Aphrodisias, a city of the eastern Roman Empire

 

Aphrodisias was a “free city” (i.e. self-governing) on a tributary of the Meander River in south-western Turkey, the remains of which have taught us a great deal about how civic life was lived in the eastern Roman Empire.

The city was named after Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, and was founded as a Greek colony during the Hellenistic period (after the death of Alexander the Great which took place in 323 BCE). However, most of the remains that can be seen today date from the city’s time as part of the Roman Empire.

Archaeology has uncovered not only buildings and statues, but also inscribed archives that record the links between Aphrodisias and Rome.

For example, much has been learned about Caius Iulius Zoilos, who began adult life as a slave but was later freed. He appears have done very well for himself and been a major benefactor to the city. Reliefs have been found that show him dressed both as a Greek and a Roman, being crowned by personifications of “manliness” and “honour” to show just how much distinction he had brought to the city.

Although Aphrodisias was self-governing, the cult of the Roman imperial family was still observed by the citizens, as is evident from a temple to Aphrodite approached via a courtyard flanked by two colonnaded buildings that were three storeys high. Porticoes on these buildings portrayed scenes showing the achievements of the Imperial family from Augustus to Nero. One of these shows Claudius subduing Britannia, thus reflecting his successful invasion of Britain in 43 AD.

Wealthy members of the community left money to enable festivals to be held, the details being recorded by a series of inscriptions. One of these bequests, in the late 2^nd century AD, was by Flavius Lysimachus to fund a musical contest. Games were held in his honour in a 4-yearly cycle.

The well-preserved theatre at Aphrodisias was where cultural events would have been held, with more athletic contests taking place in the stadium, where the seating was assigned to different groups of people, such as associations of gardeners and gold-workers, possibly reflecting the contributions that each had made to the building of the facility. The best seats were on the south side of the stadium, where the spectators would have been shaded from the sun by a canopy.

© John Welford

Roman London

 

Roman Britain’s first urban settlement was Colchester, which is today an Essex market town with a population in excess of 100,000 people. However, it was not long before London began to assume a major role and eventually became the capital of the new province.

London, which may have existed as a Celtic settlement before the Romans arrived, was a favoured site for merchants as it was at the lowest possible crossing point on the Thames and an important port.

The revolt by the Iceni under Boudicca in 60 A.D. led to the deaths of tens of thousands of Romanised traders in London, thus demonstrating its importance as a commercial centre at an early date. By around 100 A.D. London had acquired a governor’s palace, a military fort covering 11 acres, and a bridge across the Thames.

When Britannia was subdivided in around 200 A.D. London retained its role as the capital of Britannia Superior. In the fourth century A.D. London’s high status was recognised by being given the title Augusta.

London’s basilica, beneath modern Gracechurch St, was the largest in the Empire north of the Alps. Built on the site of an earlier basilica erected under Emperor Domitian, Emperor Hadrian ordered its massive reconstruction during his visit to Britain in 122 A.D. The new building’s main hall was around 49 feet in length and 115 feet wide. It was refurbished in the third century but demolished at some time during the fourth century.

Although there is very little to be seen today in terms of Roman buildings, one notable exception is the temple to Mithras close to the Mansion House. Built in around 200 A.D., it was about 60 feet long and divided into a nave and two aisles by a row of columns with an apse at one end. Cult images of Minerva, Serapis and Dionysus have been found.

The walls that enclosed Roman London ran for about three miles and enclosed an area of about 330 acres. They formed the base of the mediaeval city walls and still mark the boundary of the City of London, although the street plan within the walls has been changed. During the fourth century the walls were strengthened with projecting polygonal bastions that incorporated tombs.

London’s continuous occupation and importance as a centre for commerce and government has meant that very little remains to be seen of Roman London, and one needs to visit other cities, such as Chester and Bath, to see more extensive examples of the architecture of the period.

