mihi nomen est… / February 15, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

This year I have been beginning every Latin lesson the same way. Once everyone is settled and ready for the class, I stand at the front of the room and say salvete discipuli. The students respond salve magister (there is only one of me). Then, glancing around the room, they add with a smile salvete amici. In previous years, when we have performed only the first two steps, their enthusiasm for the process has fluctuated. Since adding the greeting to their friends they have become far more enthusiastic.

salve and salvete (and the reason for the two forms) is the first thing I show a new Latin class. I don’t tell them that it means Hello! or any such thing. It means Be Well! and the Romans (and many after them) used it as a greeting. Then we practise by moving around the room, shaking hands and saying Be Well! in English. How does it feel? It feels good. Then we do the same in Latin.

The second thing I show them is mihi nomen est…. They copy it into their books with the English written underneath each word;

mihi nomen est…

to me name is

Without fail they immediately make three observations. 1) It’s not the same as English. We would say my not to me. 2) The word the appears to be missing. That is right, I say, Latin has no word for a or the. 3) The order of the words is different from that we use in English. Yes, I say, that is very often the case. I quickly show them quid est nomen tibi? then ask each one in turn his* name. If I let them know that quid means what they deduce that tibi means to you very quickly.

On today’s page, Claudia writes to Miranda that she met a certain fellow outside of the amphitheatre. No doubt their conversation went something like this;

Claudia: salve! ut vales?

Marcus: sat bene. sed balnea invenire non possum.

Claudia: ego te iuvare possum. scio ubi balnea sint.

Marcus: gratias tibi ago. quid est nomen tibi?

Claudia: mihi nomen est Claudia. quid est nomen tibi?

Marcus: mihi nomen est Marcus. salve Claudia!

Claudia: salve Marcus!

Claudia wrote in her letter nomen ei erat Marcus The name to him (ei) was Marcus.

* I teach at a single sex school.

Departing from the amphitheatre, I met a certain man who was not able to find the baths. I decided to help him. His name was Marcus.

The Lego model of Pompeii is housed in the Nicholson Museum of The University of Sydney, Australia. Entry to the museum is entirely free, and you may visit Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 4:30. The Nicholson is Australia’s oldest University museum and contains the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Pompeii model was commissioned by the Nicholson and constructed by LEGO Professional Builder Ryan McNaught. It is the third such model the museum has exhibited, following the Colosseum and Acropolis. The Colosseum was returned to McNaught and recently exhibited around Australia. The Acropolis was denoted by the Nicholson to the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The Pompeii model is estimated to include 190 000 bricks and took 420 hours to complete.

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii / February 14, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun. In October 1971 the Pompeii amphitheatre played host to an unusual event. The English psychedelic rock band, Pink Floyd, performed live for a camera crew and the handful of children who snuck in past the guards. Ryan McNaught, the creator of the Nicholson model, has - mirabile dictu - included the concert in his depiction of the arena. In a plot hole you could drive a tour-bus through, Claudia is there to watch the performance.

The story goes that the film’s director, Adrian Maben, was a Pink Floyd fan keen to splice the band’s live performance with shots of famous art works. When this idea was rejected by the band’s manager, Steve O’Rourke, Maben took himself to Naples for a summer holiday. He misplaced his passport in Pompeii, and it was while returning to the amphitheatre to seek it out that he was struck by the venue’s beauty and acoustic quality. He contacted the local University of Naples and they arranged to have the venue closed for six days of filming. A cable had to be run all the way from the Town Hall to power the equipment.

This was a few years before the release of Dark Side of the Moon, although in our story Claudia is treated to a song or two from that album – or at least upon that subject. Instead the band played Echoes, A Saucerful of Secrets and Careful with that Axe, Eugene (among others). Maben’s original idea, of splicing the concert with artworks, returned. Shots were taken at the neighbouring Naples National Archaeological Museum of sculpture and mosaics. Interspersed is foreboding footage of flowing lava.

In 2016 Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour returned to the Pompeiian amphitheatre for a 45 years on repeat performance. This time thousands of fans were in attendance. I can only imagine the feeling of being part of the crowd that packed this two thousand year old arena to relive a concert that happened nearly half a century ago. After the event David Gilmour was made an honorary citizen of Pompeii. macte!

