RacingRodent
Consul
PS: Watch over that Northern slave ... I think Barbaria has her eye on her.
I think anyone who did not have their eye on her would have to be blind
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Amica
- Thread starter Velut Luna
- Start date
I think anyone who did not have their eye on her would have to be blind
LittleSiss
Sorceress
Playing the percentages again, RR?I think anyone who did not have their eye on her would have to be blind
However! You do get points for Dapper!
LittleSiss
Sorceress
I never said that!!!!!!!!
vain creature
PS: Watch over that Northern slave ... I think Barbaria has her eye on her.
Who?.....
.....Moi?
Velut Luna
Sibilla Cumana
Amica 18
The region where the villa of Lucius Silius Satrianus stands is called Pagus Augustus Felix Suburbanus. The country house is situated on a hill surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, with a spectacular view over the Bay and the islands, with the cultivated plain and the town at its foot, in the distance are the mountains that sweep down to form the cliffs of Sorrento, and beyond, Mount Vesuvius.
There’s a crowd has assembled of the families of land-slaves, the women, the children are curious, they approach, smiling, stretching out their hands in expectation of a gift. You know it already, you've brought a few dates that you put in the hands of the kids who run away, happy to enjoy their sweet little treasures.
The exterior of the house is simple, there are no precious stones or marble, just plaster painted in red ochre, with just a pair of travertine columns and a carved pediment over the door to set it apart from the simple houses of the villagers a little way off.
Unlike the residence in Pompeii, it has a much more complicated internal layout. The outer walls overlook the enclosure, those of building are higher, those of the garden lower, are forming a protection all around the kitchen garden and the ornamental grounds. From the vestibule, through the fauces, is the atrium with its open the roof, then a short hallway leads to the colonnaded peristyle. You explain to me that the columns of travertine are in the Greek Doric style. There is an interior garden with flowers where small tubfulls of climbing roses are supported on columns and beams to form an arch that gives dappled shade from the sun. On the right, the whole area is taken up by the triclinia and oecus, on the left the private rooms of Lucius facing a private peristyle, study and library.
The guest rooms are located down a corridor that goes off to the left from within the atrium. They face the interior space which also gives access to the area of the bath-house, with its frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium, and even a gymnasium.
The rooms for slaves are arranged to the right and left side of a corridor from the vestibule which leads to a small atrium and to the kitchens. We have the privilege of having our room on the right-hand side of the house, farther away, overlooking the orchard and the exedra (small cubicles) at the side of the triclinia (dining-rooms). This is the cooler side, better for rest during the hot days of summer, especially during the nights, when we’ll have a place to retire to.
Lucius has not arrived yet, all the male and female slaves are hurrying to prepare for his arrival. You give orders, who must prepare his room, who will clean the triclinia, who’ll tidy the peristyle, who’ll get to work in the garden and grounds, who in the kitchens. I prepare our room. I set out our stuff on the benches and trunks, make the two beds – I’ve got a bed all to myself! I set free our black elf, who runs everywhere to look around, then, satisfied with the new house, jumps onto my bed and curls up at the foot-end.
Lucius arrives in the evening, and hurries immediately into the bath-house for a quick hot bath, a long warm bath, and a quick cool bath. The fatigue of the day wears off after he’s massaged with scented oil, which comes, you tell me, from a country recently subjected to harsh repression by the son of the Emperor Vespasian, Titus, who destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, exterminating the Jewish rebels, and imposing by force the Laws of Rome. This oil is called Essence of the Essenes, it has a pleasant smell of cedar and citrus fruit, penetrating deep into the limbs, taking away fatigue.
Slaves bring in the food for dinner. All we slaves dine with our Master, seated on wooden stools or on the stone seats along the walls of the triclinium. Lucius is reclining on his couch, next to him his slave serves him with the most delicious foods. There are no guests on this first day here.