© John Welford

The Bikini Mosaic at Villa Romana del Casale, Sicily

 

This is a detail of one of the many floor mosaics to be seen at the fabulous early fourth-century AD Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina in central Sicily. The villa was palatial in scale and dazzling in its creature comforts and decorations, both on the walls and on the floors. Every important room had figural mosaic floors, while lesser rooms had mosaics of elaborate geometrical or floral motifs.

Throughout the villa, the imagery was light-hearted, with an assortment of amusing motifs popular with patricians: hunting, public entertainments and scenes of putti (naked cherubs, with or without wings) shown in adult occupations.

Athletic contests could involve either men or women. This example is famously the latter, not least because of the precocious appearance of the bikini. Although there were serious Olympic Games for women, we may presume a less lofty motivation for the appearance of this motif in the floor mosaics of an elite villa; it was added later than the rest of the floors in the villa, indicating a patron with specific requirements.

The Late Antique date is obvious in the figural style: although idealised figures would have been appropriate for this athletic topic, we see instead the stiff, stylised figures of the fourth century AD.

The whole mosaic occupies a space 5’7” long (180 cm).

© John Welford

The Appian Way

 

The Appian Way is one of the earliest ancient Roman roads, stretching for more than 700 km from Rome to Brindisi on the south-east coast of Italy.

It was the brainchild of Appius Claudius, a Roman censor, who was blind but had a very acute mind. He realised that goods, travellers, carts and, most important of all, the army could move more quickly over paved roads than unpaved tracks. After his idea was accepted, work began in 312 BC on what would become the most important Roman road.

Appius Claudius personally supervised the workmen and stone-masons and tested the levelness of the blocks that comprise the road with his own bare feet. These blocks, made from volcanic basalt, were arranged in the manner of a mosaic and fitted together so perfectly that they have not been dislodged by traffic or the passage of time. Where the original surface can still be seen, it is possible to see the care with which the road was constructed more than two thousand years ago.

The Romans called this road Regina Viarum, the Queen of Roads. It ran firstly to Capua before being extended to Brindisi, although Emperor Trajan, several centuries later, would build a branch road to reach Brindisi by an easier route.

Many difficulties had to be overcome in creating the Appian Way. These included marshes, broken ground, and masses of rock that had to be levelled. The engineering skills needed to build this road were highly sophisticated.

In ancient times the road was lined by temples and villas, tombs and monuments. Many historical events are associated with the Appian Way, including the suicide of the great philosopher Seneca, who died at a villa on the Appian Way having slit his wrists on the orders of Emperor Nero. The slave result of Spartacus was put down with great slaughter by the Romans, who crucified 6,000 rebels along the Appian Way in 71 BC.

Although much of the original route has been lost in more recent years, a great deal of the Appian Way has been preserved. This includes a stretch that is the longest straight road in Europe, a distance of 62 km.

© John Welford

 

Roman Leicestershire

The city of Leicester was an important place in Roman Britain, and the countryside around it was settled by people who became Romanized and contributed to the support of the Roman colony.

There was a Celtic settlement at Leicester before the Romans arrived during the first century AD, this being known as “Caer-leirion” or the camp of the Ligore. The name of the river that flowed past the gravel terrace on which these early settlers had their camp was the Leir, although it is now known as the Soar. The name stuck as “Leicester”, the citadel by the Leir, after the Romans left.

Leicester is situated on the Fosse Way, which was the Roman road that ran almost in a straight line (never deviating by more than six miles) between Exeter (to the south-west) and Lincoln (to the north-east). This road marked the boundary of Roman Britain for a time, before the legions pushed further west, and so linked a string of frontier forts and towns. 

A vital town in this push west and north was Chester, near the wild country of Wales, and the road that linked Chester to the oldest Roman town of Colchester, in the south-east, was the Via Devana. Leicester lies at the crossing point of these two important routes. Other important roads in the vicinity were Watling Street (which still forms the boundary between Leicestershire and Warwickshire) and Ermine Street.

