Why do we call “agony” when the end of life of a person comes, often terrible and painful?
Kalendae, Idus, Nonae: a very complex way to name the days of the month
Everything related to the history of the Roman calendar and its transmission until today is very complex, especially for us who are used to a system of nomination of days of the month truly simple, each day is called the number it occupies in the whole month: January 1st, February 2nd or February 15th or March 3rd …
The Roman state helps the starving citizens with the “annona”
The reality of Rome is much sadder than the topic of the gargantuan feast, which is the result of a literary creativity that always pays attention to the exceptional and anecdotal instead of the ordinary and prosaic: thousands of hungry citizens.
I hate and I love (odi et amo)
It seems a contradiction and, however, it is possible to feel these two strong passions simultaneously. At least this is what Catullus and thousands of later lovers admit.
Tempus fugit – Time Flees
The people had to try to measure the time very soon, perhaps with the false illusion of catching it.
Knowing the date of an historical event is not so easy
Men need to place events in time, need to give events a date; but the different cultures and peoples date based on several events, interesting to them, but irrelevant for other people.