events encouraged the Persian king to anticipate better things in the future.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 5.8-5.10)

Map of Roman Empire during Roman-Persian War under Alexander Severus A.D. 230-233 (Omni Atlas)

Though it was not a total defeat of the Romans, the events could be considered a complete failure on the part of Alexander Severus, for in shunning the battlefield – either by his own cowardice, or because of his mother’s over-protectiveness – the Emperor had lost the respect of the army.

As it turned out, he fell far short of his great uncle, Septimius Severus, who had begun the dynasty and who had conquered the east and the Parthians so decisively.

Alexander, Julia Mamaea, and his retinue returned to Antioch to recuperate. They tried to console the troops with lavish distributions of money to try and regain their good will, but it was to no avail. Even though Artaxerxes was withdrawing for the moment, the damage was done.

Then, in A.D. 233, messages arrived from the governors in Illyria that the German tribes had crossed the Rhine and Danube frontiers and were plundering Roman territories. The governors insisted that the Emperor bring his armies to meet the threat immediately.

Although he loathed the idea, Alexander glumly announced his departure for Illyria. Necessity compelled him to go, however; and so, leaving behind a force which he considered strong enough to defend the Roman frontiers, after he had seen to the forts and the walls of the camps with greater care and had assigned to each fort its normal complement of troops, the emperor marched out against the Germans with the rest of his army.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 7.5)

However, when he finally arrived, rather than meet the Germans in battle, Emperor Alexander Severus sent an embassy to the Germans with a peace settlement. Herodian tells us that “the avaricious Germans are susceptible to bribes and always ready to sell peace to the Romans for gold.”

Consequently, Alexander undertook to buy a truce rather than risk the hazards of war.

The soldiers, however, were not pleased by his action, for the time was passing without profit to them, and Alexander was doing nothing courageous or energetic about the war; on the contrary, when it was essential that he march out and punish the Germans for their insults, he spent the time in chariot racing and luxurious living.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 7.9-7.10)

Roman Aurea

Was Alexander Severus truly terrified of battle? Was his mother, Julia Mamaea, so fearful of losing him that she prevented him from fighting? Whatever the reason, the troops were no longer loyal to their emperor who had fallen short of all expectation.

In the end, while on the German frontier at Mogontiacum (Mainz), the men of the legions decided to back one of their own, a decorated legionary by the name of Maximinus. They robed him in imperial purple and declared him ‘Emperor’. Alexander Severus’ troops abandoned him. Herodian describes his end:

Trembling with fear, Alexander was scarcely able to retire to his quarters. Clinging to his mother and, as they say, complaining and lamenting that she was to blame for his death, he awaited his executioner. After being saluted as emperor by the entire army, Maximinus sent a tribune and several centurions to kill Alexander and his mother, together with any of his followers who opposed them.

When these men came to the emperor’s quarters, they rushed in and killed him with his mother; they also cut down those whom he had honored or who appeared to be his friends. Some, however, managed to flee or to hide for the moment, but Maximinus soon rounded up these fugitives and put them to death.

Such was the fate suffered by Alexander and his mother after he had ruled fourteen years without blame or bloodshed so far as it affected his subjects. A stranger to savagery, murder, and illegality, he was noted for his benevolence and good deeds. It is therefore entirely possible that the reign of Alexander might have won renown for its perfection had not his mother’s petty avarice brought disgrace upon him.

(Herodian, The Roman History, VI 9.6-9.8)

Maximinus Thrax – The Legionary Emperor (reigned A.D. 235-238)

In A.D. 235 Alexander Severus and his mother, Julia Mamaea, were slain by the men of the legions whose loyalty had been lost. The Severan dynasty was at an end. What had, at first, been the start of a period of hope, a new ‘golden age’, had turned into a titanic disappointment with a tragic, but not unexpected, finale.

Maximinus Thrax (A.D. 235-238), a Thracian, became the first legionary to be Emperor but he was a soldier, and not up to the politics of the role. He was tyrannical and prone to cruelty. He ignored Rome from the outset and the Senate turned on him, electing Gordian I to replace him. When he marched on Italy and was besieging Aquilea, Maximinus’ troops turned on him and murdered him and his son. Like Macrinus, he was just another upstart left for dead in the dust of the Empire.

Aerial view of the ruins of Leptis Magna – North African home of Septimius Severus who founded the dynasty

And so we come to the end of our time with the Severans, in fiction, and in history. It has been a fascinating journey getting to know this family at the peak of Rome’s might.

The Severan period is marked by several things, including a strong military with the successful completion of major campaigns that extended the Empire’s territory to its greatest extent, especially the Parthian campaign of Septimius Severus. The period saw curbed Praetorian power (at least at the outset) and, conversely, one of the most brutal Praetorian Prefects in Gaius Fulvius Plautianus. It was a period that saw some of the strongest, most powerful and intelligent women in the history of Ancient Rome in Empress Julia Domna, Julia Maesa, and Julia Mamaea.

The dynasty might have lasted longer, and Septimius Severus’ hard work not been lost, had it not been for the weakness of his heirs: his son’s Caracalla and Geta, and his great-nephews Elagabalus and Alexander Severus.

Silver Denarius of Alexander Severus (A.D. 222-235)

Was Alexander Severus’ end brought about by his cowardice, his mother’s avarice for wealth, or her deep fears for her son’s safety which manifested in an overprotectiveness that did more harm than good? Or is power at such lofty heights so precarious that one slip can send one over the cliff?

It seems like there is merit in all of the reasons given above. Just as with the fall of the Roman Empire, there is not one cause alone for its end, but rather a series of events and failures that led to its demise.

Perhaps the Severan dynasty is Rome’s end in microcosm. As Edward Gibbon wrote:

The contemporaries of Severus, in the enjoyment of the peace and glory of his reign, forgave the cruelties by which it had been introduced. Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims and example, justly considered him as the principal author of the decline of the Roman Empire.

(Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, X, vol.1)

In the end, it seems that, despite the foundations of a dynasty laid by Septimius Severus, none of his heirs were up the task of treading the tightrope between strong and judicious rule and tyranny.

This period in Rome’s history was certainly not perfect, but it has much to teach us, including the lesson that, just as with empires, families too rise and fall…

Thank you for reading.

That concludes our blog series on The World of The Hearts of Heroes. We sincerely hope that you enjoyed it and found it informative. If you have missed any of the articles in this seven-part series, you can read them all on one page by CLICKING HERE.

If you are interested in reading the two main sources for this period, you can read Cassius Dio’s text in translation by CLICKING HERE, and Herodian’s text HERE.

If you would like to read more about the Severan dynasty and their period in Rome’s history, we urge you to explore the articles in the ‘Article Archive’ on the Eagles and Dragons Publishing website. We also highly recommend the book The Severans: The Changed Roman Empire by eminent historian, Michael Grant as a very accessible read that explores this period of immense change in the history of Rome.

The Hearts of Heroes: A Novel of the Roman Empire 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.

If you are new to the Eagles and Dragons historical fantasy series, you can start your epic adventure with the award-winning, #1 bestselling prequel, A Dragon among the Eagles which is set during the Parthian campaigns of Emperor Septimius Severus.

