Archive by Author
City Life and Country Life in Ancient Rome Posted by jamie on Apr 9, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit VIII of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. Ancient Rome was both a highly urbanized civilization and a very rural one. Large, dense cities sat in the middle of vast oceans of farmland—there weren’t suburbs then like the…
Don’t Anger the Gods Posted by jamie on Apr 3, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit XVI of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. The Romans did not believe the gods were kind, just, or interested in forgiveness. To them, the gods were incredibly powerful, and volatile, and therefore extremely dangerous. To do…
Ex-Slaves in Ancient Rome Posted by jamie on Mar 26, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit XV of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. Slavery wasn’t a permanent condition in Ancient Rome. A person born, sold, or captured into slavery had a chance—depending on how kind their master was feeling—of being set free. Many…
Roman Medicine Posted by jamie on Mar 20, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit XIV of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. It would not have been a very good idea to get sick in Ancient Rome. Though they were aware of many of the diseases we know about today—including cancer, which…
Roman Religion Posted by jamie on Mar 14, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit XIII of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. The Roman Temple A templum (temple) didn’t originally mean a building, but a place. Templa, in their earliest forms, were open spaces for worship. The ancient Romans (the really…
The Roman Family Posted by jamie on Mar 8, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit XII of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. A few weeks ago we had a look at the Roman household. Let’s follow up on that now, looking at the Roman family’s place in the larger context of Roman…
Caesar’s Civil War Posted by jamie on Feb 26, 2019
Note: This blog post is a companion to Unit XI of our Introduction to Latin Vocabulary course. You can learn more about the course here. The Death of Pompey On or around October 1st, 48 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar sailed into Egypt. He had just won perhaps the greatest military victory of his life…