THEDAILYEAGLE

“For who could keep his hands off Libya, or Carthage, when that city got within his reach, a city which Agathocles, slipping stealthily out of Syracuse and crossing the sea with a few ships, narrowly missed taking?” Plutarch

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Last Notes

2026-08-04 20:45:18 UTC

🔵 ARMS OF THE VELITES
“The youngest soldiers or Velites are ordered to carry a sword, spears, and target (parma). The target is strongly made, and large enough to protect the man; being round, with a diameter of three feet. Each man also wears a headpiece without a crest (galea); which he sometimes covers with a piece of wolfs skin or something of that kind, for the sake both of protection and identification; that the officers of his company may be able to observe whether he shows courage or the reverse on confronting dangers. The spear of the velites has a wooden haft of about two cubits, and about a finger's breadth in thickness; its head is a span long, hammered fine, and sharpened to such an extent that it becomes bent the first time it strikes, and cannot be used by the enemy to hurl back; otherwise the weapon would be available for both sides alike.”
Polybius, histories
https://blossom.primal.net/0fbbe797320a3b4a3bb38fb713d8218c4443c81201a1286e1c7015942dbd1569.jpg

2026-08-02 23:16:31 UTC

⚪️ PROMISES MADE, NOT KEPT.
“Yet, when Pompey, who succeeded Leucullus in the conduct of the war, went over, he took for enemies all who had in any way favoured Leucullus, because of the hatred which had arisen between himself and Leucullus; and when he finished the war and returned home, he won so completely that the Senate would not ratify those honours which Leucullus had promised to certain of the people of Pontus, for, he said, it was unjust, when one man had brought the war to a successful issue, that the prizes and the distribution of the rewards should be placed in the hands of another man.”
Strabo
https://blossom.primal.net/b1256d8fc98489d054b6c2d9cce3cbaff52d3ed3bbb59322ff88546d6ec970f7.jpg

2026-07-31 23:40:15 UTC

⚫️ SELEUCID DECLINE AND ROMAN PRESENCE IN SYRIA
“Since all his hopes rested on his alliance with Sampsiceramus, he summoned him to come with his forces. Sampsiceramus, who had secretly agreed with Azizus to kill the kings, came with his forces and sent for Antiochus (the 8th Asiaticus). Antiochus went unsuspectingly in response, but after pretending to welcome him like a friend, Sampsiceramus seized the king; for the time being he held him captive, but later he killed him. In a similar way Azizus, in accordance with their agreement to divide up the kingdom of Syria between them, attempted to assassinate Philippus; but Philippus became aware of the plot, and fled to Antioch.”
“While Pompeius was staying near Damascus in Syria, he was approached by Aristobulus the king of the Jews and his brother Hyrcanus, who were in dispute over who should be king.”
Diodorus Siculus
https://blossom.primal.net/1ce2ebefe28fa693a36f6613ac09eeb47b85f42c09e53b53aa43d3f28bf042e3.jpg

2026-07-29 16:12:23 UTC

🟡 ROMANS FIGHTING GIANT SNAKE
Valerius Maximus, in his work "Memorable Deeds and Sayings," recounts a tale from Livy's "History of Rome" about a remarkable encounter between Roman soldiers and a giant serpent during the First Punic War.
The story revolves around Marcus Atilius Regulus, a Roman general who found himself facing a colossal serpent. This creature, of immense size, was causing significant casualties among the Roman troops.
Regulus ordered his soldiers to construct a massive ballista capable of launching large projectiles. With this weapon, the Romans were able to strike at the serpent from a safe distance.
The serpent lashed out with its tail, striking at the Roman soldiers. the shots from the ballista weakened the creature, and it was finally brought down.
The skin of the serpent was brought back to Rome.
https://blossom.primal.net/f8c9de435eb7803babdf7e7a416e0ae651d80a14769ea9490c0facc990d86afc.png

2026-07-27 19:05:42 UTC

🔶 THE THIRD MACEDONIAN WAR BEGINS
“The Romans carried on the Macedonian war (around 171 BC) with less disturbance to their country than the Punic war, but with more renown, as the Macedonians surpassed the Carthaginians in honour, and were animated, moreover, by their glory in having conquered the east, and supported also by the auxiliary forces of all the neighbouring princes. The Romans, accordingly, both raised a greater number of legions, and called for assistance from Masinissa, king of Numidia, and all the rest of their allies; while notice was also given to Eumenes, king of Bithynia, to aid them in the war with his whole force. Perseus, besides his Macedonian army, which had had the reputation of being invincible, had supplies for a ten years' war, collected by his father, in his treasures and magazines. Elevated by these resources, and forgetful of his father's fortune, he bade his soldiers think of the past glory of Alexander.”
Justinus
https://blossom.primal.net/01c048de8ac4398d05ad020fdba8fa8f1f6f8f982ab47cbe482f04032dc0a7ad.jpg

2026-07-26 16:08:54 UTC

🔴 DISEASE AND REMEDY ON CAMPAIGN
“In his German campaign, Germanicus Cæsar had pitched his camp beyond the river Rhenus (Rhine); the only fresh water to be obtained being that of a single spring in the vicinity of the sea-shore. It was found, however, that within two years the habitual use of this water was productive of loss of the teeth and a total relaxation of the joints of the knees: the names given to these maladies, by medical men, were "stomacace" and "sceloturbe." A remedy for them was discovered, however, in the plant known as the "britannica," which is good, not only for diseases of the sinews and mouth, but for quinzy also, and injuries inflicted by serpents. This plant has dark oblong leaves and a swarthy root: the name given to the flower of it is "vibones," and if it is gathered and eaten before thunder has been heard, it will ensure safety in every respect. The Frisii, a nation then on terms of friendship with us, and within whose territories the Roman army was encamped, pointed out this plant to our soldiers: the name given to it, however, rather surprises me, though possibly it may have been so called because the shores of Britannia are in the vicinity, and only separated by the ocean. At all events, it was not called by this name from the fact of its growing there in any great abundance, that is quite certain, for at the time I am speaking of, Britannia was still independent.”
(Germanicus 15 BC – AD 19 was a popular Roman general, nephew and adopted son of Tiberius. He was famous for his campaigns in Germania. His early, possibly poisoned, death was a great loss to Rome).
The Natural History. Pliny the Elder
https://blossom.primal.net/519d925d8cdc1df2fc59e438be97885fe20ae412409652c05668a6f4653648d1.jpg

2026-07-26 16:06:37 UTC

Egyptian history is so misunderstood 🤯
https://blossom.primal.net/9215ccdcb9f576bf37406d6f00add56e2aa778854c12993bda0d9a0bde59b3b0.png

2026-07-26 16:02:54 UTC

🔘 MOTIVATIONS FOR THE FIRST TRIUMVIRATE
“It was in Caesar's consulship that there was formed between himself, Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus the partnership in political power which proved so baleful to the city, to the world, and, subsequently at different periods to each of the triumvirs themselves. Pompey's motive in the adoption of this policy had been to secure through Caesar as consul the long delayed ratification of his acts in the provinces across the seas, to which, as I have already said, many still raised objections; Caesar agreed to it because he realized that in making this concession to the prestige of Pompey he would increase his own, and that by throwing on Pompey the odium for their joint control he would add to his own power; while Crassus hoped by the influence of Pompey and the power of Caesar he might achieve a place of pre-eminence in the state which he had not been able to reach single-handed. Furthermore, a tie of marriage was cemented between Caesar and Pompey, in that Pompey now wedded Julia, Caesar's daughter.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
https://blossom.primal.net/c7300d234df64713b10e4d087503df8450967e35e514ab894ae6c09394b3eaea.png

2026-07-26 14:53:02 UTC

https://blossom.primal.net/a8b558880ad3ec04886e136c36b19b2051a563cd74e7d4eeaafc1fd310986f7a.jpg

2026-07-22 07:28:52 UTC

🔵 ON THE ROMAN ARMY
“After electing the Consuls they proceed to elect military tribunes,—fourteen from those who had five years', and ten from those who had ten years', service. All citizens must serve ten years in the cavalry or twenty years in the infantry before the forty-sixth year of their age, except those rated below four hundred asses. The latter are employed in the navy; but if any great public necessity arises they are obliged to serve as infantry also for twenty campaigns: and no one can hold an office in the state until he has completed ten years of military service.”
Polybius, histories
https://blossom.primal.net/1036972d109b9ced1ecbe5cf0f03747b727d4983f54ef839ce4e41ceefe4cf71.jpg

2026-07-21 10:58:30 UTC

🟣 MAGO
“Mago, general of the Carthaginians, having defeated Gnaeus Piso and having blockaded the tower wherein he had taken refuge, suspecting that reinforcements would come to his relief, sent a deserter to persuade the approaching troops that Piso was already captured. Having thus scared them off, Mago made his victory complete.”
Sextus Julius Frontinus: Stratagems
https://blossom.primal.net/1bc5306c0fb033d0c8544ad9a2313bf18d35f286f4c4a932d421adbc1a80dc4f.jpg

2026-07-21 10:57:07 UTC

- reply

Do you think his views can exist parallel a biblical Christian view? That’s how he says he views it himself, that the book of Genesis is “at LEAST psychologically true”. Regardless if historically true.
I myself have come to “admire” the bible and the depth of scripture much more because of him.
Yet the danger is maybe that as a consequence the bible is used as a self help book and not as a holy book teaching Jesus Christ as our only saviour.
Any comments would be appreciated.

