Plutarch Links

Here is a link to the Solon reading:

Plutarch Reading on Solon

The link to all these readings can be found on the right side of the page in the research tools section.

Here is the Solon audiobook too, in case you are still struggling with navigating librivox.org

Solon 1

Solon 2

Solon 3

Also, here is a short version of the Plutarch reading to help you understand the story's outline.

Plutarch's Solon (Short Version)

A BUZZ of many voices was heard in the market-place of Athens. "Is he really mad?" asked one.
"Yes, you can see he is. Look at him now; he is leaping on to the herald's stone; and he wears a cap! Poor Solon; what a pity his brain should give way like this! Hark, he is beginning to speak."
The citizens of Athens crowded round the herald's stone, and listened to Solon. It was the custom for only sick people to wear caps, and Solon's strange appearance made the people readily believe the report that he was out of his mind. He recited a poem which he had composed beginning with the words:

Hear and attend!
From Salamis I came,
To show your error.

Solon was born about 638 B.C., and died about 558 B.C.

Salamis was an island whose mountains rose above the sea on the west of Athens. It was held by the Megarian people, who had taken it by force; and Solon so stirred up the spirit of Athens that the citizens made him commander of the men who should recapture the island. Solon played the following trick: He bade a number of young men dress in long, loose garments that made them appear like women; and he sent word to the Megarian warriors in Salamis that now they might have a good chance of seizing some of the principal ladies of Athens! The Megarians, not knowing the message was a trap laid by Solon, hurried into a ship, landed on the Athenian coast, and saw what seemed to be a crowd of women dancing at a festival. With a shout they rushed forward, but were much surprised when the supposed matrons drew swords and made a fierce defence. In the end all the Megarians were slain, and Solon afterward took possession of Salamis. You will meet many such tales of trickery in the history of war in ancient times; and I fear that in our own days also men do not hesitate to deceive their enemies, and they think it quite right to do so.

In another case of trickery the Athenian people were not so well pleased. The city had been troubled by quarrels between two parties who disagreed as to the best way of governing the State; and a number of men were beaten in the conflict and fled to the temple of the goddess Athene (Ath-ee-nee) for refuge. According to the custom of the time, no man might touch them while they remained under the care of the goddess. Some of the opposite party came to the gate, and said:

"Come out, like honest men, and go before the city magistrates, and let them judge if you are guilty or innocent."
"We dare not come out. You would slay us."
"No, not while you are under the protection of Athene; and we will give you a long thread, long enough to reach from here to the court of justice, and while you hold that we shall consider you as under the guardianship of the goddess."

So the men who had taken refuge in the temple tied the thread to the altar of Athene, and, while holding it, walked forth toward the place of the magistrates. But presently—perhaps by accident,  perhaps by the act of some treacherous hand—the thread snapped. Then their foes fell upon them and killed them. But the people of Athens regarded this deed as a most wicked murder, and later on, when Solon was made chief ruler and lawgiver of the city, all the persons who took part in this action were sent into exile.

Many of the citizens wished Solon to take the crown. They thought he was a wise and just man, and would act as a wise and just king. Solon, however, had no mind for kingship; he was pleased to do his best to govern Athens, but had no wish for the glory of a crown or the splendor of a palace. He found the people of the Athenian country divided. There were, first, the Peasants of the Mountains, poor and hard-working, and always in debt to money-lenders; second, the Dwellers on the Coast, who were neither very rich nor very poor; and third, the Nobles of the Plain, who owned fruitful fields and orchards, and had much power. The poorest folk expected great help from Solon. They hoped he would wipe away all their debts, and they hoped he would take away the greater part of the land of the nobles and share it out among the people generally, as was done in Sparta. Solon did indeed wipe out their debts. He declared that all debts should be forgiven, so that the peasants might make a fresh start in life. Nor, even after that, would he allow any debtor to be seized and put into prison. For such had been the custom till then, every debtor being treated as if he were a wicked person. Solon heard of Athenians who had fled away into strange lands for fear of being cast into prison on account of money they owed, and he sent and brought them back; and all debtors who were in jail he set at liberty. You may be sure the poor and needy folk were filled with joy, and they now waited for him to divide the lands. But this Solon would not do, for he thought it would only upset the whole country; and, for that reason, some who had once praised him began to speak ill of him. Yet most of the citizens held him in great esteem, for they saw that in all he did he sought to do good to the people. Many laws he swept away. Before his days a lawgiver named Draco had ruled Athens so severely that he put to death men who only stole a few herbs from a garden; so that it was said that his laws were written not in ink, but in blood. I will set down a little list of some of Solon's laws:

He divided the people (leaving out the slaves) into four classes: The first class were men who had a yearly income of five hundred measures of corn; they must serve as horse-soldiers in the army, and they could vote at elections.

The second class were men who had a yearly income of three hundred measures of corn; they [13] also must serve as horse-soldiers in the army, and they could vote at elections.

The third class were men who had a yearly income of one hundred and fifty measures of corn; they must serve as foot-soldiers in the army, and they could vote at elections.

The fourth class were men who worked for wages; they could serve as foot-soldiers, and, if so, they would be paid, whereas the first three classes had no pay; and they had no vote, but they could assemble at a big public meeting and shout "Yes" or "No" when the rulers proposed that anything special should be done.

Solon set up a Council of Four Hundred men who would govern the city of Athens. To-day we should call it a Parliament.

