Saturday, December 22nd, 2018
Participants:
Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia (Hostess)
Marcus Quintius Clavus
Marcus Cassius Julianus
Gaius Claudius Quadratus
Aulus Iulius Paterculus
Phone-in Participant: Jonathan Sibley (Brother of Sibylla)
Quintius and I arrived by car a little after 10 a.m. Along the way, we had been talking about various topics, including the birth narratives of Jesus Christ, Alexander the Great, and Augustus. In this last case, I had argued that there was some plausibility to future greatness being forecast for the son of a prominent Roman, but Quintius pointed out that the Julii had not been one of the leading
families for some time by the time Octavian was born, although acknowledging that they were patricians.
Sibylla welcomed us into her home with coffee and tea; Cassius and Quadratus were already present. I handed out candles, a traditional Saturnalia gift. We sat at the dining room table and discussed, over our hot beverages, research that Quadratus had done some time ago showing that the four Minoan palaces on Crete were aligned to the same midpoint between Crete and the Libyan coast. Quintius commented that modern people still do not give the ancients enough credit for what they were able to figure out; on the other hand, he stated that certain people underestimated the currency of superstition during ancient times. This kicked off a short discussion of superstition in general.
Quadratus gave everyone physical copies of the 2019 edition from his intensively researched Roman calendar. Quintius showed off a 2019 calendar he had created himself on Vistaprint, using art relating to Achilles, Patroclus, and Alexander from DeviantArt (an art sharing website where artists, visual mostly but also written, share their art). The two of them discussed the possibility of adding some of these professional-looking design features to Quadratus’s calendar in the future.
There followed a brief interlude. Quintius began cooking his dish (a savillum/Roman cheesecake) in the kitchen. The rest of us helped set a bedframe back in order, after which Sibylla showed off her home library and Cassius discussed with Quadratus the minting of new Roman-style coins.
We then retired to the living room for a while. Sibylla lit the hearth, using a Cape Cod lighter. I did a short presentation on the women of early Rome (women who appeared in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita from Lavinia to Lucretia). Quadratus asked about other notable women from the end of this time to Cornelia mother of the Gracchi. I mentioned Cloelia, who was given as a hostage to the Etruscan king Lars Porsenna and managed to escape, winning such respect from the king in the
process that he voluntarily released half his captives. Since Cloelia is a gens name, we checked on the Album Civium to see whether there were any Cloelii in Nova Roma - there were not, although it was an option on the list of gentes. (Future citizens take note - you could be the first to take up this famous name, present on the Senate rolls since the conquest of Alba Longa!)
There followed a discussion of activities that we could undertake in the coming year. We considered the proposal for a volunteerism-oriented event which had been raised online. Cassius
argued that many groups were too quick to embrace causes other than their own, leaving no one to defend their original mission. However, he did speak in favor of activity which had both a Roman and charitable dimension. Quadratus mentioned the assistance of homeless veterans as one that we might adopt. The overall consensus was in favor, but that the details still needed work.
We returned to the dining room for the feast. We lit one of the small candles before each of us and one of the two tapers in the middle of the table at the start of the meal. Statues of the Leontocephalus and either Bacchus (with grapes held high) or Attis (judging from his garb) were placed at the head of the table; Cassius said a short grace. Sibylla had prepared roast rabbit with mushrooms in a cream sauce. Quintius had brought pesto parmesan bread and fine Greek wine. We also had olives, olive bread, and stuffed grape leaves.
After the main part of lunch we had dessert: globuli (balls of curd cheese fried and rolled in honey) which I had made, as well as the savillum made by Quintius, fresh from the oven. The savillum was quite different from the version we had eaten on a prior occasion (although at least as good); its texture was soft, almost like a bread pudding, its flavor was extremely sweet, and it was topped with poppy seeds which added an interesting variation to both.
Sibylla laid a collection of ancient artifacts which she had purchased on the table for display.
Still at the table, Quintius gave a presentation on the various confrontations between the Roman army and Macedonian-style phalanxes, running from the Pyrrhic War to the defeat of Perseus. In addition to describing the equipment and fighting style of the Macedonians, Quintius outlined some of the history of the wars involved and developments in the Roman army itself, particularly the cavalry. Sibylla shared some illustrations of Roman cavalry running down enemy
soldiers just as Quintius described and Quadratus told us that this was a common motif on coins beginning with Constantius II.
Sibylla’s brother Jonathan, who is very knowledgeable about pipe organs, and owns a 3 manual Wurlitzer, called in and shared with us a fact about pipe organs (also known as hydrauli): that they had been banned in Calvinist England because organ music had accompanied the execution of Christians in the arena. This started a conversation about music both ancient and modern, to which Cassius contributed by finding the music of a reconstructed Roman organ on the internet.
We had another discussion about organizational issues. Planning for the tasks ahead of us naturally lead to thoughts of the extremely valued member lost this year, Marcus Minucius Audens (James Matthews), who would have been the first to pitch in had he still been present.
We paused to dedicate a toast to him.
The continuing planning session took a lively turn when a list of citizens, which Quadratus had out to note information for Quintius, caught fire. Quadratus assured us that any ill omen involved was nullified by the very positive omen that we had all survived.
We ended the night by playing the free printable version of Card-Tamen, a game invented by Classicists as an educational tool. In keeping with the holiday, we worked out a method of playing for chocolate coins.
After Action Report drafted by A. Iulius Paterculus, with additions and corrections by Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia and Marcus Quintius Clavus