The region where the villa of Lucius Silius Satrianus stands is called Pagus Augustus Felix Suburbanus. The country house is situated on a hill surrounded by vineyards and olive trees, with a spectacular view over the Bay and the islands, with the cultivated plain and the town at its foot, in the distance are the mountains that sweep down to form the cliffs of Sorrento, and beyond, Mount Vesuvius.
There’s a crowd has assembled of the families of land-slaves, the women, the children are curious, they approach, smiling, stretching out their hands in expectation of a gift. You know it already, you've brought a few dates that you put in the hands of the kids who run away, happy to enjoy their sweet little treasures.
The exterior of the house is simple, there are no precious stones or marble, just plaster painted in red ochre, with just a pair of travertine columns and a carved pediment over the door to set it apart from the simple houses of the villagers a little way off.
Unlike the residence in Pompeii, it has a much more complicated internal layout. The outer walls overlook the enclosure, those of building are higher, those of the garden lower, are forming a protection all around the kitchen garden and the ornamental grounds. From the vestibule, through the fauces, is the atrium with its open the roof, then a short hallway leads to the colonnaded peristyle. You explain to me that the columns of travertine are in the Greek Doric style. There is an interior garden with flowers where small tubfulls of climbing roses are supported on columns and beams to form an arch that gives dappled shade from the sun. On the right, the whole area is taken up by the triclinia and oecus, on the left the private rooms of Lucius facing a private peristyle, study and library.
The guest rooms are located down a corridor that goes off to the left from within the atrium. They face the interior space which also gives access to the area of the bath-house, with its frigidarium, tepidarium and caldarium, and even a gymnasium.
The rooms for slaves are arranged to the right and left side of a corridor from the vestibule which leads to a small atrium and to the kitchens. We have the privilege of having our room on the right-hand side of the house, farther away, overlooking the orchard and the exedra (small cubicles) at the side of the triclinia (dining-rooms). This is the cooler side, better for rest during the hot days of summer, especially during the nights, when we’ll have a place to retire to.
Lucius has not arrived yet, all the male and female slaves are hurrying to prepare for his arrival. You give orders, who must prepare his room, who will clean the triclinia, who’ll tidy the peristyle, who’ll get to work in the garden and grounds, who in the kitchens. I prepare our room. I set out our stuff on the benches and trunks, make the two beds – I’ve got a bed all to myself! I set free our black elf, who runs everywhere to look around, then, satisfied with the new house, jumps onto my bed and curls up at the foot-end.
Lucius arrives in the evening, and hurries immediately into the bath-house for a quick hot bath, a long warm bath, and a quick cool bath. The fatigue of the day wears off after he’s massaged with scented oil, which comes, you tell me, from a country recently subjected to harsh repression by the son of the Emperor Vespasian, Titus, who destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, exterminating the Jewish rebels, and imposing by force the Laws of Rome. This oil is called Essence of the Essenes, it has a pleasant smell of cedar and citrus fruit, penetrating deep into the limbs, taking away fatigue.
Slaves bring in the food for dinner. All we slaves dine with our Master, seated on wooden stools or on the stone seats along the walls of the triclinium. Lucius is reclining on his couch, next to him his slave serves him with the most delicious foods. There are no guests on this first day here.
Velut Luna
Sibilla Cumana
Amica 19
While I wait for you to finish giving orders to the slaves to prepare for tomorrow's work, I sit on the edge of the pool of flowing water running in the center of the peristyle. I'm fascinated by seeing the water rise from among the white stones that cover the bottom, the play of reflections on the ruffled surface, like a mirror in slight motion. I see my face, the moon, the few shining clouds, everything is moving as if seized by a slight tremor.
The water comes out of the central basin, and, gliding over the edge, falls in the outer, slightly larger, pool, and is lost among the black stones at the bottom of this.
You emerge from the oecus accompanied by Lucius, with a roll of parchment under his arm, discussing intently. When he falls quiet, you make me a gesture to follow you into the studio next to the library. I prepare an oil lamp, you spread out the roll on the table, holding it open with small stone figurines placed at the corners. I look at it, curious.