2026-07-19 22:27:20 UTC

⚪️ THE POSESSIONS OF MITHRADATES EUPATOR
“As for Pontus, Mithridates Eupator established himself as king of it; and he held the country bounded by the Halys River as far as the Tibarani and Armenia, and held also, of the country this side the Halys, the region extending to Amastris and to certain parts of Paphlagonia. And he acquired, not only the sea‑coast towards the west as far as Heracleia, the native land of Heracleides the Platonic philosopher, but also, in the opposite direction, the sea‑coast extending to Colchis and Lesser Armenia; and this, as we know, he added to Pontus. And in fact this country was comprised within these boundaries when Pompey took it over, upon his overthrow of Mithridates.”
“Eupator was both born and reared at Sinopê; and he accorded it special honour and treated it as the metropolis of his kingdom. Sinopê is beautifully equipped both by nature and by human foresight, for it is situated on the neck of a peninsula, and has on either side of the isthmus harbours and roadsteads and wonderful pelamydes-fisheries, of which I have already made mention, saying that the Sinopeans get the second catch and the Byzantians the third.”
Strabo
https://blossom.primal.net/4b598f0384b1b970aef7e93055c4f3455c9168941bf5d2d4fb8b33f8f3699b45.jpg

2026-07-19 19:03:16 UTC

Suppiluliuma I
https://blossom.primal.net/2022a9589c923fc3419b3fc524c49f31b0b18b7e96a0f5fce85e5b61a86a9bad.jpg

2026-07-19 14:19:29 UTC

🟢 FEVER AND BATTLE, NORTH AND SOUTH
“Those who live near the equator, and are exactly under the sun's course, are, owing to its power, low in stature, of dark complexion, with curling hair, black eyes, weak legs, deficient in quantity of blood. And this deficiency of blood makes them timid when opposed in battle, but they bear excessive heat and fevers without fear, because their limbs are nourished by heat. Those, however, born in northern countries are timid and weak when attacked by fever, but from their sanguineous habit of body more courageous in battle.”
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, de Architectura
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2026-07-19 14:18:24 UTC

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2026-07-18 22:50:26 UTC

⚫️ PLOT AGAINST THE KING
“Because both sides were digging tunnels in the area, they frequently encountered and even talked to each other; and from these encounters he became known to the king's men. Once, when he was caught on his own in the tunnels, one of the enemy pressed him to betray his allies, and he pretended to agree to the suggestion. When the king was informed of this, in his desire to capture the city he promised a reward and arranged a time to discuss the betrayal. Because the Roman demanded a surety for the agreement, the king sent men to settle it on his behalf. But the Roman said that he would not trust the agreement, unless the king gave him an oath in person. Mithridates considered that it was beneath his royal dignity to descend into the mines. But since the traitor said that he would not co-operate otherwise, and he was very eager to capture the city, Mithridates was forced to agree to the request. As a result the king would have been captured, if he had not been protected by one of his friends who, rightly suspecting a plot, produced a device that fitted in the tunneland could quickly be opened and closed. When this had been placed in the tunnel, and Mithridates and his friends went in, the centurion . . . the men who intended to help him seize the king, drew his sword and rushed at the king. But just in time the king closed the gate, and so escaped the danger.”
Diodorus Siculus
https://blossom.primal.net/84b418211bc679e1c95e581f73490b564359c9e49d785821aaa3dbef8f122336.jpg

2026-07-18 22:44:07 UTC

- reply

“As the sun was rising the soldiers of the third legion, called the Gallic, that wintered in Syria and was now by chance on the side of Vespasian, suddenly greeted it according to their custom; but the followers of Vitellius, suspecting that Mucianus had arrived, underwent a revulsion of feeling, and becoming panic-stricken at the shout, took to flight. Thus it is that the smallest things can produce great alarm in men who are already exhausted.” Cassius Dio

2026-07-18 08:35:08 UTC

🟡 PLINY ON SYRIA
“Next to these countries Syria occupies the coast, once the greatest of lands, and distinguished by many names; for the part which joins up to Arabia was formerly called Palestina, Judaea, Coele Syria, and Phoenice. The country in the interior was called Damascena, and that further on and more to the south, Babylonia. The part that lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris was called Mesopotamia, that beyond Taurus Sophene, and that on this side of the same chain Comagene. Beyond Armenia was the country of Adiabene, anciently called Assyria, and at the part where it joins up to Cilicia, it was called Antiochia. Its length, between Cilicia and Arabia, is 470 miles, and its breadth, from Seleucia Pieria to Zeugma, a town on the Euphrates, 175. Those who make a still more minute division of this country will have it that Phoenice is surrounded by Syria, and that first comes the maritime coast of Syria, part of which is Idumaea and Judaea, after that Phoenice, and then Syria.
The whole of the tract of sea that lies in front of these shores is called the Phoenician Sea. The Phoenician people enjoy the glory of having been the inventors of letters, and the first discoverers of the sciences of astronomy, navigation, and the art of war.”
https://blossom.primal.net/ac5008bffb72f923785f23fe4e4b41335a6ac3e01856e127443b801caf06d90d.jpg

2026-07-16 22:40:48 UTC

🔶 DOUBLE PERIL
“Hannibal, when the Romans, among other articles of peace, demanded from Antiochus that he should be surrendered to them, received notice of this demand from the king, and, taking to flight, went off to Crete. Here, when he had long led a quiet life, but found himself envied for his great wealth, he deposited some urns, filled with lead, in the temple of Diana, as if thus to secure his treasure. The city, in consequence, being no longer concerned about him, as they supposed that they had his wealth in pledge, he betook himself to Prusias, putting his gold into some statues which he carried with him, lest his riches, if seen, should endanger his life. Prusias being subsequently defeated in a battle by land, and transferring the war to the sea, Hannibal, by a new stratagem, was the cause of procuring him a victory; for he ordered serpents of every kind to be enclosed in earthen pots, and to be thrown, in the hottest of the engagement, into the enemy's ships. This seemed at first ridiculous to the Pontic soldiers, that the enemy should fight with earthen pots, as if they could not fight with the sword. But when the ships began to be filled with serpents, and they were thus involved in double peril, they yielded the victory to the enemy.”
Justinus

2026-07-15 16:55:28 UTC

🔴THE MEDICAL LIBRARY OF PONTUS
“It was he (Mithradates) who first thought, the proper precautions being duly taken, of drinking poison every day; it being his object, by becoming habituated to it, to neutralize its dangerous effects.”
“Among the other gifts of extraordinary genius with which he was endowed, Mithridates displayed a peculiar fondness for enquiries into the medical arts; and gathering items of information from all his subjects, extended, as they were, over a large proportion of the world, it was his habit to make copies of their communications, and to take notes of the results which upon experiment had been produced. These memoranda, which he kept in his private cabinet, fell into the hands of Pompeius, when he took possession of the royal treasures; who at once commissioned his freedman, Lenæus the grammarian, to translate them into the Latin language: the result of which was, that his victory was equally conducive to the benefit of the republic and of mankind at large.”
(Mithridates VI 134-63 BC, King of Pontus, fierce opponent of Rome in the Mithridatic Wars. Known for his ambition and attempts at poison immunity. Ultimately defeated by the Romans).
The Natural History. Pliny the Elder
https://blossom.primal.net/07153bede8f6a7a47a3e119bd24f55bf99d53d7e2cc0767fcddde412aca6cfac.png