He made a law that after a person was dead no one should say anything evil against him.
He made a law to keep the people from spending too much money on funerals. For instance, they must not sacrifice an ox at a funeral, nor must they bury with the dead body more than three garments.

He made a law that no man was bound to support his aged father unless the father had taught him a useful trade. Solon thought this would lead fathers to be more careful in teaching useful trades to their sons.

He made a law that no one should plant a tree less than five feet from his neighbor's garden, lest the tree should spread its roots so far as to draw the goodness away from the soil in the neighbor's plot.
He made a law that no man should keep bees nearer than three hundred feet from his neighbor's beehives.

He made a law that a dog which bit a man should be chained to a heavy log of wood.
For some years he travelled in many lands, learning all he could from the people whom he met. Among other things he heard tales of a wonderful land far away in the western seas. It was called Atlantis, and it had beautiful fields, and its palaces were entered by grand gates, and its people were very happy. Solon made a poem about this happy land in order to amuse his countrymen in Athens. He lived to a great age, and was mourned deeply by the people at his death. I will close this account by a story of Solon's visit to the court of the richest man in the world—Crœsus (Kree-sus), King of Lydia.

Solon had always lived in a humble house, and dressed in a simple manner. When he arrived at the palace of Crœsus, he saw noblemen passing in and out, and so richly attired that he imagined each or any of them might be the king; and each nobleman was followed by a train of servants. When at length the Athenian came into the royal chamber, he beheld the king seated on a magnificent throne, and the place was glittering with jewels, and fine carpets lay on the floors, and valuable marble pillars held up the roof, and ornaments of gold and silver were observed on all sides. Solon showed no joy at these sights. To him they were gaudy and showy, and not at all deserving of praise. Then the king tried to dazzle Solon by opening to him his treasure-houses, where were gathered the most precious articles in the world.

"Have you ever seen a happier man than I am?" asked the king.
"Yes."
"Who was that?"
"A plain man in Athens, named Tellus. He dwelt in a modest cottage with the wife and children who loved him. Though poor, he always had enough for his wants. He died fighting for his country, and his neighbors loved his memory."
"Well, is there any one else happier than I am?"
"Yes!"
"Another? Who was that, I pray you?"
"Two brothers who died after showing kindness to their old mother. She had set her heart on attending a feast at the village temple, and was ready to start when it was found that the oxen who were to draw her in a cart were away in a distant field, ploughing, and could not be brought in time. Her sons, in order she should not be disappointed, harnessed themselves like oxen to the cart, and drew her, amid the cheers of the village folk, to the doors of the temple. They sat at the feast, merry and friendly, and that night they died; and all men loved their memory. You see, O king, that I cannot speak of a man as happy till I know all his life."

Some time afterward the armies of Persia invaded the land. Crœsus was taken prisoner, and Cyrus, the King of Persia, ordered that he should be burned on a high pile of wood.
As the unhappy king was lying on the pile he shrieked, "O Solon, Solon, Solon!"

King Cyrus commanded his men to stay their hands from setting the pile alight, and he asked Crœsus to tell why he called on Solon; and Crœsus told the story. Cyrus thought for a while, and then bade that Crœsus should be set at liberty, not to be king again (for that would not make him happier), but so that he might live an honorable life.

Mohenjo Daro Documentary

I mentioned this in class a few weeks ago, so here is a link to the film that discusses the excavation of the Harappan city of Mohenjo Daro. Check it out if you have time!

Lycurgus Viva Resources

Plutarch's Lycurgus


If you prefer to listen instead, here are links to the audiobook:

Lycurgus (Part 1)

Lycurgus (Part 2)

Lycurgus (Part 3)

Please note, I have linked to Plutarch's Lives in the Research Tools menu for you to use in the future. 

The Transformation of Rome (Please post you Constantine's Conversion responses here)

Research Constantine’s conversion. Based on the evidence prepare an informal 100-250 word reflection on his impact on the history of Christianity. In your judgment was Constantine a good or bad influence on the Church? Why?

The Big Question Replacement Reading

The Roman empire was antiquity’s largest and most powerful state. It reached its zenith under Trajan (r. 98–117), encompassing nearly 2 million square miles and containing some 60 million people. Linking its provinces were more than 250,000 miles of roads, 50,000 of which were paved. Roman engineers founded or improved more than 1,000 cities and towns, transforming the rural European landscape into a marvel of urbanization. In the third century the Roman army could field 450,000 infantry and cavalry and 45,000 sailors and marines. By the time Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman army—the oldest continually existing social institution in the Western world—had been on the march for two millennia.

Rome itself was a magnificent example of cultural, technological and social superiority in its time. In 356 the city had 28 libraries, 10 basilicas, 11 public baths, two amphitheaters, three theaters, two circuses (the Circus Maximus could seat 150,000 people; the Colosseum, 50,000), 19 aqueducts, 11 public squares, 1,352 fountains and 46,602 apartment buildings. Yet little more than a century later barbarian invaders stood astride the empire’s corpse, the capital in ruins.

The reasons for the empire’s demise remain among the great unsettled historical debates. Regardless, it is possible to identify some of the primary forces that rendered the imperial government incapable of dealing with the lethal challenges that beset it. Of all the factors draining the empire of its ability to survive, four stand out: the changing nature of the external threat to the empire’s western borders; the frequent civil wars among claimants to the imperial throne; the migration and settlement of large, armed and culturally hostile barbarian populations within the imperial borders; and the gradual erosion and eventual demise of the empire’s manpower and the taxpayer base required to sustain, defend and administer the Roman state.