There’s a line drawing in the shape of a fan, with complicated curves, words and symbols, alongside further drawings, with characters aligned and superimposed. Is this magic? Some spell to summon up ghosts? You talk, but I do not understand, words like sundial, hourglass, clock, gnomon, sun, shadows, azimuth, sunrise, sunset, east, west, cardinal and decumanal, Emperor, Rome, obelisk, Manilius, equinox, solstice, Pliny, Historia Naturalis...
Then I hear something that I understand better, tomorrow we will work on the forecourt outside the house, in front of the oblique side-wall. We have to trace the intricate pattern on the ground. It must be completed by the evening, we will have the help of two young slaves who understand well what they have to do.
I am cheered by the fact that we have to work outdoors, that means no dishes to wash, no onions to cut, no indoor plants to tend, no floors to clean. It looks like a challenging job that requires precision, but we will stay in the sun in front of the most beautiful panorama I 've ever seen, breathing in the scent of the vine flowers.
Lucius instructs us that the work is to be done with great care. In a few days, Gaius Plinius Secundus, Praefectus of the Classis Misenis, is coming, and he want to impress him, but the clock has to mark the hours correctly, it must not give him a poor impression.
Here comes Lucius’s slave, as if to remind him that it's time to go to bed, and for us to go back to our room.
'What is a sundial?' I ask you,
'It's an apparatus that is used to measure the time of day.'
'But what’s the use of measuring time? When the sun rises, you have to get up, when it goes down you have to go to sleep, you eat when you're hungry. '
'It's a little more complicated than you think, imagine you want to meet a handsome young man, how do you tell when you will?'
'First of all I need to tell him where we want to meet, then I would say when the sun is above a certain point in the landscape ...'
'It is for that reason that he will arrive much sooner, and he will have to wait until you finally decide to arrive, as if his time were moving faster than yours! So you need to make time pass for everyone at the same speed.'
'If he has to wait, his desire to have me near him will grow, he’ll be more loving, and more daring! And if he were to scold me for making him wait, I’d send him to ...'
'That's why girls hate anyone who wants to measure their time!'
The black night elf awaits us curled up on my bed, just poking up its nose, its eyes glittering in the dark. We try out our new gift from Lucius, the toothbrushes to clean our teeth. There’s a soft cream that has the scent of mint and sage. We have to should rub on our teeth, it leaves our mouths fresh and clean. You caress in my arms, kiss me on my mouth, we lie down cuddling together in your bed, the night is still young...
While I wait for you to finish giving orders to the slaves to prepare for tomorrow's work, I sit on the edge of the pool of flowing water running in the center of the peristyle. I'm fascinated by seeing the water rise from among the white stones that cover the bottom, the play of reflections on the ruffled surface, like a mirror in slight motion. I see my face, the moon, the few shining clouds, everything is moving as if seized by a slight tremor.
The water comes out of the central basin, and, gliding over the edge, falls in the outer, slightly larger, pool, and is lost among the black stones at the bottom of this.
You emerge from the oecus accompanied by Lucius, with a roll of parchment under his arm, discussing intently. When he falls quiet, you make me a gesture to follow you into the studio next to the library. I prepare an oil lamp, you spread out the roll on the table, holding it open with small stone figurines placed at the corners. I look at it, curious.
There’s a line drawing in the shape of a fan, with complicated curves, words and symbols, alongside further drawings, with characters aligned and superimposed. Is this magic? Some spell to summon up ghosts? You talk, but I do not understand, words like sundial, hourglass, clock, gnomon, sun, shadows, azimuth, sunrise, sunset, east, west, cardinal and decumanal, Emperor, Rome, obelisk, Manilius, equinox, solstice, Pliny, Historia Naturalis...
