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.

After Action Report: Nova Britannia Meeting & Roman Beverage Presentation

After Action Report: Nova Britannia Meeting & Roman Beverage Presentation

Monday, August 14th, 2023, 7:00 p.m. - 7:53 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

   The first eight minutes or so of the meeting were spent on casual conversation, as we waited for any others to arrive. Astronomus was on the train home after a convention. Sibylla's spice business had been very successful.

   I then gave my presentation on Roman beverages, which took about half an hour, divided into sections on wine, posca, water, and beer (roughly their order of popularity in the Roman Empire). There was some give and take during the meeting as well - we talked about the wine and posca served during past and future Nova Britannia events. Sibylla shared some facts about wine exported from the empire.

   After the presentation was over, Astronomus asked about mead and milk as beverages known to the Romans. My research had barely touched on either, but the three of us were able to pool our background knowledge and speculate a bit.

   It was agreed that Astronomus would present at our next general meeting, either on Latin poetry or Roman cartography.

   I touched on plans for the potential Nova Britannia conventus in 2025, asking for a volunteer to go to New Haven to help reserve space in one of the parks. It was proposed that this be done during the 2024 MithraCon.

Information for my presentation was derived from the following sources:

https://pass-the-garum.blogspot.com/2013/09/posca.html

https://mymodernmet.com/what-did-the-romans-eat-drink/

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=14:chapter=19

Tasting History with Max Miller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdOPg-4_R60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40uw6VkWpaI

Weird History:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIFNyh0npAo

Told in Stone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v47GdygZog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rhT7EkTgu0

A Pinch of History:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0X9TpY5zE

Metraton:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nBVsW0LtQI&list=WL&index=87

Latin Meeting: Julius MMDCCLXXVI

Latin Meeting: Julius MMDCCLXXVI

Jul 31, 2023 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Participants: Publius Sextius Laevus

                     Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

                     Aula Tullia Scholastica

                     Aulus Iulius Paterculus

   The meeting started with some discussion (partly in Latin and partly in English) of how we could improve our Latin study techniques. We decided to start our current session by each composing a sentence in English which the rest of the group would translate into Latin.

   After this was done, we finished the narrative "Via Latina" in Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata.

   For next time, we agreed to each write a three-sentence story in Latin on the theme of food. We will review the ‘Grammatica Latina’ & ‘Pensa’ at the end of Cap. VI, paginae 45-47 at the next Latin Meeting.

   Thank you to the participants who reviewed this recap, particularly Laevus, who added the final note about next meeting's agenda.

Nova Britannia Remote General Meeting: Maius MMDCCLXXVI

Nova Britannia Remote General Meeting: Maius MMDCCLXXVI

May 22nd, 2023, 7:00 p.m. - 8:20 p.m.

Attendees:   Numerius Octauius Astronomus

                    Publius Sextius Laevus

    The meeting opened with a brief Latin conversation, which seemed to follow naturally from our customary greetings.

    Once we had switched to English, we discussed the Latin meeting which had been scheduled for the previous day. No one had attended, aside from myself, but I'd spent the time reading the Aeneid with the guidance of a video from Luke Ranieri (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmDfdnktMcI), so did not consider the time wasted.

    N. Octauius recommended another Latin YouTube channel, Alexius Cosanus (https://www.youtube.com/@AlexiusCosanus).

    Octauius next shared photos and video from the Kennebunk Maine May Day Parade (https://groups.io/g/TheForumRomanum/message/99495) on May 6th, 2023. He told us of the people he had seen that day, including M. Cassius Julianus, M. Quintius Clavus and other legionaries with Legio III Cyrenaica whom he had met before, as well as Tyler, whom he met in person for the first time. Octauius said that he would like to attend again in future years if his schedule allowed and considered acquisition of some Roman clothing to wear for future occasions.

    We then discussed Nova Roma's internal activities for a bit. Octauius asked about the planned vigintisexvir elections and updates to the Nova Roma wiki, and although full answers were not known to anyone in attendance at that particular meeting, these questions were later passed on to the appropriate people. I encouraged P. Sextius & Octauius to attend the upcoming meetings of the philosophy group (https://groups.io/g/NovaRomaPhilosophy/messages), and they expressed some tentative interest.

    Zoom then ended the meeting. P. Sextius and I spent another forty minutes in conversation, primarily about Latin. Sextius shared the outline of his own history with study of the language and a number of Latin resources he used. Among these were the "Latin Tutorial" YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@latintutorial), created by a teacher in Maine; the searchable Forcellini lexicon (http://linguax.com/lexica/forc.php), with Latin definitions of Latin words; and Latin.packhum.org (https://latin.packhum.org/concordance?q=). After the meeting, Sextius sent a message with links these and other resources, which he has recently forwarded separately.

    Sextius also mentioned that he was currently reading ‘De Speculo Caritatis’ an early work by 11th century abbot Æthelred of Rievaulx (Aelredus was his Norman-Latin name), who had lived through the changes to England following the Norman Conquest.

