This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure.
Read more[RERUN] EPISODE 48: Give Me Back My Legions! (Part 2)
“In order to depict a battle, there is required one of those powerful painters who have chaos in their brushes” — Victor Hugo
“Inconceivable!” — From The Princess Bride
A little over 2,000 years ago, Rome was a well-oiled war machine crushing everything in its path. At that time, the Roman legions were the most deadly military force in the Western world, and possibly in the whole world. Every year, they conquered new peoples and pushed the boundaries of their empire. Rape and pillage was the name of the game, and they were masters at it. But in the year 9 CE, something happened in the forests of Germany that was going to have a profound impact on the destiny of the world. Some historians go so far as to suggest that both the German and English languages may not exist as we know them, had things gone differently. News arriving from Germany, along with a severed head delivered by courier, threw Emperor Augustus in a deep depression.
In this second and final part of the series (for the first part you can check Episode 47)about the clash between Rome’s power with Germanic tribesmen, we’ll consider topics such as how suicide post-defeat in battle was a family tradition for one of the key characters in our story, when Varus ordered 2,000 people crucified, the training of the Roman army, Arminius’ skill at playing the long con, the battle that changed history, having to cut your friends’ throat out of kindness, the German passion for human sacrifice, Roman vengeance, how these events may be tied to the creation of the English language, and much more.
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If you’d like to go to Japan for a historical tour with yours truly as a guide, please check out https://geeknationtours.com/tours/signature-battlefield-series-classic-samurai-from-the-gempei-war-to-the-mongol-invasions-2023/
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EPISODE 74: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 2): Stoicism, Pandemic and War
“No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he'll keep comin' back and back until one of you is dead.” — From the film Casino
“The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily and died unattended and without help. Many died in the open street, others dying in their houses, made it known by the stench of their rotting bodies.” — Giovanni Boccaccio
“If anyone can refute me—show me I’m making a mistake or looking at things from the wrong perspective—I’ll gladly change. It’s the truth I’m after, and the truth never harmed anyone. What harms us is to persist in self-deceit and ignorance.” — Marcus Aurelius
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” — Viktor Frankl
“Severe to himself, indulgent to the imperfection of others, just and beneficent to all mankind.” — Edward Gibbon
Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny chose him to be the head of the Roman Empire. As a philosopher-emperor, Marcus turned to Stoicism to help him deal with more drama than any human being should have to deal with. Most of his children died before reaching adult age. Rome’s old rival, Parthia, engaged the empire in a brutal war for supremacy. Germanic tribes raided the frontier and invaded Italy. Marcus’ adoptive brother and co-emperor died early, leaving to Marcus the burden to lead the empire under dreadful circumstances. And then there was the pandemic… a terrifying plague that would kill large chunks of the population, cripple the economy, disrupt travel, and create a very well justified climate of fear. Marcus’ ability to navigate all this and more thanks to his philosophical practices enshrined his name among those of the best emperors Rome ever had.
In this final episode of this series about him: the first time Rome is ruled by two emperors at the same time, the party animal that was Lucius Verus, persecuting Christians, war with Parthia, a con man with his glove puppet, the movie Casino, Robert Greene’s book The 48 Laws of Power, Romans reaching China, a deadly pandemic, snake gods & Tulsa Doom, great ideas and not-so-great ideas in The Meditations, the Hagakure, Viktor Frankl, Deepak Chopra vs. Joe Rogan, the Dread Pirate Roberts, Germanic invasions, rebellions, marrying your adoptive uncle who was once engaged to your mom, the strange case of Commodus, and much more.
EPISODE 73: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 1): Stoicism, Pandemic and War
“Rise up and do battle.” — Homer
“Discipline is freedom, and the companion to imagination. Discipline makes it possible for you to become whatever you want to be.” — Deng Ming Dao
Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny chose him to be the head of the Roman Empire. As a philosopher-emperor, Marcus turned to Stoicism to help him deal with more drama than any human being should have to deal with. Most of his children died before reaching adult age. Rome’s old rival, Parthia, engaged the empire in a brutal war for supremacy. Germanic tribes raided the frontier and invaded Italy. Marcus’ adoptive brother and co-emperor died early, leaving to Marcus the burden to lead the empire under dreadful circumstances. And then there was the pandemic… a terrifying plague that would kill large chunks of the population, cripple the economy, disrupt travel, and create a very well justified climate of fear. Marcus’ ability to navigate all this and more thanks to his philosophical practices enshrined his name among those of the best emperors Rome ever had.
In this first episode, we cover: Lost, Marcus’ pep-talks, the power of rituals, the genesis of the empire, Marcus Aurelius’ early life, the impact of Greek culture in Rome, Emperor Hadrian’s murderous ways, Stoicism, Antoninus’ reign, and much more.
EPISODE 66: Sex in Ancient Rome
“From an author’s perspective, writing about sex is risky, because if you write well enough, evocatively enough, vividly enough, you make the reader want to put the book aside and go get laid.” — Tom Robbins
“Let's live and love,
Caring less than nothing for
The moralizing of stern old men.
The sun sets and rises back again,
But an eternal night of sleep awaits us
When our brief light turns to darkness.
Give me a thousand kisses, and a hundred more.
Then a thousand, and another hundred.
And then more thousands and hundreds.
Let's scatter them, then,
So that no one can envy us
By knowing how many kisses we have shared.” — Catullus
“You know how today some people have garden gnomes? Ancient Romans had their own version, and of course... the Romans being Romans, their garden gnomes were endowed huge penises and an enthusiasm for raping anyone entering the garden uninvited.” — Daniele Bolelli
This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more.
My lady (and author of History on Fire logo, plus producer and editor of History on Fire) has a FB public page about her art & fighting: https://www.facebook.com/NahryEm/.
This is my public FB page: https://www.facebook.com/danielebolelli1/
Here is a link to the audiobook of my “Not Afraid”: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/not-afraid-audiobook/
For those of you who may be interested, here is a lecture series I created about Taoist philosophy: http://www.danielebolelli.com/downloads/taoist-lectures/
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