Then I hear something that I understand better, tomorrow we will work on the forecourt outside the house, in front of the oblique side-wall. We have to trace the intricate pattern on the ground. It must be completed by the evening, we will have the help of two young slaves who understand well what they have to do.
I am cheered by the fact that we have to work outdoors, that means no dishes to wash, no onions to cut, no indoor plants to tend, no floors to clean. It looks like a challenging job that requires precision, but we will stay in the sun in front of the most beautiful panorama I 've ever seen, breathing in the scent of the vine flowers.
Lucius instructs us that the work is to be done with great care. In a few days, Gaius Plinius Secundus, Praefectus of the Classis Misenis, is coming, and he want to impress him, but the clock has to mark the hours correctly, it must not give him a poor impression.
Here comes Lucius’s slave, as if to remind him that it's time to go to bed, and for us to go back to our room.
'What is a sundial?' I ask you,
'It's an apparatus that is used to measure the time of day.'
'But what’s the use of measuring time? When the sun rises, you have to get up, when it goes down you have to go to sleep, you eat when you're hungry. '
'It's a little more complicated than you think, imagine you want to meet a handsome young man, how do you tell when you will?'
'First of all I need to tell him where we want to meet, then I would say when the sun is above a certain point in the landscape ...'
'It is for that reason that he will arrive much sooner, and he will have to wait until you finally decide to arrive, as if his time were moving faster than yours! So you need to make time pass for everyone at the same speed.'
'If he has to wait, his desire to have me near him will grow, he’ll be more loving, and more daring! And if he were to scold me for making him wait, I’d send him to ...'
'That's why girls hate anyone who wants to measure their time!'
The black night elf awaits us curled up on my bed, just poking up its nose, its eyes glittering in the dark. We try out our new gift from Lucius, the toothbrushes to clean our teeth. There’s a soft cream that has the scent of mint and sage. We have to should rub on our teeth, it leaves our mouths fresh and clean. You caress in my arms, kiss me on my mouth, we lie down cuddling together in your bed, the night is still young...
So....
It's not just Wragg who can't get his head around these new-fangled gadgets!!
Velut Luna
Sibilla Cumana
RacingRodent
Consul
RacingRodent
Consul
And weather expecially the English!
Our weather is very patriotic
"The wind blew and they were scattered"
Our weather is very patriotic
"The wind blew and they were scattered"
Lucky break
I hope this 'sundial'-thing is not digital! And how do you reset it for daylight savings time???So....
It's not just Wragg who can't get his head around these new-fangled gadgets!!
Tree
Velut Luna
Sibilla Cumana
Oh! It's digital
one! The number (digit) are written near any hours, and can be set for summer daylight saving times only adding one to the 'digit' of hours, but romans use a very more complicated
way for measuring times.(particulars in the next step
)
messaline
Crucified Amazon
It's what it makes the difference between Barbarian people and civilized people : civilization is the better manner to complicate the common live !
Then, Bravo Luna ! This is a wonderful story telling so well a slave'life that I could qualify like "wonderful", excepted perhaps that she has not enough ( or not at all
) sex'sceances !Though, in Pompei ... !!!
It's a pity that Messaline couldn't have this Amica !
I love this story Luna!
Velut Luna
Sibilla Cumana
Amica 20
All the household is in action, though the sun has not yet risen. The rosy light of dawn is illuminating the sky, a feeling of euphoria fills me, I want to do something.
You put in my hands three 'κλεψάμμία' klepsámmia - sand-clocks - a larger one with red sand, two others alike in size, one with white sand and the other black, along with a wax tablet and a stylus.
'Get yourself a veil, when the sun is high in the sky it will burn you, with your white skin!'
I follow you now outside, onto the terrace in front of the house. You have with you the rolls with the drawings, the slaves have already brought out two tables and two wooden stools. You place the sand-clocks and the tablet on one table, that will be my place of work, and you lay the drawings open on the other.