The Romans called the area beyond the western imperial border along the Rhine and Danube rivers the land of the barbarians. Its mostly Germanic-speaking inhabitants were relatively few in number and lived in small villages, their populations limited by their primitive agricultural technology. Employing only the wooden scratch plow, German farmers could not turn the earth sufficiently to maintain its fertility. The soil’s ability to sustain adequate agricultural production quickly declined, forcing the population to move every generation or so in search of more fertile land.

The small populations and nomadism of the German tribes retarded development of their political structures. Governments were local, comprising mostly clan chiefs whose ruling power was limited by councils of advisers drawn from among other influential clan members. An individual chieftain did not have the wealth or manpower to form a warrior group loyal to him alone. Instead, clan warriors came together as circumstances required. These groups were usually small and capable only of conducting limited raids. In a few instances the tribes provided warriors to serve in limited military capacities in the Roman army itself.

The Romans used subsidies, trade, military honors and punitive expeditions to ensure the loyalty of the tribes, often playing them off against one another. The German tribes along the western border did not pose a threat to Roman garrisons, and the limited size of the tribal populations meant there was no mass migration. Indeed, the Romans occasionally settled small groups as farmers on the imperial side of the border.

But by the third century circumstances in this region had changed. The presence of Roman garrisons and merchants spurred the economic and sociopolitical development of the border tribes. The garrisons provided lucrative markets for local agricultural products, metals, slaves and military recruits. The introduction of Roman agricultural techniques—use of the deep-running iron plow, manure fertilization and irrigation—brought larger farms, abundant food, an explosion in tribal populations and the establishment of towns, all of which ended the clans’ traditional agricultural nomadism and stabilized the populations.

These larger tribes required more complex political and organizational structures. Among the more significant developments was the ability of now-wealthy tribal chiefs to support a large warrior class. By the end of the second century the populations of the tribes along the western imperial borders had grown considerably. When the chiefs of the tribes arranged themselves in confederation under the temporary authority of elected leaders, these confederations could easily field 10,000-man armies.

At the same time the discovery of large metal ore deposits beyond the imperial border created a local armaments industry. Just two deposits within the present-day borders of Poland produced 16 million pounds of iron during the Roman period. Before this find, metal weapons were produced singly, were very expensive and were strictly controlled by Roman authorities. By the third century local factories along the border were producing thousands of weapons––chiefly swords and spear points––equipping not only the Roman garrisons but also many tribal warriors. As long as the clans were content to remain under imperial control and limit themselves to periodic raiding, they were no threat to the Romans. But with pressure from other tribes seeking better land or plunder, the large border clans began to present the threat of mass migration across the imperial borders.

The tribal chieftains, who were by this time able to support and equip considerable armies, adopted the Roman practice of compulsory, full-time military service. The result was the emergence of well-armed, semiprofessional military forces whose leaders had often served in the Roman army. An example of this long-standing practice was Arminius, the German chieftain whose forces massacred three Roman legions at the AD 9 Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

Thus, even by the end of the second century the nature and size of the threat facing the Romans across the western imperial border had changed drastically. The Germanic-speaking tribes had become large, politically organized confederations led by warrior chieftains with competent armies. They remained largely content to raid and plunder Roman settlements on their side of the border. While such raids sometimes brought harsh Roman retaliation, they just as often brought the tribes higher subsidies and greater economic opportunities. But when pushed from behind by other tribes, or drawn by the lure of a better economic life, those tribes could pose a significant threat.

In the winter of 166 this new reality burst forth when two Germanic-speaking tribes, the Langobardi and Ubii, raided the Roman province of Pannonia (present-day Hungary south of the Danube). A year later two other powerful tribes, the Marcomanni and Victuali, demanded to cross the Danube and settle within the empire. Prompting these demands was pressure from tribes beyond the frontier zone that sought to conquer the area for their own use. Rome was slow to respond. Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) was at war with the Parthians and had been diverting troops to that conflict. The Romans were eventually able to contain the pressure, but not before German raiders had besieged Aquileia, in Italy itself, and the conflict had dragged on for a decade.

The Marcomannic wars were no mere border raids. The German tribes sacked a number of cities and wrought widespread damage. Amid the warfare some of the tribes attempted large-scale migration. Between 235 and 275 barbarians launched major raids all along the western Roman frontier, some settling in within the imperial borders. Scholars call this period the Third Century Crisis. The warrior tribes were now a force to be reckoned with and would remain so for the next two centuries until, ultimately, Roman defenses on the Rhine and Danube frontier collapsed completely.

A major factor in Rome’s inability to deal with the growing barbarian threat was the recurring state of civil war between emperors and usurpers—the latter usually generals or other officers who supported some rival claimant to the throne. These clashes brought high casualties, disrupted training and the manpower supply, and drew units away from the Rhine and Danube frontiers. In their respective conflicts with Emperor Theodosius I, Magnus Maximus (r. 383–388) and Flavius Eugenius (392–394) so depleted the Roman border garrisons that the defense of the Rhine was dependent almost entirely on the loyalty of local barbarian client kings.

