Ancient Rome

I was honored to be invited back to be the keynote speaker at the West Virginia Junior Classical League (JCL) convention last week.  My talk?  "Why We are All Ancient Romans in Drag."Despite the above headline, my talk was totally PG, and it seemed to go over really well. I talked about some of the not so obvious ways that Roman thinking still resonates in our world … [Read more...] about Teen Sex, Occupy Wall Street, Linsanity and…Ancient Rome?

The ancient Romans thought dormice made fine little appetizers. On page 301 of my novel, Cleopatra Selene watches Maecenas pop "a tiny roasted dormouse whole into his mouth and crunch the tiny bones with relish...He gave me a sly look as he licked the honey off his fingers."Dormice were farmed in large pits or terra cotta containers. The Romans liked their tiny rodents rolled … [Read more...] about See This Little Guy? The Romans Loved Him. Especially Roasted in Honey!

The ancient Romans celebrated so many holidays it's a wonder the empire didn't fold in on itself from over-partying. December in particular was fairly bursting with celebrations:December 11--the holiday glut began with the Agonalia, a festival so old, even the Romans weren't exactly sure what it was about. Except for the sacrifice of a ram. Everyone agreed the ram must die. … [Read more...] about Ancient Fact of the Day: Romans Partied Hard in December

Don't believe me? Read Polybius. He claims that on two different occasions during the Punic Wars, Romans buried alive humans as offerings to the gods. However, they didn't kill Romans (first it was two Greeks, then two Gauls--a man and woman each time). Each time, they buried the victims alive in a desperate plea to the gods to save Rome from destruction at the hands of … [Read more...] about Ancient “Fun” Fact of the Day: Ancient Romans Performed Human Sacrifice