Today, however, the musical bank, Pink Floyd, was giving as concert in the arena. I listened to some songs about the Dark Side of the Moon.

the Pompeii riots / February 13, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

The amphitheatre in Pompeii was situated in the south-east corner of the town, about as far as one can get from the Forum. It was built around 70 BC, long before Rome itself had a permanent venue for the viewing of gladiatorial combat. It is capable of holding around 20,000 people, which suggests that the designers anticipated visitors from neighbouring areas. Access to seating was via stairs from outside of the arena. Access to the arena floor was through two paved vaulted tunnels, the same way that visitors enter today.

Within The Histories of Tacitus (written perhaps 30 years after Pompeii’s destruction) we can read of a terrible event that took place in Pompeii in 59AD, twenty years before it was destroyed.

sub idem tempus levi initio atrox caedes orta inter colonos Nucerinos Pompeianosque gladiatorio spectaculo, quod Livineius Regulus, quem motum senatu rettuli, edebat. quippe oppidana lascivia in vicem incessente[s] probra, dein saxa, postremo ferrum sumpsere, validiore Pompeianorum plebe, apud quos spectaculum edebatur. ergo deportati sunt in urbem multi e Nucerinis trunco per vulnera corpore, ac plerique liberorum aut parentum mortes deflebant. cuius rei iudicium princeps senatui, senatus consulibus permisit. et rursus re ad patres relata, prohibiti publice in decem annos eius modi coetu Pompeiani collegiaque, quae contra leges instituerant, dissoluta; Livineius et qui alii seditionem conciverant exilio multati sunt. Tacitus, Histories, 14.17

In what follows, the Latin word order has been rearranged to allow for an Interlineal Translation that reads well enough in English. This method was once popular, but has fallen into disrepute as it mangles somewhat the original text. It can be useful, however, when beginning to read complex texts.

sub idem tempus At about the same time atrox caedes a terrible slaughter orta arose levi initio from a trifling beginning inter colonos Nucerinos Pompeianosque between the people of Nuceria and Pompeii gladiatorio spectaculo at a gladiatorial show, quod which Livineius Regulus Livineius Regulus edebat was giving, quem motum whose expulsion senatu from the senate rettuli I have noted.

quippe For incessentes attacking oppidana lascivia with provincial impudence sumpsere they took up in vicem in turn probra insults, dein saxa then rocks, postremo ferrum and finally steel, validiore Pompeianorum plebe with the commoners of Pompeii being the stronger, apud quos in whose neighbourhood spectaculum edebatur the show was being given.

ergo Consequently multi e Nucerinis many of the Nucerians deportati sunt were carried away in urbem into the city [ie: into Rome] trunco corpore with body maimed per vulnera through wounds, ac plerique and very many deflebant were mourning mortes the deaths liberorum aut parentum of their children or parents.

princeps The emperor permisit delegated iudicium the trial cuius rei of this matter senatui to the senate, senatus the senate consulibus to the consuls.

et re relata And the case having been relegated rursus again ad patres to the [senatorial] fathers, Pompeiani prohibiti the Pompeians were prohibited publice coetu from public meeting eius modi of this kind in decem annos for ten years –que and collegia the clubs, quae instituerant which they had set up contra leges against the laws, dissoluta were dissolved;

Livineius Livineius et alii and the others qui who seditionem conciverant had stirred up insurrection multati sunt were punished exilio with exile.

Then I walked all the way to the amphitheatre, far from the Forum. Once the Pompeians used to watch gladiators fighting in this arena.

the son of the god of the sun / February 12, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

In honour of the templum Apollonis the temple of Apollo (and the heat here in Sydney) I thought I would try something new, and retell a myth of Apollo. It is a story of standing up to bullies, knowing who you are, and being without fear. Warning, it does not end well.

Phaethon was a boy of perhaps fourteen years, living in a small village of Greece. He was an ordinary boy, but he had an extraordinary secret. When he had become old enough to start wondering about the whereabouts of his father, his loving mother had told him that he was the mortal son of an immortal god. His father was Apollo, that burning disk that gazed down upon him daily; the comforting figure that rode the sun chariot across the sky.

