Questions tagged [roman-culture]
The roman-culture tag has no usage guidance.
65 questions
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'Antisemitism' in Greek and/or Latin
This is a purely linguistics inquiry.
One term that's piqued my interest is "anti-Semitism." While it's widely used, the construction (anti- + -ism) feels recent compared to terms like "...
user15476
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1
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Translation of the game hide-and-seek
According to Wikipedia, a kind of hide-and-seek-like games is attested in Ancient Greek as apodidraskinda.
Are there attested similar games in Ancient Rome? If not, are there any good options for the ...
- 3,152
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Does "virtus" apply to women?
Virtus, literally "manlihood", is the origin of English virtue and is often so translated. As far as I know, virtus mainly refers to "courage", "strength" and other "...
- 3,152
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Is the inscription "avoca te" really a novel phrase?
In this article (in Dutch) it is claimed that an ancient Roman drinking mug found during an archaeological dig in the town of Mortsel in Belgium, contains the only known instance of the Latin ...
- 43
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Autistic/schizoid in latin?
What did the Romans—ordinary people or historians like Herodianus and Plinius—call the people who today are considered, in the modern sense, "autistic", or "schizoid". In fact, how ...
- 565
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Did the Romans divide plays into acts and what did they call them?
In a previous question it was asked what the acts were called in Greek plays. Did the Romans also divide their plays into specific parts, and what did they call them in Latin?
- 8,757
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What would the ancient Romans have called Hercules' Club?
During the 2nd to 3rd century, Romans would wear a pendant which we call a Hercules' Club, in much the same way a modern Christian would wear a crucifix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules%...
- 507
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What are good Latin equivalents to the Finnish concept sisu?
I am not Finnish, but having spent most of my adult life in one of the counties bordering to Finland, the word sisu has not escaped me, though a proper understanding of what it means requires a ...
- 3,359
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The classical Latin speakers called Vulgar Latin sermo vulgaris, sermo vulgi, and sermo plebeius, but what did plebeians call their language?
The elite and the educated, the classical latin speakers, called Vulgar Latin sermo vulgaris, sermo vulgi, and sermo plebeius, but what did plebeians and the other non elite Ancient Romans call Vulgar ...
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What are some examples of famous brands in the ancient Roman world?
In the Wikipedia article about brands, they give a few different examples of brands that existed in antiquity. A couple examples are given for ancient Rome, such as Umbricius Scaurus, a manufacturer ...
- 8,757
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Different spiritual / cultural forms of love and the right form of love to use in translating "in love, we trust"
In trying to translate "in love we trust," (love, in this case, not referring to the romantic-passionate form of love, definitely not eros, but rather universal spiritual love vibration) in ...
- 141
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Spondesne Gaiam, tuam filiam (or Gaiam, Lucii filiam), mihi (or filio meo) uxorem dari? Di bene vortant! Spondeo, Di bene vortant!
I would love to hear what "Spondesne Gaiam, tuam filiam (or Gaiam, Lucii filiam), mihi (or filio meo) uxorem dari? Di bene vortant! Spondeo, Di bene vortant!" sounds like! This is what the ...
- 123
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How the 'conflict' between heart/feelings and the "head" was described in the classical period
It sometimes happens to us, living beings of this age that we are, that we experience some kind of inner conflict; a conflict between what seems to our intellect or reason(*) and the feeling or "...
- 11.8k
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Roman wedding congratulations
How did the Romans congratulate a couple on their wedding day?
The concepts of wedding and marriage were not quite what they are now back then, but I assume that celebrations and congratulations were ...
- 116k
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How was the Concept of Price-Wage Inflation Expressed in the Roman World?
Inflation bedevils capitalist economies. Despite the power of Rome, the low-wage slave-economy, and a single currency (quite an achievement), the Roman World suffered from inflation. This happened ...
- 9,406
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Were iuvenēs expected to squander the family fortune?
Within the familia there are inevitable tensions between members of the various hierarchies that govern
it: fathers and sons, men and women, slave and free. As a servant of two masters, adulescens and ...