Before the reign of Marcus Aurelius the western Roman empire had experienced few serious civil wars. But between his death in 180 and the deposition of the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, in 476, the empire witnessed more than 100 instances of armed violence as would-be usurpers challenged sitting emperors. Some of these conflicts lasted years, exhausting Roman military manpower and leaving the frontiers vulnerable. Ironically, most of the emperors and usurpers then died at the hands of their own subordinates.

The frequent civil wars ensured that fear of usurpers—not threats to the empire’s borders—became the leading concern for Roman emperors. Since no usurper could hope to succeed without the support of a substantial army, Roman administrators broke up the larger provinces to minimize the military power of any one provincial official. The breakup of the provinces began under Septimius Severus (r. 193–211), and Diocletian (r. 284–305) continued the process until some of the provincial garrisons were too small even to deal with local raiders.

Early in the fourth century Constantine (r. 306–337) drastically changed the organizational structure of the Roman army. A usurper who had gained power through civil war, Constantine was most concerned with protecting himself from other would-be emperors. He created large, mobile field armies called comitatenses, commanded by himself and intended to protect his person and thwart attempts on the throne. As part of these security arrangements he and succeeding emperors abandoned Rome as a capital, moving often to avoid threats to their safety. This crippled the empire’s central administration, as slow communications and uncertainty at the court made it difficult for the bureaucracy to operate efficiently. This was especially detrimental for the army, which relied on state bureaucrats to provide the materials, manpower and finances for war.

The comitatenses had no permanent installations and instead billeted with the civilian populations in the towns wherever the emperor held court. The old 5,000-man frontier legions were reduced in size, as were all garrison commands on the frontiers—again to keep usurpers from mustering large military units. Many frontier forts and strongpoints were reduced in size, and others simply abandoned, forcing the army to rely on local barbarian recruits to defend the frontier. Even the comitatenses armies were mostly pieced together from the remnants of the various civil war forces. By the middle of the fourth century the Roman emperors had to rely on weakened and poorly positioned military forces to deal with threats along the frontiers, internal rebellions and raids by the barbarian tribes already settled within the empire.

Despite the civil wars and the empire’s reduced military capability, Roman emperors in the fourth century were able to contain the border threats surprisingly well. New tribes continued to press settled groups closer to the border, and Roman power helped client chiefs resist the invaders. In some cases Roman administrators settled tribes of moderate size within the empire’s borders, dispersing their populations to work vacant farmland.

Far to the east, however, a large coalition of nomadic tribes led by the Huns began moving toward the Danube frontier. Recruiting warriors from conquered tribes along the way, the Hunnic army swept over the middle Hungarian plain, sending local populations fleeing toward the Roman border for protection. In the summer of 376 two groups of displaced Goths—some 15,000 warriors and 60,000 women, children and the elderly—arrived on the banks of the Danube, requesting asylum within the imperial borders and permission to settle in Thrace. Emperor Valens (r. 364–78), in order to fight Persia, had stripped the Danubian frontier of forces, and, unable to repel the Goths, he agreed to their settlement.

Things soon went horribly wrong. There was an acute shortage of food in the region, and a corrupt Roman commander named Lupicinus gathered up all the dogs in the area and sold them to the starving Goths; his going rate was one child for one dog. This set the Goths on a rampage, and they ravaged northern Thrace. Valens made peace with the Persians in 377, and the following year the Goth and Roman warriors met in battle at Adrianople. In a stunning upset the Goths killed two-thirds of the Roman troops along with the emperor. They continued fighting in Thrace until concluding a peace in 382 that allowed some of them to settle in Italy and the rest in Thrace.

The dam had burst. The success of the Goths in defeating the Roman army, in obtaining resettlement, plus the desire for a better life and Hunnic pressure spurred more tribes to cross the weakly defended border. The defeat at Adrianople had destroyed 60 percent of the Roman army of the east. The Romans tried hard to stop what had become a mass migration, attacking the migrants as they attempted to cross the rivers and hunting them down as they moved inland.

Between 405 and 408, during a period historians refer to as the Fourth Century Crisis, the empire suffered other large-scale barbarian invasions. Roman losses during the campaigns between 395 and 410 were horrific; some estimates claim the invaders shattered as many as 80 regiments—nearly 50 percent of the Roman field army in the west. Short on troops, desperate Roman commanders resorted to hiring the warriors of tribes already settled in the empire. Barbarians now fought to keep other barbarians from entering the empire.

Once the invaders had breached the border defenses, Rome lacked the military strength to expel them and instead settled them in various provinces, on the condition they provide troops to the Roman army. But settling the migrants did not end the problem. The barbarian settlements, with their own rulers and strong armies, resisted Roman efforts to control them. Within a few years the barbarian kings took to fighting one another and to raiding and occupying neighboring Roman settlements. Most of the empire’s interior cities and towns lacked defensive walls, a consequence of the long Roman peace, so the barbarian raids and Roman counterattacks devastated several of the provinces. The barbarian settlements became the prototypes of the feudal kingdoms that would emerge later.

With the barbarian settlement and outright occupation of some of the provinces, the flow of tax money to the imperial capital dried up. By the end of the third century an estimated two-thirds of the empire’s tax revenue no longer reached the imperial administration. The Vandals’ capture of Rome’s Spanish silver mines in 411 and the conquest of the empire’s North African provinces in 435 and 439 robbed Rome of her richest provinces in terms of grain supply and tax revenue. These events crippled imperial finances beyond repair.