But children can be cruel and they would taunt Phaethon for his belief in his mother’s story. These bullies laughed. And mocked. And shun. Life became difficult for Phaethon. But he had no doubt about who he was, even if the others could not – or would not – accept it. He declared to them that they were wrong. That he was leaving and that he would return having proved it. Their laughter followed him as he departed.

For many days the boy travelled, until he reached the gleaming temple of his father. He entered nervously with head bowed and began to pray. Father, you have never once been here with me. You have never been more than a distant face upon the sky. But now I need something from you father. And I need you to promise that you will grant me what I ask. The statue nodded. A voice boomed. And a vow was made to give whatever it was his son requested.

I wish to drive your burning chariot across the sky. To hold within my hands the reigns of those furious horses. I want every eye upon me as I look down upon my tormenters and know that they know that they are wrong. I want to be respected. I want to be valued. And I want to be believed. No son, the god replied, this cannot be. You do not have the strength, the knowledge, the familiarity with the steeds. It is dangerous. Ask for something else, ask for anything. But a promise had been made.

Apollo of course was right. Phaethon could not do it, and he died trying. He drove too high and the horses were spooked by the giant crabs, lions and bulls that live above the heavens. They fled towards low ground and the heat of the sun began to scorch the land and evaporate the seas. Jupiter, seeing the risk he posed, with a single bolt blew him from the sky. Apollo wept. His mother cried. Even the bullies wondered if they had played a part.

Beside the Forum is the temple of Apollo, the god of the sun. It is smaller than the temple of Jupiter, but – as I see it – a little more beautiful.

dux femina facti / February 11, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

dux femina facti a woman was the author of the achievement. So says Virgil of the fleet that departed Tyre, in modern day Lebanon, to find a new home on the north coast of Africa. The woman was Dido, a member of Tyre’s royal line. She was accompanied by citizens who would no longer live under the sway of Tyre’s corrupt leader, due either to fear of him or a severe dislike.

These three words, dux femina facti, may well have crossed Claudia’s mind as she stood before the Eumachia building in the Pompeian Forum. Here are three paragraphs from Mary Beards’ Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town. It is one of Claudia’s favourite books;

But the biggest surprise in this male hierarchical world is to be found in the Forum itself. The largest building in the area, standing at the south-east corner, was erected in the reign of Augustus. Its function has long been a cause of controversy, like so many of the Forum buildings: market, slave market, multi-purpose hall? But its inspiration is clear. We have already seen [liber totus tibi legendus est!] that two of the statues on its façade were copied from the Forum of Augustus. The carved marble door frames, decorated with scrolls of acanthus, reflect the contemporary style of the capital, and are very close to those on another celebrated Augustan monument, the Altar of Peace. Some art historians have compared its conception to a huge portico erected in Rome by Augustus’ wife, the empress Livia.

That is a good comparison in more ways than one. For this building, known as the Building of Eumachia, was also sponsored by a woman. Inscriptions over the two entrances declared that Eumachia, who was a priestess in the town, daughter of one leading family and married into another, built it ‘in her own name and that of her son…at her own expense.’ Her statue stood at one end of the building, paid for by the fullers (hence the fantasy that the whole building might be a cloth-workers’ hall). We know almost nothing of Eumachia, and can only guess at all the different circumstances that might lie behind her building of this monument, and the different degrees of active involvement she might have had in the planning and design. Most likely she was attempting to advance the career of her son. But one thing is certain: the finished product is stamped with her own name almost as firmly as the theatre is stamped with that of Holconius. Eumachia here represents a similar conduit for the culture of the capital to make its way to Pompeii. And Eumachia was not the only such female benefactor. An inscription found in the Forum makes it clear that another of the major buildings there was the work of another priestess, one Mamia.

