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

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

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

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

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

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

We hope you enjoy…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Panathenaic amphora depicting the Goddess Athena

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ancient depiction of a musician playing the aulos

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

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

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

Vase depicting Ancient Greek boxers

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

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

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

Panathenaic amphora depicting a synoris, or two-horse chariot

Day five was when the tribal contests took place.

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

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

The Pyrrhic Dance – painting by Lawrence Talma-Tadema

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

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

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

Horsemen of the Panathenaic Procession, from The Parthenon Frieze

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

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

The Peplos scene from the Parthenon Frieze

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading.

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

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

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

Salvete Readers and Romanophiles!

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

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

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

The person we are referring to is Herodes Atticus…

A Bust of Herodes Atticus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emperor Hadrian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Impression of Herodes Atticus and his young wife, Regilla

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Herodes Atticus never married again.

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading.

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

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

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

 

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

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

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

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

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

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

Would you kill a god to save your family?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Only the Gods know…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading!

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

 

Happy New Year!

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

See the full list of winners HERE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We hope you find it interesting…

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

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

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

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

Athens, Greece – Monastiraki Square and ancient Acropolis with rainbow

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

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

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

Plan of the Roman Agora

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

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

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

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

The Roman Agora from the eastern propylon

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

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

Gate of Athena Archegetis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tower of the Winds behind the eastern propylon of the agora

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Adam exploring the Roman Agora

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

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

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

Remains on-site

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

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

Site of fountain in the Roman Agora

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for reading.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brace yourselves! The Etrurian Players are back!

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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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The World of An Altar of Indignities – Part II – Travel and Transportation in the Roman Empire

Greetings 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 first post on drama and theatres in ancient Athens, you can read that by CLICKING HERE.

In Part II, we’re going to be taking a brief look at travel and transportation in the Roman Empire. As we shall see, this is something the Romans did really well!

We hope you enjoy!

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

The Etrurian Players – the tumultuous theatre troupe of our story – regularly travel the Mediterranean Sea to get to the location of their next performance, be it in the cities of Iberia, the great polis of Alexandria or, as is the case in this story, the city of Athens where theatre was born.

But how easy is it for The Etrurian Players to get from one place to another while on tour? How did ancient Romans, and Etrurians for that matter, get about?

Travel is something that we take for granted today. We decide we need to get somewhere, and we just go, be it nearby, or over a great distance across oceans and continents. We often take it for granted in fiction too. Characters often need to get from point A to point B, and it happens.

But in the ancient world, travel wasn’t so easy. It required planning, and it took time.

There were also many factors involved such as destination, budget (not unlike today), mode of transportation, and time of year. Unless one was a soldier, or merchant, or someone wealthy, chances are that you might never have left your community or indeed your Etrurian latifundium!

So, when people did travel in the Roman Empire, how and why did they do so?

Ptolemy’s world map, reconstituted from Ptolemy’s Geography, circa AD 150, in the 15th century, indicating Sinae, China, at the extreme right. (Wikimedia Commons)

First off, we should probably discuss maps. We use maps today, and the Romans had maps. Geography was important, especially if you were planning a large scale invasion or military campaign, or even surveying for a new settlement. Not many maps from the Roman period survive, but copies of maps were made from originals. Sometimes they were even rendered in paintings or mosaics.

Maps, geography and cartography are mentioned by some ancient authors such as Strabo, Polybius, Pliny the Elder, and Ptolemy. We also know that large wall maps of the world were commissioned by Julius Caesar, and then by Agrippa, during the reign of Augustus.

Much of our knowledge of place names and geography from the Roman world comes from what are called ittinerarium pictum which were travel itineraries accompanied by paintings. Perhaps the most well-known of these is Ptolemy’s Geography which included six books of place names with coordinates from around the empire, including faraway places such as Ireland and Africa.

Another source is the Ravenna Cosmography. This was a compilation of documents by a cleric at Ravenna around 700 C.E. This particular source gives lists of stations, river names and some topographical details as far away as India.

Details of a map based on the 11th century Ravenna Cosmography (Wikimedia Commons)

The Notitia Dignitatum is a late Roman collection of administrative information which included lists of civilian and military office holders, military units and forts. The maps that accompanied this were medieval, but it is believed that they were derived from Roman originals of the fourth and fifth centuries C.E.