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The World of The Hearts of Heroes – Part II – Viroconium Cornoviorum: Civitas of Roman Britain

Salvete readers and history-lovers!

Welcome back to The World of The Hearts of Heroes in which we are taking a brief look at the research for the seventh book in the Eagles and Dragons series set in the Roman Empire.

In Part I, we looked at the life and work of the historian, Cassius Dio, who is the main source for the Severan period. If you missed that post, you can read it by clicking HERE.

In Part II, we’re going to be taking a brief look at one of the settings in The Hearts of Heroes, the Roman civitas of Viroconium Cornoviorum, at modern Wroxeter in England.

Roman ruins at Viroconium Cornoviorum; photograph 1859 (Wikimedia Commons)

Britain is a land that is packed with Roman remains from one end to the other. There are roads, villas, baths, walls, towers, fortlets and legionary fortresses and more. And there are cities. Well, the remains of them, anyway.

In Roman Britain there were, more or less, twenty civitates, the formal administrative districts with large settlements at their heart. These evolved into cities or towns.

Viroconium Cornoviorum was, at its height, the fourth largest civitas in the province of Britannia.

Viroconium Cornoviorum (Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain)

I first visited Viroconium (Wroxeter Roman City), which is about five miles from Shrewsbury, in the year 2000 when doing research on archaeological sites linked to the Arthurian period of sub-Roman Britain (more on that later). I was awed by the massive remains of the great bathhouse and fascinated by the reconstructed Roman townhouse as I strolled the grounds in a quiet and sunny green field along the River Severn.

It was much quieter then than it would have been at its peak. I knew for certain that, after the research for my dissertation, the site would someday end up in one of my novels.

But how did that Roman city come to be? Why was it so important? How was it that that silent, sun-kissed field I visited near the border of England and Wales had been one of the busiest places in Roman Britain?

Roads in Roman Britain (Wikimedia Commons) – with Viroconium shown

Viroconium Cornoviorum is located on a site overlooking a ford of the River Severn. It has good views in all directions. It was located at the western terminus of Wattling Street, one of the major roads of Roman Britain which ran all the way from the port of Dubris (Dover) to southeast. It was also on the route between the legionary fortresses of Deva (Chester) to the north, and Isca (Caerleon) and Glevum (Gloucester) to the south.

Strategically and economically, this was an important location.

Viroconium Cornoviorum was located in the lands of the Cornovii tribe whose tribal capital was at a nearby hillfort known as ‘The Wrekin’. It did not, however, begin as a city. Like other civitates in Roman Britain, it had military origins.

Viroconium was first established in the early years of the Roman conquest of Britain, which began in A.D. 43 under Emperor Claudius, as a frontier outpost guarding a crossing of the River Severn. As the invasion advanced northward, Viroconium became a forty-acre legionary fortress, built between A.D. 52-57.

The first legion to build, and be based at, Viroconium was the famed XIV Gemina Martia Victrix first established by Julius Caesar in 57 B.C. This legion took part in the invasion of Britain in A.D. 43, the assault on the Isle of Anglesey in A.D. 60, and played a major role in putting down the Boudiccan Revolt in A.D. 60-61.

When the XIVth legion’s work was finished, Viroconium was garrisoned by the XX Valeria Victrix legion which had also taken part in the invasion of Britain in A.D. 43. This legion was based there from about A.D. 59-90 before it moved to quarters at the fortress of Deva (Chester).

Viroconium remained under military rule from A.D. 47 until A.D. 90.

As frequently happened, a civilian settlement, a vicus, grew up around the fortress. This settlement included canabae, which literally means ‘booths’, and this referred to the stalls where soldiers could get food, drink, and sex.

Viroconium was starting to transition into a city, a hub of activity on the burgeoning road network that was spreading out across Britannia.

Plan of the Legionary Fortress at Viroconium c. A.D. 57-90 (from

As the front lines moved farther north, and Viroconium found itself safer, it transitioned smoothly from military to civilian life. The military defences were torn down when the army left, but the grid of the fortress remained. New roads were created and extended beyond the walls to encompass the growing city. The population fluctuated, and the city grew and, eventually, it became the fourth largest city in Roman Britain with the former via Principalis of the fortress becoming the main thoroughfare and heart of the new city.

It also became an important trading centre, largely due to its location at the intersection of two major routes, and grew to cover an area of about 180 acres.

But if Viroconium covered such a vast area of land, how is it that so little can be seen today? It appears more like a country setting than a former Roman metropolis.

Archaeologists have concluded that of the 180 acres occupied by Viroconium, only about 3 of those were covered by grand public buildings and, of those, about eighty percent has been excavated.

Stages of Viroconium Cornoviorum from c. A.D. 57 to c. A.D. 500 (from Wroxeter: Life & Death of A Roman City; White and Barker) – the bottom left (c. A.D. 150-500) is Viroconium in The Hearts of Heroes.

Viroconium Cornoviorum really experienced a boom when, in A.D. 122 Emperor Hadrian visited the city and ordered the building of a massive forum, as well as baths and a basilica. Some historians believe he showed an interest in Viroconium because it was the westernmost civitas of the Empire.

The structures which Hadrian had built in Viroconium brought increased trade and activity to the city with the new forum serving as the tribal administrative centre, judiciary, and market of Viroconium Cornoviorum. This was built on the site of the former principia, the legionary headquarters building.

There was also a long colonnade built along the main road, which was Watling Street, with the great bathhouse opposite on the other side of the street. This bathhouse is in addition to the earlier, unfinished bathhouse which lay beneath part of the new forum.

As far as civilian settlement, archaeologists have discovered the remains of two later insulae, apartment-like structures, as well as a mansio which was a sort of hotel and supply station along Watling street for off duty soldiers, couriers etc.

Artist Impression of the Forum of Viroconium Cornoviorum (English Heritage)

Civilian houses have also been found in Viroconium which have narrow entrances fronting onto main streets, but which are long. These are presumed to be the houses of craftsmen and artisans with stores or workshops on the ground floor (they discovered raw materials for their trades) and family living accommodation on the upper floor.

But it is the grand public buildings that really stand out at Viroconium, and this civic centre straddled either side of Watling street. It is no wonder that it became the fourth largest civitas in Britannia, for it had a forum, baths, a basilica, a water supply, roads, the colonnade for shelter, and public temples.

The bath and basilica complex, in addition to the regular rooms of a public bath, also had a 74 meter pool and palaestra, a large exercise ground.

Artist Impression of public baths and main thoroughfare (English Heritage)

The forum, which was the first major public building built at Viroconium Cornoviorum was very large with a courtyard that was 74×64 meters surrounded by a colonnade with shops and offices on one side, and the basilica on the other side. This was the commercial, administrative, and judicial centre of the city. The forum was also home to the sacellum (shrine), the curia (council chamber), aerarium (treasury), and the tabularium (records office).

In addition to the main forum, Viroconium also had a forum boarium, a livestock market. This would have meant that livestock farmers would have come from miles around to buy and sell their stock, contributing to the economic success of the city.

