Found in Antiquity

Tag: Rome

  • Speed-running putting on a toga

    What can you do stuck at home inside? See how fast you can get yourself dressed for the Senate of course. I started this challenge when someone said, “You need slaves or helpers to get yourself dressed in a toga – it’s so long and difficult to drape.” I understand that in practice, a wealthy…

  • Rape Culture in Classical Mythology

    I’m a little ambivalent about putting this take-home exam essay I wrote in second year up on the blog. On the one hand, it’s something I’ve thought about posting up for a while. On the other, I feel that even though I’ve learned more about Classics and grown as a person since second year, I…

  • Ciceronian Disputations

    What’s this? A creative piece, you say? You’re spot on. This is a dialogue between Cicero and my supervisor at uni, Assoc. Prof. Parshia Lee-Stecum. I originally wrote it for Orpheus, the publication of MUCLASS (Melbourne University Classics and Archaeology Students Society). I was a little worried that my supervisor might not like it… Cicero…

  • Romans paint better perspective than Renaissance artists

    Visitors who see this fresco at the Met museum are often amazed at what seems to be a pre-Renaissance understanding of perspective. One visitor wrote that this “looks like an entire city–perspectivally rendered! The Middle Ages lost those lessons on perspective for sure.” The statement picks up on a very common triumphalist attitude towards perspective.…

  • How to beg for mercy in Latin

    How to beg for mercy in Latin

    What do you do when you have committed a sacrilege, when the Emperor has overheard your snide remark,[1] when you handed in your essay late, or you forgot to attend a meeting with your superior? You may have offended a higher power, who would rightly chastise you for your misdeeds. You must now avail yourself…