Nephele

SPQR, you are a member of the Roscia gens -- a plebeian family "of considerable antiquity" which rose to some prominence by the time of the emperors. Your cognomen of Aper (meaning "wild boar") indicates that your ancestors (and perhaps you, too) proudly served in Rome's Legio XX (20th Legion) which proudly carried the emblem of the wild boar, symbolizing their strength, valor, and ferocity. Your praenomen is Numerius, customarily abbreviated as "N." Your full Roman name is: N. Roscius Aper = Cosknaj Rerpy -jky +ius Welcome to UNRV! -- Nephele

Very enlightening, Kosmo! Thanks! I'll have to read further on dice and divination among the Romans, as these sorts of subjects particularly interest me, having spent some time on a few occult message boards. Not that I believe in divination, I hasten to add -- I'm interested in archetypal imagery and what various peoples believe(d). I would have especially loved to know what the symbols on that die were supposed to represent. -- Nephele

Thank you, CS! Glad to see you back here! I think the Servilii will be next for my surname series here. I'm choosing them because of their association with the princely clans of the Aemilii, Cornelii, and Fabii (whom I've already tackled). Asclepiades, nice addition of the map depicting the location of the two Porticus Aemilia, with Livy's commentary. Of additional interest, here are some other noteworthy contributions to Rome's architecture by the Aemilii, from Samuel Ball Platner's 1929 A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, courtesy of Bill Thayer's Lacus Curtius website (color photos by Thayer): Basilica Aemilia: "In 78 B.C., the consul M. Aemilius Lepidus decorated the building (here called basilica Aemilia) with engraved shields or portraits of his ancestors (Plin. NH XXXV.13)..." Columna Rostrata Aemilii Pauli: "a column, adorned with the beaks of ships, erected on the Capitoline in honour of M. Aemilius Paullus, consul in 255 B.C., and destroyed by lightning in 172 B.C. (Liv. XLII.20.1)." Pons Aemilius: the official name...of the first stone bridge across the Tiber, said to have been built [by Aimilios]." Aimilios or Aimilius being the original form of the nomen gentilicium Aemilius, created by the monarch Numa. Plutarch, in his Life of Numa (VIII.9-10, Loeb Classical Library edition, trans. by Bernadotte Perrin) offered this origin of the gens name: "Another proof is that one of the four sons born to king Numa was named Mamercus, after the son of Pythagoras. And from him they say that the patrician family of the Aemilii took its name, Aemilius being the endearing name which the king gave him for the grace and winsomeness of his speech." -- Nephele

Not with a vorpal blade, I'd wager. LOL! It's interesting that items used for gaming might also be used for divination, as in the connection between our modern-day playing cards and the Tarot. However, I would be interested to know your source, Kosmo, regarding 12-sided dice having been used by the Romans strictly for divination and not for gaming. I didn't think the Romans relied on dice for divination -- at least not to the extent that they relied on other things, such as animal entrails (hieroscopy) and the behavior of birds (auspicy). -- Nephele

Interesting! I checked out the die on the Christie's website to see how it compared in size with modern-day polyhedral dice. The site says that this die is 2 1/16 inches. Seems a bit large, but then I guess it had to be big enough to read the symbols inscribed on it. Christie's site reports that the die sold for $17,925. I wonder if the original owner of that die ever made as big a killing? -- Nephele

I'm interested in your opinion on that, too. Also, Klingan, did you get to Ostia in your travels? -- Nephele

I'm coming in late to this, and there's really not much to add to what has already been posted regarding the connection between Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Herod Agrippa. So I'll just add a postscript regarding the name "Agrippa" -- that it was actually first a praenomen which became obsolete, and was later used as a cognomen by the Romans. Additionally, there is debate as to the etymology of the name -- Pliny's account in his Naturalis Historia (Book 7, Chapter 6) states that the name is derived from a compound of the two Latin words aegre partus, referring to an individual who had been born "feet first" or with great difficulty. Although this etymology for the name of "Agrippa" is viewed by scholars today as being rather dubious, it nevertheless must have been accepted by the ancient Romans, as Pliny writes of how children having been born in this manner apparently were customarily referred to as agrippae. A pet peeve of mine is how supposition posted on the Internet quickly becomes duplicated on multiple websites as "fact". This appears to have been the case of the etymology of Agrippa, as awhile back someone had posted on a website noted for name etymology that the origin of Agrippa was the Latin word agripeta, meaning "land-grabber" or "squatter". This information has since been duplicated on various other websites, with no source to back it up. I actually managed to track down the original person who first posted this, and asked her what source she had used to come to this conclusion regarding the name. She told me she couldn't quite remember, but she believes she had used a Latin dictionary and thus found a word similar in appearance to "Agrippa" (agripeta), and presumed this was the origin of the name and the meaning behind it. A far more likely origin for the name was presented by George Davis Chase in a paper he wrote for Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, titled "The Origin of the Roman Praenomina" (1897). Chase stated that the name "Agrippa" is most likely a compound of Greek origin (changed, through Latin adoption, to an -a stem noun), of unknown meaning which "found its way to Rome from some of the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia or Sicily through some early emigrant." Cognomina scholar Iiro Kajanto also cited Dr. Chase's work in his own exhaustive work on cognomina, titled The Latin Cognomina. (1965), using the name "Agrippa" as an example of an ancient name which become unrecognizable through having been transformed into a shorter version of its former, compound self. -- Nephele