At first, the town established by the invaders would have been no more than an earth embankment within which the soldiers (probably of the 9^th and 14^th Legions) pitched their tents, but this later became a regional capital with all the trappings of a Roman “civitas”.

The name used by the Romans was "Ratae Corieltauvorum", or “Ramparts of the Corieltauvi”, this being the name of the local Celtic tribe.

By the third century, Ratae had stone walls, a forum, a basilica, temples, and a large bath-house. Very little remains to be seen of any of this, apart from the bath-house. On one side of the bath-house site is the so-called “Jewry Wall”, although this never had any connection with a Jewish community in Leicester. In fact, this wall, which is about 70 feet long and 30 feet high, is one of the tallest pieces of free-standing Roman masonry in the country and is useful for understanding Roman building methods.

Next to the wall are the excavated foundations of the bath-house, which are free to visit. Alongside, in the Jewry Wall Museum, can be seen a number of items from the Roman period that have been found by archaeologists both here and throughout the city.

Excavations for modern building developments have revealed another “Jewry Wall”, this being a collapsed stretch of wall that had fallen on top of an even earlier wall.

Country living

Beyond the city, a network of villas worked the land, concentrating on food crops for the city and its garrison, and producing wool for export. The villa owners were probably local people who were descended from the original Celtic inhabitants of the area but who had become Romanized and taken Roman citizenship. The estate workers would have included slaves and peasants who lived in circular huts near the villa.

The word “villa” can give the impression of luxurious living, and indeed some Roman villas, lived in by tribal “kings”, were palatial in their size and furnishings. However, most villas in Leicestershire were relatively modest, being sparsely furnished farmhouses together with their outbuildings. There are some examples of mosaic floors and evidence of wall painting, these dating from the later Roman period when some of the owners had acquired wealth from their trading activities.

The Romans brought knowledge of improved farming methods with them, such as heavy ox-drawn ploughs, as well as introducing food crops that would have been new to the British, such as peas and beans. Many sherds of Roman pottery have been discovered that would have been used as a means of giving better structure to the somewhat heavy clay soils that are typical of the lower-lying parts of the county.

During the “pax Romana” up to the late third century, the wealthier inhabitants of Leicestershire would have enjoyed luxuries from abroad that came their way from being part of a European empire. These included wines from Germany and fish paste from Italy, as well as objects such as ivory carvings and stone figurines that were either of religious significance or purely decorative. This was, generally speaking, a safe time in a safe part of the province of “Flavia Caesariensis”, as “Britannica Secunda” became known.

Leicestershire during the decline of Roman Britain

However, it could not last for ever, and the Roman Empire was on the defensive against various threats from the mid third century onwards. There were upheavals at the heart of the Empire and invasions from outside, particularly the Germanic tribes that included the Angles and Saxons. Being in the centre of England, and therefore a long way from trouble, Leicestershire’s inhabitants were not directly affected, although they would doubtless have been aware of the increased troop movements along the Roman roads that criss-crossed the area.

But in the year 410 AD the situation had become so serious that Emperor Honorius had to write to the Roman cities in England, including Leicester, to tell them that they could no longer count on support from Rome and they were now on their own. They had already lost their permanent garrisons in 383, when general Maximus ordered the soldiers to go to other parts of the Empire where their presence was needed, but now any hope of defence was dashed.

The change in Leicestershire was a gradual one, and the ordinary farmer would have noticed little difference in his daily way of life. Not every Roman left the country, and many retired soldiers would have continued to live in the city of Leicester, or on the farms they had bought on their retirement, having married local women and raised families of their own. Romanized Britons continued to exercise law and order through the institutions set up by the Romans and life would have gone on smoothly enough for most people, for some considerable time.

Leicestershire’s Roman legacy was therefore a positive one, with the patterns of farming, trade and civic life established by the Romans being apparent for many centuries to come.

© John Welford

Did you worship Sol Invictus on Sunday?