Nova Britannia Remote General Meeting: Aprilis MMDCCLXXVI

Nova Britannia Remote General Meeting: Aprilis MMDCCLXXVI

April 24th, 2023, 7:00 p.m.

Attendees: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Numerius Octauius Astronomus

Aula Tullia Scholastica

   The meeting started with some conversation between N. Octauius and Sibylla Fulvia about historical videos on YouTube, with both agreeing on the value of work by Jackson Crawford (https://www.youtube.com/@JacksonCrawford). Mention was also made of Grimfrost (https://grimfrost.com/) a company which sells both Dr. Crawford's books and Viking/Nordic clothing.

  There was some discussion of the technology Sibylla was using to participate in the call, which had recently been upgraded, and of Tullia Scholastica's upcoming drive to Toronto.

   We talked a bit about Roman garb, particularly Sibylla's reenactment of a Danish spice trader. Sibylla mentioned a few other things which had been traded, including grain from Egypt and ivory from Africa.

   We discussed the agenda for upcoming presentations, agreeing that Sibylla would give a presentation on Roman food in July, while I would share one on Roman drink in August. I would also give one comparing the philosophers Iamblichus & Porphyry at a later time, which Sibylla traded to me in exchange for the Roman food presentation.

   Speaking of future events, we discussed the meeting planned by Flavius Vedius Germanicus in Pennsylvania that June. No one had heard from Vedius recently, and the last email about the event had been in March.

   We agreed the plans for Saturnalia were still in place. Sibylla and Octauius continued to consider the possibility of a trip to Wesleyan together. It was also noted that Sibylla would celebrate her 80th birthday in June, for which she was given a thumbs up. State Latin Day was mentioned as well.

    Octauius asked whether any of us had done anything special for Parilia. Scholastica mentioned the videos and pictures of the parade in Rome shared by Cn. Lentulus and noted that this event was a really big deal in Rome.

    We planned to have our next general meeting on May 22nd and the next Latin meeting for May 14th (though the Latin meeting was later postponed).

Remote Roman Birthday Feast

Remote Roman Birthday Feast

April 18th, 2023, 7:00 p.m. - 7:37 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

                     A. Iulius Paterculus

                     Cn. Cornelius Lentulus

                     M. Quintius Clavus

                     A. Tullia Scholastica

   Sibylla Fulvia and I joined the call first and engaged in some pleasant conversation about our lives and farmers' markets.

   Cn. Lentulus arrived shortly thereafter. I expressed the hope that Lentulus was not too exhausted, since for him it was 1 a.m., on a weekday. He replied that while it was late, he had come because he had been invited and to honour Scholastica on her birthday. Lentulus added that he expected to leave early.

   The three of us examined the Latin translation of "Happy Birthday" Scholastica had provided to us. Sibylla asked Lentulus to share the Hungarian version of the song, which he did. Sibylla shared a verse of the SCA version.

    Quintius and Scholastica joined around that time. I pointed out that Lentulus had said he wouldn't be staying very long and suggested we jump ahead to the cake, if anyone had made one. No one had, but Sibylla did fetch and light a candle for Scholastica.

    Scholastica showed us photos of her childhood, one being carried as a baby by her mother (whom Lentulus compared to a young Queen Elizabeth), another standing outside her house on the day of her high school graduation (wearing a white gown and rose bouquet, as well as the medal she had been given), and a third sitting next to her younger brother (she was 11 & he was 8). We learned that Scholastica's mother had also been a teacher.

   Scholastica & Sibylla shared some experiences in teaching, which showed that the profession was not for the faint of heart.

   The others told of the meals they had earlier in the evening. Sibylla had enjoyed chicken, which Scholastica also planned to have that night, Quintius had eaten lamb with Greek seasoning, and Lentulus humus with pita bread with vegetables. We agreed that these dishes would likely have been recognisable to the ancients, although Quintius had supplemented his lamb with a thoroughly American side of home fries.

   Sibylla mentioned the fast food restaurant unearthed in Pompeii, and Lentulus told us of the visit he and Tita Popillia Laenas had made to Pompeii & Herculaneum the previous year. Conversation turned to upcoming trips: Lentulus to Rome, Scholastica to Budapest, and Sibylla to give a presentation in southern Connecticut. Scholastica was encountering some challenges in planning her trip. Quintius had some suggestions, but it was clear that Scholastica had research and preparations ahead.

   I told the others of the tour I would be taking of Greece in a few weeks and showed the two Roman dishes I'd prepared: olive relish & fish with cheese.

   We sang Scholastica's translation of "Happy Birthday". Lentulus fetched a candle and I a flashlight, so that Scholastica could ceremonially blow them out alongside the candle Sibylla had burning all along. Lentulus made a toast to Scholastica in Latin, and we drank to her health.

   Quintius was telling us of his intended travels, to CT Latin & Greek Day on April 27th, to Kennebunk on May 6th, and elsewhere when the call ended.

Thanks to Scholastica for feedback on the initial draft.