basicallycicero

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Patroclus: -dies-

Achilles:

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me, reading & learning about ancient romans & greeks on paper: :)

me, remembering they were real, conscious people with opinions, memories & fears: :|

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This is the oldest piece of music known to humankind. It’s engraved in cuneiform on a tablet from 1400 BC. And it was a hymn to their goddess Nikkal.

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Ludovisi Gaul a.k.a. Galatian Suicide

Roman marble copy of early 2nd century CE. The original bronze sculpture belonged to a group that was commissioned by Attalus I, the ruler of Pergamon.(3rd century BCE).

The statue was found from the Garden’s of Sallust in the 17th century and belonged  to Ludovisi Collection (hence the name). It’s currently at Palazzo Altemps, which is BTW a really nice museum. Lots of Roman marble statues and not too big. Highly recommended !

One can also mention that the Dying Gaul  (Capitoline Museums) is from the same group that Attalus ordered.

Rome, July 2007

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Camilla in bk 11 of the Aeneid is just every woman ever who has had to take orders from a man with the iq of a salmon and it is actually excellent

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Augustus be like: I’m such a good dad look at my three ulcers perfect children!

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~ Statuette of Venus.

Culture: Roman

Date: 1st century B.C.

Medium: Rock crystal

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London Mithraeum, The Temple of Mithras

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Guess who got into Cambridge on Monday!!

To do Classics! - the subject I love SO SO much... oh my gosh...

I finally did it, I finally made my dreams come true. I can finally release all the excitement and all the want that I made myself hold in and suppress because I didn’t want to tempt fate. And after my interview experience I wouldn’t even dare think about a future where I went to Cambridge. I was dealing with a lot of family issues at the time and my second interview was just a slow and painful death by Latin grammar, I remember sitting in silence for what felt like forever after logging off of that final zoom, just thinking I had thrown it all away over the ablative case. And I spent weeks thinking that. And I was wrong. And I have never been more happy to be wrong in my life.

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Okay time to close the gates of Janus Quirinus for 2021 ✌️

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the statues of apollo and athena, at the academy athens, in a full moon night.

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the chorus of mamma mia is in true tragic tradition and here’s why:

greek

made up of a bunch of random townspeople

everything they say is only tangentially related to the plot

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This meme from AgenderVoid on Twitter.... is REALLY making me think 🤔

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*stabs you through the toga 23 times* vibe check

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the more I think about the Aeneid, the more I realise that when we look at it through modern eyes, it becomes a novel about so much more than the founding of a city. We follow characters who are truly traumatised by all that they have suffered, and a reluctant hero who craves his mother’s comfort - with the weight of his ancestors and his descendants on his shoulders. Despite his own personal trauma, Aeneas must carry on through all the suffering and loss, in order to fulfill his purpose. Despite loosing the most important person in her life, Dido must flee her own country and start up a new kingdom entirely alone, and of course be doomed to meet a tragic end, as all she has worked for falls apart. Despite having his future set out before him, Turnus must fight for all that he had previously deemed so certain, and eventually have it all taken from him, including his life. Surely as modern readers, these tales resonate with us in an entirely new and powerful manner - we can all relate to having to plough through trauma and tragedy despite our own emotions, to feeling alone, craving comfort, being thrown into uncertainty, loosing battles we thought we would win. And the beauty of the Aeneid is the sheer complexity of each one of the characters: hero through one eye, villain through another. It is more than a study of what it means to be roman, it is a study of what it means to be human.

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me when I stub my toe

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*completely obliterates your house and salts the earth behind me*