Have you ever wondered why people go to Church on Sundays, as opposed to any other day of the week, and why Sunday is a “day of rest” even for those who don’t? We have a semi-pagan Roman Emperor to thank!

Constantine, who ruled as Emperor from 306 to 337, is credited as being the first Christian Emperor, the legend being that he had a vision of Christ during the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 that convinced him that adopting the Christian religion was the key to victory. With victory won and his pagan enemies put to flight, he and his subjects all became overnight Christians.

However, the story is nothing like as straightforward as that. The word that best defines Constantine is “ambiguous”, and it is impossible to be certain where the borders lay between the Christian and the politician within the person of the Emperor. One thing that is definite, however, is that Constantine’s motivation was always based on the furtherance of his power and the safety of the Empire.

For one thing, Constantine never lost his attachment to the worship of Sol Invictus, the “unconquered Sun”. For him, the God of the Christians was either another name for Sol Invictus or a close relative. Even after he adopted Christianity, Constantine’s coins displayed images of Sol Invictus, not Jesus Christ.

On 7^th March 321 Constantine issued a decree that stated: “On the venerable day of the Sun, let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed”. He did not, however, place restrictions on agricultural work, on the grounds that food production was too important to be interrupted.

There were also political and practical reasons for the choice of Sunday. It was pay day for most workers, and many Christians had already adopted Sunday as their day of worship – although this was far from universal, with Saturday being preferred by Christians in Rome and Alexandria.

Although the Emperor was the most powerful man in the Empire, a wise one always governed – as far as possible - in accordance with the general will of those being governed. The senatorial upper classes, from whom any opposition was most likely to come, were also devotees of Sol Invictus and they were therefore likely to accept a move that recognized the place of their chosen deity alongside that recently adopted by the Emperor. If you rule an Empire can contains both Christians and pagans, and can please both communities, why not do so?

Of course, there were some who objected to the edict and stuck to their previous practice, and even today there are groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists who see the Jewish Sabbath, on Saturday, as being the day laid down in Genesis as the day of rest. However, most Christians see no problem with following the dictate of a Roman Emperor from 1700 years ago. That said, the modern practice of taking two days off as the “weekend” of both Saturday and Sunday does seem to make the debate a somewhat academic one!

© John Welford

The facade of Mshatta Palace

The ruins of Mshatta Palace lie some 30 kms south of Amman, the capital of Jordan. The palace was built during the rule of Caliph al-Walid II in the middle of the 8^th century, which was towards the end of the dominance of the Umayyad dynasty in this region. Mshatta was one of a chain of palaces that stretched from southern Jordan through Palestine and into northeast Syria.

Mshatta Palace covered an area 144 metres square, comprising a mosque, living quarters and central courtyard. There is evidence that the palace was never completed.

The outer stone walls of the complex were richly carved with decorative reliefs, with a substantial portion of the surviving façade having been removed from the site and taken to Berlin in 1903, where it is now on display in the Museum of Islamic Art that forms part of the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island.

A zigzag relief band divides the façade into triangles within which there is a wealth of artistic variation. The main themes are vines and tendrils, within which can be seen various animals, birds and mythical creatures.

There are depictions of birds plucking at grapes, and cattle and lions standing together peacefully, which is an image borrowed from early Byzantine Christian art. Griffins and centaurs can also be seen.

However, the imagery is markedly different on a portion of the wall to one side of what is on display. Here, the decoration comprises plant life only, with no animals to be seen. This is the façade that fronted the mosque part of the Palace, and it therefore obeys the Islamic prohibition on the portrayal of living creatures.

This is a remarkable survival from more than a thousand years ago, although one has to question the morality of taking treasures like this from their country of origin to a museum in central Europe. On the other hand, would the designs have been so well preserved if they had stayed in their original location? This is always a difficult conundrum to solve.


© John Welford

Ancient Rome's Castra Praetoria

The Castra Praetoria was the fortified military camp of the Praetorian Guard, who were the elite force charged with protecting the Emperor of Rome. The Castra stood for nearly 300 years as the physical manifestation of the Guard’s strength.