2026-07-15 16:53:39 UTC

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

2026-07-13 20:35:04 UTC

🔘 CAESAR SURVIVES THE SOCIAL WAR
“Then followed the consulship of Gaius Caesar, who now lays hold upon my pen and compels, whatever my haste, to linger a while upon him. Sprung from the noble family of the Julii, and tracing his descent from Venus and Anchises, a claim conceded by all investigators of antiquity, he surpassed all his fellow-citizens in beauty of person. He was exceedingly keen and vigorous of mind, lavish in his generosity, and possessed a courage exceeding the nature, and even the credence, of man. In the magnitude of his ambitions, in the rapidity of his military operations, and in his endurance of danger, he closely resembled Alexander the Great, but only when Alexander was free from the influence of wine and master of his passions for Caesar, in a word, never indulged in food or in sleep except as they ministered, not to pleasure, but to life. To Gaius Marius he was closely related by blood; he was also the son-in‑law of Cinna, whose daughter no consideration of fear would induce him to divorce, whereas Marcus Piso, a man of consular rank, had divorced Annia, who had been the wife of Cinna, in order to win Sulla's favour. Caesar was only about eighteen years of age at the time of Sulla's dictatorship; and when a search was made for him with a view to putting him to death, not, it is true, by Sulla himself, but by his minions and partisans, he escaped from the city at night by assuming a disguise which effectually concealed his rank.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
https://blossom.primal.net/c730bef129ad0d1bc9bf818b03a8ead2c8481686dd97475cf15d0a85fe289c29.png

2026-07-08 21:56:46 UTC

🟣 THE SIEGE OF CROTONA
“The consul Cornelius Rufinus for some time besieged the city of Crotona, without success, since it had been made impregnable by the arrival of a band of Lucanian reinforcements. He therefore pretended to desist from his undertaking, and by offers of great rewards induced a certain prisoner to go to Crotona. This emissary, by feigning to have escaped from custody, persuaded the inhabitants to believe his report that the Romans had withdrawn. The people of Crotona, thinking this to be true, dismissed their allies. Then, weakened by being stripped of their defenders, they were surprised and captured.”
Sextus Julius Frontinus: Stratagems
https://blossom.primal.net/0a3ff1ec6a7f834273ab9776c0d3732d78a05d66ece4f63cb606a6d5a98c8a45.jpg

2026-07-08 21:55:20 UTC

⚪️ CYRENÊ
“Cyrenê grew strong because of the fertility of its territory, for it is excellent for the breeding of horsesand produces beautiful fruit, and it had many men who were noteworthy and who were able to defend its liberty in a noteworthy manner and to resist strongly the barbarians who lived above them. Now in ancient times the city was independent; and then the Macedonians, who had taken possession of Aegypt, grew in power and attacked the Cyrenaeans, under the leadership of Thibron and his associates, who had slain Harpalus; and having been ruled by kings for some time the city came under the power of the Romans and is now joined with Crete into one Province. But Apollonia, Barcê, Taucheira, Berenicê, and the other towns near by, are dependencies of Cyrenê.”
Strabo
https://blossom.primal.net/591d2b741d115f743093f5ddf6a187ea8c243c4e67060f45fb1eba56f6d153d9.jpg

2026-07-07 14:20:56 UTC

https://blossom.primal.net/91871461e4cd3c455614d9f1f14f02f8e1c5c2e965876837e6e4539b7247259e.jpg

2026-07-07 10:53:13 UTC

⚫️ IRONY
“When the proscription lists were fixed up in the forum, a multitude of people promptly came flocking in to read them. Most of them pitied those that were thus condemned to die. But one amongst them, a most malicious and insolent character, gloried over the miserable fate of the afflicted, and yelled out most spiteful remarks against them. Some incensed deity soon repaid him with a just revenge; for he happened to read his own name as one proscribed at the bottom of the list. He covered his head, and tried to run away through the thickest of the crowd; for he hoped in this way to escape detection and reach safety. But someone who stood nearby recognised him, and exposed him as one of the condemned; he was instantly surrounded and seized, and then put to death, to the great joy of all that heard it.”
Diodorus Siculus
https://blossom.primal.net/77a4173aaf28fa5d47437378a9c81145bfe79aed7d17d386590936899e4504d2.png

2026-07-06 23:21:56 UTC

🟡 PLINY ON THE GERMAN TRIBES
“There are five German races; the Vandili, parts of whom are the Burgundiones, the Varini, the Carini, and the Gutones: the Ingaevones, forming a second race, a portion of whom are the Cimbri, the Teutoni, and the tribes of the Chauci. The Istaevones, who join up to the Rhine, and to whom the Cimbri belong, are the third race; while the Hermiones, forming a fourth, dwell in the interior, and include the Suevi, the Hermunduri, the Chatti, and the Cherusci: the fifth race is that of the Peucini, who are also the Basternae, adjoining the Daci previously mentioned. The more famous rivers that flow into the ocean are the Guttalus, the Vistillus or Vistula, the Albis, the Visurgis, the Amisius, the Rhine, and the Mosa. In the interior is the long extent of the Hercynian range, which in grandeur is inferior to none.”
“NINETY-SIX ISLANDS OF THE GALLIC OCEAN. In the Rhine itself, nearly 100 miles in length, is the most famous island of the Batavi and the Canninefates, as also other islands of the Frisii, the Chauci, the Frisiabones, the Sturii, and the Marsacii, which lie between Helium and Flevum. These are the names of the mouths into which the Rhine divides itself, discharging its waters on the north into the lakes there, and on the west into the river Mosa. At the middle mouth which lies between these two, the river, having but a very small channel, preserves its own name.”
https://blossom.primal.net/e36f36416b5f2e201953e93ab28d1be1f651ba47011a7d4a4e864cf3904267b3.png

2026-07-06 06:25:18 UTC

🔶 THE ROMANS IN ASIA MINOR
“As the Romans were coming from Troy, king Eumenes met them with some auxiliary troops; and soon after a battle was fought with Antiochus; in which one of the Roman legions, on the right wing, being beaten back, and fleeing to their camp with more disgrace than danger, Marcus Aemilius, a military tribune, who had been left to defend the camp, ordered his men to arm themselves, and advance without the rampart, and to threaten the fugitives with their swords drawn, saying that "they should be put to death unless they returned to the field, and should find their own camp more hostile to them than that of the enemy." The legion, alarmed at such peril on both sides, returned to the battle, their fellow soldiers, who had stopped their flight, accompanying them, and, making great havoc among the enemy, were the first cause of the victory. Fifty thousand of the enemy were slain, and eleven thousand taken prisoners. Antiochus suing for peace, nothing was added to the former articles, Africanus observing that "the spirit of the Romans was never broken if they were defeated, and, if they were victorious, they were not rendered tyrannical by success." The cities that were taken they divided among their allies, deeming that glory was more desirable for the Romans than dominions merely for pleasure; and that the honour of victory was worthy of being attached to the Roman name, but that the luxuries of wealth might be left to their adherents.”
Justinus
https://blossom.primal.net/02a165b8a58f6c4673d8f5d00983caf64e78138afced640118c788cd3b8eaba9.jpg

2026-07-06 06:24:02 UTC

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2026-07-02 08:54:17 UTC

🔴TROPHY ERECTED ON THE ALPS
“It may not be inappropriate in this place to subjoin the inscription now to be seen upon the trophy erected on the Alps, which is to the following effect:”
"To the Emperor Cæsar—The son of Cæsar now deified, Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, and emperor fourteen years, in the seventeenth year of his holding the tribuni- tial authority, the Senate and the Roman people, in remembrance that under his command and auspices all the Alpine nations which extended from the upper sea to the lower were reduced to subjection by the Roman people—The Alpine nations so sub- dued were: the Triumpilini, the Camuni, the Ve- nostes, the Vennonenses, (etc, etc etc.)”
The Natural History. Pliny the Elder
Note:
The trophy or triumphal arch which bore this inscription is that which was still to be seen at Torbia near Nicæa in Illyria, in the time of Gruter, who has given that portion of the inscription which remained unobliterated, down to "gentes Alpinæ," "the Alpine nations." Hardouin speaks of another triumphal arch in honour of Augustus at Segusio or Susa in Piedmont, which appears to have commenced in a somewhat similar manner, but only the first twelve words were remaining in 1671.
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2026-07-01 08:52:04 UTC

🔘 ATTIC FAITH
“If anyone regards this period of rebellion, during which Athens suffered siege at the hands of Sulla, as a breach of good faith on the part of the Athenians, he shows a strange ignorance of the facts of history; for so constant was the loyalty of the Athenians towards the Romans that always and invariably, whenever the Romans referred to any act of unqualified loyalty, they called it an example of "Attic faith." But at this time, overwhelmed as they were by the arms of Mithridates, the Athenians were in a most unhappy plight. Held in subjection by their enemies and besieged by their friends, although in obedience to necessity they kept their bodies within the walls, their hearts were outside their fortifications.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
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2026-06-29 20:52:48 UTC

