Nova Britannia General Meeting: Julius MMDCCLXXVII

Nova Britannia General Meeting: Julius MMDCCLXXVII

Monday, July 6th, MMDCCLXXVII, 6:00 p.m. - 6:40 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Publius Sextius Laevus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

   At the start of the meeting, I requested a delay of my presentation on Roman medicine, as I had not yet done enough research for a full introduction to the topic. Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia and N. Octavius Astronomus agreed. A second later, P. Sextius Laevus signed on.

   The conversation turned to the announcement four days earlier by M. Cassius Julianus on the dates for MithraCon the following year (Friday, April 25th to Sunday April 27th, 2025). Sibylla stated that she planned to take more notes next MithraCon, as the conversation had been quite interesting in April 2024. Astronomus likewise recalled the detailed presentations given by Patty and Zoe, and the distance Zoe had travelled to attend. I asked about progress on steps needed to qualify the next MithraCon as a Conventus. Sibylla and Astronomus reported that they and Cassius had discussed venues and looked into the ballroom of the hotel where the majority of MithraCon took place. We agreed that this would require more deliberation, but that having the dates was an important step, allowing people to add it to their plans.

   Laevus said that he would not be able to attend MithraCon, since it would involve too much travel. He did say that one of us could meet with him if we happened to be passing through Albany and called ahead.

   Sibylla mentioned that she would have copies of her newest book Tales of the North at MithraCon. This an irreverent take on Norse myth continuing her earlier book - Norse Mythology...According to Uncle Einar. Sibylla said she might next give Greco-Roman mythology the same treatment.

   We next discussed Saturnalia for the coming December. It was agreed that either Sunday, December 15th or Saturday, December 21st would be good options, but it was left open for everyone, particularly Sibylla as the hostess, to think about further.

    Astronomus announced as the call ended that he was gathering a local in-person Latin group, which hopefully would begin meeting regularly.

Nova Britannia General Meeting: Junius MMDCCLXXVII

Nova Britannia General Meeting: Junius MMDCCLXXVII

Monday, June 17th, MMDCCLXXVII, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Participants: Marcus Quintius Clavus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Publius Sextius Laevus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

   Shortly after the call began, we drifted into a conversation about different styles of armour, particularly mail, in Roman times and afterward. Since this was in his area of expertise, much of this was questions to M. Quintius Clavus from the rest of us. He told us that 4-on-1 mail was the most common form of mail through much of history, with the exception of the Seleucid Empire, where archaeologists had found 5-on-1 mail. Quintius also mentioned some of the activities Legio III Cyrenaica had planned for the coming months and John Conyard of Comitatus.

   When Zoom ended the meeting, Quintius was not able to call back in due to another item on his schedule. P. Sextius Laevus talked a bit about his history in the Roman Republic Cultural Group. N. Octavius Astronomus and I tried to help Laevus to join the Nova Roma and Curia servers on Discord, as well as a non-Nova Roma-affiliated Latin server recommended by Astronomus.

   Zoom ended the meeting again. Astronomus & I returned and had a surprisingly long and detailed discussion about the effects of translation technology on language (conversational Latin in particular), which language(s) would make the best lingua franca (Astronomus suggested each region of the globe have its own), and how Roman revivalism might evolve when humanity colonized the stars (I suggested Astronomus should found Nova Roma's space program).

Nova Britannia General Meeting II: Maius MMDCCLXXVII

Nova Britannia General Meeting II: Maius MMDCCLXXVII

Monday, May 27th, MMDCCLXXVII, 7:00 p.m. - 8:22 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Publius Sextius Laevus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

    During this evening's call, there was more discussion of plans for Latin and what had happened with our studies of the language since the last Nova Britannia General Meeting. Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia gave her approval to the idea of opening our Monday night sessions to all of Nova Roma, which had been considered last time. Sibylla expressed sorrow that A. Tullia Scholastica was no longer with us, a sentiment we all shared.

    There was some conversation about personal activities. I praised comments which N. Octavius Astronomus had made about the current provincial evaluation system on Discord.