Perhaps the most important surviving example of an itinerary, however, is the Itinerarium Antoninianum, the ‘Antonine Itinerary’, which was a collection of journeys compiled over seventy-five years or more and assembled in the late 3rd century. It describes 225 routes and gives the distances between places that are mentioned. Some believe it was probably used for travel by emperors or troops. This particular source also included a maritime section with sea routes entitled Imperatoris Antonini Augusti itinerarium maritimum. The longest route in this itinerary appears to represent Emperor Caracalla’s trip from Rome to Egypt in about 214-215 C.E, about ten years after An Altar of Indignities takes place.

Map of Roman Britain based on the Antonine Itinerary, plotted by William Stukeley in the 1700s using the Itinerary as its source. (University of Kent)

Next, one cannot discuss travel in the Roman Empire without talking about roads.

There is a reason the expression ‘All roads lead to Rome’ exists. It was true, at least for a time. This is believed to have originally referred to the milliarium aureum, the ‘golden milestone’ near the temple of Saturn in the Forum Romanum, from which all distances were measured. It is believed that distances to specific cities or settlements were written upon it.

Part of the Via Egnatia near Kavala, Greece

When it comes to roads, Rome was the best. In fact, Roman roads forever altered the empire and travel itself. Not only did Roman roads make troop movements much easier – with the troops building the roads themselves! – but they also opened up parts of the empire to trade and further settlement. They spread out from Rome like a titanic spider web connecting the eternal city to the farthest outposts.

There were also various types of road too, not just the broad, paved roads upon which vehicles and legions could travel. There were also small tracks, causeways, narrow streets, embanked roads or strata, lanes and more. Whether you were crossing the world, or crossing a settlement, roads of all types were useful.

The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian, showing the network of main Roman roads. (Wikimedia Commons)

Of course, with Roman roads, came Roman bridges over rivers that might have added days to a journey in order to reach a suitable crossing point. Travel was shortened in many ways by using Roman roads.

Now that we know how important roads were to the Roman Empire, how did people travel upon them?

When it came to the legions, marching was the order of the day for most troopers, and the average Roman soldier, fully laden, could travel up to 25 Roman miles in one day. For the average person living within the bounds of the empire, walking was also the norm. This mode of travel was slower, to be sure, though roads made it much easier.

Apart from walking, there were of course other, faster modes of transportation such as by horse, pack animal, two-wheeled cart, and four-wheeled wagon. Obviously, these required one to have the funds to own or rent such animals and vehicles, but they did greatly cut back on the travel time.

A Roman relief showing a four-wheeled, covered wagon (photo – Penn Museum)

The time of year and the weather were obvious factors when it came to travel upon roads, but also when it came to water routes open to travellers such as by river, open sea, and coastal sea travel.

When it comes to seafaring, the Romans had no such tradition until after the wars with Carthage which forced them to come to terms with the need for a navy. With the creation of that navy, Roman troops could be moved more quickly from Rome to Africa, for instance.

The other reason for travelling by sea or waterway was, perhaps more importantly, trade. The Roman Empire at its peak was vast and varied, and there was an enormous trade network that ensured raw materials such as lead and marble made it to construction sites as far away as Britannia, or from there to Rome itself. Perhaps the officers on Hadrian’s wall missed their favourite garum produced in Hispania, or wine from their family’s Etrurian estate? 

A Roman cargo ship, or ‘corbita’ (image: naval-encyclopedia.com)

To transport large amounts of goods where they needed to be at the farthest reaches of the empire, or to the heart of Rome, sea transport was the way to go, and massive ports such as those at Ostia, Carthage, Alexandria, and Piraeus were constantly alive with trade.

There were various types of ships, both commercial and military, but despite the efficiency of this mode of transport, it was even more restricted by the seasons and weather than travel over land. Sea travel could be absolutely treacherous, and the number of ancient shipwrecks that dot the coasts of the former Roman Empire are a testament to this.

The wreck of a 110-foot (35-meter) Roman ship, along with its cargo of 6,000 amphorae, discovered at a depth of around 60m (197 feet) off the coast of Kefalonia. (Photo: CNN)

If you want to read more about the various types of ships used in the Roman Empire, be sure to check out the Naval Encyclopedia page HERE.