🔵 HANNIBAL CONTACTS THE CELTS
“Though Hannibal had taken every precaution for the security of Libya and Iberia, he yet waited for the messengers whom he expected to arrive from the Celts. He had thoroughly acquainted himself with the fertility and populousness of the districts at the foot of the Alps and in the valley of the Padus, as well as with the warlike courage of the men; but most important of all, with their hostile feelings to Rome derived from the previous war, which I described in my last book, with the express purpose of enabling my readers to follow my narrative.
He therefore reckoned very much on the chance of their co-operation; and was careful to send messages to the chiefs of the Celts, whether dwelling actually on the Alps or on the Italian side of them, with unlimited promises; because he believed that he would be able to confine the war against Rome to Italy, if he could make his way through the intervening difficulties to these parts, and avail himself of the active alliance of the Celts.
When his messengers returned with a report that the Celts were ready to help him and all eagerness for his approach; and that the passage of the Alps, though laborious and difficult, was not, however, impossible, he collected his forces from their winter quarters at the approach of spring. Just before receiving this report he had learnt the circumstances attending the Roman embassy at Carthage. Encouraged by the assurance thus given him, that he would be supported by the' popular sentiment at home, he no longer disguised from his army that the object of the forthcoming campaign was Rome; and tried to inspire them with courage for the undertaking.
He explained to them how the Romans had demanded the surrender of himself and all the officers of the army: and pointed out the fertility of the country to which they were going, and the good-will and active alliance which the Celts were prepared to offer them. When the crowd of soldiers showed an enthusiastic readiness to accompany him, he dismissed the assembly, after thanking them, and naming the day on which he intended to march.”
Polybius, histories
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2026-06-29 20:50:44 UTC

🟣 THE PRODUCTS OF DA QIN
“This country produces plenty of gold, silver, and precious jewels, luminous jade, - 'bright moon pearls, fighting cocks,? rhinoceroses, coral, yellow amber,- opaque glass, whitish chalcedony,& red cinnabar,? green gemstones, drawn gold-threaded and multi-coloured embroideries, woven gold-threaded net, delicate polychrome silks painted with gold, and asbestos cloth.
They also have a fine cloth which some people say is made from the down of 'water sheep,' but which is made, in fact, from the cocoons of wild silkworms. They blend all sorts of fragrances, and by boiling the juice, make storax. [They have] all the precious and rare things that come from the various foreign kingdoms. They make gold and silver coins. Ten silver coins are worth one gold coin. They trade with Anxi (Parthia) and Tianzhu (Northwestern India) by sea. The profit margin is ten to one.
The people of this country are honest in business; they don't have two prices. Grain and foodstuffs are always in good supply. The resources of the state are abundant. When envoys from a neighbouring kingdom arrive at their border, they use the courier stations to get to the royal capital, and when they arrive, they give them gold coins.
The king of this country always wanted to send envoys to the Han, but Anxi (Parthia), wishing to control the trade in multi-coloured Chinese silks, blocked the route to prevent [the Romans] getting through [to China].
In the ninth yanxi year [166 CE], during the reign of Emperor Huan, the king of Da Qin (the Roman Empire), Andun (Marcus Aurelius Antoninus), sent envoys from beyond the frontiers through Rinan (Commandery on the central Vietnamese coast),& to offer elephant tusks, rhinoceros horn, and turtle shell. This was the very first time there was [direct] communication [between the two countries]. The tribute brought was neither precious nor rare, raising suspicion that the accounts [of the 'envoys'] might be exaggerated.
It is said that to the west of this kingdom is Ruoshui (the 'Weak River') and Liusha (the
'Shifting Sands') which are close to the place where Xiwangmu ('Spirit-Mother of the West') lives, and which go almost as far as the place where the sun sets.
The Hanshu says: "Leaving Tiaozhi (Characene and Susiana), if you head west for more than two hundred days, you approach the place where the sun sets." This does not agree with the books of today. [The reason is that] the Han envoys under the first [Han] dynasty all returned after reaching Wuyi (Arachosia and Drangiana), and none of them went as far as Tiaozhi (Characene and Susiana).
It is said, leaving Anxi (Parthia) by the land route, you circle through Haibei (North of the Sea'), and come into Haixi (Egypt), to reach Da Qin (Roman territory). The population there is dense. Each ten li (4.2 km) there is a postal stage, and each thirty li (12.5 km) a postal station. Finally, there is no trouble with bandits, but there are many ferocious tigers and lions on the road that obstruct and kill travellers. If the caravans don't have more than a hundred men carrying arms, they will be devoured.
Also, it is said that there is a raised bridge, several hundred li long, which crosses over to Haibei ('North of the Sea'). They [the vassal kingdoms of Da Qin] produce curious gems and so many other peculiar and bizarre things that I will not record what is reported.”
Book of the later Han
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2026-06-29 20:48:18 UTC

⚪️ CARTHAGE
“Carthage, also, is situated on a kind of peninsula, which comprises a circuit of three hundred and sixty stadia; and this circuit has a wall; and sixty stadia of the length of this circuit are occupied by the neck itself, which extendº from sea to sea; and this, a spacious place, is where the Carthaginians had their elephant-stalls. Near the middle of the city was the acropolis, which they called Byrsa; it was a fairly steep height and inhabited on all sides, and at the top it had a temple of Asclepius, which, at the time of the capture of the city, the wife of Asdrubal burnt along with herself. Below the acropolis lie the harbours, as also Cothon, a circular isle surrounded by a strait, which latter has ship-houses all round on either side.”
Strabo
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2026-06-28 20:21:43 UTC

🟢 CONSIDERATION
“When the forum is placed, a spot as healthy as possible is to be chosen for the theatre, for the exhibition of games on the festival days of the immortal gods, according to the instructions given in the first book respecting the healthy disposition of the walls of a city. For the spectators, with their wives and children, delighted with the entertainment, sit out the whole of the games, and the pores of their bodies being opened by the pleasure they enjoy, are easily affected by the air, which, if it blows from marshy or other noisome places, infuses its bad qualities into the system. These evils are avoided by the careful choice of a situation for the theatre,
taking especial precaution that it be not exposed to the south; for when the sun fills the cavity of the theatre, the air confined in that compass being incapable of circulating, by its stoppage therein, is heated, and burns up, extracts, and diminishes the moisture of the body. On these accounts, those places where bad air abounds are to be avoided, and wholesome spots to be chosen.”
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, de Architectura
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2026-06-28 14:26:32 UTC

Sunday walk ✝️
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2026-06-28 10:15:17 UTC

⚫️ FELIX
“And now that the Marsic war was coming to an end, another great civil war arose in Rome, stirred up by Sulla and the young Gaius Marius, son of that Marius who had been seven times consul. In this strife many tens of thousands of men perished, until at length Sulla prevailed; and being created dictator, he called himself Epaphroditus {Felix}. This boastful title was not wholly inappropriate, because he prospered in all his wars, and died a natural death after his victories. But Marius, although he behaved with great gallantry in the war against Sulla, was at length routed, and fled with fifteen thousand men to Praeneste, where he was besieged for a long time. At length, being totally deserted, and seeing no way of escape, he earnestly entreated one of his faithful slaves to help him put an end to the misfortunes that surrounded him. After much persuasion, the slave at one stroke put an end to his master's life, and then immediately killed himself. And so at length ended this civil war. However, some remnants of Marius' party continued to give Sulla trouble for a while longer, until they too were suppressed, like the others.”
Diodorus Siculus
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2026-06-28 10:13:48 UTC

🟡 THE SIEGE OF ATHENS
“Two Athenian slaves in the Piræus -- either because they favored the Romans or were looking out for their own safety in an emergency -- wrote down everything that took place there, enclosed their writing in leaden balls, and threw them over to the Romans with slings.
As this was done continually it came to the knowledge of Sulla, who gave his attention to the missives and found one which said, "To-morrow the infantry will make a sally in front upon your workers, and the cavalry will attack the Roman army on both flanks."
Sulla placed an adequate force in ambush and when the enemy dashed out with the thought that their movement would completely surprise him he gave them a greater surprise with his concealed force, killing many and driving the rest into the sea. This was the end of that enterprise.
When the mounds began to rise Archelaus erected opposing towers and placed the greatest quantity of missiles on them. He sent for reënforcements from Chalcis and the other islands and armed his oarsmen, for he considered himself in extreme danger.
As his army was superior in number to that of Sulla before, it now became much more so by these reënforcements.
He then darted out in the middle of the night with torches and burned one of the tortoises and the machines alongside of it; but Sulla made new ones in ten days' time and put them in the places of the former ones. Against these Archelaus established a tower on that part of the wall.”
Appian, the foreign wars
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2026-06-24 23:17:44 UTC