Without sufficient funds, what remained of the imperial administration could no longer raise sufficient numbers of troops or train them adequately to meet the empire’s needs. In short order the once-matchless Roman army was reduced to a coterie of barbarian war bands serving under their own chiefs. The empire of Rome was now in its death throes.

The collapse of the western Roman empire throws into sharp relief the success of the eastern empire’s ability to function as an important state for another 1,000 years. For the most part the circumstances and events that brought down the western empire did not confront the eastern empire.

Geography was an important reason for the eastern empire’s survival. In the west the only natural obstacles to invasion were the Danube and Rhine rivers. In the east the main geographic barrier was the Bosporus. To cross that strait in any force required ships and the power to confront the formidable Roman navy—resources that barbarian tribes lacked. The imperial capital at Constantinople was protected in the northeast by mountains and easy to defend passes. Roman diplomacy maintained good relations with the mountain tribes that provided manpower and early warning against invasion. To the south and east the Parthians and later the Sassanid Persians blocked Arab invasions. Although the Romans had security issues with the Persians, dealing with an organized state was much easier than dealing with a number of powerful tribes attacking along an extensive and vulnerable border.

While the eastern empire was not entirely free of threats posed by usurpers, the few civil conflicts there were were short-lived and mostly ended in victory for the imperial rulers. The eastern emperors were rarely assassinated, and Constantinople remained the administrative, political and military capital, effectively controlling the army and imperial bureaucracy and finances. The stability of the capital also contributed to a persistent sense of national identity with the old empire, an identity that had been lost in the west. To the very end inhabitants of the eastern realm thought of themselves as Romans.

The geography that made invasion of the eastern empire difficult had the effect of diverting the invaders to the west, where it was easier to assault the imperial frontier. The geographical conditions and the still-effective Roman army kept migrating tribes from breaking through the eastern defenses in large numbers. So the eastern emperors were never forced to settle large barbarian populations with independent armies capable of threatening the empire from within. Moreover, the Roman army of the east deliberately limited the number of barbarian soldiers allowed in its ranks.

After the collapse of the western Roman empire, the eastern—Byzantine—empire withstood the efforts of various attackers until 1453, when Constantinople came under full-scale assault by the Ottoman Turks, armed with some of the earliest siege cannons in history. Although the Roman army faced certain death, perhaps mindful of its noble heritage, it put up one hell of a fight.

Richard A. Gabriel, a distinguished professor of history and war studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, is the author of more than 40 books. For further reading he recommends Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe, by Peter Heather, and How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower, by Adrian Goldsworthy.

Marcus Aurelius

Online: Select and read one book (out of twelve) from Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.”

See:  http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html     

Prepare: Write an informal essay, 75-250 words, that reflects on your overall impression of the section of the “Meditations” that you read. Your essay should also include one saying or quote from the text that you examine in more detail. Your essay should conclude by comparing and contrasting Marcus Aurelius’ thoughts with Christianity.

Please post this essay on the blog.  

Roman Bath Challenge

For extra credit students may elect to do the Roman Bath challenge. It consists of 6 consecutive days of Roman bathing. Keep a diary for each day (in which you discuss the impact of the method) to share with class.

150 points.

Daily Process: please follow the steps in order. 

1. Apply olive oil to your skin and massage it in thoroughly.
2. Apply a grit (dirt, coffee grounds, etc.) and roughly rub your skin with it.
3. Exercise for a few minutes to raise a slight sweat.
4. Scrape your skin thoroughly with a dull blade, removing all the sweat, oil, and grit.
5. Rinse yourself in a lukewarm bath with a wet sponge.
6. Start a very hot shower until the room steams up, remain in the steam for a few minutes.
7. While standing in the steam, rub your skin with a pumice stone.
8. Climb into the hottest bath water that you can stand.
9. Drain the water and run a small, ice cold bath.
10. Submerge yourself in the cold water as long as you can stand it.
11. Rub cream or oil into your skin after drying off, get a massage if possible.
12. Use the finest-tooth comb that you can find and brush your hair. (Around 100 strokes for long hair.)

You may not use any deodorants, soaps, or shampoo during the entire six days.  

Hadrian's Wall

Hadrian's Wall & Vindolanda Documentary

Vindolanda Letters Project: After watching the previous documentaries. Please have a look at one of the more complete documents from this list:

Once you have found a fairly complete document, read through the English translation. Think about the letter, place it into context, and imagine who wrote it and why. Then, add further context by filling out the remainder of the letter fragment in authentic style (i.e. flesh out the words into a complete letter). Once you have done that, then imagine who received the letter and write a response to it from an imaginary correspondent (use the original letter as evidence when you write your response).

Step-by-Step:

1. Go through the lists of fragments on the website above.
2. Choose one of the fragments from the site, it should be long enough to get a sense of its intent.
3. Think about the intention of the fragment.
4. Flesh out the fragment into a complete letter
5. Write another letter responding to your fleshed out version of the fragment.

