Jovian: Emperor of Rome

If Jovian is not a familiar name when you think about Roman emperors, that is hardly a surprise. His reign lasted for less than eight months, beginning with the death of his predecessor in battle and ending with his own in circumstances that suggest either murder or an unfortunate accident.

Flavius Iovianus was born in 331 (or thereabouts) in Singidunum (present-day Belgrade). His father was the commander of Constantius II’s personal guard, and an army career clearly beckoned for Jovian. He had reached the rank of senior staff officer when he took part in the campaign by Emperor Julian in 363 to force the Persian emperor Shapur II to withdraw from Mesopotamia. This campaign had been badly planned and resulted in the Romans being forced to retreat.

During the retreat, Julian was fatally wounded and the army commanders found themselves in need of an immediate replacement as emperor. Julian had no children, which meant that the dynasty that began with Constantius I could run no further. In the search for a suitable candidate, Jovian came into the reckoning.

His first task was to negotiate a safe withdrawal for the Roman army. This was done by making territorial concessions to Shapur in return for safe conduct. Previous emperors had fought hard and long to retain parts of the empire that Jovian now signed away in an instant, but it was generally agreed that he had no choice.

Jovian had little opportunity to make a mark on the domestic front, but one important reform of his was to revoke Julian’s law that forbade Christians from teaching grammar and rhetoric. Jovian was quite prepared to tolerate all forms of religion and took no steps to oppose Julian’s pagan supporters. From now on, the empire would be ruled only by Christian emperors.

There is every possibility that Jovian would have proved to be an excellent emperor, given his recognition that progress could only come from negotiation and tolerance, but this has to remain one of history’s “what ifs” because Jovian was found dead in his bed one morning in February 364.

No investigation was held into the circumstances of Jovian’s death, which might have hinted at a cover-up of murder, but there is every chance that Jovian died as result of an accident – carbon monoxide poisoning from an ill-ventilated coal fire was a distinct possibility.

At all events, the general staff were faced with the same dilemma they had faced the previous June and, after a week or so’s deliberation, they came up with a similar solution, namely the declaration as emperor of another relatively junior officer who would reign for the next ten years (jointly with his brother Valens) as Valentinian I.

© John Welford

Neolithic Greece

The Neolithic (New Stone Age) era in ancient Greece must be reckoned to date from around 6800 BCE to 3200 BCE. Climatic changes made it possible for groups of people to settle in fixed locations and for the hunter-gatherer economy of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras to give way to more settled ways of life, including farming, stock-rearing, and the creation of pottery. Around 1,000 sites have been identified that show signs of occupation in the Neolithic period.

Communities grew up where there was an adequate water supply and suitable conditions for growing food. This included settlements where mud huts were built in groups, in both coastal locations and further inland, and places where caves were used as shelters. The plains of Thessaly and Macedonia were the mostly densely populated areas, and the more mountainous districts less so.

The archaeological evidence shows that some communities were more advanced than others, such that some had houses built at least partly of stone, or bricks made from dried mud. They were mainly single-room dwellings, but some may have been two-storey. Villages were often surrounded by a ditch or a stone wall.

In the early Neolithic, communities probably consisted of extended families who decided to settle in one place, but during the later Neolithic it seems likely that several families grouped together to create villages of 50-100 people. As villages started to produce objects such as pottery, arrowheads and jewelry, some members of the community would have acquired greater social status and taken on leadership roles.

Pottery production became necessary for the storage of food, particularly grain and legumes, and the existence of pottery workshops indicates that professional potters must have been at work. Likewise, the development of metallurgy led to the rise of specialist metal-workers and producers of jewelry.

Evidence for the existence of religious practices in Neolithic Greece is sparse. However, many small figurines, made of terracotta or stone, have been found which may have a religious significance. These are often in the form of naked female figures, with exaggerated breasts, bellies and buttocks. These have traditionally been regarded as depictions of a Mother Goddess, with connotations to fertility symbols, but more recent scholarship has cast doubt on this interpretation.

It is more likely that the Neolithic Greeks performed quasi-religious ceremonies at burials and carried out animal sacrifices. The figurines mentioned above also appear to have played a role here, because excavated offering pits have been discovered containing animal bones and figurines as well as ash and pot fragments.

Ceremonies and rituals from the classical era of ancient Greek civilization certainly seem to have had ancient roots. In particular, at one site, sacrifices to the goddess Demeter took place within a stone circle. Demeter was the corn goddess of the classical Greeks, but her worship seems to have had much earlier origins, based on primitive ideas of a goddess who descends to the underworld by force every Winter and pushes up the corn on her release in the Spring.

Again, agrarian festivals in the classical period often featured sacrifices of a pig, and terracotta pigs, which would have been studded with corn, have been found in shrines to Demeter. An impressive clay pig, dating from the Neolithic, has been found at a site near Marathon. The link is unmistakable.

