It struck me today what a curious phrase "the Midas' touch" is. It means a natural (or preternatural) "ability to turn any business venture one is associated with into an extremely profitable one." (dictionary.com) It is interesting that the term is invariably meant to be positive; that . . . (More)

You knew I'd get to this eventually. Nero Burning ROM, a program that writes data to discs, has the Roman Colosseum in flames as its classic logo. I've always liked it; It meshes modern technology and familiar memories from classical history in a cleverly tongue-in-cheek way. But it's re . . . (More)

From chapter two, "The Soldier", by Geoffrey Parker, from Rosario Villari's Baroque Personae: "in the first decades of the [seventeenth] century, it is true, cavalry made up less than 10 percent of most armies in Western Europe: when France went to war against Spain in 1635, orders were . . . (More)

Reading the last chapter of my text, "The Failure and Success of Cézanne", it recounts how his art was panned early on, described as child-like, naive beginner's work. While both academics and avant-garde were tearing him apart in Paris, he suffered a number of personal blows, including Zola's cr . . . (More)

Hey there, boys and girls. It's that time again -- time for another instalment of: Hippocrates Sez ... regarding Hysteria in Virgins! According to the Greek doctor, when a virgin does not take up a husband at the suitable moment of marriage, her female "egress" remains unopened, and thus graduall . . . (More)

Celadus Thraex suspirium puellarum, he writes on the board, his body still as his arm weaves along. We watch attentively as the bit of white chalk glides so lightly and swiftly, more so than the original paint and brush that would have been used on some private citizen's blank wall. Graffiti . . . (More)

His occupation is listed as sellator, he says, which makes sense on a charioteering team; sella means "saddle", and one would think that such a man would be in charge of the tack, correct? No, in fact. Some scholars believe it is a spelling mistake, perhaps an instance of someone mishearing, and . . . (More)

I am mystified as to why it would be considered apt that a brand of condoms be named after a people that was hoodwinked into allowing an enormous horse into their sacred citadel (insert your favourite Catherine the Great joke here!). Perhaps it was a classics major who headed the market . . . (More)

Every year, I forget, and have to wait another 364 days (363, depending when I finally remember) for the occasion to come again. This year, fuck that! I fucking pwned it this time! BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! (A collaboration with Dave.) . . . (More)

225-220 BCE: Gallic Wars 218-201: Second Punic War 211: Coinage based on denarius introduced 215-205: First Macedonian War 200-186: Second Macedonian War 197: Battle of Cynoscephalae (Dog's Heads); Philip V defeated 197: Creation of two Iberian (Spanish) provinces 191-188: War of the R . . . (More)