We should not, for this reason, overestimate the degree of power held by women in this town. To be a priestess, public office though it was, was not the same as being duumvir.* Even large-scale benefaction was a long way from formal power. That said, Eumachia is another example of the varied routes to public prominence the town offered. She is another ‘face of success.’ (pp. 213-5)

*duumvir: one of the two equal magistrates elected annually to preside over the municipal council with law giving powers. Only men were eligible for this role.

Also in the Forum is the square colonnade built by Eumachia. Eumachia was a distinguished (clara) Pompeian woman, both rich (dives) and generous (liberalis).

by Jove – it’s the third declension / February 10, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

Latin has five families of Nouns, called Declensions. Each Declensions has the exact same Cases (Nominative, Vocative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative, Ablative and – although rare – Locative). And each Declension has its own set of Case Endings, to indicate Case, that varies across Declensions. For example;

The Genitive Case has a number of roles, but it’s most common is expressing Possession – not unlike an ‘apostrophe s’ in English; templum Iovis Jupiter’s temple. Here are five Nouns, one from each Declension, along with the Noun in the Genitive Case. The Genitive Ending is highlighted to help you compare the differences:

Declension Noun Genitive Meaning of Genitive

First nauta nautae the sailor’s : of the sailor

Second taurus tauri the bull’s : of the bull

Third Juppiter Iovis Jupiter’s : of Jupiter

Forth currus currus the chariot’s : of the chariot

Fifth spes spei hope’s : of hope

Indeed, the Genitive Endings are so different, that a Latin dictionary will tell you what they are just so you can determine which Declension a Noun belongs to. Cool? Try it. Look up lion in a dictionary. leo, leonis m lion. That second form is, and always will be, the Genitive of the Noun. And because it ends in –is, leo must be a Third Declension Noun. Awesome.

Juppiter Jupiter appears in the Genitive Case twice on today’s page, to reclaim possession of his temple and statue. I’ve simplified things here a little; during its life the temple was actually rededicated to three gods, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, often referred to as the Capitoline Triad, as each had a temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome. Here are the entries from the official Pompeii Website - http://www.pompeiisites.org - in both English and Italian.

This dates from the 2nd cent. BC and has a high podium, with an entry staircase on the front, over which the cell rises: the latter, preceded by columns and divided into three by a double colonnade, held a statue of Jupiter, of which the head remains, from the Sullan period (approximately 80 BC), when the building was converted into a Capitolium and dedicated to the worship of the ‘Capitoline Triad’ (Jupiter, Juno, Minerva). The floor of the cell, as in the temple of Apollo, had a rhomboid polychrome stone pattern, arranged in imitation of perspective cubes (opus scutulatum). The podium was restored in the Tiberian period (14-37 AD), when the large altar located in the Forum, aligned with the temple, was also replaced.

Risale al II sec. a.C. e presenta un alto podio, con scala d'accesso sulla fronte, sul quale s'innalza la cella: questa, preceduta da colonne e tripartita da colonnati a due ordini, custodiva una statua di Giove, della quale resta la testa, di età sillana (80 a.C. circa), periodo in cui l'edificio è trasformato in Capitolium e dedicato al culto della 'Triade Capitolina' (Giove, Giunone, Minerva). Il pavimento della cella, come nel tempio di Apollo, era a rombi di pietra policromi, disposti ad imitazione di cubi prospettici (opus scutulatum). Il podio fu restaurato in età tiberiana (14-37 d.C.), quando pure fu sostituito il grande altare posto nel Foro in asse col tempio.

The huge temple of Jupiter is situated in the forum. Once a great statue of Jupiter stood in the temple. For many years the Pompeians were accustomed to give thanks here to Jupiter.

Visiting the Forum / February 9, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

The Pompeian Forum was a paved rectangle 40 meters wide and 150 meters long (130x490 feet). It was surrounded by a double colonnaded portico of white limestone and, behind that, by buildings of impressive architecture. In the centre were equestrian statues (the bases for over fifty have been found) honouring the emperor, imperial family and local dignitaries. Take a look at the picture;

In the upper left corner is the macellum, believed by most to be some kind of market building specialising in fish, meat and vegetables. As Mary Beard has noted, if it was indeed a meat market, then it was conveniently close to the sacrificial altars of some of Pompeii’s greatest temples. Was meat from the sacrifices then sold at the macellum?