Documents: http://vindolanda.csad.ox.ac.uk/

Particularly good example

Trajan: http://www.roman-empire.net/highpoint/trajan.html
Hadrian: http://spartacus-educational.com/ROMhadrian.htm

Pliny the Younger’s “Account of the Eruption of Vesuvius”

Pliny the Younger’s “Account of the Eruption of Vesuvius”

Josephus

SEDITION OF THE JEWS AGAINST PONTIUS PILATE. CONCERNING CHRIST, AND WHAT BEFELL PAULINA AND THE JEWS AT ROME,

1. BUT now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Cesarea to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there, in order to abolish the Jewish laws. So he introduced Caesar's effigies, which were upon the ensigns, and brought them into the city; whereas our law forbids us the very making of images; on which account the former procurators were wont to make their entry into the city with such ensigns as had not those ornaments. Pilate was the first who brought those images to Jerusalem, and set them up there; which was done without the knowledge of the people, because it was done in the night time; but as soon as they knew it, they came in multitudes to Cesarea, and interceded with Pilate many days that he would remove the images; and when he would not grant their requests, because it would tend to the injury of Caesar, while yet they persevered in their request, on the sixth day he ordered his soldiers to have their weapons privately, while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, which seat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that it concealed the army that lay ready to oppress them; and when the Jews petitioned him again, he gave a signal to the soldiers to encompass them routed, and threatened that their punishment should be no less than immediate death, unless they would leave off disturbing him, and go their ways home. But they threw themselves upon the ground, and laid their necks bare, and said they would take their death very willingly, rather than the wisdom of their laws should be transgressed; upon which Pilate was deeply affected with their firm resolution to keep their laws inviolable, and presently commanded the images to be carried back from Jerusalem to Cesarea.

2. But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem, and did it with the sacred money, and derived the origin of the stream from the distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the Jews (8) were not pleased with what had been done about this water; and many ten thousands of the people got together, and made a clamor against him, and insisted that he should leave off that design. Some of them also used reproaches, and abused the man, as crowds of such people usually do. So he habited a great number of his soldiers in their habit, who carried daggers under their garments, and sent them to a place where they might surround them. So he bid the Jews himself go away; but they boldly casting reproaches upon him, he gave the soldiers that signal which had been beforehand agreed on; who laid upon them much greater blows than Pilate had commanded them, and equally punished those that were tumultuous, and those that were not; nor did they spare them in the least: and since the people were unarmed, and were caught by men prepared for what they were about, there were a great number of them slain by this means, and others of them ran away wounded. And thus an end was put to this sedition.

3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, he was a doer of starting works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first forsook him; but he appeared to some of them; the tribe of Christians, so named after him, are not extinct at this day.

4. About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews into disorder, and certain shameful practices happened about the temple of Isis that was at Rome. I will now first take notice of the wicked attempt about the temple of Isis, and will then give an account of the Jewish affairs. There was at Rome a woman whose name was Paulina; one who, on account of the dignity of her ancestors, and by the regular conduct of a virtuous life, had a great reputation: she was also very rich; and although she was of a beautiful countenance, and in that flower of her age wherein women are the most gay, yet did she lead a life of great modesty. She was married to Saturninus, one that was every way answerable to her in an excellent character. Decius Mundus fell in love with this woman, who was a man very high in the equestrian order; and as she was of too great dignity to be caught by presents, and had already rejected them, though they had been sent in great abundance, he was still more inflamed with love to her, insomuch that he promised to give her two hundred thousand Attic drachmae; and when this would not prevail upon her, and he was not able to bear this misfortune in his amours, he thought it the best way to famish himself to death for want of food, on account of Paulina's sad refusal; and he determined with himself to die after such a manner, and he went on with his purpose accordingly. Now Mundus had a freed-woman, who had been made free by his father, whose name was Ide, one skillful in all sorts of mischief. This woman was very much grieved at the young man's resolution to kill himself, (for he did not conceal his intentions to destroy himself from others,) and came to him, and encouraged him by her discourse, and made him to hope, by some promises she gave him, that he might obtain Paulina's love; and when he joyfully hearkened to her entreaty, she said she wanted no more than fifty thousand drachmae for the entrapping of the woman. So when she had encouraged the young man, and gotten as much money as she required, she did not take the same methods as had been taken before, because she perceived that the woman was by no means to be tempted by money; but as she knew that she was very much given to the worship of the goddess Isis, she devised the following stratagem: She went to some of Isis's priests, and upon the strongest assurances of concealment, she persuaded them by words, but chiefly by the offer of money, of twenty-five thousand drachmae in hand, and as much more when the thing had taken effect; and told them the passion of the young man, and persuaded them to use all means possible to beguile the woman. So they were drawn in to promise so to do, by that large sum of gold they were to have. Accordingly, the oldest of them went immediately to Paulina; and upon his admittance, he desired to speak with her by herself. When that was granted him, he told her that he was sent by the god Anubis, who was fallen in love with her, and enjoined her to come to him. Upon this she took the message very kindly, and valued herself greatly upon this condescension of Anubis, and told her husband that she had a message sent her, and was to sup with Anubis; so he agreed to her acceptance of the offer, as fully satisfied. Accordingly, she went to the temple, and after she had supped there, and it was the hour to go to sleep, the priest shut the doors of the temple, when, in the holy part of it, the lights were also put out. Then did Mundus pretend to be the god himself; and when he was gone away, which was before those priests who knew nothing of this stratagem were stirring, Paulina came early to her husband, and told him how the god Anubis had appeared to her. Among her friends, also, she declared how great a value she put upon this favor, who partly disbelieved the thing, when they reflected on its nature, and partly were amazed at it, as having no pretense for not believing it, when they considered the modesty and the dignity of the person. But now, on the third day after what had been done, Mundus met Paulina, and said, "Nay, Paulina, thou hast saved me two hundred thousand drachmae. As for the reproaches thou hast laid upon Mundus, I value not the business of names; but I rejoice for it was I who took to myself the name of Anubis." When he had said this, he went his way. But now she began to come to the sense of what she had done, and rent her garments, and told her husband of the horrid nature of this wicked contrivance, and prayed him not to neglect to assist her in this case. So he discovered the fact to the emperor; whereupon Tiberius inquired into the matter thoroughly by examining the priests about it, and ordered them to be crucified, as well as Ide, who was the occasion of their perdition, and who had contrived the whole matter, which was so injurious to the woman. He also demolished the temple of Isis, and gave order that her statue should be thrown into the river Tiber; while he only banished Mundus, but did no more to him, because he supposed that what crime he had committed was done out of the passion of love. And these were the circumstances which concerned the temple of Isis, and the injuries occasioned by her priests. I now return to the relation of what happened about this time to the Jews at Rome, as I formerly told you I would.