When it comes to the temples and shrines, in addition to some small ones to local deities, the remains that archaeologists have discovered indicate some small scale temples to Jupiter and to Venus or Epona. There may also have been some dedicated to Vesta and Mithras.

Artist Impression of Viroconium Cornoviorum at its peak, aerial view toward the southeast (English Heritage)

Prosperity and peace lasted for well over two hundred years for the people of Viroconium Cornoviorum once the Pax Romana had settled on Britannia. But, as history tells us, most things come to an end.

In A.D. 383 when Magnus Maximus set out for Gaul with his troops to make his play for the imperial throne, the Cornovii, and Viroconium itself, may have come under attack by Picts from the north or the Irish from across the sea. Saxon invasions had also begun to the southeast until finally, in A.D. 410, Emperor Honorius supposedly wrote to the Britons to tell them to see to their own defences. Rome was leaving.

This was the start of the sub-Roman period in Britain, also commonly referred to as the ‘Dark Ages’.

The Pillar of Eliseg, Denbighshire, Wales

It was at this time that archaeology shows a strengthening of Viroconium’s defences, and an increased military presence. Viroconium Cornoviorum transitioned into the capitol of the Kingdom of Powys after Rome’s departure.

The basilica and parts of the former baths were still in use, with simpler wattle constructions built on top. There were, it is believed, some public buildings, but the grandest structure appears to have been a private residence or palace built into the former Roman structures.

Enter the ‘Arthurian’ connection.

This private residence or palace at Viroconium, once the fourth largest city in Roman Britain, was built and lived in by the new ‘tyrant’ or ruler of Powys. One very strong theory is that this man was none other than the Vortigern of Arthurian legend whose name is inscribed on the Pillar of Eliseg, just across the border in Wales.

The Pillar of Eliseg, ancient monument to the Kings of Powys, references both the Roman past and Vortigern by name:

Side by side translation of the inscription on the Pillar of Eliseg (Wikimedia Commons)

This last bit of history from Viroconium’s legendary past is what brought me to the site, but little did I know that it opened the door to an understanding of one of the greatest cities of Roman Britain.

In studying Rome, and sites like Viroconium Cornoviorum, it strikes me how fleeting the greatness of cities and civilizations can be, how longevity cannot be taken for granted. That is one of the tragic lessons the Roman Empire has to teach us.

A once great city that was filled with life and vitality, that experienced economic prosperity, and had a thriving population that enjoyed over two hundred years of peace can, in the end, be transformed back into a quiet green field beside a river.

Carpe Diem, folks. Carpe Diem.

Thank you for reading.

If you are interested in reading more about the history and archaeology of Viroconium, I highly recommend the book Wroxeter: Life & Death of a Roman City by Roger White and Philip Barker. You can get a copy of that book by CLICKING HERE.

The Hearts of Heroes: A Novel of the Roman Empire 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.

If you are new to the Eagles and Dragons historical fantasy series, you can start your epic adventure with the award-winning, #1 bestselling prequel, A Dragon among the Eagles.

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The World of The Hearts of Heroes – Part I – Cassius Dio: Chronicler of the Severans

Salvete, Readers and Romanophiles!

Welcome to this first post in our exciting new blog series The World of The Hearts of Heroes! In this seven-part series, we’re going to be taking a look at some of the history, people, and places that appear in, and provide the settings for, this seventh book in the award-winning, #1 bestselling, Eagles and Dragons historical fantasy series set in the Roman Empire.

If you’re a fan of the series, and don’t want any spoilers at all, then you may wish to hold off until you’ve read the book.

However, if you just want to get stuck into the history and research that went into this novel, read on! We hope you enjoy it!

17th Century Illustration of Cassius Dio

It is my desire to write a history of all the memorable achievements of the Romans, as well in time of peace as in war, so that no one, whether Roman or non-Roman, shall look in vain for any of the essential facts.

Although I have read pretty nearly everything about them that has been written by anybody, I have not included it all in my history, but only what I have seen fit to select. I trust, moreover, that if I have used a fine style, so far as the subject matter permitted, no one will on this account question the truthfulness of the narrative, as has happened in the case of some writers; for I have endeavoured to be equally exact in both these respects, so far as possible. I will begin at the point where I have obtained the clearest accounts of what is reported to have taken place in this land which we inhabit.

This land in which the city of Rome has been built.

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book I)

The quote above is the opening of Cassius Dio’s Roman History, the main source, and only truly contemporary one of the period of the Severan dynasty of Ancient Rome, when the Eagles and Dragons series takes place.

But who was Cassius Dio? How did he gain such a personal perspective of the Severans? Is he a reliable source for the period? How does he fit into our epic Eagles and Dragons saga?

In this article, we will explore all of these questions to try and get at some idea of the man behind the history.

Cassius Dio Cocceianus was born at Nicaea in Bithynia c. A.D. 164 (maybe A.D. 155) to a Roman father and a Greek mother. He was the son of Cassius Apronianus, a Roman senator who was the Governor of Dalmatia and Cilicia under Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Dio was also the grandson of the famous Greek orator, writer, historian and philosopher, Dio Chrysostom (c. A.D. 40-115), after whom he was named.

Growing up the son of a prominent Roman senator, Dio was no stranger to Roman politics. He was with his father when he was Governor of Dalmatia.

After his father died, Dio then went to Rome in about A.D. 180 where he became a senator under Emperor Commodus at about the age of twenty-five. This was the start of a successful political career where he subsequently became a praetor under Pertinax in A.D. 193.

But Cassius Dio really came into his own during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211), a ruler whom Dio clearly admired. Under Severus, Dio was made Suffect Consul in A.D. 205, and then later became Consul for a second time under Emperor Alexander Severus, the last of the Severan emperors, in A.D. 229.

Emperor Septimius Severus

Cassius Dio’s Roman History is vital to our understanding of the events of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries in Ancient Rome. Not only is his work the main contemporary source for the period, but as one who was close to the imperial court and a first-hand observer of the events that unfolded, from the reign of Commodus and throughout the Severan period, he offers a perspective that is entirely unique.

It is Dio’s first-hand account of the period, as well as his personal observations that, though sometimes in doubt, are unique and have proved invaluable in the creation of the Eagles and Dragons series.

Truthfully, Dio’s history has been crucial to my research throughout the entire series to date. Not only that, he is also a character in some books in the series, truly coming to the fore in The Hearts of Heroes.

Cassius Dio’s Roman History is not the only work which he produced. He also wrote a biography of Arrian, who was a fellow Bithynian, as well as an account of the reign of Emperor Hadrian. Another fascinating work which he wrote was a book about the dreams of Septimius Severus whom we know placed a great deal of stock in astrology and dreams. The Roman History, however, is Dio’s greatest work without which we would actually know very little about the Severans. Herodian, whom I have also used in research for the period, is our only other source, but as he was not as close to the people about whom he was writing, Dio is preferred.

Excerpt of Cassius Dio’s Roman History from a 5th-century manuscript (Wikimedia Commons)

But what about Cassius Dio’s Roman History as a source? What did it cover?

