Nova Britannia General Meeting: II Januarius MMDCCLXXVIII

 Monday, January 27th, MMDCCLXXVIII, 6:00 p.m. - 7:20 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Publius Sextius Laevus

Numerius Octavius Astronomus

Marcus Quintius Clavus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

    Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia & I were the first to join. Sibylla told me she was reading about World War II history and recounted a story about two of her own family members during that war. P. Sextius Laevus arrived in time to hear the end of the story.

    Conversation returned to ancient and modern (water, pipe, and reed) organs. Laevus explained the principles by which different types of organs created sound vibrations, comparing them to smaller instruments like recorders, transverse flutes, and harmonicas. He had even sketched out illustration to show how the shape of the instrument effected airflow. N. Octavius Astronomus joined just as Laevus was showing this illustration. Laevus also shared the website where he had obtained much of this information (https://www.archaeologychannel.org/video-guide-summary/109-the-ancient-hydraulis).

   Sibylla wondered aloud how the Romans had been inspired to create the organ. Laevus speculated that panpipes had been the original protype and recounted for us the myth of Pan and Syrinx. Around this time, M. Quintius Clavus joined the call.

   Laevus wondered whether the Romans had bells, or, if not, what would have been used to wake people up in the mornings. 'Sunlight' was my suggestion. Laevus mentioned horns or trumpets, and Quintius confirmed these to have been used by the army to mark out watches. Another possibility raised by Laevus was that of someone being hired to go door-to-door waking people, and Quintius mentioned being cast in this role himself on one occasion. I asked how Quintius himself managed to wake up on time, to which he replied that he was naturally an early riser.

    Discussion moved on to other ancient musical instruments and what we knew of the music itself. Astronomus recommended the YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@faryafaraji, which not only had re-creations of ancient music, but explained how these recreations were made. I mentioned having started (but not finished) the lecture in Latin by Luke Ranieri on YouTube for which Astronomus had shared a link on the Forum Domitium shortly before the meeting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OjMTxWYrOY&t=77s). I commented that the astronomical terms must be useful to Astronomus, and he agreed there was a lot of interesting technical terminology, adding that some terms were relatively easy to figure out.

    This led to a discussion of Latin in general. Laevus commented on how the most recent Sunday Latin meeting had gone and made suggestions for future improvements. Astronomus brought up Latin-related activities he had seen taking place in Virginia. Quintius commented that Classical studies received a lot of attention in that area. I wondered about Nova Roman activities in the area. Astronomus found the local legion on our website (http://novaroma.org/nr/Legio_XXIV_Media_Atlantia_(Nova_Roma)). Quintius told us some of the history of this legion and of Legion XX (https://www.larp.com/legioxx/), which was not affiliated with Nova Roma, but was known for such excellent research that our own Legio III Cyrenaica used them as a source.

Nova Britannia General Meeting: Januarius MMDCCLXXVIII

Monday, January 6th, MMDCCLXXVIII, 6:00 p.m. - 7:02 p.m.

Participants: Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia

Publius Sextius Laevus

Aulus Iulius Paterculus

   The conversation opened with comments by Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia and Publius Sextius Laevus on the macronational event which had taken place in the United States earlier that day. There had also been a snowstorm in Connecticut.

    Laevus then talked a bit about his plans for the new year, including restoration of the organ in his home. Sibylla expressed her enthusiasm about organs and asked whether it was a reed organ. Laevus clarified that it was a pipe organ. Laevus picked up his webcam to show us the organ, also summarizing the history of that particular pipe organ. The organ was built in 1832 in Portland Maine by Paine & Sparrow, 1 manual, 4 ranks of pipes, enclosed in a swell box and either foot pumped or hand pumped at the right side. It is believed that Paine made fifes for the Revolutionary War and his grandson was the composer John Knowles Paine. It was shipped to its current location by Laevus himself

    This led to a brief conversation about the Roman water organ, the hydraulis, and the changing attitudes of Christianity toward organ music, which at times was considered too pagan.

    It was mentioned that this meeting had fewer attendees than we might have hoped, and I agreed that this was a shame, particularly since there was some major business to discuss, which had been written up in an agenda.

   Laevus brought up the Latin meetings scheduled for January 12th and 13th, mentioning his excitement to be returning to Latin after being occupied by the holiday season. Laevus then invited me to proceed with the agenda.

   We ran through the agenda. First, I noted that the provincial reports were in progress.

   Then, I stated that we needed a new governor, listing the key requirements: taxpayer status, taking of the Oath of Office, submission of the provincial reports, and either having been quaestor or receiving a waiver (which I had been told was likely). Sibylla expressed some willingness to step forward, but noted taxes as an obstacle, as money was thin. I said that Quintius had mentioned being up to date with his taxes, and Sibylla agreed to discuss the idea with Quintius the following evening. Sibylla & Laevus encouraged me to put in my name as well, and I agreed.

   In addition to the strict requirements, I also described my wishlist of things the incoming governor would do: repeal or renew past edicts and appoint regional legates. Sibylla said that if she did take the role, she would be sure to do those things. I asked the others whether they had any requests for whomever eventually took the job. Sibylla said she hoped whoever took charge would keep up our existing program of activity.

   The next topic on the agenda was presentations for the year. Sibylla volunteered to do two: one on Roman cooking, in which she would show the actual prepared dishes (I suggested moving this meeting to a night on which Quintius was present to help eat the feast once it was shown off) and one on fortune-telling. I suggested advertising this later presentation to the Sodalitas Artium Magicum (https://groups.io/g/SodalitasArtiumMagicum). Sibylla also suggested someone else might present on ancient musical instruments and that she might eventually want to do a presentation on ancient spies & codes, but that much more research would be needed.

   Laevus seconded the suggestion for a presentation on musical instruments and added the topics of surveying, math, and the calendar would all be interesting. Laevus said he would consider whether to present himself.

   I said that I would like to present on late Roman historians.

   I mentioned there were still a few presentations left planned from last year. Astronumus on reading Latin verse and Cassius on Roman astronomy. Astronomus had also made the suggestion in the past for someone to do a presentation on timekeeping in the ancient world.

   The last point from the agenda was that the link to Facebook on http://novabritannia.org/ needed to be updated to https://www.facebook.com/groups/novabritannia.novaroma.org/. I committed to send an email to Cassius about it.

   Conversation returned to our next meeting. It was agreed we would return to our regular schedule: Latin on Monday, January 13th and another general meeting on Monday, January 27th. Sibylla would not be able to attend on the 13th but expected to be present for the 27th.

Notes: Thanks to P. Sextius Laevus for clarifying details about the pipe organ.