The arch is a prominent feature of Roman architecture; capable of supporting enormous amounts of weight, it allowed the Romans to build to heights previously impossible, with less material. The arch appears on all sorts of imposing civil structures: bridges, aqueducts, forums, basilicas . . . (More)

On the 19th of December in 45 BCE, Caesar -- that is, Gaius Julius -- took dinner with Marcus Tullius Cicero. JC had brought with him troops of two thousand strong -- not a man, evidently, to travel light. The elegant orator was somewhat annoyed to have tough-as-nails soldiers traipsing flowerbed . . . (More)

Carpe diem. Pluck the day, he says. Not seize. "Seize" is violent, militaristic, brutish, rapacious, he seethes -- an injustice to the Latin. A pause, as a softer light comes into his eyes, and he goes on to tell me, more gently ... pluck, as you would a flower, or sweet Italian grape. Like . . . (More)

A cemetery inscription from Shelton's As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman History: "Marcus Aemilius Artema built this tomb for his well-deserving brother Marcus Licinius Successus and for Caecilia Modesta, his wife, and for himself, and for his children and his freedmen and freedwomen and d . . . (More)

Ovid, you charming scamp. "Don't neglect the horse races if you're looking for a place to meet your girlfriend. A [racetrack] crowded with people offers many advantages ... The narrowness of each seating space forces you to squeeze together; in fact, the rules for seating compel you to touc . . . (More)

Where two eagles met after a flight that spanned the earth (do you think they made love then?), it marked the centre of the world. It was the omphalos ... literally the "navel" ... and Delphi, it was conceived, was the navel of the earth, called Gaea. She was all-nourishing, the mother of all . . . (More)

Why Cato the Censor, Roman moral officer, would've been a stupefying killjoy at orgiastic parties (until you got him dead piss drunk): "He expelled Manilius, a prospective candidate for the consulship, from the senate for embracing his wife during the day in front of their daughter. For himself . . . (More)

Detail of Walter H. Ruff's 16th century engraving of Archimedes: Two words: Yow. Za. Ruff must've had a big crush on the Greek.