Category Archives: Carmina Epigraphica

Hope, Freedom, and Being Human: A Poetic Approach

Posted on November 17, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

The 2016 Being Human Festival – a festival of the Humanities, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy – commences today. This year’s theme is ‘Hope and Fear’, and my university, the University of Reading, … Continue reading →

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Lesser Known Ballads (and Other Art Work) of Reading Gaol

Posted on November 6, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

Built in 1844, HM Prison Reading (also known as Reading Gaol and famous through Oscar Wilde‘s poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol) was decommissioned in 2013. Since September 2016 the prison has opened its doors to the public for the … Continue reading →

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Hello Stranger, or: Pompeian Greetings from Beyond the Grave!

Posted on November 4, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

The Roman town of Pompeii has provided us with many a remarkable piece of evidence for virtually all aspects of Roman life and civilisation. Yet there are a number of things which are conspicuously lacking (and not for all of … Continue reading →

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A Poem Worthy of a Champion

Posted on January 17, 2016 by Peter Kruschwitz

This was an excellent weekend, as far as my Latin epigraphy geekiness goes. On Friday and Saturday, I had the immense pleasure of preparing and leading a Study Day on Latin inscriptions for the Study Centre of St. Albans Cathedral … Continue reading →

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First Things First

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Gaius Caelius Donatus of Oppidum Novum in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis (now Ain Defla, Algeria) was really looking forward to New Year’s Day. An auspicious day, the Romans marked New Year’s Day with religious ceremonies and sacrifice (as T. … Continue reading →

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Let us remember that this has happened

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

After the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the fifth century A. D., most of the Iberian peninsula eventually became part of the Visigothic Kingdom. A successor state to the (Western) Roman Empire, the Visigoths had gained control over Rome’s … Continue reading →

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside: Frosty Notes from Roman Britain

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Last week I gave a research seminar paper at Reading about Britain’s most ancient poetry, the evidence for which I published on this blog a few months back in a freely available and downloadable e-publication called Undying Voices. One of the … Continue reading →

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War, Combat Trauma, and Poetry: Evidence for PTSD in the Latin Verse Inscriptions?

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

In my previous blog post, I introduced a text that provides an (albeit anecdotal) unusual view on the Roman army, its drill, its effectiveness, and the dehumanising, romanticising narratives that prevail around it. The further one delves into the world … Continue reading →

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Lest We Forget

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Until I moved to Britain, just over ten years ago, 11 November exclusively marked one thing for me: the beginning of the carnival season. In the United Kingdom, however, as well as in many other states, 11 November marks an … Continue reading →

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Fruit of the Doom: an Image of Life, Death, and Letting Go in Roman Poetry

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Death has been on my mind lately, having recently learnt of the untimely passing of two of my colleagues at the University of Reading. Whether death was imminent or came suddenly, whether it hits the old or the young – … Continue reading →

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