As mentioned before, we often take travel for granted in the modern world, but it cannot be overstated how important travel was in the Roman Empire, nor how much Roman road and ship building opened up the world and the economy of Europe at the time. Yet another thing the Romans did for us!

Modern aerial view of the three harbours of the port of Piraeus, the port of Athens

We hope you’ve enjoyed this brief post about travel and transportation in the Roman Empire.

If you’re interested in taking a look, one particular tool that was especially useful when researching and writing An Altar of Indignities was Orbis: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World. This special GIS tool uses ancient and modern source information to accurately create itineraries for travel between destinations in the Roman Empire, taking into account mode of transport, time of year, and whether travelling by land or sea. You can check that out HERE.

Stay tuned for Part III in The World of An Altar of Indignities in which we will be taking a look at the Roman monuments of ancient Athens.

Thank you for reading.

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 I – Drama and Theatres in Ancient Athens

Greetings Readers, Hellenophiles, and Romanophiles!

Eagles and Dragons Publishing is proud to present an all new ‘World of’ blog series that will take a look at the research, people, and places related to the newest book in The Etrurian Players series, An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens.

We know that many of you are fans of these blog series connected with each of our book releases and we hope that you enjoy this one as much as those that have gone before.

In this newest series, we’ll be publishing a new article every two weeks or so on a wide range of relevant topics such as theatre, ancient Athens, festivals, religion, playwrights, customs and more.

And now, without further ado, let’s step into The World of An Altar of Indignities!

The Theatre of Epidaurus

In this first post, we’re going to be taking a brief look at drama and theatres in ancient Athens.

But this book is set during the Roman era, isn’t it? you might ask.

That is true, but the Romans were the inheritors and adopters of Greek theatrical traditions and, as the book is set in Roman Athens, we thought it would be good to start with a look at the birth of drama in ancient Greece.

Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude…through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.

(Aristotle, Poetics) 

In the West, we owe a great deal to the ancient Greeks, particularly the Athenians. Out of ancient Greece came epic poetry, and lyric poetry sung to music. There was elegiac poetry that expressed personal sentiments of love, lamentation, and military exhortations. Epigrams memorialized the dead in inscriptions across the Greek world. Iambic poetry relayed often satyrical ideas as close to natural speech as possible, and bucolic poetry in hexameter told stories of the lives of ordinary country people rather than of heroes.

There is much more to it, but you get the idea. Basically, all of our western literary traditions came out of Ancient Greece.

Not least among these genres was drama.

Relief of Maenads in ritualistic, frenzied dance honouring Dionysus.

The first thing we should look at is how the artform of ‘Drama’ came about as a form of entertainment.

Similar to gladiatorial combat in Ancient Rome, which began as a religious ritual for the dead, drama in Ancient Greece was born out of religious practices, in particular, rituals honouring the god, Dionysus.

Early worship to Dionysus involved a darker side with ecstatic worship by female followers – the maenads of mythology – who were said to partake in frenzied dances and tear into animal, and sometimes human, flesh. In the sixth century B.C.E the worship of Dionysus involved obscene play, extreme emotion, singing, and dancing.

This was the genesis of Greek drama.

It was the tyrant Peisistratos (c. 600-527 B.C.E) who founded the city Dionysia of Athens, the great festival in honour of Dionysus, which involved a chorus of men singing and dancing for the god. Later, there were also rural Dionysia about Attica, with similar rituals. These early choruses could be as large as fifty people, but most were believed to consist of twelve to fifteen members.

In the sixth century (c. 535 B.C.E), when a man named Thespis added himself to the ritual to deliver a prologue and interact with the Dionysian chorus, he is said to have become the very first actor, or ‘thespian’.

The addition of this one person to interact with the chorus is thought to be the beginning of true drama, the transition from religious ritual to dramatic performance for an audience.

Later, the playwright Aeschylus added a second actor and, after him, Sophocles added a third, and this became the standard number of actors for a while, in addition to the members of the chorus.

Roman bronze from Herculaneum thought to represent Thespis, the first actor.