The Roman History is made up of about eighty books which took Dio about twenty-two years to write. Most of the text survives, but other parts are in fragments. Thankfully, more complete text has come down to us by way of an eleventh century epitome (an abridgement or summary) by Xiphilinus, and the twelfth century Epitome of Historical Works by Zonoras, a private secretary of Emperor Alexis I.

In his work, Dio attempts to cover the history of Rome from the landing of Aeneas to his second consulship in A.D. 229, when The Hearts of Heroes takes place. Cassius Dio wrote in Greek, in the Atticist tradition of ancient historians such as Thucydides.

The Roman History, which covers roughly a thousand years, can be divided into three sections: 1) the Republic, 2) the establishment of the Principate (monarchy) until the death of Marcus Aurelius, and 3) the period of Dio’s own life from the ascent of Commodus.

For the periods before his own, it is believed that Dio may have relied heavily upon the works of Livy, but also other historians of Rome such as Pliny the Elder, Tacitus, Caesar’s own commentaries and others. He may also have done more research by delving into the records of Rome, as is evidenced by his naming of minor magistrates.

The Emperor Commodus Leaving the Arena at the Head of the Gladiators (by Edwin Howland Blashfield)

For the period covering his own life, there is a sense from Dio of a falling from greatness during Commodus’ reign, leading to hope at the arrival of Septimius Severus. After Severus, there is certainly a returned sense of decline, and this period, from the reign of Caracalla on, could be considered the true beginning of the end of the Roman Empire.

The details of Dio’s own life can be gleaned from casual statements in his history and, when it comes to the period of Rome’s history in which he lived, his observations are based personal experience and not hearsay. He knew most of the people about whom he was writing, and that is what makes his work such a valuable source from the reign of Commodus, when he became a senator, right through to the last Severan, Alexander Severus, under whom he held his second consulship.

This man [Commodus] was not naturally wicked, but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature. And this, I think, Marcus clearly perceived beforehand. Commodus was nineteen years old when his father died, leaving him many guardians, among whom were numbered the best men of the senate. But their suggestions and counsels Commodus rejected, and after making a truce with the barbarians he rushed to Rome; for he hated all exertion and craved the comfortable life of the city.

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book LXXIII)

Portrait of the Severan family with Geta’s face erased.

Cassius Dio began writing his history during the reign of Septimius Severus. The fact that he wrote a book about the dreams and omens of Severus makes scholars think he had a great deal of personal interaction with the Emperor. After receiving praise from the Emperor and the public, he undertook the larger Roman History.

With Septimius Severus’ accession to the imperial throne, Cassius Dio’s tone in the history appears hopeful, almost as if he was seeing a new, golden era for Rome. It was clear that Dio admired Severus…

The following is the manner of life that Severus followed in time of peace. He was sure to be doing something before dawn, and afterwards he would take a walk, telling and hearing of the interests of the empire. Then he would hold court, unless there were some great festival. Moreover, he used to do this most excellently; for he allowed the litigants plenty of time and he gave us, his advisers, full liberty to speak. He used to hear cases until noon; then he would ride, so far as his strength permitted, and afterward take some kind of gymnastic exercise and a bath. He then ate a plenti­ful luncheon, either by himself or with his sons. Next, he generally took a nap. Then he rose, attended to his remaining duties, and afterwards, when walking about, engaged in discussion in both Greek and Latin. Then, toward evening, he would bathe again and dine with his associates; for he very rarely invited any guest to dinner, and only on days when it was quite unavoidable did he arrange expensive banquets. He lived sixty-five years, nine months, and twenty-five days, for he was born on the eleventh of April. Of this period he had ruled for seventeen years, eight months, and three days. In fine, he showed himself so active that even when expiring he gasped: “Come, give it here, if we have anything to do.”

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book LXXVII)

Emperor Caracalla

When one considers the rulers whom Cassius Dio lived and worked under – Commodus, Severus, Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus, and Alexander Severus – you would not be wrong to assume he was quite politically astute, and that he was a survivor. Despite the golden and hopeful period of Severus’ reign, it was a time of terror for many. Here, Dio describes the fear they felt at Commodus’ reign, when the Emperor made them watch him as a gladiator:

This fear was shared by all, by us senators as well as by the rest. And here is another thing that he did to us senators which gave us every reason to look for our death. Having killed an ostrich and cut off his head, he came up to where we were sitting, holding the head in his left hand and in his right hand raising aloft his bloody sword; and though he spoke not a word, yet he wagged his head with a grin, indicating that he would treat us in the same way. And many would indeed have perished by the sword on the spot, for laughing at him (for it was laughter rather than indignation that overcame us), if I had not chewed some laurel leaves, which I got from my garland, myself, and persuaded the others who were sitting near me to do the same, so that in the steady movement of our armies we might conceal the fact that we were laughing.

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book LXXIII)

Later, after the murder of Caracalla by Macrinus and the Praetorians, Dio carried on surviving and was made curator ad corrigendum statum civitatum of Pergamun and Smyrna by Macrinus, a role which he carried on in under the insane Elagabalus. When Alexander Severus came to the throne, Dio was made Proconsul of Africa and then Governor of Dalmatia and Upper Pannonia.

Unfortunately, the final book of Dio’s Roman History is fragmented. Little is said of the reign of the young Alexander Severus (he was just fourteen when his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and his mother, Julia Mamaea, put him on the throne). What we know comes from the sixth book of Herodian’s History of the Roman Empire from the death of Marcus Aurelius in A.D. 180 to A.D. 238. At the end of his Roman History, Dio appears rushed, even stating that:

Thus far I have described events with as great accuracy as I could in every case, but for subsequent events I have not found it possible to give an accurate account, for the reason that I did not spend much time in Rome. For, after going from Asia into Bithynia, I fell sick, and from there I hastened to my province of Africa; then, on returning to Italy I was almost immediately sent as governor first to Dalmatia and then to Upper Pannonia, and though after that I returned to Rome and to Campania, I at once set out for home. For these reasons, then, I have not been able to compile the same kind of account of subsequent events as of the earlier ones.

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book LXXX)

The Praetorian Guard

Though Dio had survived a few emperors whom many would consider to be unstable, or even insane, it appears that the greatest threat he faced was from the dreaded Praetorian Guard. Apparently, after he took disciplinary measures in Pannonia in his role as governor, he became unpopular with the Praetorians, such that he feared for his life.

Emperor Alexander Severus, who seems to have liked Dio, attempted to keep Dio safe by allowing him to live and work away from Rome in Campania.

…I ruled the soldiers in Pannonia with a strong hand; and they demanded my surrender, through fear that someone might compel them to submit to a régime similar to that of the Pannonian troops.

Alexander, however, paid no heed to them, but, on the contrary, honoured me in various ways, especially by appointing me to be consul for the second time, as his colleague, and taking upon himself personally the responsibility of meeting the expenditures of my office. But as the malcontents evinced displeasure at this, he became afraid that they might kill me if they saw me in the insignia of my office, and so he bade me spend the period of my consul­ship in Italy, somewhere outside of Rome. And thus later I came both to Rome and to Campania to visit him, and spent a few days in his company, during which the soldiers saw me without offering to do me any harm;

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book LXXX)

Thankfully, Herodian fills in the gaps of Alexander Severus’ reign for us while Dio was distracted with duty, illness, and fear for his life at the hands of the Praetorians.

