Tag Archives: Big questions

Displaced Human Beings: Seneca, the Refugee Crisis, and Human Migration

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

In A. D. 41, long before he became one of Rome’s most powerful political figures, the Roman politician, Stoic philosopher, and writer Lucius Annaeus Seneca got to experience first hand what hundreds of thousands of people are enduring at the … Continue reading →

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All Work and No Play…?

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

This year’s August is a strange month for me. On the one hand, this August is the final month of my British Academy Fellowship, which has allowed me to work on my project ‘Poetry of the People’, focusing on the … Continue reading →

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Every Dog Has His Day

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

I am a hypocrite. I enjoy eating meat, even though I know about the way it is ‘produced’ (a sterile, technical term, to disguise the suffering and killing of animals, which have been bred under horrendous conditions, drugged, and tortured … Continue reading →

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Departure, Abandonment, and Grief: Latin Poems about Death in Childbirth

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the poem for a Roman lap-dog named Margarita (‘Pearl’), whose splendid inscription I managed to visit in the British museum. The text of the inscription – moving, personal, and affectionate – has … Continue reading →

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Poverty and the Poetics of Underclass Morality

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Is there a direct (inversely proportional) relation between (desired) material wealth and morality? The author of the first pseudo-Sallustian letter to Caesar appears to think so ([Sall.] epist. 1.7.3-9; transl. J. C. Rolfe): But by far the greatest blessing which … Continue reading →

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Latin Poetry and the Limits of Roman Medicine

Posted on June 2, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

There is a notorious passage in Plutarch‘s Life of Cato the Elder (23.3-4), in which the Greek philosopher denounces the infamous censor‘s view on Greek medicine: It was not only Greek philosophers that he hated, but he was also suspicious … Continue reading →

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Oh the Humanity!

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Several months ago, I received a letter from the Vatican which had been sent by His Eminence Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Secretary of State. The letter included my appointment to the position of Academicus Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy for Latin … Continue reading →

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Sadness, Weariness, and Laughter: An Ancient Latin Poem on Occasion of Mental Health Awareness Week 2015

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Between 11-17 May 2015 it is Mental Health Awareness Week, when the Mental Health Foundation, like every year, helps to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing issues. Mental health is hard to define. On their webpages, the Mental Health … Continue reading →

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The Lapidary Poetics of Roman Domestic Violence

Posted on April 26, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

A couple of weeks ago, I published a few thoughts on the rather touching inscribed poem for Margarita, the lap-dog from ancient Rome. One of the remarkable things that the poet expressed in this text – stressing it as noteworthy, … Continue reading →

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The Master and Margarita

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Peter Kruschwitz

Today, I had the immense pleasure of seeing one of my most favourite inscribed Latin poems – the epitaph for Margarita (‘Pearl’), a lap-dog, born in Gaul, deceased in second or third century Rome. The inscription on this marble plaque, … Continue reading →

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