If a person in fetters entered the house of Jupiter’s priest, the bonds had to come off. The restraints were then pulled upward through the opening in the roof and lowered into the street. The same priest could have no knot in his cap, belt or any other part of his clothing. Aulus Gellius records … Read more
On 24 August, Rome’s calendar marked an opening. The same thing happened on 5 October and 8 November. Ancient antiquarians described the mundus as open on those three dates, and Macrobius says the days were too religiously charged for battle, military recruitment or marriage. What opened is harder to recover. The surviving accounts do not … Read more
For most of the year, a millstone announced work through weight, friction and noise. On Vesta’s holiday, Ovid saw the same rough stones disappear beneath flower garlands. The animals that normally turned them wore wreaths, and loaves hung from their decorated bodies. Bread was no longer only the product at the end of labor. For … Read more
Six names were cut into a thick metal sheet and placed in the sacred spring at Bath: Uricalus; Docilosa, his wife; Docilis, his son; Docilina; Decentinus, his brother; and Alogiosa. The text says they had sworn there on 12 April. It does not preserve what they promised. Instead, it preserves the consequence if one of … Read more
Near the end of his discussion of tree diseases, Pliny the Elder records an event that defeats ordinary gardening language. In the territory of the Marrucini, he says, an entire olive grove belonging to the equestrian Vettius Marcellus crossed a public road. The crops on the opposite side crossed back and occupied the grove’s former … Read more
On the Ides of September, an official was supposed to hammer a nail into a wall of Jupiter’s great Capitoline temple. Livy says an old instruction, written in archaic words and letters, ordered the praetor maximus to do it. The nail stood beside Minerva’s chapel, where counting and divine protection met in one small mark … Read more
The dolphin did not die because it attacked the boy. In Pliny the Younger’s story, it died after carrying him safely, returning on later days, accepting human touch and attracting so many officials that a small town could no longer afford the attention. Kindness made the animal famous. Fame made it expensive. Pliny sent the … Read more
The condemned man had every reason to watch the lion’s mouth. Instead, the story asks us to watch the animal stop. In Aulus Gellius’s telling, the largest lion in a Roman beast show halted at the sight of one enslaved prisoner, approached quietly, and licked his hands and feet. The expected killing became a problem … Read more
At first glance, the glass seems to be doing something impossible. A clear hemispherical bowl sits inside an open lattice of circles, hearts and rings. The outer network appears to float away from the vessel wall, yet it does not fall. Slender bridges, placed where the pattern hides them, hold the cage to the cup. … Read more
The worshipper did not turn a tap. Hero of Alexandria describes a chest-like sacrificial vessel with a slot at the top and water hidden inside. A coin worth five drachmas dropped through the opening onto a metal plate. Its weight tipped a lever, raised a lid from a small outlet box and released water through … Read more
