The Roman Army wasn’t just legionaries and building roads… In our third podcast, we look at an unusual funerary inscription on display in the Ashmolean’s Randolph Gallery. It was set up for a speculator, an intelligence officer who was stationed…
(Re)visiting an old friend from Hadrian’s Wall – Podcast 2
Back in early September, AshLI challenged Twitter followers of @AshmoleanLatin to read a tiny bronze plaque in the Ashmolean Collection. By the end of the day, we were really getting somewhere: After some clever sleuthing from classics-lovers and amateur epigraphers,…
The Roman teenager who was his mum’s little superhero – Podcast 1
This month’s Latin inscriptions blog comes to you as a short podcast, recorded in the Ashmolean Museum’s beautiful Randolph Gallery. Hear AshLI’s Professor Alison Cooley and Dr Jane Masséglia talking about one of the team’s favourite objects. Listen to the…
Love Letters – How did the Romans write about the people they loved?
As the feast of Saint Valentinus (a Roman, no less) is upon us, we’ve been thinking about love letters, or rather the different kinds of texts written by Romans about the people they loved. We know about the fiery passions…
What year are we in? How did the Romans talk about years before BC/AD was invented?
It’s the year AD 2015. Happy New Year everyone! For those of us who’ve grown up describing years as BC and AD, it can be hard to imagine doing it any other way. But describing a date as Before Christ…
Archaeology, Classics Teachers, Epigraphy, Funerary reliefs/tombstones, Latin Inscriptions, Roman Britain, Roman Religion, Uncategorized
On the Feast of Saturnalia, my master gave to me…
A Roman Slave’s Carol As the shortest day of the year drew near, the Romans crossed their fingers for a kind winter and people from all walks of life made a break in their usual routine to honour the harvest…