One can imagine that Dio would have continued to serve Alexander Severus long and faithfully but, as it was, for his safety and because of his illness and aching body, Cassius Dio was permitted to retire to Nicaea, in his native Bithynia, where he is supposed to have died shortly thereafter over the age of seventy.

…having asked to be excused because of the ailment of my feet, I set out for home, with the intention of spending all the rest of my life in my native land, as, indeed, the Heavenly Power revealed to me most clearly when I was already in Bithynia. For once in a dream I thought I was commanded by it to write at the close of my work these verses:

“Hector anon did Zeus lead forth out of range of the missiles, 

Out of the dust and the slaying of men and the blood and the uproar.”

(Cassius Dio; Roman History, Book LXXX)

Bust of Alexander Severus, the last Severan Emperor (Wikimedia Commons)

And so ended the Roman History, and the life of Cassius Dio.

Despite the importance of Dio’s Roman History for our knowledge of the Severan period, he has not been without criticism by modern historians. Some point out his use of adornment and personal anecdotes as a flaw when relaying significant events. Though not as salacious as Herodian, he does opt for more dramatic presentation at times. Dio has also been criticized for clouding things with his personal impressions. Sometimes names and exact dates are left out, and some speeches are believed to express Dio’s own views rather than actual events. An example of this is when Agrippa and Maecenas make speeches to Octavian when discussing the establishment of a monarchy in Book LII.

However, apart from his being the main source for the Severan period, Cassius Dio has much to commend him and his history. He pays a great deal of attention to constitutional and administrative matters, showing that he did his due diligence by consulting public records. He used a variety of sources in an attempt to arrive at the truth.

Cassius Dio, though half Greek, writes from a purely Roman viewpoint. And, interestingly, though he was a senator, he appeared to be a true believer in monarchy.

Personally, I have greatly enjoyed reading Dio’s work over the years, as well as including him in the Eagles and Dragons saga. This story would have been very different without his insights, and the personal anecdotes which some historians criticize him for, I actually find to be a boon. The personal, though not always unbiased, touch which Dio brings to the Roman History gives us a personal peek into the private lives of the Severans in a way that other histories do not.

For me, Cassius Dio has been a knowledgeable, accessible, and entertaining travel companion through the Severan age.

Thank you for reading.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this first post in The World of The Hearts of Heroes blog series. Stayed tuned for Part II in which we will look at the Roman-British civitas of Viroconium Cornoviorum.

If you are interested in reading the full, surviving text of Cassius Dio’s Roman History, you can do so for free by CLICKING HERE.

To read the text of Herodian, the other source for the period, click HERE.

The Hearts of Heroes: A Novel of the Roman Empire 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.

If you are new to the Eagles and Dragons historical fantasy series, you can start your epic adventure with the award-winning, #1 bestselling prequel, A Dragon among the Eagles.

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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 IX – Spirits in Roman Religion

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 dramatic and romantic comedy set in ancient Rome and Athens.

If you missed Part VIII on the Panathenaea of ancient Athens, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part IX, we’re going to take a brief look at spirits in Roman religion. After all, ancient Romans could be highly superstitious and, in the ancient world, spirits were indeed thought to be everywhere.

The story of An Altar of Indignities is no exception to this, and there is one particular spirit who does indeed try to upstage our troupe of players!

We hope you enjoy this fascinating post about numina Romana…

In all of the many years I’ve been researching and writing about the world of ancient Rome, the topic of Roman religion has been a constant source of fascination for me as an author and historian. Many of my readers have echoed this sentiment too, and have pointed out that they love the inclusion of that aspect of Roman life.

You can read more on writing about Roman religion HERE, and be sure to check out our popular article on sacrifices in Roman religion by CLICKING HERE.

But what is it that fascinates us about Roman religious beliefs and practices?

For me, it is the openness and flexibility of Roman religion. Mortals had a closer, perhaps more symbiont, relationship with their gods. The religion was highly customizable.

But, like any other religion, there was a sort of evolution over time. Most religions today believe in a spirit realm, that spirits are present, and often they are menacing.

It was a little different in Roman religion. We are all familiar with the gods of the Roman pantheon – Jupiter, Juno, Minerva etc. – but what you may not know is that sprits of various kinds played a central role in Roman religious beliefs and practices.

In this short post, we’re going to be taking a look at the various kinds of spirits that Romans believed in.

In the world of ancient Rome, spirits were known as numina (sing. numen). These were divine spirits or powers that were present everywhere in life, people, and places. They were not anthropomorphic at first.

Originally, Romans may have believed that a numen was a place itself, such as a wood, river, spring, or cave etc., and that that place was supernatural or divine.

Gradually, however, with the influence of Greek religion, Romans came to believe that these places were inhabited or protected by these numina or spirits. Eventually, these numina were given names and traits. In many instances they began to take form.

Illustration of a statue of Sancus found in the Sabine’s shrine on the Quirinal (Wikimedia Commons)

Numina were present in material things such as crops, but also in actions such as travel.

These spirits could also inhabit more abstract ideas such as Discipline (the Goddess Disciplina), Virtue (the Goddess Pietas), or Trust and Honesty (the God Sancus). Even the living emperor, his role as such, had a numen that was worshipped by the people.

Truth be told, there are myriad numina in Roman religion, and most of them were nameless. Most Romans honoured the numen or numina that were related to their home or occupation.

But what were the various types of spirits or numina whom Romans believed in?

Let us go through the most prominent ones…

Bronze genius depicted as paterfamilias (1st century CE) Wikimedia Commons

In addition to the main gods, goddesses and heroes who were worshipped in ancient Rome, there were many types of numina:

The Genii (sing. Genius) literally mean the ‘begetter’. Early on, this was a man’s guardian spirit who helped him to beget children. This spirit was honoured on the birthday of the paterfamilias, the man in whom it lived.

You can read more about the paterfamilias in Roman society HERE.

The genius was symbolized by the snake which was a symbol of household protectors.

Over time, people and places came to have genii. For example, the spirit of a place was the genius loci, and if one was in a place where one did not know whom to worship or make offerings to, one would pray to the genius loci of that particular place.

Lararium in the House of the Vettii Pompeii. It depicts the ancestral genius (upper centre) flanked by the Lares, with a serpent below. (Wikimedia Commons)

The next group of spirits we’re going to look at are the Lares (sing. Lar).

These were very important numina in the world of ancient Rome. The Lares were ancient and mysterious spirits whose original character is unknown. It is thought that early on, they were guardians of farmland.

The Lares evolved into protective household gods. Every household, however grand or simple, had them. They were worshipped at what was called a lararium, a shrine dedicated to them, and prayers to the Lares were led by the paterfamilias.

These numina were worshipped on the Kalends (first day), the Nones (ninth day), and the Ides (fifteenth day) of every month.