The next two structures are, from left to right, a temple to the lares publici and a temple in honour of the genius Augusti. The lares were family gods worshiped at shrines in nearly every Pompeian home; the lares publici were the common lares of the entire Pompeian people. The genius of Augustus – the spirit of the emperor – was a way of not quite worshipping the emperor as a god.

The third building in this cluster is the Eumachia Building, but we will have more to say on this when Claudia visits. Beside this stood a voting hall, although it is absent from the model – I assume for reasons of space. At the foot of the Forum we see the facades of three municipal offices, the exact purpose of which are still debated. Most see them as a collection of offices, meeting halls and record storage.

In the bottom right hand corner, you can make out one side of the gate through which Claudia entered, although in reality it is a block or two further away. The long building displayed with an open ceiling – it was closed in reality - is the town’s basilica – or law court. (Churches have taken on the name basilica because of their similarly open design). Those of you familiar with the Cambridge Latin Course will remember Caecilius dragging Hermogones to the law court; tu, Hermogones, es mendax!

Left of the court is the temple of Apollo. And north of that is the imposing structure of Jupiter’s temple, or the temple of the Capitoline Triad. Again, we will have more to say on both when Claudia is there.

The forum was the focal point of Pompeii’s life, housing its institutions of government, its main market, and major cult buildings. It drew citizens and visitors alike to its colonnades, buildings and open space as people pursued their daily lives of marketing, attending meetings, dealing with officials and participating in religious festivals. John J. Dobbins

Soon I found the Forum. The Forum is surrounded by many buildings of great importance. I looked at all the buildings closely for a long time.

viae Pompeiorum / February 8, 2017 by Anthony Gibbins

I spent one of the best afternoons of my life in Pompeii. It was a winter’s day, but not too chilly. I was visiting the city alone, much as Claudia does in this story. It was not my first visit, but at least a half dozen years had passed since I had been there last. And then it began to rain. Not a drizzle, or even a heavy drop, but an absolute downpour. And it lasted a good hour and more. The streets all turned to drains, just as we have all read that they would, and suddenly those quaint and historically interesting stepping stones were 100% necessary for crossing the street. People fled, and when the sun finally came out, the city was a ghost town. I spent another three hours there and – I tell not one inch of a lie – I didn’t see another soul until home time. It was incredible.

A map of Pompeii is very much like a map of Manhattan; there are two distinctly different arrangements of streets. Both cities began organically, and at those points the streets run in every which direction. In Pompeii it is in the south west, around the Forum. In Manhattan it is at the southern tip. And then, as the cities grew, a grid system was enforced upon them both. It noticeably distinguishes the old from the new, the chaotic from the urban-planned. In Pompeii the streets have been given wonderfully evocative names in the modern era; the Via dell’ Abondanza, Via della Fortuna and Strada Stabiana among others. These larger roads split Pompeii into four districts; an area for outdoor amusements that centers on the amphitheatre, a general residential area of upmarket homes in the area of the Central Baths, a cultural district for theatrical entertainment, and the ‘Old Town’ surrounding the Forum.

Carroll William Westfall provides a wonderful introduction to the city’s streetscape. Today he dedicates his study to the classical tradition of architecture in America.

Pompeii exemplifies the urban legacy of Rome and presents an instructive example of a traditional town built to sustain and foster a life of civility. Population density was high by modern standards with the 167-acre city holding perhaps 10,000 to 12,000 residents, a number that swelled each day as people came from the countryside to enjoy the city’s markets and diversions. The same general urban character pervaded the city’s background buildings: atrium houses, row houses and other common types of residential party-wall construction, often with shops fronting the streets. The typical street cross-section had building walls rising directly from a sidewalk with curbs defining footpaths, although some streets lacked sidewalks on one or both sides, and some were narrower than others. The solidly built-up blocks were arrayed in an irregular grid pattern in which most streets change their alignment every few blocks, a condition the Romans exploited to great advantage as they imposed their urban order on the city.

I was walking very happy through the streets of the town for some time, as though through a dream. I saw many things about which I had read many times in books.