Clearly, much of what we think we know about Neolithic Greece, and especially its religious practices, must be speculative, as there is no written evidence. However, it seems highly probable that the classical Greeks, most of whom were descended from immigrants to the area from around 1000 BCE, absorbed at least some of the culture and religion of the indigenous people whose ancestry in the region went back much further.

© John Welford

Mount Olympus: facts and mythology

One fact to make clear at the outset is that Mount Olympus and Olympia are two entirely separate places. The latter is on the western side of the Peleponnese peninsula of southern Greece, whereas Mount Olympus is more than 160 miles distant, on the eastern side of mainland Greece, where Thessaly meets Macedonia. No Olympic Games were ever held on the slopes of Mount Olympus!

The facts of Mount Olympus include that it is the highest mountain in Greece at 9,570 feet (2,919 metres), and that it rises virtually from sea level, making its appearance all the more impressive. Its top is covered in perpetual snow, even when tourists are basking in Mediterranean sunshine on the Greek beaches and islands not far away.

It is a massive cone-shaped mountain, with eight distinct peaks, the highest being Mytikas. It is popular with hikers and climbers, although it should not be attempted during the winter months, when the weather makes the slopes particularly dangerous. Even so, a climb to the summit and back is a two-day excursion for most. The views from the top, on a fine day, are well worth the effort, with the Aegean and its islands and peninsulas stretching to the horizon.

The lower slopes of Mount Olympus are covered in dense forests of oak, beech, cedar and pine, which are home to a vast array of plants and animals, the latter including bears, wolves and lynxes. It is no surprise that the area around Mount Olympus was declared Greece’s first national park in 1937.

It is also no surprise that the ancient Greeks held Mount Olympus in very special esteem. It marked the northern limit of Greece proper, so it was the edge of their world. It was also so high, and more often than not had its summit lost in cloud, that it was the natural location for the home of the gods. When people looked to the north and saw and heard lightning and thunder coming from storms on the mountain, they knew that this had to be the place where Zeus lived and from where he threw his thunderbolts.

This was not a mountain that people dared to climb, so the ancient Greeks could literally believe that the gods lived here. The legend of the giants trying to assail the gods had them piling two other mountains on top of each other so that they could reach the upper slopes of Olympus where the chief gods lived in splendid mansions, consuming nectar and ambrosia to preserve their immortality. According to Homer, the gods had their council chamber right at the top, hidden from the eyes of mortals by a wall of cloud. However, the cloud did not prevent the gods from seeing what mortal men were up to, and interfering in their affairs when the mood so took them.

In the Odyssey, the abode of the gods is described as a peaceful abode unshaken by storms, and the same notions are found in the poems of Hesiod and some other poets. However, most of the later Greek poets either regarded the true abode of the gods as being in the vault of Heaven above the mountain and not actually on it, or they thought that the mountain was infinitely high and therefore reached all the way to the aether, or Heaven.

Whether you believe the myths or not, the mountains of northern Greece are impressive enough to deserve their reputation. Where else would the most powerful gods live, if not at the top of the most powerful mountain?

© John Welford

Empress Theodora saves the day

On 17^th January 532 the Byzantine Emperor Justinian was saved from being overthrown by a rioting mob, his saviour being his strong-willed wife Theodora.

She had started her adult life as a prostitute and actress, and therefore an unlikely candidate for the position of wife to the empire’s crown prince. However, Justinian was so smitten with her that he persuaded the then emperor, his uncle Justin, to change the law that prevented noblemen from marrying actresses.

When he became emperor in 527, Justinian made her his partner in matters of government and she was instrumental in carrying through a number of what might be regarded as social reforms, such as outlawing the killing of adulterous wives and unwanted children (who were traditionally abandoned to the elements).

Justinian’s crisis occurred in 532 after an incident at the Hippodrome in Constantinople when rival groups caused mayhem at the chariot races. Seven rioters were condemned to death by hanging, but two of them escaped when the scaffold collapsed and the mob gave them sanctuary. The rioting continued and chaos reigned in the city for a whole week.

Eventually the mob put forward their own candidate for emperor, a man named Hypatius, and some of them marched on the royal palace to evict Justinian.

Justinian was all for giving in and leaving the city, but Theodora stepped in and made a defiant speech that urged him to face down the rioters, whatever the consequences. He listened to her plea and sent his army to the Hippodrome to deal with the rioters who were there. In all, some 30,000 people were killed as the army put down the revolt. These included Hypatius, whose body was thrown into the sea.

Justinian ruled for another 33 years, thanks to Theodora having given him the courage to fight back. The magnificent church (then mosque then museum) known as Hagia Sophia stands to this day on the site of a church that was burned down by the mob.