On the ground are ropes, and rods with marks inscribed at finger’s-width intervals. There’s a post, taller than four men’s height, with a support formed by five poles, two pairs crossed, and the other resting on the hook above the crossed ones. There are several boxes with stones in them, some engraved, some are white, some black and some red.
'See, I have already prepared the ground last winter, and this spring, the stones will be the reference-points for the construction of the great sun-clock.'
Slaves are stretching the ropes so that they pass across marks on the stones, and laying them down on the ground.
'This line, that goes to the wall of the house, is the meridian, it marks the direction of the shadow at the sixth hour of the day, the moment when the sun is at its maximum height above the horizon every day. This second line, pointing towards the sea, in the direction of the headland of Misenum, marks the direction of the setting sun on the two days in which the duration of the light is equal to the duration of the dark. There, on the opposite side, the rising sun would be visible if those mountains in the distance were not there. This third rope, as you see, points towards the seaward headland on the island of Capri, and it marks the spot where the sun sets on the shortest day of the year. In the opposite direction, the sun would rise on the longest day, but the mountains hide the rising sun, only for a short time, but enough to confuse everything!'
This reminds me of my home in the far north, I could show you the notch between the mountains where the sun sets on those ‘equal night’ dates. But in my land at midwinter it hardly rises over the sea, and it sets almost immediately. At midsummer, it’s only hidden for a short time behind the mountains, it doesn’t get dark.
The slaves raise up the long pole with its sharp point. Its base rests on a stone near the rope that marks the meridian, they check that it is properly positioned - at its sides hang two thin cords with weights at their ends, they measure these with a short wooden ruler to ensure that the length of the cable is the same in both directions. The pole is now supported against the beam between the crossed-stake supports. The slaves lay on the ground the cords that will hold the pole, the gnomon, as you call it, saying that it is not yet the final one, today we shall draw on the ground around the diagram and check if everything is in order. Tomorrow a travertine marble column will arrive, the obelisk that will become the definitive gnomon.
Says the fly on the horns of the ox to the frog who asks her what she's doing up there, 'Can’t you see? I’m ploughing! That’s how I’m feeling while they’re all working and I look and say ‘we’ll trace', 'we’ll check '.
Everything is ready, I sit at the table with the sand-clocks in front of me, as the sun rises. Immediately I turn the sand-clock with the white sand and make a mark on the left of the wax tablet. The shadow of the tip of the gnomon projects along the ground, you indicate with the point of a stick the precise place where a slave has to place a white stone as big as an apple. I have to instruct a young slave who will follow the course of the tip of the shadow until the sand in the glass runs out, he has to trace a line in the earth where the next stones will be placed.
You indicate the two assistant slaves where to put a new cord stretched between another two stones that have already been positioned, this string will indicate the second time, just where the shadow of the tip of the gnomon reaches it. I turn the other two sand-clocks upside down, the one with the red sand and the one with black sand. I make two marks on the wax tablet, one in the center to indicate that I’ve turned the red one, and a mark to the right for the black one. A red stone marks the location where the shadow met the first string.
You’ve explained to me that the big sand-clock with the red sand is very precise, it would be turned exactly twelve times between sunrise and sunset on the day of the equinox, but today it will be turned more times - as we are at the Ides of May (May 15th), the days are longer than the nights, so we will have to place more red stones, and black stones which will be positioned at the time when the black sand runs down.
I understand about the days being longer. It’s been hard for me since I was brought to these lands, the days don’t seem to vary much in length, they do a bit, but not like at home. And at night the stars are mostly ones I know, but not in the same parts of the sky. But when we were on the slave-trader’s boat, I thought one night, it must be close to the date midway between the equal-night day and midsummer. That’s an important date in our calendar, I should have been making a sacrifice to our gods. But all these strings and coloured stones are a mystery...
I have to say 'rubra' or 'alba' or 'nigra' (red or white or black), and immediately turn the sand-clock, and the young slave will place the stone of the right color, except for the black one, which I will only turn that one when the shadow reaches the string.