🔴 LIVY ON CINCINNATUS
“Now I would solicit the particular attention of those numerous people who imagine that money is everything in this world, and that rank and ability are inseparable from wealth: let them observe that Cincinnatus, the one man in whom Rome reposed all her hope of survival, was at that moment working a little three-acre farm (now known as Quinctian meadows) west of the Tiber, just opposite the spot where the shipyards are today. A mission from the city found him at work on his land - digging a ditch, maybe, or ploughing. Greetings were exchanged, and he was asked - with a prayer for God's blessing on himself and his country - to put on his toga and hear the Senate's instructions.
This naturally surprised him, and, asking if all were well, he told his wife Racilia to run to their cottage and fetch his toga. The toga was brought, and wiping the grimy sweat from his hands and face he put it on; at once the envoys from the city saluted him, with congratulations, as Dictator, invited him to enter Rome, and informed him of the terrible danger of Minucius's army.”
Livy, The History of Rome, Books 1-5: The Early History of Rome
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2026-06-22 22:39:19 UTC

🔘 OLD ENEMIES MEET AGAIN
“A rope was cast about his neck and he was led to the prison of Minturnae on the order of its duumvir. A public slave of German nationality was sent with a sword to put him to death. It happened that this man had been taken a prisoner by Marius when he was commander in the war against the Cimbri; when he recognized Marius, giving utterance with loud outcry to his indignation at the plight of this great man, he threw away his sword and fled from the prison.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
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2026-06-22 18:46:03 UTC

🔵 “THEIR BLADE HAS NO POINT”
“The Tribunes accordingly gave out the spears of the Triarii, who are the last of the three ranks, to the first ranks, or Hastati: and ordering the men to use their swords only, after their spears were done with, they charged the Celts full in front. When the Celts had rendered their swords useless by the first blows delivered on the spears, the Romans close with them, and rendered them quite helpless, by preventing them from raising their hands to strike with their swords, which is their peculiar and only stroke, because their blade has no point. The Romans, on the contrary, having excellent points to their swords, used them not to cut but to thrust: and by thus repeatedly hitting the breasts and faces of the enemy, they eventually killed the greater number of them. And this was due to the foresight of the Tribunes:”
Polybius, histories
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2026-06-20 22:17:41 UTC

🟣 THE KINGDOM OF DA QIN
“The Kingdom of Da Qin (the Roman Empire)- is also called Lijian. As it is found to the west of the sea, it is also called the Kingdom of Haixi (Egypt).? Its territory extends for several thousands of li. It has more than four hundred walled towns. There are several tens of smaller dependent kingdoms. The walls of the towns are made of stone.
They have established postal relays at intervals, which are all plastered and whitewashed. There are pines and cypresses, as well as trees and plants of all kinds. The common people are farmers. They cultivate many grain crops and silkworm-mulberry trees.* They shave their heads, and their clothes are embroidered. They have screened coaches (for the women) and small white-roofed one-horse carts. When carriages come and go, drums are beaten and flags and standards are raised.
The seat of government (Rome) is more than a hundred li (41.6 km) around. In this city are five palaces each ten li (4.2 km) from the other. Moreover, in the rooms of the palace the pillars and the tableware are really made of crystal. The king goes each day to one of the palaces to deal with business. After five days, he has visited all of them. A porter with a sack has the job of always following the royal carriage. When somebody wants to discuss something with the king, he throws a note in the sack. When the king arrives at the palace, he opens the bag, examines the contents, and judges if the plaintiff is right or wrong.
There is a government department of archives. [A group of] thirty-six leaders has been established to meet together to deliberate on affairs of state. Their kings are not permanent.
They select and appoint the most worthy man. If there are unexpected calamities in the kingdom, such as frequent extraordinary winds or rains, he is unceremoniously rejected and replaced. The one who has been dismissed quietly accepts his demotion, and is not angry.
The people of this country are all tall and honest. They resemble the people of the Middle Kingdom and that is why this kingdom is called Da Qin [literally, 'Great China'].”
Book of the later Han
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2026-06-20 14:16:02 UTC

⚪️ STRABO ON THE MAURI
“Here dwell a people whom the Greeks call Maurusians, and the Romans and the natives Mauri — a large and prosperous Libyan tribe, who live on the side of the strait opposite Iberia.” (Mauretania, Morocco).
“However, it is agreed by all that Maurusia is a fertile country, except a small desert part, and is supplied with both lakes and rivers. It is surpassing in the size and in the number of its trees, and is also productive of everything; at any rate, this is the country which supplies the Romans with the tables that are made of one single piece of wood, very large and most variegated.”
“Now a little before my time the kings of the house of Bogus and of Bocchus, who were friends of the Romans, possessed the country, but when these died Juba succeeded to the throne, Augustus Caesar having given him this in addition to his father's empire. He was the son of the Juba who with Scipio waged war against the deified Caesar. Now Juba died lately, but his son Ptolemy, whose mother was the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, has succeeded to the throne.”
Strabo
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2026-06-19 21:09:34 UTC

🟢 PLINY ON THE NILE RIVER
“The country has reason to make careful note of either extreme. When the water rises to only twelve cubits, it experiences the horrors of famine; when it attains thirteen, hunger is still the result; a rise of fourteen cubits is productive of gladness; a rise of fifteen sets all anxieties at rest; while an increase of sixteen is productive of unbounded transports of joy. The greatest increase known, up to the present time, is that of eighteen cubits, which took place in the time of the Emperor Claudius; the smallest rise was that of five, in the year of the battle of Pharsalia, the river by this prodigy testifying its horror, as it were, at the murder of Pompeius Magnus. When the waters have reached their greatest height, the people open the embankments and admit them to the lands. As each district is left by the waters, the business of sowing commences. This is the only river in existence that emits no vapours.”
Pliny the Elder
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2026-06-19 21:07:54 UTC

⚫️ DESECRATION
“In the meantime (82BC), the most eminent persons in Rome were put to death on false accusations. Even Scaevola, the pontifex maximus, who had the highest reputation amongst the citizens, came to an unworthy end. The Romans were fortunate only in one thing, that this venerable priest did not withdraw into the most sacred precinct {the temple of Vesta}. For the cruelty of the murderers was such, that they would have laid him upon the very altar, and cut his throat there, so that by his own blood he would have extinguished that fire, which religious devotion has ceaselessly kept burning ever since ancient times.”
Diodorus Siculus
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2026-06-19 21:05:57 UTC

🟡 HOW OFTEN DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE
The "Roman Empire hype" was a 2023 social media trend that started with a Swedish (Saskia Cort) influencer's question about how often men think about the Roman Empire. This question spread rapidly, especially on Instagram and TikTok, revealing that many men think about it surprisingly often. The trend then evolved, with people using the phrase "my Roman Empire" to describe something they think about frequently or are deeply interested in.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a80lHKIbLIY&pp=
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2026-06-14 21:36:04 UTC

🔶 BRITANNICUS AND AGRIPPINA MINOR
“Agrippina herself was dignified by the title of Augusta. When the transaction was over, no one was so devoid of pity as not to feel compunction for the lot of Britannicus. Stripped little by little of the services of the very slaves, the boy turned into derision the officious importunities of his stepmother, whose hypocrisy he understood. For report credits him with no lack of intelligence, possibly with truth, or possibly through the sympathy inspired by his dangers he has retained a reputation which was never put to the proof.”
“Agrippina, on the other hand, in order to advertise her strength to the provinces also, arranged for the plantation of a colony⁠ of veterans in the Ubian town (modern day Cologne) where she was born. The settlement received its title from her name; and, as chance would have it, it had been her grandfather Agrippa who extended Roman protection to the tribe on its migration across the Rhine.”
Tacitus
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2026-06-14 21:21:07 UTC

🔺 THE CAMPANIAN PROPOSEL
“When these nations which lie between us are subjugated - and your courage and fortune are a guarantee that this will soon come about - you will have an unbroken dominion up to our frontier. Painful and humiliating is the confession which our fortunes compel us to make; but it has come to this, senators, we Campanians must be numbered either amongst your friends or your enemies. If you defend us we are yours, if you abandon us we shall belong to the Samnites. Make up your minds, then, whether you would prefer that Capua and the whole of Campania should form an addition to your strength or should augment the power of the Samnites.”
Livy
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2026-06-14 17:16:25 UTC