- 3,359
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Who minted this Roman coin, celebrating the sentencing of Vestal virgins?
This coin is part of a presentation done by University of Glasgow in relation to a seminar on coinage and numismatics. The coin is introduced in a video done by the Hunterian Museum, and I have found ...
- 3,359
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What is Peniculus insinuating with his reference to Samian crockery?
Introduction and question
Pl. Men. 1.2.71.
Pēn.
Metuis, crēdō, nē forēs sămiae sient.
Pēniculus
You fear, I believe, that the doors may be Samian*.
* By [Henry Thomas Riley][1] translated as ‘of ...
- 3,359
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Did Romulus and Remus have other names?
Throughout Classical times, Romans would often have several names: one person might be identified by praenomen, nomen gentilicum, cognomen, agnomen, signum, and patronymic, all together.
Were Roman ...
- 69.3k
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Was there a standard accent in Latin in the Roman era?
I know that the standard language was Classical Latin and that the average person spoke Vulgar Latin, but was there a standard dialect or pronunciation for Latin? Like the way it was spoken in Rome?
Infinite
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Does it make sense to display a decimal number such as 12.34 as Roman numerals? If not, how else?
I'm auto-converting any "Arabic" number in a text to Roman numerals.
This means that:
123
Becomes:
CXXIII
But what to do when I encounter decimals such as:
12.34
? Should I really do:
XII....
- 141
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Was there a link between happiness and the fascinum?
Catullus 7 ends with the following lines:
quae nec pernumerāre cūriōsī
possint, nec mala fascināre lingua.
[Kisses] which the curious cannot count and an evil tongue cannot hex.
According ...
- 69.3k
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Difference in the role of Cenaculum and Triclinum
Why Romans had both, Cenaculum and Triclinum, as dinning rooms?
What was the difference, and why Cenaculum was upstairs? What was the benefit to have a dining room in the attic.
I know what is a ...
- 1,836
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Generic toast in classical Latin
Was there a generic toast that Romans would say to each other when drinking, along the lines of Cheers, or Sláinte. It doesn't need to have the meaning of those so much as have the same cultural usage:...
- 8,757
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Is there any database on idiomatic expressions in Latin?
It is often said that one has an excellent command of a language when one is able to use it in an idiomatic way, which typically involves making use of Idioms and Collocations, i.a. There are many ...
- 9,121
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Did the Romans abbreviate the days of the week?
In current Spanish when we have to abbreviate the days of the week using only one character, in most places (but not everywhere) to tell apart martes (Tuesday) from miércoles (Wednesday) we use 'M' ...
- 2,239
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Understanding a sacrifice in Horace's carmen 1.5
In Carmina 1, poem 5, Horace writes about an untrustworthy and seducing lady.
He ends the poem in:
(...) Me tabula sacer
votiva paries indicat uvida
suspendisse potenti
vestimenta maris deo.
...
- 116k
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What did the Greeks and Romans call their pets?
I know that some Greeks and Romans kept pet canēs, cattī, and even dracōnēs. My question now is: what did they name them?
In other words, do we have attestations of how the ancients named their pets? ...
- 69.3k
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How to construct the title of a house: House of the Large Cups?
I have read the thread on Domus optima, but I am looking for the idiom: how did Romans title their houses (vs. describe them)?
In English, I would title our place "House of the Large Cups" because ...
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Did the Romans 'tip' for good service?
I need to refer in Latin to the modern practice of 'tipping' in return for good service. I am well aware of words and phrases for 'reward', which are essentially correct for my purpose, but I should ...
- 18.2k
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Requests with 'posse'
In English and many other languages, asking "can you close the window?" is not an inquiry on the ability to close the window but rather a request to do so.
Can the (classical) Latin posse be used the ...
- 116k
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What do you call your aunt or uncle's spouse?
In Latin, a paternal aunt is an 'amita', a paternal uncle is a 'patruus', a maternal aunt is a 'matertera' and a maternal uncle is an 'avunculus'. However, what do you call each of these people's ...