    Sibylla had to turn in due to the lateness of the hour. I suggested to the others that we consider moving our meetings an hour earlier, and there was some approval for the idea.

    I mentioned that Rosalia was coming up, and that this celebration of the Roman war dead nearly coincided with Memorial Day. We looked up Rosalia on the Nova Roma wiki and in the process found a number of deficiencies in the wiki, a few of which we resolved to correct at the earliest opportunity, such as listing Astronomus as a contact for Vermont and updating the list of active citizens in Nova Britannia.si

    P. Sextius Laevus shared a comic strip which he had written in Latin and illustrated as part of Saturnalia celebrations for the Roman Republic. He shared with us some of his history with that group.

Nova Britannia General Meeting: Maius MMDCCLXXVII

Nova Britannia General Meeting: Maius MMDCCLXXVII

Monday, May 6th, MMDCCLXXVII, 7:00 p.m. - 8:24 p.m.

Participants: Publius Sextius Laevus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

Zoe

    This evening started with a recap of MithraCon by N.Octavius Astronomus and Zoe, who had both attended. Astronomus had taken a large collection of photos during that weekend's activities and shared them via Zoom. These included sculptures adorning the Yale Library and artifacts from inside the Yale University Art Gallery, which Astronomus magnified to examine specific details. We spent some time trying to decipher the meanings of the symbols and writing which Astronomus showed us, identifying at least five ancient civilizations referenced by the images outside the library and interpreting a mosaic's depiction of Egypt. 

    Once the review of MithraCon was complete, Zoe left for the evening. Those of us who remained on the call discussed the recently announced plans to start monthly Latin calls under the aegis of the Sodalitas Latinitatis. We tentatively agreed to open the monthly Latin calls which Nova Britannia had already been having to Nova Roma as a whole, providing an option for those who wouldn't be able to attend at 9 a.m. Eastern U.S. time or whose Latin was on a different level.

    There was a brief discussion of the movie Civil War, which P. Sextius Laevus and Astronomus had each seen and recommended highly. Then we ended our conversation for the night.

Nova Britannia General Meeting Aprilis MMDCCLXXVII

Monday, April 22nd, MMDCCLXXVII, 7:00 p.m. - 8:02 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Marcus Quintius Clavus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus
Publius Sextius Laevus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

    When I joined, Sibylla and Quintius were already present and discussing plans for MithraCon, which was to take place the following weekend. Laevus joined shortly afterwards.
   I expressed a bit of concern on behalf of those attending due to the recently publicized disruptions on the Yale campus. Quintius replied that there was no cause for concern and that he was no stranger to protest himself.   Astronomus joined around this time, and conversation turned to meals. Sibylla had a list of what everyone had agreed to bring to the Roman dinner, and compared notes on which restaurant plans would be best for dinner the other night.
    They also talked about planned activities during the day: Sibylla would be spending much of Saturday in the hotel room with Cassius and Patricia, sketching out a modern Mithraic system, while Quintius led the rest of the group to the library, where he would himself do research on regal and Hellenistic Macedonia, as well as catching up on any new resources related to the Roman army acquired by Yale.
    Quintius also mentioned some presentations to take place in early May at the Peabody Museum, including a talk by Eric Cline (author of 1177 B.C. and After 1177 B.C.), which Quintius planned to attend. 
     Sibylla commented on the book by Andrew Fear on Mithras which she had been reading and her plans to talk with Cassius about the possible Mithraic background of Masonry. Quintius doubted any direct line of descent, pointing out that certain features were common to secret societies in general. This led into a discussion comparing and contrasting Mithraism, Masonry, and the cult of Bona Dea, which was brought up by Laevus.

      Astronomus mentioned an observatory around New Haven he hoped one day to visit, which he had learned about while researching potential collaborators for his work. Quintius mentioned a Farmington astronomy club, which had recently given a presentation on meteors to the public.

      Astronomus also shared some pictures he'd taken of the full moon.


