Strange tales from Ancient Rome. 'These things never happened, but always are.' Sallust
Londinium
Joined November 2023
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Passienus retweeted
I think that much of the strangeness in the Odyssey isn't in the gulf between contemporary reader and the archaic Greeks, but rather the text itself dramatizes the gulf between the post-Olympian world and remnants of a stranger Titanic past.
The descriptions of both Calypso's
Passienus retweeted
When, according to #Plutarch (81.1), Octavian complained that there were “too many Caesars” (polykaisaria), the Roman was actually slyly punning on a line from #Homer #Iliad Bk 2, where Odysseus warns of the danger of having “too many lords” (polykoirania).
After Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra, he faced one of the darkest moral dilemmas in Roman history.
Caesarion.
The son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Technically, Octavian's brother through adoption. He was only 17 years old. But his existence was dangerous; and not to Octavian alone.
Because as long as Caesarion lived, there would always be another “son of Caesar” for Rome’s enemies to rally behind.
So Octavian faced the Roman version of the trolley problem:
Let Caesarion live, preserve the life of a young man who had done him no harm, and risk another civil war someday.
Or kill him now, and potentially spare Rome from more bloodshed later.
Octavian chose the second track.
According to Plutarch, someone advised him: “Too many Caesars is not good.”
Caesarion was hunted down and executed. It was ruthless. It was political. And from Octavian’s perspective it may have been necessary.
What do you think?
Was Octavian ruthless…
Or was he right?
Passienus retweeted
The first British Empire was led by a Virgil-quoting Roman pirate king with a messianic zeal to restore the Golden Age of Saturn.
He was betrayed and murdered by his treasurer. The father of future Emperor Constantine then retook Britannia, ushering in the dynasty that would transform Rome into a Christian empire. Had this pirate king won, it’s likely Rome would have stayed Pagan.
Passienus retweeted
It may resemble a typical piece of ancient Indian art, but this statuette found in Pompeii reveals a world more interconnected than we typically think of.
Let’s talk in this peculiar 🧵about ancient trade between Rome and India, religious iconography, and Pliny the Elder!
Passienus retweeted
How did Roman emperors prefer to depict themselves in sculptural portraits?
Under the Julio-Claudian dynasty, the majority of imperial statues showed the emperor nude, in an art style known as "heroic nudity" or "ideal nudity."
Over time, nude depictions of emperors declined until they eventually disappeared in the Late Empire.
This mirrors broader trends in the decline of explicit artwork during the transition from the Late Roman to medieval era.
Passienus retweeted
Romans at sea before the Punic wars: a thread.
1/According to an ancient and persistent trope originating from Polybius, the Romans ignored the sea until the third century BCE, when their clash with Carthage forced them to build a navy.
Passienus retweeted
Homer’s “Odyssey”, two blank verse translations: (1) William Cullen Bryant and (2) William Cowper
Passienus retweeted
The Vesuvius eruption of 79 AD was a catastrophe for thousands, but it is a treasure trove for us today
Especially Herculaneum, which unlike Pompeii was buried by beneath 16 meters of ash and mud.
Perfectly preserving everyday objects like cupboards and this unique cradle (!)
Passienus retweeted
“And dazzled she sees new worlds of Beauty.”
– C.P. Cavafy, “Horace in Athens”, translated by Rae Dalven.
Passienus retweeted
Subura, Argiletum street, Rome C4th AD: the same place in different weather conditions. Recreated by Danyla Loginov of Rome in 3D.
#RomanSiteSaturday
ALT Subura, Argiletum street, Rome C4th AD: the same place in different weather conditions. Recreated by Danyla Loginov of Rome in 3D. #RomanSiteSaturday
ALT Subura, Argiletum street, Rome C4th AD: the same place in different weather conditions. Recreated by Danyla Loginov of Rome in 3D. #RomanSiteSaturday
ALT Subura, Argiletum street, Rome C4th AD: the same place in different weather conditions. Recreated by Danyla Loginov of Rome in 3D. #RomanSiteSaturday
Passienus retweeted
Apollo preceding Hector with his Aegis, and dispersing the Greeks, By John Flaxman.
Passienus retweeted
Warrior on horseback. Roman statue from the 2nd century AD, in turn a copy of a Greek original from the 2nd century BC.
📸 by me at the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