© John Welford

Platonic love

A Platonic relationship, as the term is understood today, is one in which the couple are extremely fond of each other, and might even be said to be in love, but who do not express that fondness or love in physical terms.

Do you know the old song by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields that begins: “A fine romance with no kisses / A fine romance, my friend, this is”? That sounds like a passable description of Platonic love.

But what has it got to do with Plato?

There is a sense in which one should maybe refer to it as a Socratic relationship rather than a Platonic one, because the concept is based on a story about Socrates. Plato, who lived in the 4^th century BC, was a pupil of Socrates, and he presented much of his philosophy through the mouth of Socrates, so it is not always clear whether Plato is being original in his thinking or is merely passing on the philosophy of his master.

Plato’s works are mainly in the form of dialogues, in which Socrates is one of the speakers. One of these dialogues was entitled The Symposium, the setting for which was a dinner party in Athens at which a number of the leading lights of the city-state were present. Whether this was a real event or merely a fictional one is immaterial – the important thing is that it provided a vehicle for Socrates to converse with the political and social cream of Athens society. They are, naturally enough for the times, all men.

As the dinner progresses, and the wine flows, inhibitions become relaxed and the conversation turns to a discussion of the true nature of love. It must also be remembered that in ancient Greek society physical love between men was seen as being just as valid as love between men and women. Indeed, many ancient Greeks regarded gay love as being on a higher plane than heterosexual love.

According to Plato, Socrates was not physically attractive. He had a coarse and unkempt appearance and his personal hygiene was not of the best. In short, he looked ugly and smelt horrible! However, at the dinner this did not stop one of the other guests, Alcibiades, from making a play for Socrates. Alcibiades was the complete opposite of Socrates in that he was handsome, fragrant, and renowned for being a great lover, although his mental powers were way below those of Socrates. He recognised that Socrates possessed great wisdom and that was what attracted him to the philosopher.

The reaction of Socrates was to declare that there was a higher love that went beyond the merely physical.  This was a pure love that was based on spiritual beauty. There could be philosophical passion that was not expressed in sexual terms, and this would always be superior.

Hence Platonic love, as originally envisaged, was the sort of love that the true philosopher should aim to achieve, whatever the gender of the other party. Today, Platonic love is regarded as being of lower quality than “the real thing”, but that was not how Plato saw it.

© John Welford

Acis and Galatea: a Graeco-Roman myth

The story of Acis and Galatea, although it purports to be a Greek myth, is not wholly so. The version that is generally known is that told by the Roman poet Ovid in his “Metamorphoses”, although his source is almost certainly a poem attributed to the late Greek poet Theocritus, who lived in the Greek colony of Sicily in the early 3^rd century BC. It is thus probably fair to call it a “Graeco-Roman” myth.

The story

The tale is a version of the love triangle in which two men love the same woman and the outcome is a violent one.

The woman in this case is Galatea, a sea nymph. She is in love with a young shepherd named Acis, but her beauty has not gone unnoticed by Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant and a son of the sea-god Poseidon. This is the same character who appears in Homer’s Odyssey as one of the monsters that Odysseus and his men encounter, although he is drawn in a somewhat different light in the story told by Theocritus and Ovid.

In the Galatea story Polyphemus is portrayed as a stalker who follows Galatea everywhere and does everything he can to ingratiate himself with her, including dressing smartly and trimming his beard. However, nothing he does is likely to persuade Galatea to abandon Acis, whom she sees as a far better prospect.

Polyphemus decides that music is the answer. He makes a set of “pan pipes” with a hundred reeds that can be heard for miles around when he blows it. He composes a love song which he belts out at full volume.

Acis and Galatea, lying in each other’s arms on the sea shore, cannot help but hear the song and the pipes, and they find it all highly amusing. How could the rough giant Polyphemus possibly hope to win the love of a beautiful nymph?

The pair are still laughing to each other when the song stops and they find that Polyphemus is standing over them, roaring with anger at being mocked in this way.

Galatea is able to slip into the sea but Acis is not so lucky. Polyphemus grabs hold of the side of a nearby hill and throws most of it at the shepherd, who is crushed to death.

Galatea is powerless to restore her lover to life, but she has enough magic in her to transform his blood into water that then flows as a river from underneath the rocks thrown down by the giant. Acis arises from the river as a river god who can then always be in contact with Galatea at the point where the river meets the sea.

Origins of the myth

One possible origin of the myth is that it explains the nature of a small river that flows underground on the eastern side of Mount Etna and emerges into the open shortly before reaching the sea. This river is still known as the River Akis.

There are other suggested explanations, such as the story being a political satire aimed at a ruler who had a mistress named Galatea.