In early drama, Greek comedies and tragedies were, more or less, musical productions. This was due to drama’s origins in dance and song for Dionysus. The members of the chorus played groups of people like the citizens of a city, dancing and singing.

These new dramas or plays, until the Hellenistic age, were performed in competitions as part of religious festivals like the Dionysia, the Lenaea (a winter festival to Dionysus), and the Panathenaea (to Athena Parthenos) at Athens. These theatre festivals were organized by the state.

For festivals, usually three poets were selected to have their work performed, and they were assigned an actor, or actors. The playwrights who participated wrote either tragedy or comedy, but not both. They usually submitted three tragedies on different themes and a satyr play, a short comedic piece (ex. Euripides’ Cyclops).

The winner of these competitions received a wreath. From about 499 B.C.E, the best actor also received a prize. All actors, even those playing female roles, were men. Oftentimes, the poets also acted in their own plays.

At Athens, when the Dionysia was in its infancy, the admission to watch the dramas was, apparently, about two obols. However, when Pericles was leading the way through Athens’ Golden Age, the state began to pay for admission to the theatre. In addition to male citizens, this sometimes also included non-citizens, or metics, as well as women and children who were, of course, accompanied by well-respected male citizens.

But before we get into the role that theatre played in Greek society, let’s first take a look at the types of drama that were performed, mainly Tragedy and Comedy.

It should be said at this point that, unfortunately, very little ancient drama has survived the centuries, and when it comes to tragedy, only Attic tragedies have survived.

Tragic dramas or plays from Ancient Greece seem to have originated in the mid-sixth century B.C.E in Attica or the Peloponnese, and the earliest surviving one we have is Aeschylus’ Persians (c. 472. B.C.E).

Ah! Miserable Fate! Black Fortune!

Black, unbearable, unexpected disaster!

A savage single-minded Fate has ravished the Persian race!

What troubles are still in store for me?

All strength has abandoned my body… my limbs… there is none left to face these elders.

Ah, Zeus! Why has this evil Fate not buried me, as well, send me to the underworld, among all my men?

(Aeschylus, Persians)

Tragedies were the first dramas and they were almost all based on mythological tales of gods, goddesses and heroes. They also had a standard format that comprised a prologos, sometimes presented by the chorus, and sometimes by an actor. Then there was a monologue or introduction. There was a parados, which was a song sung by the chorus as it entered. After that, there were various epeisodia, scenes with actors and the chorus, and during these epeisodia, stasima (songs) were performed. The play usually closed out with the exodos, the final scene or ‘exit’.

So, the first dramatic performances were tragedies and the genre gave rise to some of the most famous playwrights of the ancient world, including Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. However, tragedy began to decline by the end of the fourth century B.C.E in favour of comedy.

Melpomene – The Muse of Tragedy

The word comedy is derived from the Greek komoidia which comes from komos, a procession of singing and dancing revellers.

It is believed that comedy dates to the sixth century B.C.E and that it may have its roots in Sicilian or Megarian drama.

As with the tragedies, only Attic comedies survive to this day, and the earliest surviving one we have is Aristophanes’ Acharnians (c. 425 B.C.E). There were earlier comic poets such as Cratinus, Crates, Pherecrates, Eupolis and Plato (different to the famous philosopher), but none of their works survive.

Oh! by Bacchus! what a bouquet! It has the aroma of nectar and
ambrosia; this does not say to us, “Provision yourselves for three
days.” But it lisps the gentle numbers, “Go whither you will.”
I accept it, ratify it, drink it at one draught and consign the
Acharnians to limbo. Freed from the war and its ills, I shall
keep the Dionysia in the country.

(Aristophanes, Acharnians)

Ancient Greek comedy can be separated into three different types: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy.

Comedies were humorous and uninhibited with many jokes about sex and excretions. They ridiculed and parodied contemporary characters, and an excellent example of this is Aristophanes’ ridiculing of Socrates in Clouds:

A bold rascal, a fine speaker, impudent, shameless, a braggart, and adept at stringing lies, and an old stager at quibbles, a complete table of laws, a thorough rattle, a fox to slip through any hole, supple as a leather strap, slippery as an eel, an artful fellow, a blusterer, a villain, a knave with one hundred faces, cunning, intolerable, a gluttonous dog.