The work doesn’t seem so tiring for me, the important thing is that I do not confuse which clocks to turn. I don’t yet understand what all this complication is about, these colored stones and strings.
Meanwhile the slaves, following your instructions, trace out a great diagram, with arcs of a circle drawn with thin cords, measurements marked out with dividers, taut strings, and positioned stones. The sun is rising high in the sky, the heat increasing, other slaves bring a sheet to form a small tent over where our tables are, with a pitcher of water and glasses.
The magic moment arrives, when the red sand runs out, the shadow reaches the meridian line!
We take a morsel of bread, a piece of cheese, a fruit, a drink of water, and the work goes on. By now you and the slaves have finished tracing out the lines, now your are drawing strange curves that intersect the diagram from east to west. They turn toward the north above the line of the equinox, to the south below it. And I go on saying ‘red’, ‘white’, ‘black’, turning the clocks and marking the tablet, and the young slave marks the location, following the shadow of the pole tip, with the stones on the ground.
It is almost sunset when Lucius arrives to inspect the work. He seems satisfied, but you stops him just in time before stumbling on one of the stones that have been laid out.
'What are these? I don’t understand them – they weren’t included in the design! Why have you put them here?'
I’m stupefied, has all my 'work' been useless? Why has Eulalia kept me all day watching sand sinking, saying ‘red’, ‘white’, ‘black’?
Now Lucius seems upset.
The last white stone as big as an apple is laid when the sun sets behind the hill of Naples and the shadow of the gnomon fades away.
'You see, Lucius, the precisely positioned stones indicate the error that the Romans make in always dividing the length of daylight into twelve hours. The taut strings, and the path now traced under them, represent the time in the way you Romans favour. The red stones, on the other hand, indicate hours that have the same duration as on the days of the equinox when the hours of the day and those of the night are equal, that I call fixed hours. As you can see, today the daytime lasted over fourteen of these equal fixed hours, the black stones indicate how much each ‘hour’, according to your system, is longer than the fixed hour, and the white stones indicate the deviation from the other hours if we start to measure the time from sunrise here, and track the fixed hours, they show how they relate to the hours of your time-system.'
It’s a challenge! Eulalia, how dare you contradict Lucius? We’re risking a hundred lashes!
But Lucius looks attentive, surprised, then he says:
'Of course Eulalia, you're right, you’ve done it just right, you've traced the hours of our system. But the Romans are not so naive as not to understand that before the equinox our hours are shorter, and after it they are longer, but we pay those who work for only six hours before then, because the day is shorter, and only for eight hours after the equinox. Workers always think they’ll work for the same length of time, but in summer they work up to twelve of your fixed hours, so we save on the payroll and get more work done!'
All the household is in action, though the sun has not yet risen. The rosy light of dawn is illuminating the sky, a feeling of euphoria fills me, I want to do something.
You put in my hands three 'κλεψάμμία' klepsámmia - sand-clocks - a larger one with red sand, two others alike in size, one with white sand and the other black, along with a wax tablet and a stylus.
'Get yourself a veil, when the sun is high in the sky it will burn you, with your white skin!'
I follow you now outside, onto the terrace in front of the house. You have with you the rolls with the drawings, the slaves have already brought out two tables and two wooden stools. You place the sand-clocks and the tablet on one table, that will be my place of work, and you lay the drawings open on the other.
On the ground are ropes, and rods with marks inscribed at finger’s-width intervals. There’s a post, taller than four men’s height, with a support formed by five poles, two pairs crossed, and the other resting on the hook above the crossed ones. There are several boxes with stones in them, some engraved, some are white, some black and some red.
'See, I have already prepared the ground last winter, and this spring, the stones will be the reference-points for the construction of the great sun-clock.'
Slaves are stretching the ropes so that they pass across marks on the stones, and laying them down on the ground.