It originated in 23 CE during the reign of Emperor Tiberius, who was persuaded by Sejanus, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, that the Guard’s cohorts should have a central base from which to respond rapidly to any sudden emergency.

The Castra was situated on high ground just outside the city walls. It had the pattern of a regular military camp but was permanent, being composed of pink and red brickwork. Later enhancements included improvements to the living quarters and heightening of the external walls.

Notable events that took place at the Castra Praetoria included:

·        In 41 CE, after the assassination of Emperor Caligula, his uncle Claudius spent several days there while the Guard debated his fate and finally agreed to make him the next Emperor.

·        In 54 CE, Claudius was poisoned by his wife Agrippina, with the possible assistance of Burrus, the Prefect of the Guard. This was done so that her son Nero could became Emperor, in preference to Britannicus, who was Claudius’s son by a previous marriage. Burrus was able to prove his loyalty to Agrippina by taking Nero to the Castra and gaining the approval of the Guard.

·        In 69 CE Emperor Galba was assassinated and his head was carried around the Castra on a spear while the next Emperor, Otho, was declared his successor.

However, Otho’s reign was a short one and he was killed in battle against the forces of Vitellius. The Praetorian Guard were split between those loyal to Otho and to Vitellius. A siege of the Castra took place and much of it was destroyed.

·        In 193, after the murder of Pertinax, an extraordinary event took place when rival candidates for the imperial throne held what was virtually an auction for the job. The Praetorian Guard, which had become lazy and self-indulgent under Pertinax’s predecessor, Commodus, made it clear that their approval would go to the man who promised them the highest pay. The candidates, Sulpicianus and Didius Julianus, both went to the Castra and stood either side of the external wall. They then shouted their bids across the wall until Sulpicianus was forced to concede to the wealthier man.

This charade so annoyed the citizens of Rome that they laid siege to the Castra, the walls of which proved to be too strong. Hundreds died in the fighting that followed.

When a second siege failed, the citizens cut off the Castra’s water supply, after which the Praetorians charged out of the Castra and created mayhem in the city with a great deal of burning and looting, leaving much of the metropolis in ruin and chaos.

The Castra Praetoria survived until 312, after Constantine’s victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. He marched on Rome, rode to the Castra and decreed its destruction. The walls were torn down brick by brick, with hardly anything left for later archaeologists to explore.

© John Welford

Amenhotep III: Pharaoh of Egypt

There cannot be many people who have not heard of Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh whose tomb contained a dazzling array of treasures. However, more attention should probably be paid to his grandfather, Amenhotep III, who was pharaoh during a golden age for ancient Egypt, the 18^th dynasty, when it was the most powerful nation on Earth.

Amenhotep reigned for about 60 years, ending in 1352 BC. He increased the wealth of Egypt by controlling the gold mines of Nubia, making himself the world’s richest man, with the result that neighbouring powers were keen to pay tribute to him. He was a consummate politician and diplomat, which ensured the peace of the whole region.

Wealth and security enabled Amenhotep to become Egypt’s most prolific builder of all time, although his reign was long after the Pyramids had been built. He became known as “Monument Man”, with projects such as the temple at Karnak that had walls studded with gold and gems and a statue of himself that was over 20 metres tall.

Amenhotep’s funerary temple, at Kom el-Hatan, was the largest royal temple ever built in Egypt. It was fronted by two statues known as the Colossi of Memnon, and originally contained hundreds more, examples of which have only been discovered relatively recently by archaeologists. This temple must count as the largest sculptural programme in history.

The reign of Amenhotep III was one of peace and prosperity. He well deserved the self-conferred title of “living sun god”, and all subsequent pharaohs sought to model themselves on his legacy.

