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https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/ven-byzantine- sez (embolded by me): I am a Venice fanatic but not so much the Byz angle (St Mark etc) so may be a contra-indicator for you. I found Murano and Torcello islands painfully blah. Pay attention to ferry schedule for Torcello; you may have to commit to a very short or long wait for the return. Stopover in Burano which is super cute, if well over the top. They have/had coin bathrooms with no change made at the time. Mosto and Turchi facades go by fast on a waterbus, so maybe look for viewpoints from other side of canal. One is a hotel and the other a zoolog museum, so visiting may have complications. I normally love museums, but in Venice I only find the huge Maritime museum inspiring. Nobody visits there, and the staff tries to herd everyone out way before the 1:30 closing, but you may find Byz cannons or whatever. Consider a quick excursion to Padua for mosaics, etc. The charming neighborhoods in Venice are Dorsoduro (SW) and Castello (NE). The famous walk of train station - Rialto bridge - San Marco is a cattle drive horror show punctuated by pigeon poop. To get from west to east walk the alternate route of bus station - Academy bridge and onward; that's what Italian commuters do. Venice has the worst food in Italy since it has negligible Italian customers. Instead of tourist gelato which tastes like shaving cream with food coloring, get sorbetto tailored to more refined taste. Instead of stockpiled wet cardboard pizza slices, order a whole pie with gourmet ingredients they have to prepare for you. Above all, wander around at dawn and night when daytripper hordes are gone.

There have been many previous posts on Garum (see below), the famous fermented fish sauce of the ancient world. Max Miller has attempted to recreate (again) this unusual dish:

Suprising results from archeologists who found a thriving town from a period of crisis.... Archaeological discovery upends what we thought we knew about fall of Roman empire (msn.com)

Thank you for bringing this ongoing research to my attention about the Interamna Lirenas Project. Two aspects of this find stand out to me: First, the finding of a roofed enclosed theater was unusual in Ancient Rome. (One suggestion that this theater had a roof is the presence of gutters on the side of the building.) According to the video, there are around 100 known Greek and Roman theaters in the Peninsula of Italy, but only ten are thought to have been covered. Second, the finding of an inscribed sundial at the site was absolutely fascinating. I learned a lot about precision time keeping in Ancient Rome (both sundials and water clocks). I had never thought about it but I learned from the videos below that the Roman hour during the summer was about 80 minutes; the winter, 40 minutes. This sundial was a nice bit of self promotion. According to the video, there are 600 sundials known from Roman history. About thirty are inscribed and less than half of them have a person’s name inscribed on them. According to the video, the inscription on this sundial reads “Marcus Novius Tubula, son of Marcus, tribune of the plebs who donated this from his own funds.” This sundial dates to the end of the 1st century BCE to the start of the 1st century AD. The office of tribune at this time was held in Rome. It appears from the presence of another inscription with a similar name at Interamna Lineras that this man was probably a local benefactor. This individual possibly made a successful career in Rome and he wanted to celebrate his success with his home town. A short summary video of the find: A more thorough video on the find with emphasis on the roofed theater, numismatic finds, and the inscribed sundial. An excellent video on timekeeping in Ancient Rome.

A fragment of Roman amphora found in Spain was found to have an inscription of Virgil’s Georgics, which dealt with rural and agricultural themes. The amphora shard was initially found seven years ago, but only recently was it translated. The full passage reads: https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/21/virgil-quote-found-on-fragment-of-roman-jar-unearthed-in-spain https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/virgil-quote-roman-jar-180982426/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/las-georgicas-de-virgilio-in-figlinis-a-proposito-de-un-grafito-ante-cocturam-sobre-un-anfora-olearia-betica/742CDE20EED6987767C896C2A1F01739