(Aristophanes, Clouds)

Comedies also made fun of contemporary issues as well as gods, myths, and even religious ceremonies, making it a sort of acceptable outlet for mocking things that were otherwise sacred. This was a form of ‘free speech’ at work in the new Democracy of Athens.

All performances were staged during the city Dionysia and the Lenaea in Athens.

Old Comedy consisted of choral songs alternating with dialogue but it had less of a pattern than tragedy did. The chorus consisted of about twenty-four men and extras, and they often played animals. The actors wore grotesque costumes and masks.

Old comedies began with a prologos, and then the entrance of the chorus which proceeded to sing a parados, a song. Then there was the main event, the agon, a struggle, which was a debate or physical fight between two of the actors. There were songs during the action and subsequent scenes or epeisodia. The chorus also uttered a parabasis, which was a blessing on the audience. As with tragedy, comedies also ended with the final scene, or exodos.

Second century C.E. mosaic depicting dramatic masks for Tragedy and Comedy

Middle Comedy in Ancient Greece was basically Athenian comedy from about 400-323 B.C.E. It developed after the Peloponnesian War and was more experimental with different styles beginning to emerge. Apparently it became quite popular and experienced a revival in Sicily and Magna Graecia.

Comic choruses began to play less of a role, and the parabasis was no longer used. Interestingly, the more grotesque costumes and phalluses were not as popular either.

Comedic plots based on mythology and political satire began to give way to less harsh humour and a focus on ordinary lives and issues. 

Sadly, no complete plays from Middle Comedy survive, but some of the authors we know of were Antiphanes, Tubules, Anaxandrides, Timocles, and Alexis. Some might also class Aristophanes as one of the earliest poets of Greek Middle Comedy.

Thalia – The Muse of Comedy

Lastly, New Comedy is generally considered to be Athenian comedy from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E to about 263 B.C.E.

In New Comedy performances, plays were five acts long and were interspersed with unrelated choral or musical interludes. They were generally set in Athens or Attica, and the actors wore masks, but now dressed in regular everyday clothes.

Though new comedies were Athenian, writers came from around the broader Greek world to Athens to write, and to see the plays.

The themes of these new plays were more human and relatable and dealt with things such as family relationships, love, mistaken identities (a throw-over from Middle Comedy), the intrigues of slaves, and long-lost children.

There were also stock characters that emerged such as pimps and courtesans, soldiers, young men in love, genial old men, and angry old men.

The themes and characters of Greek New Comedy greatly influenced Roman drama and which became so popular for the Roman theatre crowd.

Menander (c. 343–291 B.C.E)

Sadly, little survives in the form of Greek New Comedy, but much Roman comedy such as plays by Plautus and Terence, were based on those Greek plays, particularly Menander (c. 341-290 B.C.E). Other authors included Diphilus and Philemon.

It is a true tragedy that so much comedy does not survive. Menander alone is thought to have written over one hundred plays, and yet only a small fragment of a single one of his plays survives.

Thankfully, Roman playwrights such as Plautus and Terence used Menander’s plays as blueprints for their own and, as a result of that New Comedy format and formula, they gave rise to the western comedic tradition we are familiar with to this day through Shakespeare, Moliere, and others.

Now that we have briefly touched on the history of drama and plays, let’s take a look at where these plays were actually performed.

The Theatre of Dionysus, Athens

The word ‘theatre’ comes from the Greek word theatron which literally means ‘a place for watching’.

Theatres were built from the sixth century B.C.E onward. Most religious sites had a theatre and, as previously mentioned, they were used to celebrate festivals in honour of Dionysus.

Greek drama grew out of these religious festivals.

Early theatres could be temporary wooden structures, or a sort of scaffolding, but this practice was ceased after a deadly collapse in the Agora of Athens in about 497 B.C.E. After that, performances in Athens moved to the hillside where the theatre of Dionysus was built on the south slope of the Acropolis.

It became common practice to build theatres into the slopes or hillsides of natural hollows or, alternatively, into man-made embankments which supported tiers of seats on the hillside. Beginning in the fourth century B.C.E, theatre seating was built in marble. Theatres were generally D-shaped or on half-circle plans.

Ground Plan of the Ionian Greek theatre at Iassos.

