Each year I try and carve a pumpkin with a design from antiquity. In fairness it’s been all Greek designs so for. This is mainly due to Greek vase designs being very suitable for a pumpkin, for a starter it’s a curved surface. One thing I’ve learned since doing these is how much that curved […]
Carving a Roman style pumpkin, a how to guide. Read More »
I recently had LJ Trafford on the Ancient History Hound podcast and she spoke on a number of topics. First up LJ Trafford went over the events up to and including AD69. This is otherwise known as the ‘Year of the 4 emperors’. It was hectic, brutal and not without some bizarre events. For example,
AD 69, Domitian and Daily life in Ancient Rome. My podcast interview with LJ Trafford. Read More »
Prior to AD 79. Vesuvius had been a threat to those living near it much earlier than those at Pompeii and Herculaneum would later bear witness to. The Avellino eruption, dating to 2,000 – 1,500 BC had buried local bronze age settlements and this eruption surpassed the brutality of the later famous one. It has
Pompeii. Before, during and after. Read More »
After watching some home workout videos I thought I’d give it a go myself, albeit with a Roman twist. Yes, those are shorts and trainers, but at least the latter are Adidas Etruscans. If you want to read about how I got on when I marched 5km for charity wearing the Roman armour (with stats)
Home workout in Roman armour Read More »
As someone who has a website/blog, podcast, youtube channel and takes the odd day off work to talk to kids about ancient Rome whilst dressed in Roman armour I’d say it’s fair to conclude I like ancient history. Each birthday and Christmas I furnish relatives with a list of books and hope they don’t waver
Ancient History T-shirts. New designs in and a promo code! Read More »
Italica – the basics. To the north west of Seville is the site of Italica. It can be easily visited via bus taken from the Plaza de Armas which takes 30 minutes. A quick tip here, you don’t need to queue and buy tickets in the main part of the station, just wander down to
My visit to Italica. Read More »
Priapus, between a rockery and a hard place. In 1847 Sir Charles Isham journeyed back from Germany and returned with 21 smaller friends. These were small figures which themselves had evolved from what the Italians had called Gobbi. The garden gnome had arrived. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the term ‘gnome’ entered usage in England
Priapus and the garden gnome? Read More »
Bees in Greek myth. As we have seen in the previous article, apiculture had become a sophisticated industry by the time Homer was composing epithets and gruesome deaths. The Mediterranean and its trade routes facilitated an easy exchange of ideas and technologies. One civilisation, the Minoan may well have passed on technologies or offered alternatives
Bees in Antiquity Part Two: Greece and Rome Read More »