Thank you for reading my post. I must disagree, however, with some of your points. I agree, for example, that only a small population in the ancient world had any level of literacy. Among the literate (not exclusively the ruling class elite), the knowledge and familiarity of the great Latin and Greek texts was essential. Historian and numismatist Guy de la Bédoyère mentions that even soldiers were frequently at least familiar with these texts. In fact, the military character in Roman comedies was distinguished by the way he would recite quotations (see 11:30 of the video below). As you mentioned, only a few could read. The fact that the writing was on the bottom of the amphora and not easily visible means that it was probably not meant for either the merchants or consumers. Maybe the text was copied for only the amusement of the amphora manufacturer or perhaps it was written by someone to practice and perfect his Latin. Guy de la Bédoyère has done some interesting and insightful work on deciphering an inscription on the reverse of a medallion of Carausius found in the 1930s. (Carausius was the usurper who ruled Britain and Northern Gaul, coming to power in AD 286.) On the reverse of Carausius medals was “RSP” and “INPCDA.” These inscriptions were left without an adequate translation for more than a half century. In 1997 Bédoyère was able to translate the significance of this inscription through his familiarity with Virgil’s “Ecologue.” (Virgil was the Roman Augustan poet who published “Eclogues” or “Bucolics” around 39-38 BCE, more than two centuries before Carausius.) “RSR” was seen to represent as “Redeunt Saturnia Regna;’ “INPCDA” was “Iam Nova Progenies Caelo Demittitur Alto.” This passage is found in Virgil’s “Ecolgues” and means “The Saturnian kingdoms return (or The Golden Age returns), now a new generation is let down from heaven above.” (See page 189 of the article below.) Bédoyère notes that fluency and understanding of Latin and Greek were much more common even in more recent years than today. In fact, he states, “A 1689 medallion of William and Mary issued to commemorate the restoration of the church carries the reverse legend ‘Caelo delabitur alto (he comes down from the heaven above)’ a direct allusion to [Ecolgues] IV, 7.” In conclusion, our lack of familiarity with poetry little more than a century old should not cause us to underestimate the ancient appreciation of poetry several centuries old, even if only superficially. Thanks, again, for reading my post. Bedoyere_2005.pdf (mom.fr)

Sensationalism sells. "locked in?"- they don't mention a collapsed roof. Maybe they just haven't uncovered a door yet. There must have been a way to bring in food, fodder and to evacuate manure, not to mention the finished bread. How did they get the men & animals in there in the first place? How many modern bakeries have windows to provide a view for workers?... Did the skeletons have chains on the limbs? Were donkey skeltons found? Blindfolds or just blinders like modern working equines use? Hollywood has given us a false impression of the life of ancient slaves. Slaves were in all likelihood treated more like we today treat our working animals- horses, hunting or sled dogs, etc--- We may not let them sleep in our beds like Zza Zza and her lap dog, but we feed them well and don't mistreat them either. But the excavations at Pompeii give us such a fortuitous opportunity to gain insight into the daily life two millennia ago. With the exception of powered machinery, practically everything we have and do today had its counterpart in ancient Rome.

Although this is an older article, it is an interesting finding. This Egyptian document possibly bears what is thought to be Cleopatra’s only known hand writing. Below is thought to be Cleopatra's signature on an official document written by an Egyptian official. https://greekreporter.com/2023/09/20/cleopatra-handwriting-greek-word/ https://archive.archaeology.org/0101/newsbriefs/cleopatra.html

There isn't much evidence for military protocol in the Roman legions. Legionaries weren't called 'soldiers' before Augustus (they were referred to as 'Brothers'). Specific ranks would be a little tedious so broad categories are likely, Centurion, Tribune, Legate. What you will have to become aware of is that the Romans may well have not used analogous behaviour to modern armies (a typical Hollywood or literary ploy). Saluting has been debated for a lo/ng time and most people feel comfortable with a modernesque protocol, but the sources do not mention saluting outside of honouring a commander as opposed to recognising his superior rank as we do. What this means is that ordinary salutes may not have happened, but that soldiers who approved of their commanders may have deliberately or spontaneously saluted them as something. Incidentially using the word 'Domine' might well have been seen as 'licking the backside'. In fact, such language does exist in letters recovered from Vindolanda. It does not refer to rank, but names the recipient as 'Master'. That's a very subordinate form of phrasing because it infers that you are indentured to the recipient in some way. Legionaries swore an oath of obedience - this was necessary because obedience to another man is the same as slavery, and Roman soldiers would not tolerate such associations. They were free citizens, soldiers or not. The upshot of this is that I am thinking in terms of names being more contextual than actual rank titles in many cases. Remember that in the legions, loyalty is fixed toward individuals rather than offices.