    After Zoom kicked us out, only Sibylla, Astronomus, and I returned. Sibylla and Astronomus discussed having an astronomy activity during the weekend of MithraCon, Astronomus reached out to Pupienus to see if he would be attending, and we talked about plans for MithraCon the following year.

Nova Britannia Meeting – Ianuarius MMDCCLXXVII

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

Publius Sextius Laevus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Marcus Claudius Pupienus Maximus

    The first portion of this meeting was occupied with provincial business.

    Sibylla, who had been close to cancelling MithraCon due to lack of confirmed attendees, stated that the event could be financially viable if we could sign up six paying attendees by the Ides of March, in addition to Sibylla and M. Quintius Clavus. We discussed possible weekends for this gathering and agreed to send messages to Discord and the Main List to interest people.

   M. Claudius stated that he lived in New Hampshire, four hours from New Haven. He also introduced himself, sharing his brief biography.

   We moved onto the provincial requirements and how we could ensure Nova Britannia met them. The two big issues were required message volume on the forum (15 per month by at least 5 citizens) and in-person meetings (at least two per year with at least five resident citizens in attendance). We all agree to post more and Sibylla stated that she would ask Quintius to ask members of Legio III whether some of them would be willing to become nominal members of Nova Roma so that a higher proportion of events could reach the threshold number of local citizens.

   We then talked a little about food - Sibylla was snacking on a horse-shaped gingerbread cookie, and Astronomus gave a positive review to the tahini halva I'd brought for Saturnalia.

   There was a conversation about numismatics, which was a particular topic of interest for Claudius. Claudius said that Roman coins continued in circulation into the Middle Ages. Sibylla mentioned imitation of Roman coins, sometimes creating a "Xerox effect" Claudius also mentioned that he knew someone who found a hoard from the crisis of the third century. Astronomus commented that coins "very fingerprint of the government that made them."

   Then we made plans for presentations for the year: Claudius agreed to present on numismatics in March, Astronomus on astronomy in June or July, Sibylla on spices, and I on Roman medicine on unspecified dates.

Novembris MMDCCLXXVI – Nova Britannia Remote General Meeting

Novembris MMDCCLXXVI – Nova Britannia Remote General Meeting

Monday, November 6th, MMDCCLXXVI, 7:00 p.m. - 8:20 p.m.

Participants: Publius Sextius Laevus

Marcus Quintius Clavus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

   P. Sextius Laevus was first to join the call. He shared a bit more about the Latin language blog to which he had just sent out a link on the Nova Britannia list. The author of this blog had been posting a scary story for

Halloween, in Latin, for years, and these were still available in the blog archives.

   M. Quintius Clavus joined toward the end of this conversation. Quintius mentioned that the source of his cognomen was his ownership of a set of iron Roman nails, which he liked to display while giving educational presentations. Laevus asked about other items in Quintius's collection of Roman artifacts. Quintius mentioned several coins, including a coin of Constantine with Sol Invictus on the opposite side.

  Discussion turned toward Roman coins in general. Laevus and I had a variety of questions, which Quintius answered.

   N. Octavius Astronomus joined and spoke briefly with Quintius about logistics for his attendance at our next Saturnalia gathering.

   Zoom then ended the call and we rejoined for the second half.

   We had a discussion of the recent change of the hour. Laevus and Quintius recounted the experience of adjusting the time on old grandfather clocks. This led Astronomus to propose the topic of timekeeping in the ancient world as a subject for a future presentation. Quintius shared a bit he knew about watches kept by the Roman military overnight and agreed this would be good to look into in further detail, perhaps including earlier ancient cultures in the research.

   Quintius mentioned an upcoming Zoom call with his SCA barony. This led to a discussion of the evolution of the SCA's kingdoms in eastern North America, which led us to converse about the recent establishment of Colonia Cornelia Aquincensium in Budapest by citizens of Nova Roma.

  We finished with a brief conversation about the macronational elections which would take place the following day in certain locations.

   Many thanks to the participants who reviewed this report.