Recently, I was re-reading an old book in my personal library about the life of the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (also mentioned here). The Ashikaga Shogunate, that is the military government in Japan from 14th to 16th centuries,1 started out fairly strong, but quickly ran into a series of succession crises and bad governance that culminatedContinue reading “Of Famine and Excess”
Tag Archives: Rome
Cicero and Catiline: A Big Political Mess
In light of the terrible events this past week, I felt like looking to the past for similar events in history, and the Catiline Conspiracy came to mind. This was an attempt by Lucius Sergius Catilina, who lost the consular election that year, to (quite literally) overthrow the Republican government. One fo the two consulsContinue reading “Cicero and Catiline: A Big Political Mess”
Beware the Ides of March
It’s that time of year again, one that all Classicists (even us amateur ones) love: the Ides of March. The Ides of March were one of twelve such ides that were part of the Roman calendar. The Ides of March are the most significant due to their association with the assassination of Julius Caesar inContinue reading “Beware the Ides of March”
Roman Vilas, Lego Style
Hey folks, something I found recently that I wanted to share with readers. This article shows a project to build ancient Roman villas using ordinary household Legos. Villas, as Wikipedia shows, were a kind of country housing complex owned by wealthy, rural landowners. It was also commonplace for wealthy citizens in Rome to own countryContinue reading “Roman Vilas, Lego Style”
Roman Politics in a Nutshell
Lately, I’ve been watching some fascinating videos by Historia Civilis on Youtube (Patreon page here) about politics in the days of the Roman Republic and the transition to an empire. This video is an overview of how the Roman consulship worked: The fact that Rome had two leaders, or consuls, and a Senate is prettyContinue reading “Roman Politics in a Nutshell”
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 