© John Welford

King Herod the Great

According to the Gospel of Matthew, King Herod is the villain of the piece in the Christmas story. It was he who received the Magi - or Three Kings or wise men, depending on your preference - and became very upset when they told him that a new king had just been born in Bethlehem. His response was to order the slaughter of every newborn baby in the town, an event that is generally known as the Massacre of the Innocents.

But does he deserve the reputation for cruelty that he has had down the centuries?

Herod was certainly a remarkable monarch in that he was able to retain his position as King of Judea for a very long time - from 37 to 4 BC - which he could certainly not have done if he had been a weak monarch or one who was not prepared to use strong-arm tactics when it suited him.

But he also had to be a considerable diplomat, not least because the real power in the land was the Roman Empire. He had to cultivate good relations firstly with Mark Anthony (of "Anthony and Cleopatra" fame) and then with Emperor Augustus.

He was thus able to act as Rome's "puppet king" and reaped lavish rewards in terms of extra territory and Roman cash, which in turn allowed him to undertake lavish building projects such as the port of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast. Kings who spent money on their country - even puppets of Rome - were always likely to earn a certain amount of popularity.

Herod's court was renowned for its high degree of culture and refinement, being peopled by artists, poets and philosophers. Not for nothing was he known as Herod the Great.

But that did not stop him from also being cruel and tyrannical. In later life he became paranoid and possibly mentally unhinged.

Matthew's description of the Massacre of the Innocents, despite being written around 70 years after the presumed event, may well have been inspired by a historical event that was very much in keeping with Herod's character.

Having already executed his wife Mariamne he also killed two of his sons, whom he suspected of plotting against him. These were certainly not the only victims of his tyranny, which extended to anyone whom he suspected of disloyalty. His death in 4 BC was mourned by very few.

A king who was in the pocket of the hated Romans, who welcomed philosophers to his court, and who thought nothing of slaughtering people, however young, who threatened his position, was excellent source material for the King Herod who forced the Holy Family to flee to Egypt.

Just for good measure, there is even a theory that Mariamne was actually Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Herod was his father. Make of that what you will!

© John Welford

Corinth rebuilt by the Romans

The Greek city of Corinth, on the northern shore of the Peloponnese peninsula, west of Athens, was an important trading centre long before the Romans arrived. When they did, in 146 BC, they destroyed the city and left it as a deserted shell.

The revival of Corinth came about as a result of Julius Caesar’s policy of settling retired and discharged legionary veterans in colonies distributed throughout the Empire. The first colonists arrived after Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC and they set about constructing a city very much on Roman lines.

Some Greek elements were retained in the new city, such as the Agora (forum), several stoas (covered walkways) and the Temple of Apollo, but the impression conveyed by what can be seen today is that this was a Roman city that would in time become suitable as the capital of a province, in this case Archaea.

Roman Corinth was very much a commercial centre, with a number of the buildings relating to mercantile activities.

Commerce clearly brought wealth to Corinth, as evidenced by the buildings devoted to leisure and entertainment. The original Greek theatre was converted to accommodate Roman pleasures, such as gladiatorial contests. There was also an odeum – a small theatre designed for musical performances.

Corinth was a religious city, with six temples built to revere the Roman gods during the second century AD. We know that Corinth had a small but active Christian community, from the fact that St Paul wrote two of his best-known epistles to the Corinthian Christians during the mid-first century. Paul is known to have stayed at Corinth for 18 months, during which he worked as a tentmaker and preached.

However, during the third century the fortunes of Corinth went into decline as commercial activity decreased. The Roman city was itself abandoned, with the centre of modern Corinth lying a few miles to the northeast. This has made it possible for extensive archaeological work to be done on the Roman remains, with the result that much has been learned about how a typical colonial capital operated.

A notable feature a few miles away from the Roman city is the Corinth Canal, cut through the narrowest point of the isthmus (four miles wide) to provide easier access to the port of Piraeus. Several projects to build a canal were proposed in classical times but abandoned for various reasons, including the difficulty of cutting down through up to 250 feet of solid limestone.