All theatres where drama was performed were ‘open-air’ and had several common components: the koilon (the seating area) where the seats in the front row were reserved for priests and officials, the orkestra (the circular performance space), and the skene (a building for storage and changing rooms for actors). Later, the skene became a stage with a backdrop called the proskenion (in Latin, the scaena frons). The addition of this stage (pulpitum in Latin) expanded the performance area.

The other common performance space that was similar to theatres in Ancient Greece was the odeon (plur. odeia). These were usually roofed structures for listening to musical recitals and contests, poetry readings and other similar performances. Odeia were basically small theatres with a roof.

The first odeon of ancient Athens is thought to be that built by Pericles in the fifth century B.C.E. It was located directly beside the theatre of Dionysus and was a pyramidal structure made of wood with the roof supported by many columns. Some believe it was designed to resemble the tent of the defeated King of Persia.

Other odeia of ancient Athens included the Odeon of Agrippa in the Athenian Agora, and the stunning Odeon of Herodes Atticus on the southwestern slope of the Acropolis which is still used for performances to this day and which is featured in An Altar of Indignities.

Acropolis of Athens with the Odeon of Herodes Atticus before it on the left.

Today, theatre and dramatic performance is seen as more of a luxury in western society, something for the privileged few.

This was not the case in ancient Athens.

Though drama had religious beginnings, it evolved into an important way for Greeks as a society (albeit mostly for male citizens) to investigate the world in which they lived and what it meant to be human.

Aristotle believed that drama, tragedy in particular, had a way of cleansing the heart through pity and terror. It could purge men of their petty concerns and worries and, with this noble ‘suffering’, they underwent a sort of catharsis.

With the advent of philosophical thought, theatre and drama became the vehicle that encouraged average Greeks to become more ‘moral’ by helping them to process the issues of the day through both Tragedy and Comedy.

Rather than being a leisure activity for the elites, as it is perceived today, attending the theatre in ancient Athens was an important form of civic engagement after exercising one’s rights and performing one’s duties for the community (such as voting). Watching and experiencing tragedies and comedies with one’s fellow citizens became an important activity in the new Democracy of the day.

Not only did the drama and theatres of ancient Athens inspire their Roman successors, they also helped to shape the artistic traditions of western civilization.

For that, we should all be grateful.

Thank you for reading.

An array of Greek theatre masks

We hope that you’ve enjoyed this short post on drama and theatres in ancient Athens. There is a lot more to learn on this subject. We highly recommend the documentary series by Professor Michael Scott, Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth. You can watch the first episode HERE. 

You can also read our popular articles on Theatres in Ancient Rome and Drama and Actors in Ancient Rome.

There are a lot 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 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.

Stay tuned for the next post in this blog series in which we’ll be looking at travel and transportation in the Roman Empire.

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 Release! – The Etrurian Players are Back!

Greetings Readers and History-Lovers!

Eagles and Dragons Publishing is thrilled to announce the release of Book II in The Etrurian Players series!

The title is An Altar of Indignities: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome and Athens and it is an embarrassing and touching story of family and friendship, creativity, and the discomfort that humans experience as life inevitably changes.

The story takes place in the Roman Empire in the year 205 CE…

Brace yourselves! The Etrurian Players are back!

The Gods are well aware that mortals have a habit of taking themselves far too seriously. This is especially true of The Etrurian Players, the greatest theatrical troupe in the Roman Empire.

Basking in the glories of their resounding success in Rome, Felix Modestus and his players find themselves on the sacred island of Delos when Apollo decides it is time to check Felix’s growing hubris with a new and potentially deadly mission: he must show the people of Athens that Romans are just as capable of theatrical greatness as the Greeks!

Faced with this titanic task, Felix once again enlists the help of his oldest friends, Rufio and Clara, who travel from their farm in Etruria to Athens for the great Panathenaic festival when the precarious production is destined to take place.

As the company attempts to prepare for the performance, their efforts are constantly hampered by haughty critics, a rival theatre troupe, wailing children, wild animals, and the pleasures of Athena’s polis.

Will The Etrurian Players overcome distraction to win over the people of Athens? Will they survive the trials and judgement of Apollo? Or will they succumb to the humiliation and self-doubt that lurks around every creative corner?