🟣 STRABO ON THE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICANS
“The Aethiopians live on millet and barley, from which they also make a drink; but instead of olive-oil they have butter and tallow. Neither do they have fruit trees, except a few date-palms in the royal gardens. But some use grass as food, as also tender twigs, lotus, and reed-roots; and they use meats, blood, milk, and cheese. They reverence as gods their kings, who generally stay shut up at home. Their greatest royal seat is Meroê, a city bearing the same name as the island. The island is said to be like an oblong shield in shape. Its size has perhaps been exaggerated: about three thousand stadia in length and one thousand in breadth. The island has both numerous mountains and large thickets; it is inhabited partly by nomads, partly by hunters, and partly by farmers; and it has mines of copper, iron, gold, and different kinds of precious stones. It is bounded on the Libyan side by large sand-dunes, and on the Arabian side by continuous precipices, and above, on the south, by the confluence of the three rivers — the Astaboras, and the Astapus and the Astasobas and on the north by the next course of the Nile, which extends to Aegypt along the aforesaid windings of the river. In the cities the dwellings are made of split pieces of palm-wood woven together, or of brick. And they have quarried salt, as do the Arabians. And, among the plants, the palm, the persea, the ebony, and the ceratia are found in abundance. And they have, not only elephants to hunt, but also lions and leopards. They also have serpents, the elephant-fighters, as also many other wild animals; for the animals flee for refuge from the hotter and more arid regions to those that are watery and marshy.”
Strabo
(Note: In ancient Greek and Roman times, "Aethiopians" was a broad term used to describe people of sub-Saharan Africa. It wasn't a specific ethnic group but rather a geographical and sometimes racial designation.)
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2026-06-14 17:14:19 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:14:13 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:14:06 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:13:58 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:13:47 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:13:36 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:13:27 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:13:18 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:13:10 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:12:58 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:12:49 UTC

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2026-06-14 17:12:38 UTC

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2026-06-09 11:11:04 UTC

⚪️ DEVOTION
“Gnaeus Pompeius devoted himself to a military life, and inured himself to the hardships and fatigues of war, so that in a short time he was acknowledged as an expert in military matters. Casting off all sloth and idleness, he was always, night and day, doing something or other that was useful for the conduct of the war. He was very sparing in his diet, ate his food sitting, and altogether refrained from baths and other such luxurious activities. He allotted fewer hours for sleep than nature demanded, and spent the rest of the night in the concerns of a general, relating to the problems that he faced during the day; so that, by his habitual planning for the uncertain events of war, he became most accomplished in military activities. And therefore, in far less time than another could have prepared himself to take charge of an army that was already raised, in that time he raised an army, trained them, and disciplined them. And when the news of his remarkable exploits was brought to Rome, everybody at first, reflecting upon his youth rather than on his valour, supposed that the messengers were merely exaggerating in their accounts.”
Diodorus Siculus
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2026-06-07 17:52:33 UTC

⚫️ THE MARSI WAR BEGINS
“The long smouldering fires of an Italian war were now fanned into flame by the death of Drusus. One hundred and twenty years ago, in the consulship of Lucius Caesar and Publius Rutilius, all Italy took up arms against the Romans. The rebellion began with the people of Asculum, who had put to death the praetor Servilius and Fonteius, his deputy; it was then taken up by the Marsi, and from them it made its ways into all the districts of Italy. The fortune of the Italians was as cruel as their cause was just; for they were seeking citizenship in the state whose power they were defending by their arms; every year and in every war they were furnishing a double number of men, both of cavalry and of infantry, and yet were not admitted to the rights of citizens in the state which, through their efforts, had reached so high a position that it could look down upon men of the same race and blood as foreigners and aliens.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
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2026-06-07 16:04:59 UTC

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2026-06-07 16:04:43 UTC

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2026-06-07 16:04:25 UTC

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2026-06-07 16:02:31 UTC

Was on the march today 🚶🏻‍➡️
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2026-06-04 21:33:53 UTC

🟤 THE BIRTH OF PONTUS
“Not long afterward dissensions broke out among the Macedonians. Antigonus expelled Laomedon from Syria and assumed the government himself. He had with him one Mithridates, a scion of the royal house of Persia.
Antigonus had a dream that he had sowed a field with gold, and that Mithridates reaped it and carried it off to Pontus. He accordingly arrested him, intending to put him to death, but Mithridates escaped with six horsemen, fortified himself in a stronghold of Cappadocia, where many joined him in consequence of the decay of the Macedonian power, and possessed himself of the whole of Cappadocia and of the neighboring countries along the Euxine.
This great power, which he had built up, he left to his children. They reigned one after another until the sixth Mithridates in succession from the founder of the house, and he went to war with the Romans. Since there were kings of this house of both Cappadocia and Pontus, I judge that they divided the government, some ruling one country and some the other.
At any rate a king of Pontus, the Mithridates surnamed Euergetes (the Benefactor), who was the first of them inscribed as a friend of the Roman people, and who even sent some ships and a small force of auxiliaries to aid them against the Carthaginians, invaded Cappadocia as though it were a foreign country. He was succeeded by his son, Mithridates, surnamed Dionysus, and also Eupator.”
Appian, the foreign wars
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2026-06-03 11:21:10 UTC

https://blossom.primal.net/d2f222de918c9526551afc15c0db03aff35be8033f73e7446d300f4de057d2ac.mp4

2026-06-01 22:38:01 UTC

🔶 DISPUTE OVER A RIVER
58 AD
“In the same summer, a great battle was waged between the Hermunduri and Chatti, both attempting to appropriate by force a river which was at once a rich source for salt and the frontier line between the tribes.⁠ Apart from their passion for deciding all questions by the sword, they held an ingrained religious belief that this district was peculiarly close to heaven and that nowhere did the gods give more immediate audience to human prayer. Hence, by the divine favour, salt in that river and in these forests was not produced, as in other countries, by allowing water to evaporate in a pool left by the sea, but by pouring it on a blazing pile of trees, crystallization taking place throughout the union of two opposed elements, water and fire.⁠ The struggle, which went in favour of the Hermunduri, was the more disastrous to the Chatti in that both sides consecrated, in the event of victory, the adverse host to Mars and Mercury;⁠ a vow implying the extermination of horses, men, and all objects whatsoever.”
Tacitus
https://blossom.primal.net/69b2f86a232acec2fdbb3ebbe0c6b87cdb0127235334f0a31ff66a700c587c04.png

2026-05-31 21:02:28 UTC

Daily roman updates:
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2026-05-31 20:45:53 UTC

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2026-05-31 20:24:19 UTC

🔺 8,33 PERCENT
“A measure dealing with improper canvassing was for the first time submitted to the people, after passing the senate, by C. Poetilius, tribune of the plebs. It was intended to check the canvassing, mainly by rich plebeians, in the markets and promiscuous gatherings.”
“Another measure, by no means so welcome to the patricians, was brought forward the following year, the consuls being C. Marcius and Cnaeus Manlius. M. Duilius and L. Menenius, tribunes of the plebs, were the proposers of this measure, which fixed the rate of interest at 8 1/3 per cent.; the plebs adopted it with much more eagerness than the Poetilian Law against canvassing.”
Livy
https://blossom.primal.net/6f49fa192be65f19d7f7cf056dc26f4ff4c4145c25dd540f0909ce10f837d7e0.png

2026-05-31 16:52:25 UTC

🔘 SPONGES
“The only thing for which he (Vespasian) can fairly be censured was his love of money. For not content with reviving the imposts which had been repealed under Galba, he added new and heavy burdens, increasing the amount of tribute paid by the provinces, in some cases actually doubling it, and quite openly carrying on traffic which would be shameful even for a man in private life; for he would buy up certain commodities merely in order to distribute them at a profit. He made no bones of selling offices to candidates and acquittals to men under prosecution, whether innocent or guilty. He is even believed to have had the habit of designedly advancing the most rapacious of his procurators to higher posts, that they might be the richer when he later condemned them; in fact, it was common talk that he used these men as sponges, because he, so to speak, soaked them when they were dry and squeezed them when they were wet.”
Suetonius
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2026-05-30 10:40:48 UTC

🔵 GALLIC WALLS
“But this is usually the form of all the Gallic walls. Straight beams, connected lengthwise and two feet distant from each other at equal intervals, are placed together on the ground; these are mortised on the inside, and covered with plenty of earth. But the intervals which we have mentioned, are closed up in front by large stones. These being thus laid and cemented together, another row is added above, in such a manner, that the same interval may be observed, and that the beams may not touch one another, but equal spaces intervening, each row of beams is kept firmly in its place by a row of stones. In this manner the whole wall is consolidated, until the regular height of the wall be completed. This work, with respect to appearance and variety, is not unsightly, owing to the alternate rows of beams and stones, which preserve their order in right lines; and, besides, it possesses great advantages as regards utility and the defense of cities; for the stone protects it from fire, and the wood from the battering ram, since it [the wood] being mortised in the inside with rows of beams, generally forty feet each in length, can neither be broken through nor torn asunder.”
Julius Caesar, the gallic war
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2026-05-29 23:36:57 UTC