One attempt was made by the Emperor Nero in 67 AD, when on a visit to the region. He instructed the Praetorian Guard to begin work immediately and joined in by shovelling up a bucketful of dirt and carrying it away on his back. However, he soon lost interest in the idea, which was not revived until long after his assassination in 69 AD. The current canal, which follows the same course that Nero had in mind, was begun in 1881 and completed in 1893.

© John Welford

The Battle of Marathon, 490 BC

The Battle of Marathon took place in August or September 490 BC, the combatants being the city-state of Athens and the Persian Empire under King Darius. The details are quite well known thanks to the Greek historian Herodotus, although the battle happened several years before he was born. That said, the reason why the battle is best known to history is one of the less trustworthy parts of the account.

Darius was determined to bring the city-states of Greece under his control, having already conquered Turkey and Macedonia, and to that end he landed an army of 20,000 men on the shore of the Bay of Marathon, 25 miles from Athens. The Athenians sent a force of 10,000 “hoplites” to meet them. These were infantry troops, armed with a large shield and a long stabbing spear. 

With the armies in full view of each other, nothing happened for five days as each side waited for the other to make the first move. Eventually it was the Greeks who attacked, advancing at a run and being met by a hail of arrows. 

The Persians were astounded that the Greeks could hope to win given that they had no cavalry nor archers, and at first it looked as though they would be proved right. However, when the battle turned to hand-to-hand fighting it was the Greeks who triumphed.

The Persian ranks broke and they fled back to the safety of their ships, having lost about 6,000 casualties. By contrast, the Greek losses – according to Herodotus – were around 200.

And did Pheidippides run all the way to Athens with news of the victory, dying after his mission was accomplished and bequeathing the “Marathon” to the world of athletics? Well, not according to Herodotus, who described Pheidippides as taking the news to Sparta, which he reached two days later before returning to Athens and not expiring when he did so. It was the much later writer Lucian who gave voice to the generally believed myth.

© John Welford

The Temple of Apollo Epicurius, Bassae, Greece

Although it was built during the 5th century BC, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius near Bassae in western Greece was virtually unknown until 1765 when a French architect happened upon it when he was in the area building villas – he had the misfortune to be murdered by bandits when he went back for a second look. 

The temple has features in common with those of the much more famous Parthenon at Athens, and they may even have been designed by the same architect. However, the Temple of Apollo Epicurius is much smaller, measuring around 38 by 14.5 metres, and it is in a remote location high up a mountain slope, which is why it was virtually lost for many centuries, with only a handful of references being made to it by ancient writers. 

The temple’s dedication to Apollo Epicurius – “Apollo the Healer” – was due to the gratitude of local people who escaped the worst ravages of a plague after praying and sacrificing to the god. 

The temple is notable for several features, not least the fact that it includes features of all three classical orders of architecture – Ionic, Doric and Corinthian. The outer columns (the peristyle) are Doric, the inner ones are Ionic, and there is a single Corinthian column at the centre. The capital of the Corinthian column (typified by the use of decorative stone acanthus leaves) is the earliest example of the order known to exist. 

Another unusual feature is the combined use of limestone and marble in the construction. 

The temple was originally decorated with 23 sculptured plates on the frieze of the Ionic interior, but these were removed in 1812 by British antiquaries. These plates soon found their way to the British Museum in London, where they remain to this day, not far from where the much better-known Parthenon frieze is housed (the “Elgin Marbles”). The frieze depicted battles between Greeks and Centaurs and between Greeks and Amazons. 

There has been considerable argument about whether the Parthenon frieze should be returned to Greece, but maybe the Bassae frieze has a better claim to be taken back to its original home? For one thing, it might be possible to return the plates to their exact original position, which is out of the question in the case of the Parthenon frieze due in part to the destructive influence of pollution in Greece’s capital city. 

On the other hand, the remote location of the Temple of Apollo Epicurius, which is well off the normal tourist trail, means that far fewer people would be able to see the frieze were it to be returned than is now possible in the British Museum. 