5. There was a man who was a Jew, but had been driven away from his own country by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same; but in all respects a wicked man. He, then living at Rome, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem; and when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves, on which account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made about it, ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome; at which time the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the island Sardinia; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers, on account of keeping the laws of their forefathers. Thus were these Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four men.

Roman Recipes

Roman Recipes

Other Options

These are some ideas (you may wish to alter the recipes), please feel free to do something else based upon your own research, as well!

Roman House Information

Roman House Information

Julius Caesar

Please read: Julius Caesar parts 1-11. 

Cicero

1. Read “Cicero” (Sections 1-6)                                                         2. Read “Cicero’s Rhetoric”
3. Optional Reading” “Oration for Sextus Roscius of Ameria”

The Rise and Fall of Hannibal

The Rise and Fall of Hannibal (Content note, some scenes of violence)

Ciceronian Speech Information

                           

Principal Rhetorical and Literary Devices 

1. Alliteration: repetition of the same letter at beginning of words or syllables: Marcus me momordit.

2. Anaphora: the repetition of a word or phrase for emphasis: non feram, non sinam, non patiar

3. Anastrophe: inversion of usual word order (e.g., preposition after the word it governs): te propter vivo (instead of the expected propter te vivo)

4. Aposiopesis: breaking off in the middle of a sentence : quem ego . . . sed non possum pergere. ("Whom I . . . but I cannot go on.")

5. Apostrophe: addressing a person who is not present: O maiores, quid diceretis de hac re? ("Oh ancestors, what would you say about this matter?")

6. Asyndeton: omission of conjunctions: videt, sentit, scit.

7. Chiasmus: "a-b-b-a" arrangement of words: magnas urbes oppida parva (adjective, noun, noun, adjective)

8. Ellipsis: omission of words: Dixit me inventum. ("He said I had been found." esse is missing).

9. Hendiadys: use of two nouns together to express a noun modified by an adjective: luctus et labor (meaning "grievous toil")

10. Hyperbole: exaggeration. Catilina est mons vitiorum. ("Catiline is a mountain of vices.")

11. Hysteron proteron: placing first what the reader might expect to come last mortuus est et hostem inruit ("He died and he rushed against the enemy")

12. Litotes: use of a negative to express a strong positive Haud stultus erat Cicero. ("Cicero was very intelligent").

13. Metaphor: expression of meaning through an image Horatius est lux litterarum Latinarum. ("Horace is the light of Latin literature.")

14. Metonymy: substitution of one word for another that it suggests Neptunus me terret (to mean, "the sea frightens me").

15. Onomatopoeia: use of words that sound like their meaning Murmurant multi (the "m"’s produce the sound of murmuring).

16. Oxymoron: use of an apparent contradiction parvum monstrum

17. Personification: attribution of human characteristics to something not human Ipsa saxa dolent. ("The rocks themselves grieve")

18. Pleonasm: use of superfluous words Oculis me videt. ("She sees me with her eyes.")

19. Polysyndeton: use of many conjunctions et videt et sentit et scit

20. Prolepsis (anticipation): use of a word sooner than it would logically appear submersis obruit puppis ("he overwhelms the sunken ships").

21. Simile: comparison using a word like sicut, similis, or velut. Volat sicut avis. ("He flies like a bird.")

22. Synecdoche: use of part to express a whole Prora in portam navigavit. ("The ship sailed into the harbor." prora [prow] for navis [ship]).

23. Tmesis: the separation of a compound word into two parts saxo cere comminuit brum (for saxo cerebrum comminuit: "He smashed his brain with a rock.").

24. Tricolon crescens (ascending tricolon): combination of three elements, increasing in size non ferar, non patiar, non tolerabo

25. Zeugma: use of one word in two different senses simultaneously Aeneas tulit dolorem et patrem Troia. (Aeneas carried grief and his father from Troy)

The 12 Tables

                                             

The earliest attempt by the Romans to create a code of law was the Laws of the Twelve Tables. A commission of ten men (Decemviri) was appointed (c. 455 B.C.) to draw up a code of law binding on both patrician and plebeian and which consuls would have to enforce. The commission produced enough statutes  to fill ten bronze tablets. The plebeians were dissatisfied  and so a second commission of ten was therefore appointed (450 B.C.) and two additional tablets were added. 

What follows are a selection from the Twelve Tables. [Source: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1901), Vol. III: The Roman World, pp. 9-11. See also Lex Duodecim Tabularum, by George Long in William Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875, pp. 688-690.]

