Ancient Tsunami

Yikes!

Jovanotti

Here's that Italian pop star's website. Make sure you check out the video to the song I played for you.

Alexandria's ruins

Unlike Rome's, Alexandria's ancient past isn't out in the open. In fact, for the longest time everyone thought there was next to nothing left, but now its ruins are being found. Follow this link for details.

300

Here is a review by an ancient historian, who's not all that positive about the movie. In the last paragraph he mentions that 5% of Greece went to see 300 in the first ten days after its release! I'll hand out copies of the Herodotus.

Cumaean Sibyl

Here is Michelangelo's depiction of her, from his frescoed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Looks like she's been bulking up! One reason for the musculature is that Michelangelo used male models when depicting females, as was customary at the time. Do you think the fresco would be better had he used female models? Michelangelo is often admired for the physical presence and titanic energy in his depiction of the human body.

For images of the cave itself (there's a picture in your book, but it's only about 2 sq. in.), click here.

Lupercalia info

I never did get around to telling you about Lupercalia, which was on Feb. 15. The exact significance of the holiday is unknown, but it had something to do with fertility. At the Lupercal (the cave at the foot of the Palatine Hill where the she-wolf, Lupa, was thought to have nursed Romulus and Remus) goats and a dog were sacrificed. The blood was smeared on the foreheads of two boys, who were required to laugh. Then the Luperci (who were priests) would run around the Palatine striking passers-by (especially women) with a whip.

Here are the Roman Marriage notes I promised

Roman marriages were either cum manu or sine manu; manum was the husband's power over the wife --- if the marriage included manum, the wife entered the husband's family, so that his paterfamilias became hers.

The legal distinction between cum manu and sine manu was apparently not the biggest deal; marriages cum manu declined in popularity throughout Roman history until, by the 3d Century CE, they were obsolete. And sine manu was apparently the norm for most Romans at all periods.

There were 3 routes to achieving manum.

1. Confarreatio. A religious ceremony which involved eating spelt cake.
2. Coemptio. A fake sale of the bride between the father and the groom.
3. Usus. Cohabitation for 1 full year, without the bride's going home for 3 consecutive days.

Sine manu was thus a lot like usus, but without the legal implications of manum.

To marry, you needed to satisfy 3 (here listed as 4) prerequisites:

1. Connubium. Legal status (of both bride and groom)
2. Age. 12 for women, 14 for men.
3. Consent of the paterfamilias
4. Consent of both the bride and groom (affectio maritalis --- the "marriage feeling")

The ceremony was most often held in June; it had to be held on a religiously appropriate day, and wasn't held without first taking augurs which, if unfavorable, would postpone the wedding. The bride wore a white tunic, girded with a 'knot of Hercules;' she wore an orange (saffron-colored) veil, with matching shoes. Everyone would gather at the bride's father's house. There the pronuba (the matron of honor, 'played' in the Aeneid by Juno) would oversee the couple as they spoke words of commitment; the pronuba would then join their right hands (dextrarum iunctio). The wedding party would sacrifice a pig, then feast.

The most important part of the wedding was in the evening, when the bride was led by three boys to the groom's house (deductio). The groom met her there and carried her over the threshold (avoiding the bad omen of her tripping). They'd say to each other, "Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia" (or vice versa). The bride would then touch fire and water. When the bride and groom entered the bedroom, the wedding party would sing crude (and traditional) songs outside.