The Temple of Apollo Epicurius was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.

© John Welford

Izanagi, Izanami and the birth of Japan

Every ancient civilization has its own creation myth – its story about how the world and its own people started out. Given that they are all myths, with absolutely no relation to reality, no one myth can claim precedence over any other.

This is the mythical story about how the island nation of Japan came to be.

In the beginning, there was nothing except sea and sky. A reed grew out of the sea and turned into a cloud, this being the first god. Other reeds then sprouted and became cloud-gods.

The youngest gods were a male named Izanagi No Mikoto and a female named Izanami No Mikoto. 

Izanagi saw no point in just floating above the sea and wondered if he could find something solid to stand on. He plunged his spear into the sea, searching for a point of contact, but was out of luck. However, when he withdrew his spear a drop of water fell back and turned into an island.

Izanagi and Izanami used a rainbow to descend to the island, which they decorated with trees and flowers. When Izanagi thrust his spear into the centre of the island a large palace was created.

The two young gods then decided that they could create more islands. They were inspired by the mating dance of two small birds and realized that they needed to do something along the same lines. 

Their dance consisted of walking round the island in opposite directions until they met again.

Izanami spoke first. “Good day”, she said. “You are a very handsome young man.”

Izanagi replied in similar vein. “Good day”, he said. “You are a very beautiful young woman.”

This was enough to cause Izanami to fall pregnant, and she duly gave birth to her first island child. However, this was nothing like as beautiful and fertile as the original island and the couple had no choice but to push it away into the sea. They sought advice from the older gods as to why things had gone wrong.

“You made a fundamental mistake”, they were told. “You allowed the woman to speak before the man did. Unless the man speaks first, there will always be bad luck”.

So Izanagi and Izanami went through their courtship dance again. This time, when they met after walking round the island in opposite directions, Izanagi spoke first.

“Good day”, he said. “You are a very beautiful young woman.”

Izanami replied. “Good day”, she said. “You are a very handsome young man.”

This time, when Izanami gave birth, she became the mother of eight beautiful islands, which formed the country of Japan.

There is more to the Japanese creation myth than this, involving the births of other gods, the sun and the moon, and the emperors of Japan. However, this story of the creation of Japan does contain one very interesting factor that can be seen in other creation myths including that of Judaism as found in the Book of Genesis. This is the god-given dominance of the male over the female. One can only assume that these myths were first invented by men, not women!

© John Welford

Carthage: Challenger to Rome

There was a time when it was a toss-up as to which burgeoning empire would dominate the shores of the Mediterranean – that of Rome or Carthage. The latter had a head start, being the one of the largest and most long-lived ancient empires before Rome really got going.

Carthage, a port on the coast of what is now Tunisia in North Africa, had the advantage of two excellent harbours and superb shipbuilding and sailing skills that gave the city-state dominance over the whole African coast from Morocco to the border with Egypt, plus most of the islands of the western Mediterranean.

This dominance began in the 6th century BC and was aided by victories over the Greek empire during conflicts that lasted for around 200 years. However, the struggles with Rome turned out to be more difficult from Carthage’s point of view. The Punic Wars between Rome and Carthage happened in three phases between 264 and 146 BC, the final date marking the eventual triumph of Rome.

When Carthage fell, the population was sold into slavery and the city razed to the ground. Carthage therefore ceased to exist.

However, in the first century AD Emperor Augustus founded the city of Colonia Julia Carthago on the ruins of ancient Carthage, and the new city became extremely prosperous and wealthy, just as the old one had done.

The new Carthage fell victim firstly to the Vandals in 439 and then the Arabs in 637, after which it was once again destroyed. It is the ruins of this second city that can be seen today.

There would never be a third Carthage and no need for one after the emergence of the city of Tunis not far away.

The site of ancient Carthage, where ruins including those of the Antonine Baths can be seen, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.

© John Welford