Starting this was a mis-steak, but I guessed I ox'ed for it. -- Nephele

You're milking this one, Neph! You haven't herd the last of me! -- Nephele

Moo? Mooooo! MoooOOOOOooooOOOOOOoooo! I think Judge Kozinski has made an udder fool of himself. -- Nephele

No, I think the article was on Witchvox (I read that for amusement only). I immediately questioned the validity of it, especially as they stated that the Greeks took 'blood oaths' by cutting each others arms and licking the blood off. But, I had wondered if it was in fact a legitimate practice in some way. Is this the article?: Blood Oaths: Making Them and Breaking Them

You mean DIRECTV is giving folks just three days to look at 265 different channels? Dude, TiVo or not, I think my brain would fry and my eyeballs would shoot outta my head in random directions like microwave popcorn, if I attempted that. -- Nephele

Oh, I see now. What was the article referenced over in the other forum? -- Nephele

That's for sure! (But I think the Washington Monument has a lot to answer for -- see blog link below.) Thanks, everyone, for all the useful D.C. tips! So as not to take up more time on the board with my personal stuff, I've continued this in my blog: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?automo...;showentry=1231 Any additional suggestions and tips offered there will be most gratefully appreciated! -- Nephele

LW, I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "blood oath". Is that an oath taken with the understanding that the breaking of that oath will result in death? If so, then George Long of Trinity College, Cambridge (in the 19th century), in his article for Smith's Dictionary titled "Jusjurandum", gave an account of ancient writers who reported that Roman soldiers customarily took a military oath, and that this military oath, being the most sacred of all possible oaths, carried the penalty of death if broken. Was this what you had in mind? -- Nephele

Which leads me to suspect that it must have been a classicist who came up with the collective phrase: "an abomination of monks". But, seriously, I'd like to know, too: What evidence is there to support the apparently widely held belief that monasteries promoted education in the classics? As a huge fan of Snopes.com, I'm always interested in the debunking of popularly held beliefs -- as well as the evidence which supports such popularly held beliefs. -- Nephele

I love pesto, as every good Genovese should. Scratch that, as every good human should. Mmmm.... pessssssto... I freakin' can't get enough of that stuff. I especially love it on ravioli (Italian kreplach). -- Nephele

Sounds almost like an episode from Steptoe and Son. And we know that poor Harold would never see a penny of that

An ancient Roman theatre? Nicely done! Any particular theatre? -- Nephele

It just seems so wrong that people who are expected to risk their lives in defense of ours should be compensated so shabbily. Do your soldiers over there receive any additional benefits at all, such as money for college tuition? Everyone's already got the same health benefits there in the U.K., right? -- Nephele

Well, that's perhaps one-half of the world covered, since the membership of the Association of Art Museum Directors is composed of art museum directors in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. I wonder if art museums elsewhere in the world will also be taking this stand to discourage looting? Sounds like a commendable plan. -- Nephele

How do you say "Boris Rules!" in Latin? Well, however you say it, he does! Our MPC gave a hail to Boris in a recent blog entry of his: Boris for President??? -- Nephele

I have the DVD and I checked the credits for you. The composer's name is "Ty Unwin". If you Google his name, you'll come up with quite a bit of information on him (he's done a lot of stuff), including a site or two offering free downloads of some of his music. -- Nephele

Great link, G-Man! I found another there. Oooo, I want to build one of these, and dedicate it to myself as the Goddess Nephele: -- Nephele

I want a Roman Lego series!! I DEMAND a Roman Lego series! Heck, Playmobile has gotten with the program -- it's about time Lego shaped up! -- Nephele