🟣 CONFLICT WITH THE AETHIOPIANS
“But the Aethiopians, emboldened by the fact that a part of the Roman force in Aegypt had been drawn away with Ælius Gallus when he was carrying on war against the Arabians, attacked the Thebaïs and the garrison of the three cohorts at Syenê, and by an unexpected onset took Syenê and Elephantinê and Philae, and enslaved the inhabitants, and also pulled down the statues of Caesar. But Petronius, setting out with less than ten thousand infantry and eight hundred cavalry against thirty thousand men, first forced them to flee back to Pselchis, an Aethiopian city, and sent ambassadors to demand what they had taken, as also to ask the reasons why they had begun war; and when they said that they had been wronged by the Nomarchs, he replied that these were not rulers of the country, but Caesar; and when they had requested three days for deliberation, but did nothing they should have done, he made an attack and forced them to come forth to battle; and he quickly turned them to flight, since they were badly marshalled and badly armed; for they had large oblong shields, and those too made of raw ox-hide, and as weapons some had only axes, others pikes, and others swords. Now some were driven together into the city, others fled into the desert, and others found refuge on a neighbouring island, having waded into the channel, for on account of the current the crocodiles were not numerous there. Among these fugitive were the generals of Queen Candacê, who was ruler of the Aethiopians in my time — a masculine sort of woman, and blind in one eye. These, one and all, he captured alive, having sailed after them in both rafts and ships, and he sent them forthwith down to Alexandria.”
Strabo
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2026-05-28 20:57:34 UTC

⚪️ THE RISE OF SULLA
“Cinna and Marius were soon punished by divine vengeance, after their massacre of citizens and their outrages against other men. Sulla, who was the only one remaining out of their enemies, destroyed the army of Mithridates in Boeotia, took Athens by storm, and made a treaty with Mithridates; then he took over the fleet of Mithridates and returned to Italy. In a very short time, he destroyed the armies of Cinna and Marius, and made himself master of Rome and all Italy. He slew all the bloodthirsty supporters of Cinna, and exterminated the family of Marius. Many reasonable men considered that the punishment of the perpetrators of so many murders was imposed by divine providence. Such a punishment ought to be a valuable lesson for those who follow the path of impiety, prompting them to turn away from their wickedness.”
Diodorus Siculus
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2026-05-28 20:32:23 UTC

- reply

The Transfiguration

2026-05-27 20:23:39 UTC

🟢 ESCAPE
“Publius Claudius, defeated by the Carthaginians in a naval engagement and thinking it necessary to break through the forces of the enemy, ordered his twenty remaining vessels to be dressed out as though victorious. The Carthaginians, therefore, thought our men had proved themselves superior in the encounter, so that Claudius became an object of fear to the enemy and thus made his escape.
The Carthaginians, on one occasion, when defeated in a naval battle, desiring to shake off the Romans who were close upon them, pretended that their vessels had caught on shoals and imitated the movement of stranded galleys. In this way they caused the victors, in fear of meeting a like disaster, to afford them an opportunity of escape.
Commius, the Atrebatian, when defeated by the deified Julius, fled from Gaul to Britain, and happened to reach the Channel at a time when the wind was fair, but the tide was out. Although the vessels were stranded on the flats, he nevertheless ordered the sails to be spread. Caesar, who was following them from a distance, seeing the sails swelling with the full breeze, and imagining Commius to be escaping from his hands and to be proceeding on a prosperous voyage, abandoned the pursuit.”
Frontinus: The Strategemata
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2026-05-26 21:21:22 UTC

⚫️ AVOIDING PLANTING COLONIES
“In the legislation of Gracchus I should regard as the most pernicious his planting of colonies outside of Italy. This policy the Romans of the older time had carefully avoided; for they saw how much more powerful Carthage had been than Tyre, Massilia than Phocaea, Syracuse than Corinth, Cyzicus and Byzantium than Miletus, — all these colonies, in short, than their mother cities — and had summoned all Roman citizens from the provinces back to Italy that they might be enrolled upon the census lists.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
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2026-05-25 16:46:21 UTC

🟡 THE SPARTAN CONSULTANT
“Now it happened that just about this time one of their recruiting agents, who had some time before been despatched to Greece, arrived home. brought a large number of men with him, and among them a certain Lacedaemonian named Xanthippus, a man trained in the Spartan discipline, and of large experience in war. When this man was informed of their defeat, and of how it had taken place, and when he had reviewed the military resources still left to the Carthaginians, and the number of their cavalry and elephants, he did not take long to come to a decided conclusion. He expressed his opinion to his friends that the Carthaginians had owed their defeat, not to the superiority of the Romans, but to the unskilfulness of their own commanders. The dangerous state of their affairs caused the words of Xanthippus to get abroad quickly among the people and to reach the ears of the generals; and the men in authority determined to summon and question him. He appeared, and laid his views before the magistrates; in which he showed to what they owed their present disasters, and that if they would take his advice and keep to the flat parts of the country alike in marching, encamping, and giving battle, they would be able with perfect ease to secure safety for themselves and to defeat their opponents in the field.”
Polybius, histories
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2026-05-25 16:45:25 UTC

🟤 ANTONINUS PIUS
Antoninus Pius was widely praised by his contemporaries and later historians for his just and benevolent rule. His adopted son and successor, Marcus Aurelius, held him in the highest regard, viewing him as an ideal ruler and a model of Stoic virtue.
Roman historians like Cassius Dio and Aurelius Victor also painted a positive picture of him, describing him as a wise and moderate emperor. Even the general public seemed to have a favorable view of Antoninus.
Born in Lanuvium, Italy, in 86 AD, Antoninus came from a wealthy and influential family. He held various political offices, including consul, before being adopted by Emperor Hadrian in 138 AD. This adoption made him Hadrian's heir and successor.
In 161 AD, he adopted Marcus Aurelius as his co-emperor, ensuring a smooth transition of power.
Antoninus died in Lorium, Italy, in 161 AD, at the age of 75. He is remembered as one of the most successful and beloved Roman emperors.
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2026-05-24 21:55:23 UTC

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2026-05-24 21:55:12 UTC

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2026-05-24 21:54:26 UTC

Germania inferior
https://blossom.primal.net/86f1ad3a7be6f1488cb560e5023770e0c4dc8bb4870d33242e53a7e375223793.mov

2026-05-24 18:21:41 UTC

🔶 THE FREEZING WINTER IN ARMENIA
“A legion from Germany was added with its complement of auxiliary horse and foot. The entire army was kept under canvas,⁠. notwithstanding a winter of such severity that the ice-covered ground had to be dug up before it would receive tents. As a result of the bitter cold, many of the men had frost-bitten limbs, and a few died on sentinel-duty. The case was observed of a soldier, carrying a bundle of firewood, whose hands had frozen till they adhered to his load and dropped off from the stumps. Corbulo himself, lightly dressed and bare-headed, was continually among his troops, on the march or at their toils, offering his praise to the stalwart, his comfort his weak, his example to all. Then, owing to the rigours of the climate and the service, recalcitrancy and desertion grew common, and the cure was sought in severity. For, contrary to the rule in other armies, mercy did not attend first and second offences, but the man who had left the standards made immediate atonement with his life. That the treatment was salutary and an improvement on pity was proved by experience, the camp showing fewer cases of desertion than those in which pardons were the rule.”
Tacitus
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2026-05-23 21:48:25 UTC

hello world

2026-05-23 01:00:17 UTC

🔘 ACCURACY
“He (Emperor Domitian) took no interest in arms, but was particularly devoted to archery. There are many who have more than once seen him slay a hundred wild beasts of different kinds on his Alban estate, and purposely kill some of them with two successive shots in such a way that the arrows gave the effect of horns. Sometimes he would have a slave stand at a distance and hold out the palm of his right hand for a mark, with the fingers spread; then he directed his arrows with such accuracy that they passed harmlessly between the fingers.”
Suetonius
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2026-05-20 21:14:17 UTC

🟣 PTOLEMAIC EGYPT DISSOLVED
“Having passed through the Hippodrome, one comes to Nicopolis, which has a settlement on the sea no smaller than a city. It is thirty stadia distant from Alexandria. Augustus Caesar honoured this place because it was here that he conquered in battle those who came out against him with Antony; and when he had taken the city at the first onset, he forced Antony to put himself to death and Cleopatra to come into his power alive; but a little later she too put herself to death secretly, while in prison, by the bite of an asp or (for two accounts are given) by applying a poisonous ointment; and the result was that the empire of the sons of Lagus, which had endured for many years, was dissolved.”
Strabo
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2026-05-18 21:41:16 UTC

⚪️ THE ETRUSCAN SOOTHSAYERS
“The civil war that broke out in Rome in the consulship of Sulla was (according to Livy and Diodorus) heralded by many omens. When the sky was cloudless and perfectly clear, a trumpet was heard making a sharp and plaintive sound, and all who heard it were struck with fear. The Etruscan soothsayers declared that this portent heralded a revolution in human affairs; they added that there are eight different races of men, each differing in their character and manner of life. The deity has assigned to each of them a certain period of time, which is the length of a great year. At the end of this period and the beginning of the following one, there appears some miraculous sign, either on earth or in heaven, from which the sages immediately know that a race of men has arisen with a different character and manner of life, and that the gods have less care for them than for previous men. Whether this is true or not, is something that I will not discuss here.”
Diodorus Siculus
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2026-05-12 21:39:15 UTC

