Passienus
2.3K posts
Passienus
@passienus
Strange tales from Ancient Rome. 'These things never happened, but always are.' Sallust
Londinium Katılım Kasım 2023
1.1K Takip Edilen1.1K Takipçiler
Ephesus, then and now.
The Great Theatre faced onto the harbour meaning a nice sea breeze for people in the cheap seats. Now all silted up, the bay would have been packed with ships - the city was famous for its marble exports - and pilgrims to the Temple of Artemis.
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Passienus retweetledi
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Romans at sea before the Punic wars: a thread.
1/According to an ancient and persistent trope originating from Polybius, the Romans ignored the sea until the third century BCE, when their clash with Carthage forced them to build a navy.
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The Victorians loved curry. Not just colonial officials returning from India but ordinary middle class families. The Queen herself was a fan and served it at state banquets.
Ramin Nasibov@RaminNasibov
What historical fact sounds fake but is true?
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Thing is, they did write about extraterrestrials. Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) authored probably the first work of science fiction: a trip to the moon which he discovers is inhabited - and at war with the people of the sun!
Ann Coulter@AnnCoulter
Homer, Euripides, Virgil and Ovid were not writing myths about African gods, any more than they were writing myths about Martians. That's kinda central to the stories.
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@TonyFelonius That makes a lot of sense given it’s vertical. Loads of these pipe sections just lying around in Ephesus.
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@passienus I may be wrong, but I think the teracotta pipe in the wall is for hot air produced by a hypocaust to heat the room, not for water. The pipe on the floor seems to be a water-pipe feeding the fountain basin on the left.
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This picture, for me, encapsulates the greatness of Rome, as much as legions or Caesar or whatever.
Sophisticated indoor plumbing coupled with a beautifully understated portrait of a pigeon. Beauty and practicality. Note how the terracotta pipe is concealed in the wall.
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@CatImperator A lot of seismic activity in that area, Ephesus stops being a thing because of an earthquake. I think they were buried under a mudslide which created a perfect seal.
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@passienus oooh, did not know about that one. Need to check it out for one of my next trips. How did they get so well preserved. No volcanoes there, right?
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@CatImperator From the Terrace Houses of Ephesus (I ran out of characters). It’s a big complex of luxury townhouses up on the hill overlooking the agora. Incredibly well preserved, as good as Pompeii.
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@passienus where is this from
And yes, indoor plumbing is one of the key signs of an advanced civilization
And if you know how to hide it, that s a plus :)
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Pliny the Elder notes a famous temple cup in Rhodes dedicated to Helen. It was famous because it was said to be the exact same size as her breasts.
Daniel Mendelsohn@DAMendelsohnNYC
What’s so interesting is that—given the key role her beauty played in the Troy myth—there is no detailed description of what Helen of Troy looks like anywhere in Homer (or even in extant Gk tragedy, apart from —if memory serves—something about her hair in Euripides’ “Orestes”).
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