There were also Lares of other, less personal places such as neighbourhoods (Lares Compitales), and cities (Lares Publici or Lares Praestites). In Rome, the Lares Praestites had a temple at the beginning of the Via Sacra. 

The Lares Compitales were worshipped on the festival of Compitalia, a Roman agricultural festival, perhaps alluding to their rural roots. The Lares in general had their festival at Rome on December 22.

Offerings of food to the Penates were burned on the domus hearth fire

Another group of spirits who went hand in hand with the Lares were known as Di Penates. These were also protective spirits of the household, but more specifically the pantry.

At every meal, a portion of the food was set aside for the Penates, and this was offered to them on the hearth fire. Salt and fruit was always left on the table for them.

The festival of the Penates was held on October 14.

Di Penates were also not limited to a household, the same as the Lares. The Penates Publici were attached to the Roman state and were worshipped alongside Vesta, Goddess of the Hearth, in her temple.

Honouring dead family members

Now we move into the realm of the remembrance and honouring of the spirits of the dead.

The Manes, the Roman spirits of the divine dead, were a group that Romans took very seriously.

The dead were to be respected, remembered and honoured in ancient Rome, and there were several festivals at which this was done: Feralia, Parentalia, and Lemuria.

The belief was that every dead person, no matter the age or gender, had its own spirit, and that spirit was known as a manes (yes, plural and singular forms are the same here).

The Manes were mainly honoured as the Manes Familiae, or more commonly as Di Parentes, the ‘Dead of the Family’.

“To the spirits of the dead: For Cornelia Frontina, who lived 16 years and 7 months, her father, Marcus Ulpius Callistus, freedman of the emperor, overseer in the armory of the Ludus Magnus, and Flavia Nice, his most virtuous wife, set up this [monument] for themselves, their freedmen and freedwomen, and their descendants.”

Graves were also important, and to be respected, as is evidenced by the many memorials and monuments that line the roads leading into Rome, or that dot the grounds of many ancient necropoli. Graves were considered dis manibus sacrum, ‘sacred to the divine dead’, and this was inscribed on monuments. Later, individuals were named in grave dedications that sometimes told their stories.

Ancestor worship was a part of honouring the Manes, and they were remembered in households by the imagines which were wax masks or busts of the deceased. It is believed this was the case because the Romans believed that the life source was in the head, and not the heart.

Imagines later became works of art to decorate homes, but the old religious significance never really disappeared.

Romulus and Remus upon an altar dedicated to Mars and Venus (from Ostia)

The spirits of the dead were not always entities whose remembrance gave comfort to the living. There was another group of spirits who were to be dreaded and propitiated: Lemures.

Lemures were spirits of the dead of a household, or place, who haunted the domus or location, those who had been violently murdered or met an untimely end. These numina were hostile, and often the Lemures of children were feared the most.

They were of a very different character to the Manes Familiae.

The poet Ovid, in his Fasti, relates a story on the origins of Lemures and the festival of Lemuria:

Why the day was called Lemuria, and what is the origin of the name, escapes me; it is for some god to discover it. Son of the Pleiad, thou reverend master of the puissant wand, inform me: oft hast thou seen the palace of the Stygian Jove. At my prayer the Bearer of the Herald’s Staff (Caducifer) was come. Learn the cause of the name; the god himself made it known. When Romulus had buried his brother’s ghost in the grave, and the obsequies had been paid to the too nimble Remus, unhappy Faustulus and Acca, with streaming hair, sprinkled the burnt bones with their tears. Then at twilight’s fall they sadly took the homeward way, and flung themselves on their hard couch, just as it was. The gory ghost of Remus seemed to stand at the bedside and to speak these words in a faint murmur: “Look on me, who shared the half, the full half of your tender care, behold what I am come to, and what I was of late! A little while ago I might have been the foremost of my people, if but the birds had assigned the throne to me. Now I am an empty wraith, escaped from the flames of the pyre; that is all that remains of the once great Remus. Alas, where is my father Mars? If only you spoke the truth, and it was he who sent the wild beast’s dugs to suckle the abandoned babes. A citizen’s rash hand undid him whom the she-wolf saved; O how far more merciful was she! Ferocious Celer, mayest thou yield up thy cruel soul through wounds, and pass like me all bloody underneath the earth! My brother willed not this: his love’s a match for mine: he let fall upon my death – ‘twas all he could – his tears. Pray him by your tears, by your fosterage, that he would celebrate a day by signal honour done to me.” As the ghost gave this charge, they yearned to embrace him and stretched forth their arms; the slippery shade escaped the clasping hands. When the vision fled and carried slumber with it, the pair reported to the king his brother’s words. Romulus complied, and gave the name Remuria to the day on which due worship is paid to buried ancestors. In the course of ages the rough letter, which stood at the beginning of the name, was changed into the smooth; and soon the souls of the silent multitude were also called Lemures: that is the meaning of the word, that is the force of the expression. But the ancients shut the temples on these days, as even now you see them closed at the season sacred to the dead. The times are unsuitable for the marriage both of a widow and a maid: she who marries then, will not live long. For the same reason, if you give weight to proverbs, the people say bad women wed in May. But these three festivals fall about the same time, though not on three consecutive days.

(Ovid, Fasti, Book V; trans. James G. Frazer)

It is quite a moving beginning the tradition. As relayed by Ovid, the festival of Lemuria did not fall on three consecutive days, but was celebrated on May 9th, 11th, and 13th.

Les Parques (The Parcae, ca. 1885) by Alfred Agache

There were other numina or spirits that took on a more divine nature in Roman religion.

The Fata (Fates) or the Parcae, were the powers of Destiny, and they were known by the names Nona, Decima and Morta.

Originally, the Parcae, believed to have been influenced by a triad of Celtic goddesses, may have been birth goddesses, but this role evolved into something more all-encompassing.

One could not escape the Parcae, or rather, Fate.

Similarly, one could also not escape the Furies.

The Remorse of Orestes, where he is surrounded by the Erinyes, by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862

Influenced by Greek beliefs, the Furiae were goddesses of terror to the Romans, similar to the Greek Erinyes.

The Furiae were female spirits who carried out the vengeance of the Gods on mortals. If you’ve read our popular book, Saturnalia, these anima will be familiar to you.

These numina carried out their duties on Earth as well as in the Underworld. They were everywhere and could not be escaped from. Traditionally, there were three Furiae: Tisiphone, Megara, and Alecto. Roman tradition also sometimes included two more: Adrasta and of course, Nemesis.

Whoever you were, and whatever you had done, the Furiae were to be respected and feared.

Hylas and the Nymphs by Waterhouse (1896)

Lastly, we come to perhaps one of the most well-known groups of numina in Greek and Roman religion: the Nymphs.

The Nymphs were female nature spirits of objects or places such as trees, springs, rivers, mountains etc.

They were everywhere and were usually young and beautiful, and loved music and dancing.

The Nymphs were not immortal as some might think, but they lived much longer than humans.

The cult of the Nymphs was popular in Roman religion, perhaps not only because they were young and beautiful and not menacing, but perhaps also because they were everywhere.

And like other Roman divinities and numina, they were more relatable to humans than the gods of later, ‘revealed’ religions.

