Monday, June 1st, 2026 5:59 p.m. - 7:48 p.m.
Participants: Marcus Quinctius Clavus
Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia
Marcus Livius Maruffus
Titus Ovidius Nonus
Numerius Octavius Astronomus
Aulus Iulius Paterculus
M. Quintius Clavus and Sibylla Ambrosia Fulvia joined the meeting
first, and M. Livius Maruffus joined them shortly thereafter, though it
took him a few minutes to connect fully. During that time, I arrived
also, and had a short conversation with Quintius and Sibylla about their
current modern activities. Quintius mentioned that he was re-reading
Colleen McCollough's series Masters of Rome.
We moved on to the topic of Roman food just as Livius was able to join
in. Quintius and Sibylla were speaking about their first introduction
to liver and how they enjoyed it now as a shared meal. Sibylla commented
that the Romans would also have eaten organ meat. I said that I thought
that the entrails would be burned when an animal was slaughtered.
Quintius replied that this was true of sacrificed animals, but that not
all animals eaten would have been sacrificed, though for poorer people
this would have been the majority of the meat they ate. Quintius said
that especially in Greece, they ate a lot of pork, more than we eat in
modern times, because pigs could be turned loose in the woods to feast
on acorns, whereas beef was uncommon, because oxen were used to do work.
Quintius continued to the topic of vegetables common in Roman times,
mentioning the asparagus famously enjoyed by Augustus and that spinach
originated in central Asia but was used in the Mediterranean by the time
of the Roman Empire. It was around this time that T. Ovidius Nonus
joined the call. Quintius mentioned that he knew so much about
historical vegetables because he had been researching stuffed breads,
which seemed to be a dish the Romans would have made.
I mentioned that I had read recently in Plutarch's Moral Letters (for
a philosophy discussion the previous weekend) that brides in a certain
Greek city-state wore a garland of asparagus on their wedding day.
Sibylla commented that she would prefer to have the asparagus on her
plate. Nonus asked what the asparagus was supposed to symbolize. I
reported Plutarch's analysis as being that marriage was like asparagus
in that there was a long tougher part, like the stem, which you have to
get through to reach the more tender part at the end. Quintius commented
that it was the expectation, at least among the elites, in Roman times
that married couples would grow to like one another over time rather
than that they would be in love when they first married.
We continued speaking about Roman topics. Quintius mentioned that
Augustus had wanted to take the name "Romulus", but that he had been
talked out of it, both because it was not particularly well-omened, as
Nonus pointed out, and because there could only be one Romulus. I
mentioned that by some accounts Romulus Augustulus was the last emperor
of Rome, so it might be right to say that was a poor choice of name.
Quintius added that that Romulus Augustulus had reigned as just a boy
(hence the diminutive suffix "-ulus" in his name) and only for few
months before he was displaced by the new Visigothic King of Italy.
Quintius mentioned a documentary, Prophets of Doom,
in which he and Mike from Legio III had participated for the History
Channel, specifically a segment on the fall of the Roman Empire.
Quintius still had a copy of the DVD.
We talked a bit about
Roman roads. Sibylla asked the interesting question of whether each side
of the road was reserved for walking/riding in a particular direction,
as on modern roads. Quintius said that he did not believe so, and that
the roads were narrow enough that it would require people passing in
opposite directions to squeeze past one another or for one to give way.
He stated that when the army used the road, cavalry was typically on the
shoulder so as not to wear out the horses' feet. He added that
horseshoes had not been found for from this time period, and that it was
unclear the Romans had them, though they had found hipposandals, which
were thought to be for oxen (which would have needed to use the roads,
since they would have been pulling carts and wagons).
Quintius reported on some of the Roman roads which he had seen in
England, including one case in which he had seen a modern road built
atop a Roman one which diverged where the modern road curved away and
the Roman one continued straight. Quintius clarified that the Romans
could put curves in roads, something they would do to make climb easier
on animals. Sibylla brought up the fact that not only Roman roads, but
also at least one Roman bridge was still in use. Quintius recalled
having heard of such an active Roman bridge in Spain and added that a
Mycenaean bridge was still in use in Greece. I asked whether this
Mycenaean bridge was built with huge cyclopean stone blocks, but
Quintius replied that it was smaller than some Roman bridges. The book Route. 66 A.D. was recommended.
Sibylla asked whether the Romans had anything equivalent to a bus: a
vehicle which passengers could board at fixed stops. Quintius said he
didn't think so, but that there were certainly places which would let
you hire horses for the day, or a litter if you were in the city, for
which a taxi would be a better analogy. Nonus reported that, according
to Wikipedia, the Romans had ferries. Quintius agreed that it was
possible to hire space aboard ships fairly easily and that this was a
major mode of travel.
Sibylla brought up Roman tourism, noting
that people often traveled together in groups to be shown the sights.
Quintius brought up Pausanias, whose reports of his touristing were the
only record of sights now lost. Maruffus told us that the Romans loved
to go see the pyramids and were famous for vandalizing them, though he
was unsure whether the graffitti was still there.
N. Octavius Astronomus joined the call around this time.
Sibylla stated that the Romans were in general fascinated with things
Egyptian and brought up the cult of Isis, which was quite different from
the Egyptian cult of the goddess. Quintius replied that this cult
represented the Ptolemaic adaption of Isis to Greek mythological and
religious ideas. Nonus mentioned having seen a statuette of
Isis-Fortuna, which brought us to the topic of the Interpretatio Romana.
Around this time, 6:39 p.m., Zoom ended the first session of the
meeting. Sibylla told us just beforehand that she would be heading to
sleep, but the rest of us came back.
Nonus asked about the latest session of Nova Roma's Senate. We
discussed a few of the salient points, one of which was the fact that
confirmations were now to be sent notifying citizens that their tax
payments had been received.
Nonus
then started a discussion of whether it was worth paying Nova Roma's
taxes. I said that the chief advantages were increased voting power and
the ability to have official responsibilities within Nova Roma,
something in which I thought Nonus might be interested.
Quintius gave us a comparative view of some of the other
organizations with which he was involved and their respective
hierarchies, pointing out that each group had its own style of selecting
officers.
We looked over Nova
Roma's page of job openings for things which might be of interest to
those on the call. The second Zoom session ended, but Nonus &
Maruffus came back to continue this investigation. Nonus requested more
details on the Senate session, so we went over the transcript item by
item, skipping the one under seal.
We talked about ways about promoting Nova Roma, including some ideas by
Maruffus about social media, about filming a commercial for Nova Roma,
and about reinstating the "Roma" tag for the Forum Domitium, something
Nonus had paid to make possible but which someone else (we were unsure
who) would have to actually instate.
We discussed future meetings for Nova Britannia, including the Latin
meeting on June 15th and presentations for future meetings. Nonus said
that in July he could give us a report on his trip to Egypt, which would
test whether it would be worth expanding to a more detailed
presentation for the Sodalitas Barbarica. Nonus mentioned that he had
started learning the ancient Egyptian language years ago and might
eventually try again.
We talked
briefly about our experience with Latin. Maruffus & Nonus had each
studied the language a little in the past. I recommended listening to a
reading of the chapter just before where the group had left off in
Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata to confirm it was a level at which they were able to understand a fair percentage of the vocabulary and grammar.
