Category Archives: Epigraphy

Shedding Some Light on the Eclipse

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Exciting times for stargazers: there will be a solar eclipse on Friday, 20 March 2015, the first UK-wide almost-total solar eclipse, as it has been pointed out. High time for me to dig into my beloved Latin inscriptions and see … Continue reading →

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To a very special mother!

Posted on March 15, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Unlike in most other places of the world, it’s Mother’s Day (or Mothering Sunday, to be precise) in Britain today. Time to celebrate a very special mother then ……… no, not my own (she’ll be celebrated when it’s Mother’s Day … Continue reading →

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Monumental Hatred

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

‘Speak no ill of the dead,’ they say – an aphorism that Diogenes Laertius attributed to Chilon, one of the seven sages: τὸν τεθνηκóτα μὴ κακολογεῖν (usually just received in a non-antique Latin translation, de mortuis nil nisi bene or … Continue reading →

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Shattered Foundations

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

The wanton destruction of historical artefacts and monuments in the museum of Mosul by supporters and fighters of Islamic State forces is a heartbreaking spectacle to behold: While we are quick (and right) to condemn these acts as crimes against … Continue reading →

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The New Inscription from Cirencester: A Few Thoughts

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

A couple of days ago, the discovery and excavation of a Roman tombstone at Cirencester (Gloucestershire) – largely undamaged and still in its original setting (in situ, as the professionals say) – has been publicised in no unspectacular terms. The … Continue reading →

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Spread the Wealth

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Have I ever told you the one about politicians and fiscal responsibility? The joke that is so old it was first recorded in a Pompeian wall inscription? It goes like this (CIL IV 3702 cf. p. 1383 = ILS 6405): … Continue reading →

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Europa, Europe, and the Compelling Imagery of the Latin Inscriptions

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Memory is treacherous. Yet, I seem to remember rather vividly a time when our politicians talked about a project they called our ‘common European home’ (Mikhail Gorbachev) or envisioned a ‘Europe, Whole and Free’ (George H. W. Bush). I liked … Continue reading →

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The Faint Voices of the Poor of Ancient Rome

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

More often than not, we tend to turn our eyes away from poverty and the poor, the blemish on the conscience of our society in which everything exists in abundance and in which no one would have to suffer from … Continue reading →

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St. Valentine’s Glory

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Valentine’s Day is imminent: a day for lovers (to celebrate their romance), for the chocolate and flower industries (to make a fortune), and for the ill-informed (to point out that the Romans, too, celebrated a festival around the same time … Continue reading →

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Buried Above Ground

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

The idea that the body is a prison-house or, more drastically still, a tomb of the soul – often shortened to the phrase soma sema – is an ancient one. Rooted in Orphic (rather than Pythagorean) thought, it finds its first … Continue reading →

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