Nymphaeum, or shrine dedicated to the Nymphs (Jerash, Jordan)

Those are the primary numina of Roman religion. We hope that you have learned something new in this short post.

While it is true that the belief in spirits spans most world religions, the Roman beliefs, to us, are utterly fascinating for they are a mixture of the divine and departed, of nurture and menace, of fear and inspiration.

Just as Romans lived with and honoured their Gods on a daily basis, so too did the spirits of their world roam alongside them.

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 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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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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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part III – Roman Monuments of Athens

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 second post on travel and transportation in the Roman Empire, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In part three of this blog series, we’re going to be looking at some of the Roman monuments and additions to the great city of Athens that appear in the novel.

Let’s get started!

Pericles’ funeral oration for the dead of the Peloponnesian War in the Kerameikos of Athens by Philipp Foltz (1852)

When we think of Athens today, we inevitably think of that ‘Golden Age’ city which Pericles, after the destruction wrought by the war with Persia, helped to build into a beacon of light and learning for the world.

There is the ancient Agora with its restored stoa of Attalus, one of a few such structures, myriad statue bases and altars. There is, of course, the beautiful temple of Hephaestus overlooking the Agora where other temples of Ares, Apollo, and Aphrodite were located. This vast area was the beating heart of ‘Golden Age’ Athens.

There is the Kerameikos district about the great Dipylon Gate of Athens’ ancient walls where the road to Eleusis leads through the cemetery where Pericles gave his famous funeral oration honouring the dead of the Peloponnesian war.

On the south side of the Acropolis, there is the Pnyx where the citizens of Athens met to participate in the new experiment known as ‘Democracy’, as well as the magnificent theatre of Dionysus where the first dramas in history were performed, and the Odeon of Pericles beside the theatre where musical and poetry performances entranced Athenian audiences.

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

Above all of these monuments and more was the temple of Athena Parthenos, the Parthenon, the crowning achievement of ancient Athens that hovered like Olympus above the city.

The remains of the ‘Golden Age’ of ancient Athens are everywhere, and history lovers flock to it as much today as they did in ages past.

However… Our story takes place in Roman Athens in the early third century C.E. What did Athens look like long after the setting of the city’s ‘Golden Age’? What did the Romans ever do for Athens?

The answer is, quite a lot.

Sadly, unlike many of Rome’s relationships, it started off with the usual violence that preceded the productive calm and beauty of the Pax Romana.

The Roman occupation of Greece really began in 146 B.C.E with the defeat and total destruction of the city of Corinth by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus who arrived from the north, and then Consul Lucius Mummius.

Then, in 88 B.C.E when Athens and other cities revolted against Roman occupation, Lucius Cornelius Sulla devastated Greece. Athens suffered greatly at the hands of Sulla and much of that ‘Golden Age’ city was destroyed or damaged during his siege of the Acropolis.

Subsequently, Athens and the rest of Greece were to remain a part of the Roman Empire after the battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E when Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) crushed the forces of Mark Antony and Queen Cleopatra thus heralding the end of the Hellenistic Age and beginning the long period of Roman hegemony over the Mediterranean.

Emperor Augustus

After all the destruction, however, under Roman rule Athens began to experience a revival with several rulers really enriching the city for all that it had contributed. You see, many Romans, especially educated ones, really admired Athens and its legacy, a legacy from which Rome had adopted a great deal.

Under Roman rule, Athens saw the construction of several Roman monuments that still stand to this day, at least partially. We are going to take a brief look at a few of them.

Not only were improvements and repairs made to existing monuments, but completely new ones were added to his ancient city, including several public bath houses that were erected in various places.

Vintage engraving of the Theatre of Dionysus with the Roman scaena frons

Among the existing monuments that were repaired and updated was the ancient theatre of Dionysus where the great theatre festivals, such as the Dionysia, took place. At various stages over the Roman period, the theatre was renovated and expanded with more seating and a large scaena frons, or stagehouse.

Fifteen years or so after the Battle of Actium, a new odeon was built around 15 B.C.E in the middle of the Ancient Agora by the general, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. This covered, two-storey structure could seat about one thousand people and is still visible today by the carved tritons on its north side.

Recreation of the exterior and interior of the Odeon of Agrippa in the ancient Agora of Athens

One of the most important additions made by Rome to the city of Athens was the Roman Agora or ‘Roman Forum’ built between 19-11 B.C.E by Augustus in fulfillment of a promise to the city by Julius Caesar.

This ‘new’ agora features largely in An Altar of Indignities, and is the site of a particularly riotous scene!

While the original ancient Agora of Athens remained an important focus of the city, it had become crowded with stoas, temples, and monuments to heroes and to the gods. There were fountains, a library, a mint, offices, altars, sanctuaries and more. But the first agora came to lack the great open space that allowed people to gather and trade with ease. The new, Roman Agora allowed for this.

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

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 surrounding 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 was also an adjacent public latrine.

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

Just outside the eastern wall of the Roman Agora is a fascinating and unique Roman-era structure known as the Tower of the Winds.

The Tower of the Winds, built by Andronicus in the first century B.C.E, 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.

CLICK HERE to read our article on the Roman Agora of Athens and watch our full video tour of the archaeological site.

Emperor Hadrian (gold aureus)

There is one Roman ruler who looms very large in the history of Athens and that is Emperor Hadrian. Everywhere you go in the historic centre of the city, you are reminded of Hadrian. He loved Athens, and he loved to make things on an especially grand scale. Much of what he built in Athens is still visible today.

Beyond the walls of the Roman Agora are the remains of the great library built by Hadrian. Hadrian’s Library, as it is known, was built in 132 C.E. It was a large complex that served not only as a library, but also a cultural centre and public space that included lecture halls, a reading room, a vast courtyard and garden with a pool and, of course, the enormous bibliostasion where myriad precious scrolls were kept.

Today, you can visit the library by away of the monumental entrance near Monastiraki square, roam the gardens where mosaics are still open to the sky, and see the remaining walls of this magnificent piece off Athens’ cultural past.

The ‘Bibliostasion’ of the Library of Hadrian in Plaka, Athens

Southeast of the Acropolis are two more monuments to Hadrian’s generosity and love of grandeur. The one is the Arch of Hadrian which was built around 132 C.E. to honour the emperor. This gate, which one can walk up to today, marked the boundary between the ancient city of Athens and the new district built by Hadrian sometimes known as ‘Novae Athenae’ or ‘New Athens’.

Hadrian’s Gate

Just beyond the Arch of Hadrian, is perhaps one of the most impressive achievements of that emperor: the Temple of Olympian Zeus.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus, or the ‘Olympieion’ as it is known, was one of the largest temples ever built in the ancient world. Construction on it was begun as far back as the sixth century B.C.E under Peisistratos, but it was so ambitious that it was never finished.

Until Emperor Hadrian.

In 131 C.E., after over six hundred years, Emperor Hadrian finally completed the great Olympieion of Athens. The temple had a forest of 104 massive Corinthian columns and contained one of the largest cult statues of the ancient world.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens, as seen from the Acropolis

Today, only 15 of those magnificent columns remain standing. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful site to visit and the remains still give one a sense of the scale of this marvel of ancient architecture and great love that Emperor Hadrian had for Athens.

