Tag Archives: Food for thought

Loneliness in Old Age

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

Poetry and song do wonderful and – in the truest meaning of the word: awesome – things. They allow us to create entire worlds using nothing but words. Alternative worlds in which we may explore and experience what we are … Continue reading →

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Advice, Conciliation, Arbitration

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

It is difficult to find solutions in conflicts in which emotions run high, and it requires insight on either side of such conflicts that presumably not all demands can be met. At the same time, it requires a desire to … Continue reading →

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If they win on this point, what then will they not try…?

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

In 195 B. C., Rome’s women had had enough. It had been for almost exactly twenty years that, due to a decision taken in 215 B. C., at the height of the Second Punic War, their right to possess, and … Continue reading →

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Worth a fart(h)ing?

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

There are many things one may say about Petronius‘ famous Neronian-era novel Satyricon; that it shows much sympathy for Rome’s lower and lowest social classes, however, or for those who managed to escape their social predicament and reached a certain … Continue reading →

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Strike where the sun don’t shine…

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

The sun-god Helios could not believe it when his daughter Lampetië told him what had just happened: a bunch of savages had dared to kill and devour his sacred cattle that he pastured on the island of Thrinacia! Of course, … Continue reading →

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The solidarity of the precariously employed

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

A papyrus from the Hermopolite nome in Egypt, dated to A. D. 117, written by a lady called Eudaimonis to her daughter Aline addresses a wide range of family matters, including some current worries over the family business (P. Brem. … Continue reading →

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United we stand, divided we fall

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

A Latin inscription from Beirut, dating to the third century A. D., records a conflict between shipowners from Arelate (Arles) in Gaul and the Roman government: [- – – I]ulianus naviculariis / [mar]inis Arelatensibus quinque / [co]rporum salutem / [qu]id … Continue reading →

Posted in Epigraphy, Labour disputes, Prose | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

On strike!

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

Tibicines, professional flute-players, held an awkward position within the society of Republican Rome. On the one hand, they were admired for their skills and regarded as quintessential for maintaining the sacred order of the state. Unsurprisingly, due to their quintessential … Continue reading →

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Escape Routes

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Peter Kruschwitz

Probably in A. D. 474, Gaius Sollius Modestus Sidonius Apollinaris, more commonly known just as Sidonius Apollinaris, a Gallo-Roman aristocrat, Bishop of Clermont (eventually canonised), as well as an acclaimed poet, wrote a letter to one Magnus Felix, a former … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Reading, Prose | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Blast from the past

Posted on February 24, 2017 by Peter Kruschwitz

The Roman fabulist Phaedrus opens the third book of his Fabulae with the following piece (Phaedr. 3.1, my translation): Anus ad amphoram Anus iacere vidit epotam amphoram, adhuc Falerna faece ex testa nobili odorem quae iucundum late spargeret. hunc postquam … Continue reading →

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