Only by believing in themselves and helping each other can they survive and prove once again that The Etrurian Players are worthy of praise and the Gods’ favour.

If you like dramatic and comic stories about wild artists, persistent shades, and unbelievable episodes with goats, monkeys, and dogs, then you will howl and cry at An Altar of Indignities!

Read this book today for a theatrical misadventure in Roman Athens that will leave you asking the Gods ‘What were they thinking?’.

If you haven’t yet experienced The Etrurian Players series, be sure to check out Book I first, the multi award-winning title, Sincerity is a Goddess: A Dramatic and Romantic Comedy of Ancient Rome.

If you are feeling down about the world at the moment, The Etrurian Players series is just the ticket you need to feel good and know that there is indeed hope for us all!

An Altar of Indignities 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.

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

We’re so excited to share this dramatic and romantic comedy with the world, and we’re thrilled that you’re joining us on the adventure!

Thank you for reading!

 

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Press Release – Heart of Fire is Victorious in NYC!

Adam Alexander Haviaras receives international recognition

 through the

 NYC BIG BOOK AWARD®!

Stratford, Ontario, Canada — The NYC Big Book Award recognized Heart of Fire: A Novel of the Ancient Olympics in the category of Historical Fiction as a ‘Distinguished Favourite’.

The competition is judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, designers, booksellers, librarians and professional copywriters. Winners are based on overall excellence.

Heart of Fire: A Novel of the Ancient Olympics

A Mercenary… A Spartan Princess… And Olympic Glory…

When Stefanos, an Argive mercenary, returns home from the wars raging across the Greek world, his life’s path is changed by his dying father’s last wish – that he win in the Olympic Games.

As Stefanos sets out on a road to redemption to atone for the life of violence he has led, his life is turned upside down by Kyniska, a Spartan princess destined to make Olympic history.

In a world of prejudice and hate, can the two lovers from enemy city-states gain the Gods’ favour and claim Olympic immortality? Or are they destined for humiliation and defeat?

Remember… There can be no victory without sacrifice.

The NYC Big Book Award received book submissions worldwide. Journalists, well established authors, small and large press, and first time indie authors participated in record numbers.  Entries this year were received from the United States as well as countries such as Australia, Canada, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.  Cities represented included Asheville, Beijing, Colorado Springs, Dublin, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Singapore, Tel Aviv, and Vancouver were among the entries.

Publishers included Atmosphere Press, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Beaufort Books, Beyond Words Publishing, Blackstone Publishing, Eagles and Dragons Publishing, Familius Publishing, Flatiron Books, Hachette Go, HarperCollins Leadership, Oceanview Publishing, Old Stone Press, Rowman & Littlefield, Simon & Schuster, Ulysses Press, Watkins Publishing, Westminster John Knox Press to name a few.

“We were delighted to see so many quality publishers and authors from around the world participate this year. I can’t wait to share these books with a global readership,” said awards sponsor Gabrielle Olczak.

To view the list of NYC Big Book winners and distinguished favourites, please visit: https://www.nycbigbookaward.com/

End of Press Release

Click the image to check out Heart of Fire and other books in the 2024 Announcement Issue of the NYC Big Book Award

Here at Eagles and Dragons Publishing we’re thrilled that Heart of Fire has received this award. It really is an honour as this year’s competition involved a great many authors and publishers from around the world!

To commemorate this event, Eagles and Dragons Publishing has designed a special edition ‘Heart of Fire Olympic Hero’ t-shirt which is now available in the Eagles and Dragons Publishing AGORA on Etsy! You can check that out by CLICKING HERE. This elegant, unisex t-shirt is 100% cotton and features the Corinthian helmet and olive crown that grace the cover of the book.

This is the second accolade given to Heart of Fire: A Novel of the Ancient Olympics.

In the Spring of 2024, Heart of Fire also received the prized ‘Highly Recommended’ award from The Historical Fiction Company in another international competition!

To read The Historical Fiction Company’s full 5-Star review of Heart of Fire, CLICK HERE.

Thank you for your support, and thank you for reading!

Heart of Fire is available in e-book, paperback and special edition hardcover 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.

Remember… There can be no victory without sacrifice.

Thank you for reading…

 

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