There is another variant of the myth, in which Polyphemus wins the hand of Galatea in a sort of “Beauty and the Beast” scenario. She then becomes the mother of three sons who are subsequently the founders of the Gauls, the Celts and the Illyrians.

The myth inspired a large number of artistic and musical works in later centuries, with one of the best known being Handel’s celebrated opera “Acis and Galatea” which reached its final form in 1732. 

© John Welford

The first inhabitants of Scotland

The first inhabitants of Scotland were probably living there before the last Ice Age. However, no trace has been found of any Scots who were quite that early although remains of humans from that time have been discovered elsewhere in the British Isles. It is probable that, as the ice receded, humans would have moved in from the south, in pursuit of the animals that had preceded them.

The earliest trace of human habitation that has been found so far is around 11,000 years old and is a stone arrowhead. This was found on the island of Islay, showing that the final retreat of the ice was soon followed by hunter-gatherers who found island-hopping to be the best means of progress.

On Rum, which is about 85 miles north of Islay, there is evidence of early industry in the shape of tool-making based on local supplies of bloodstone that could be fashioned into small blades. This work was being done around 9,000 years ago.

Other traces have been found of hunter-gatherer communities all round the Scottish coast and on the islands. Even older than the site on Rum are the archaeological remains of settlements near Dunbar and at Cramond, both on the Scottish mainland near Edinburgh.

The very first people of Scotland were therefore nomads, moving on as the herds of reindeer moved, building structures only when they settled in a place for more than a few weeks or months. These structures would have been little more than tents made from animal skins stretched between posts hammered into the ground. At other places, natural shelters such as caves would have been used.

Agriculture arrived in Scotland some five and a half thousand years after it was first practiced in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, and it may have been as recently as 2000 BC before most inhabitants of Scotland were farmers who lived in settled communities. Scotland has never been an easy country to farm, due to the thin soils and often adverse weather, and these problems were made worse by the increasing deposits of peat that built up, making the land boggy and unsuitable for growing crops. Many early Scots may therefore have continued as hunter-gatherers long after others had become more settled.

Evidence of two remarkable communities has been discovered in the Orkney Islands, at Knap of Howar and Skara Brae. The latter site, which dates from around 3000 BC, was probably occupied for about 500 years which means that many generations of Orcadians lived and died there. A group of small stone houses were linked together by passageways such that maximum protection was offered against winter storms.

These people were the “Picts” whom the Romans encountered when they sought to extend their empire northwards in the 80s AD.  These scattered tribes, living in habitable corners across mainland Scotland and the Isles, proved not to be worth conquering, hence the decision in 122 AD by Emperor Hadrian to build his wall from the Tyne to the Solway, thus marking the northern limit of the Empire.

The Picts had developed a civilization of their own, with bronze and later iron working, religious practices that included sacrifices to their gods of some of the products of their metal foundries, and trade with their neighbours to the south. They were skilled boatbuilders and navigators and were far from being ignorant savages. Pictish culture was well developed, with social structures that included a hierarchy from kings and nobles down to farmers and workers. Items have been found that show advanced craftsmanship in stone, metals and jewels.

  

As well as the Picts, who were the direct descendants of the original hunter-gatherers, the area that now comprises Scotland was, in the years following the withdrawal of the Romans in the 5^th century AD, also occupied to the south by Britons who had become Romanized and Gaels who probably come from Ireland (although this is not absolutely certain).

These Gaels settled on the western coasts and islands and lived in an uneasy relationship with the Picts. Confusingly, the Gaels were also known in Latin as “Scoti”, from which the name Scotland clearly derives. However, the original “Scottish” people were Picts, not Scots!

The other major component of the early ethnic mix of the people of Scotland was provided by Vikings from Norway, who came first to plunder and then to settle. The Viking invasions began in the 8^th century and continued into the 9^th. Wars between Vikings, Picts and Gaels continued for many years, at the end of which the Gaels had usurped the Picts on mainland Scotland, and the Vikings had taken firm control of the northern islands of Orkney and Shetland.

In the northern isles a form of ethnic cleansing took place, with the men being killed or driven off and the women being seized as wives. The DNA of the modern population shows strong Norwegian origins in male DNA but Pictish traces in that of the women. It was only in 1472 that the islands became part of the Kingdom of Scotland, having been Norwegian (and later Danish) possessions for some 600 years.

The first people of Scotland were therefore a mixture of Picts, Gaels, Britons and Vikings. However, with the exception of the northern isles, none of the later invaders were so numerous that they were able to overwhelm the original bloodline that stretched back to the first post-Ice Age hunter-gatherers. Although the Picts lost out politically to the Gaels, which is why the country is called Scotland and not Pictland, the descendants of the people whom the Romans contained by building a wall are still very much in evidence today.

© John Welford