There is another Roman who features almost as largely as Hadrian in Athens’ past, and that is the wealthy Roman senator, Herodes Atticus. We will look at the man himself in a separate post in this series, but for now we will go over a few of the monuments he contributed to this ancient city.

The Panathenaic Stadium

The Panathenaic Stadium, or Kallimarmaro ( meaning ‘nice marble’), is one of the most recognizable monuments from ancient Athens, and it is still used to this day. It was originally built by Lycurgus in the fourth century B.C.E for the Panathenaea and is located in the small valley between the hills of Agras and Ardittos at the foot of the neighbourhood of Pangrati. 

However, it was in about 144 C.E. that Herodes Atticus rebuilt the stadium in marble, after which it had a capacity of 50,000. This same stadium was excavated and restored in 1896 to host the first modern Olympic Games and is still used today for various Olympic ceremonies.

The Roman-era Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Athens

The monument for which Herodes Atticus is most famous in Athens is the one that bears his name: the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, or ‘The Herodeion’. 

We will also take a close look at this amazing monument in a separate post in this blog series as it is central to the story of An Altar of Indignities. For now, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus was built around 161 C.E on the south slope of the Acropolis. It was a roofed odeon and served as a venue for concerts, theatrical performances and other public events. It remains in use to this day as a part of the annual Athens Epidaurus Festival, along with the great theatre of Epidaurus in the Peloponnese.

Philopappos Monument on the Hill of the Muses (Wikimedia Commons)

On the nearby Hill of the Muses, across the modern street from the Acropolis is another monument from the Roman period. It is known as the ‘Monument of Philopappos’. It was erected in around 114-116 C.E in honour of a Roman consul of Greek descent, Gaius Julius Antiochus Epiphanes Philopappos.

This grand monument that seems to jut out of the trees on the Hill of the Muses served as a mausoleum to this Roman-Greek consul, and is an indication of his importance to Athenian society at the time. Philopappos was said to have also been a poet and personal friend of Emperor Hadrian and Empress Vibia Sabina, making this yet another magnificent addition to the Hadrianic-period legacy of the city.

The Acropolis of Athens

When it comes to Athens, however, there is no monument greater, or more recognizable, than the Acropolis. This ‘high city’, crowned by the Temple of Athena Parthenos (the Parthenon) and other buildings and temples such as the Propylaea, the Erectheion, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the sanctuary of Artemis Brauronia, are all glorious reminders of Athens’ Archaic and Golden ages. 

When it comes to the Roman period, much restoration of existing monuments was undertaken as structures had been damaged by time and war, not least Sulla’s siege of the Acropolis.

There were some monuments with statues that had been erected by foreign kings such as Attalos II of Pergamon (at the northwest corner of the Parthenon) and by Eumenes II in front of the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis plateau. These Hellenistic structures were later rededicated by Emperor Augustus and General Agrippa.

Recreation and present state of theT emple of Rome and Augustus on the Acropolis (Wikimedia Commons)

The only new, Roman addition to the Acropolis was that of the circular Temple of Rome and Augustus which was located about twenty-three meters from the Parthenon on the east side. This was constructed around 19 B.C.E to honour Rome and Emperor Augustus and was the last great construction to take place on the summit. This temple did not have a cella, as most temples did, but was more of an open air tholos (round temple) with a statue of Augustus beneath a roof supported by nine Ionic columns. Later, a metallic inscription was added to the temple to honour Emperor Nero, but this was later removed.

For a series of wonderful 3D recreations of Roman Athens, we highly recommend you visit the website for AncientAthens3D HERE.

Modern aerial view of the three harbours of the port of Piraeus, the port of Athens. The smaller harbours in the foreground are the ancient military harbours of Zea and Munichia. The commercial harbour of Kantharos is in the background.

Lastly, we cannot have a discussion of Roman monuments of Athens without mentioning the great port of Athens: Piraeus.

The port of Piraeus was made up of three harbours: the great commercial harbour of Kantharos (featured in An Altar of Indignities), and the smaller military harbours of Zea and Munichia.

Piraeus has been an important naval and commercial hub for centuries and, in the Classical Greek and Roman periods, it was vital. When Greece came under Roman rule, much was done to improve the port of Piraeus as the Romans relied heavily upon it.

Infrastructure, such as docking facilities, warehouses and the road to Athens, were repaired, improved and expanded. This was for efficiency, but also to accommodate the larger Roman ships. The Romans are also believed to have improved the fortifications of Piraeus.

Recreation of a Roman Quadrireme (From the Naval Encyclopedia)

The Romans certainly knew the strategic value of Piraeus as it became a major naval base for the Roman fleet in the eastern Mediterranean which was often engaged in combatting the rampant piracy that took place in the region. Of course, as trade was central to the workings of the empire, there were customs offices operated by Rome to carry out the taxation of goods.

There were also some religious additions made by Rome to Piraeus, such as shrines to Jupiter and Neptune, which blended in with the existing shrines and temples to traditional Greek deities whom the Romans also respected.

These changes and more are an indication of the continued importance of Piraeus to Rome as a strategic maritime hub.

While the remains of Athens’ Golden Age continue to be the most glorious to behold, it is undeniable that Rome – despite the destruction it initially wrought on the city – more than made up for it with the monuments its emperors and well-to-do citizens constructed.

Today, Athens is among the most beautiful cities in the world, dotted with ancient monuments that are still marvels to see.

That said, Roman Athens in the early third century C.E., when our story takes place, must have been a wonder, something to rival the halls of Olympus itself.

If the Gods had a home on earth, Roman Athens must have been it.

Thank you for reading.

Artist impression of Roman Athens at its peak with the Ilissos River in the foreground and the Temple of Olympian Zeus centre-left.

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 ‘Special Edition’ Hardcover Release for the Holidays!

Salvete Readers and Romanophiles!

Eagles and Dragons Publishing is thrilled to announce the release of a new, ‘Special Edition’ hardcover of our Roman holiday, fan-favourite, Saturnalia: A Tale of Wickedness and Redemption in Ancient Rome!

This new edition is the perfect gift for the history-lover and fan of Ancient Rome on your list!

It features a beautiful dust jacket with a Gorgon head and acanthus borders on an ancient, Roman plaster background. Underneath the jacket, the hardcover case features a stunning, red fresco from the ruins of Pompeii, giving the book an added feel of antiquity for the holidays.

If you’re looking for a wonderful book for the history lover your life, this is it!

The Saturnalia, Special Edition Hardcover (as well as the ebook, audiobook, and paperback editions) is available from all major bookstore chains, independent shops, and all major on-line stores. Get the ISBN# for the edition of your choice by CLICKING HERE.

Order yours now so that you get it in time for the holidays!

Step into the world of Saturnalia for a Roman Holiday you will never forget!

*PLEASE NOTE: if you are shopping on Amazon, the cover images for the new Special Edition Hardcover are not showing. However, if you order the hardcover, the images above show you what it is like. It’s absolutely beautiful!

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