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Table I.
1. If anyone summons a man before the magistrate, he must go. If the man summoned does not go, let the one summoning him call the bystanders to witness and then take him by force.
2. If he shirks or runs away, let the summoner lay hands on him.
6-9. When the litigants settle their case by compromise, let the magistrate announce it. If they do not compromise, let them state each his own side of the case, in the comitium of the forum before noon. Afterwards let them talk it out together, while both are present. After noon, in case either party has failed to appear, let the magistrate pronounce judgment in favor of the one who is present. If both are present the trial may last until sunset but no later.

Table II.
2. He whose witness has failed to appear may summon him by loud calls before his house every third day.

Table III.
1. One who has confessed a debt, or against whom judgment has been pronounced, shall have thirty days to pay it in. After that forcible seizure of his person is allowed. The creditor shall bring him before the magistrate. Unless he pays the amount of the judgment or some one in the presence of the magistrate interferes in his behalf as protector the creditor so shall take him home and fasten him in stocks or fetters. He shall fasten him with not less than fifteen pounds of weight or, if he choose, with more. If the prisoner choose, he may furnish his own food. If he does not, the creditor must give him a pound of meal daily; if he choose he may give him more.
3. Against a foreigner the right in property shall be valid forever.

Table IV.
1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed.
2. If a father sell his son three times, the son shall be free from his father.
5. A child born after ten months since the father's death will not be admitted into a legal inheritance.

Table V.
1. Females should remain in guardianship even when they have attained their majority.

Table VI.
1. When one makes a bond and a conveyance of property, as he has made formal declaration so let it be binding.

Table VII.
1. Let them keep the road in order. If they have not paved it, a man may drive his team where he likes.

9. Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bent crooked by the wind and lean over your farm, you may take legal action for removal of that tree.

10. A man might gather up fruit that was falling down onto another man's farm.

Table VIII.

2. If one has maimed a limb and does not compromise with the injured person, let there be retaliation. If one has broken a bone of a freeman with his hand or with a cudgel, let him pay a penalty of three hundred coins. If he has broken the bone of a slave, let him have one hundred and fifty coins. If one is guilty of insult, the penalty shall be twenty-five coins.

3. If one is slain while committing theft by night, he is rightly slain.

4. If a patron shall have devised any deceit against his client, let him be accursed.

10. Any person who destroys by burning any building or heap of corn deposited alongside a house shall be bound, scourged, and put to death by burning at the stake provided that he has committed the said misdeed with malice aforethought; but if he shall have committed it by accident, that is, by negligence, it is ordained that he repair the damage or, if he be too poor to be competent for such punishment, he shall receive a lighter punishment.

23. A person who had been found guilty of giving false witness shall be hurled down from the Tarpeian Rock.

26. No person shall hold meetings by night in the city.

Table IX.

4. The penalty shall be capital for a judge or arbiter legally appointed who has been found guilty of receiving a bribe for giving a decision.

5. Treason: he who shall have roused up a public enemy or handed over a citizen to a public enemy must suffer capital punishment.

6. Putting to death of any man, whosoever he might be unconvicted is forbidden.

Table X.

1. None is to bury or burn a corpse in the city.

3. The women shall not tear their faces nor wail on account of the funeral.

Table XI.
1. Marriages should not take place between plebeians and patricians.

Table XII.
5. Whatever the people had last ordained should be held as binding by law.

Roman Documentary (Optional)

If you enjoyed researching Roman tombstones, you might want to check out this series.

Meet the Romans 1

Roman Comedy Guidelines

• Minimum Length: 7 minutes, (Max 20 minutes). 
• Should correctly represent the characters as listed in the syllabus
• Should include, at least, the Young Man, the Wise Servant, the Young Woman, and at least 3 of the other characters.
• Should include props, where listed in the syllabus and togas (you may use sheets). 
• Should include a prologue.
• Should include at least 2 distinct, but related episodes.
• Should include the required plot devices (Anagnorisis and Peripeteia)

Roman Comedy Draft Guidelines

This week, after reading the Roman Comedy information in the syllabus, please watch the Importance of Being Earnest (you may watch a different version, if you prefer) as well as at least one Jeeves and Wooster episode. Using these sources and the information from the syllabus, please write a complete plot for your story. Your plot sketch should be double-spaced to allow for notes in class as you work together on improving your comedies. Please ask any questions in the comments below.

Example of a Roman Comedy Plot (more or less...)

Roman Tombstone Guidelines

Roman Tombstones Project Guidelines:

1. Create a tombstone based upon the examples.

It may be a simple drawing, however extra credit will be offered for a three dimensional stone. (25 points for a three dimensional tombstone, 50 for a three dimensional stone with a sculptural element, and 100 points for a stone that accurately recreates a Roman  tombstone [such as the tombstone in the image above] in both size [more than 10 inches high], artistry, and form).

If you elect to use a Latin inscription from the examples, you will have to add data on the person buried in the tomb using the guidelines for how Romans recorded information about the deceased on their tombstones.This should either use information from the Latin inscription to determine the name/occupation/etc. of the deceased or add imagined information if none is present in the inscription. 

2. Write a short story (1 page) about the deceased individual(s). Using the information from the tombstone, (either the quotation or information about the individual) and historical data gleaned from "As the Romans" imagine some aspect of their life and its conclusion. This will be shared in class.  


Epitaphs for Women 

Epitaphs for Men

Epitaphs for Children