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How did dogs and wolves compare in the Roman mind?
The Romans knew both dogs and wolves.
But how similar and how dissimilar did they think they were, as indicated by their literature?
I am looking for an understanding about Roman views on dogs and ...
- 116k
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Did the Romans have a color of mourning?
In today's western culture the color black is associated with mourning.
Did the Romans have a mourning color?
I am interested in a color that was physically present in time of mourning, for example in ...
- 116k
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Did the Romans have an expression for a national day?
Did the Romans have any kind of a national day, or did the Romans have a name for the national day of some other nation?
Such days go by various names in different countries (e.g. independence day or ...
- 116k
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Why was the period between Domitian and Commodus so happy and prosperous?
In my introduction to Meditations, Edward Gibbon is quoted as saying that the period between the death of Domitian and the accession of Commodus was the happiest and most prosperous in human history. ...
- 12.1k
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Was the Roman concept of "imperium" influenced by Plato?
Early on in The Republic, Socrates contends with Thrasymachus's argument that "justice is the interest of the stronger". Socrates gives some analogies, such as the relationship that doctors have with ...
- 12.1k
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Did the ancient Romans have a myth about returning to Rome?
There is a modern myth (or perhaps rather folklore, superstition or something else) that if one throws a coin in Fontana di Trevi, faith will make them come back to Rome.
Was there anything similar in ...
- 116k
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Hypocorism/diminutive name forms in Roman antiquity/Latin?
I'd originally asked this on SE:H, but it was suggested that here would be more appropriate.
Triggered by recently reading about the history of English names with Anglo-Saxon roots and the ...
user1968
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What is an entrepreneur?
I am looking for a Latin word for "entrepreneur" or "self-employed" or something in that direction.
My question is two-fold:
Was there a word in classical Latin for someone who owns their own ...
- 116k
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Did the Romans give names to instances of natural disasters?
It is common to name storms.
For example, a hurricane called Harvey is now over Texas.
On the other hand, ancient people named deities related to various places and natural phenomena.
There might be a ...
- 116k
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Are there attested prohibition signs?
Are there preserved inscriptions or other such texts from ancient Rome that contain a prohibition?
I would prefer original signs that have survived, but mentions in the literature are also interesting....
- 116k
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Hushing with a finger gesture
I was reading Dante's Divine Comedy, and this verse caught my attention (Hell 25.45 with my translation):
mi puosi 'l dito su dal mento al naso
I put my finger up from my chin to my nose
This is ...
- 116k
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What verb is wine made with?
Which verb did the Romans use for making wine?
I can imagine saying vinum facio/conficio/primo and maybe some other options as well.
Different verbs might emphasize different aspects or steps of ...
- 116k
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Did the Romans have children's books?
In the same vein as our other "Did the Romans have..." questions, I would like to know: Did the Romans have any children's books? I am especially interested in preserved examples, but a second-hand ...
- 42.9k
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Do Roman numerals stand for something?
This may be an incredibly obvious question, but if so it's not immediately clear to me and probably deserves a question here.
Two Roman numerals seem to have an obvious parallel to an existing word:
...
- 42.9k
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Does "matrimonium" ever refer to a polygamous or homosexual relationship?
Matrimonium is the standard term in Roman legal parlance for "matrimony", along with the related term nuptiae, "wedding."
My question is simply stated: In Roman classical antiquity, either by legal ...
- 42.9k
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Latin quote about a million doggerel verses
I distinctly remember from a class at some point a disparaging remark by a Latin poet about other less accomplished poets who churned out "a million hexameters a year", obviously implying terrible ...
- 1,470
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Did the Romans have a selection game?
If there are three people and only two candies — and in other similar dire situations — people sometimes choose to play some kind of game to select who is left without something or who ...
- 116k
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What did a *cellarius* do?
Inspired by this question A good word for waiter or waitress I'd like to know what duties a cellarius had in antique times.
The German word for waiter, Kellner, is a loan from cellarius, but it ...
- 2,317