⚫️ GAIUS GRACCHUS
“After an interval of ten years the same madness which had possessed Tiberius Gracchus now seized upon his brother Gaius, who resembled him in his general virtues as well as in his mistaken ambition, but far surpassed him in ability and eloquence. Gaius might have been the first man in the state had he held his spirit in repose; but, whether it was with the object of avenging his brother's death or of paving the way for kingly power, he followed the precedent which Tiberius had set and entered upon the career of a tribune. His aims, however, were far more ambitious and drastic. He was for giving the citizenship to all Italians, extending it almost to the Alps, distributing the public domain, limiting the holdings of each citizen to five hundred acres as had once been provided by the Licinian law, establishing new customs duties, filling the provinces with new colonies, transferring the judicial powers from the senate to the equites, and began the practice of distributing grain to the people. He left nothing undisturbed, nothing untouched, nothing unmolested, nothing, in short, as it had been. Furthermore he continued the exercise of his office for a second term.”
Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
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2026-05-10 22:12:35 UTC

🔶 ESCORTING A ROMAN CITIZEN
“Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen[b] to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”
He wrote a letter as follows:
Claudius Lysias,
To His Excellency, Governor Felix:
Greetings.
This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. When I was informedof a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.”
ACTS 23.
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2026-05-10 20:59:30 UTC

🔺 FACING GOLIATH
(361 BC) “A Gaul of extraordinary stature strode forward on to the unoccupied bridge, and shouting as loudly as he could, cried: "Let the bravest man that Rome possesses come out and fight me, that we two may decide which people is the superior in war."
“A long silence followed. The best and bravest of the Romans made no sign; they felt ashamed of appearing to decline the challenge, and yet they were reluctant to expose themselves to such terrible danger. Thereupon T. Manlius, the youth who had protected his father from the persecution of the tribune, left his post and went to the Dictator. "Without your orders, General," he said, "I will never leave my post to fight, no, not even if I saw that victory was certain; but if you give me permission I want to show that monster as he stalks so proudly in front of their lines that I am a scion of that family which hurled the troop of Gauls from the Tarpeian rock." Then the Dictator: "Success to your courage, T. Manlius, and to your affection for your father and your fatherland! Go, and with the help of the gods show that the name of Rome is invincible." Then his comrades fastened on his armour; he took an infantry shield and a Spanish sword as better adapted for close fighting; thus armed and equipped they led him forward against the Gaul, who was exulting in his brute strength, and even - the ancients thought this worth recording - putting his tongue out in derision. They retired to their posts and the two armed champions were left alone in the midst, more after the manner of a scene on the stage than under the conditions of serious war, and to those who judged by appearances, by no means equally matched. The one was a creature of enormous bulk, resplendent in a many-coloured coat and wearing painted and gilded armour; the other a man of average height, and his arms, useful rather than ornamental, gave him quite an ordinary appearance. There was no singing of war-songs, no prancing about, no silly brandishing of weapons. With a breast full of courage and silent wrath Manlius reserved all his ferocity for the actual moment of conflict. When they had taken their stand between the two armies, while so many hearts around them were in suspense between hope and fear, the Gaul, like a great overhanging mass, held out his shield on his left arm to meet his adversary's blows and aimed a tremendous cut downwards with his sword. The Roman evaded the blow, and pushing aside the bottom of the Gaul's shield with his own, he slipped under it close up to the Gaul, too near for him to get at him with his sword. Then turning the point of his blade upwards, he gave two rapid thrusts in succession and stabbed the Gaul in the belly and the groin, laying his enemy prostrate over a large extent of ground. He left the body of his fallen foe undespoiled with the exception of his chain, which though smeared with blood he placed round his own neck. Astonishment and fear kept the Gauls motionless; the Romans ran eagerly forward from their lines to meet their warrior, and amidst cheers and congratulations they conducted him to the Dictator. In the doggerel verses which they extemporised in his honour they called him Torquatus ("adorned with a chain"), and this soubriquet became for his posterity a proud family name. The Dictator gave him a golden crown, and before the whole army alluded to his victory in terms of the highest praise.”
Livy
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2026-05-05 11:05:46 UTC

🟣 MORE SAVAGE THAN THE BRITONS
“Besides some small islands round about Britain, there is also a large island, Ierne (Ireland), which stretches parallel to Britain on the north, its breadth being greater than its length. Concerning this island I have nothing certain to tell, except that its inhabitants are more savage than the Britons, since they are man-eaters as well as heavy eaters, and since, further, they count it an honourable thing, when their fathers die, to devour them, and openly to have intercourse, not only with the other women, but also with their mothers and sisters; but I am saying this only with the understanding that I have no trustworthy witnesses for it; and yet, as for the matter of man-eating, that is said to be a custom of the Scythians also, and, in cases of necessity forced by sieges, the Celti, the Iberians, and several other peoples are said to have practised it.”
Strabo
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2026-05-05 03:43:33 UTC

⚪️ THE GOD OF GOLD
“Wealth, the subject of so much dispute amongst men, sometimes causes great misfortunes to those who long to gain it. It drives them to unjust and criminal actions; it provides fuel for licentiousness, and leads the unwise into shameful behaviour. Thus we see these men fall into the greatest misfortune, and bring disaster on their cities. Such is the pernicious power of gold over men, when they foolishly over-value it. In their insatiable greed, they apply to everything these verses of the poets”
  "Blessed gold, most beautiful gift to mortals, greater pleasure than a mother . . ."
And also:  "Let them call me wicked, as long as I make a profit. "
Diodorus Siculus
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2026-05-04 22:09:59 UTC

🟢 HASTE TO SURRENDER
“When Domitius Corbulo was besieging Tigranocerta and the Armenians seemed likely to make an obstinate defence, Corbulo executed Vadandus, one of the nobles he had captured, shot his head out of a balista, and sent it flying within the fortifications of the enemy. It happened to fall in the
midst of a council which the barbarians were holding at that very moment, and the sight of it (as though it were some portent) so filled them with consternation that they made haste to surrender.”
Frontinus: The Strategemata
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2026-05-02 09:53:56 UTC

2026-05-02 09:52:00 UTC

🟡 THE BORDER TRIBES
"Marcomanni" essentially translates to
"border men" or "men of the border."
The Marcomannic Wars erupted in 166 AD along the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire, encompassing modern-day Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and parts of Germany and the Balkans. This conflict pitted the Roman Empire against a formidable coalition of Germanic and Sarmatian tribes, primarily the Marcomanni and Quadi, along with other tribes like the Iazyges and Sarmatians.
The sudden invasion across the Danube caught the Romans off guard, overwhelming frontier defenses and inflicting significant initial losses. The invaders exploited the vast and rugged terrain, employing hit-and-run tactics, ambushes, and swift raids to their advantage.
Emperor Marcus Aurelius personally assumed command of Roman forces. He mobilized legions from across the empire, drawing upon units like the Legio II Adiutrix and Legio XIV Gemina.
The Germanic and Sarmatian forces, including heavy infantry, cavalry archers, and light skirmishers, fought with exceptional ferocity and discipline. The tribes' mobility allowed them to swiftly shift positions and evade Roman pursuit, while skilled horsemen armed with bows and arrows harassed Roman formations from a distance.
The initial Roman response focused on stabilizing the situation, establishing a defensive line along the Danube to stem the tide of invaders. While the Romans achieved some initial successes, the conflict quickly escalated into a protracted and challenging struggle. The tribes likely sought to expand their territory into Roman provinces, driven by a desire for land, resources, and plunder.
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2026-04-28 21:52:16 UTC

🔺 DEEP HOLE IN THE FORUM
“In this year (362 BC), owing either to an earthquake or the action of some other force, the middle of the Forum fell in to an immense depth, presenting the appearance of an enormous cavern. Though all worked their hardest at throwing earth in, they were unable to fill up the gulf, until at the bidding of the gods inquiry was made as to what that was in which the strength of Rome lay. For this, the seers declared, must be sacrificed on that spot if men wished the Roman republic to be eternal. The story goes on that M. Curtius, a youth distinguished in war, indignantly asked those who were in doubt what answer to give, whether anything that Rome possessed was more precious than the arms and valour of her sons. As those around stood silent, he looked up to the Capitol and to the temples of the immortal gods which looked down on the Forum, and stretching out his hands first towards heaven and then to the yawning chasm beneath, devoted himself to the gods below. Then mounting his horse, which had been caparisoned as magnificently as possible, he leaped in full armour into the cavern. Gifts and offerings of fruits of the earth were flung in after him by crowds of men and women.”
Livy
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