'This line, that goes to the wall of the house, is the meridian, it marks the direction of the shadow at the sixth hour of the day, the moment when the sun is at its maximum height above the horizon every day. This second line, pointing towards the sea, in the direction of the headland of Misenum, marks the direction of the setting sun on the two days in which the duration of the light is equal to the duration of the dark. There, on the opposite side, the rising sun would be visible if those mountains in the distance were not there. This third rope, as you see, points towards the seaward headland on the island of Capri, and it marks the spot where the sun sets on the shortest day of the year. In the opposite direction, the sun would rise on the longest day, but the mountains hide the rising sun, only for a short time, but enough to confuse everything!'
This reminds me of my home in the far north, I could show you the notch between the mountains where the sun sets on those ‘equal night’ dates. But in my land at midwinter it hardly rises over the sea, and it sets almost immediately. At midsummer, it’s only hidden for a short time behind the mountains, it doesn’t get dark.
The slaves raise up the long pole with its sharp point. Its base rests on a stone near the rope that marks the meridian, they check that it is properly positioned - at its sides hang two thin cords with weights at their ends, they measure these with a short wooden ruler to ensure that the length of the cable is the same in both directions. The pole is now supported against the beam between the crossed-stake supports. The slaves lay on the ground the cords that will hold the pole, the gnomon, as you call it, saying that it is not yet the final one, today we shall draw on the ground around the diagram and check if everything is in order. Tomorrow a travertine marble column will arrive, the obelisk that will become the definitive gnomon.
Says the fly on the horns of the ox to the frog who asks her what she's doing up there, 'Can’t you see? I’m ploughing! That’s how I’m feeling while they’re all working and I look and say ‘we’ll trace', 'we’ll check '.
Everything is ready, I sit at the table with the sand-clocks in front of me, as the sun rises. Immediately I turn the sand-clock with the white sand and make a mark on the left of the wax tablet. The shadow of the tip of the gnomon projects along the ground, you indicate with the point of a stick the precise place where a slave has to place a white stone as big as an apple. I have to instruct a young slave who will follow the course of the tip of the shadow until the sand in the glass runs out, he has to trace a line in the earth where the next stones will be placed.
You indicate the two assistant slaves where to put a new cord stretched between another two stones that have already been positioned, this string will indicate the second time, just where the shadow of the tip of the gnomon reaches it. I turn the other two sand-clocks upside down, the one with the red sand and the one with black sand. I make two marks on the wax tablet, one in the center to indicate that I’ve turned the red one, and a mark to the right for the black one. A red stone marks the location where the shadow met the first string.
You’ve explained to me that the big sand-clock with the red sand is very precise, it would be turned exactly twelve times between sunrise and sunset on the day of the equinox, but today it will be turned more times - as we are at the Ides of May (May 15th), the days are longer than the nights, so we will have to place more red stones, and black stones which will be positioned at the time when the black sand runs down.
I understand about the days being longer. It’s been hard for me since I was brought to these lands, the days don’t seem to vary much in length, they do a bit, but not like at home. And at night the stars are mostly ones I know, but not in the same parts of the sky. But when we were on the slave-trader’s boat, I thought one night, it must be close to the date midway between the equal-night day and midsummer. That’s an important date in our calendar, I should have been making a sacrifice to our gods. But all these strings and coloured stones are a mystery...
I have to say 'rubra' or 'alba' or 'nigra' (red or white or black), and immediately turn the sand-clock, and the young slave will place the stone of the right color, except for the black one, which I will only turn that one when the shadow reaches the string.
The work doesn’t seem so tiring for me, the important thing is that I do not confuse which clocks to turn. I don’t yet understand what all this complication is about, these colored stones and strings.
Meanwhile the slaves, following your instructions, trace out a great diagram, with arcs of a circle drawn with thin cords, measurements marked out with dividers, taut strings, and positioned stones. The sun is rising high in the sky, the heat increasing, other slaves bring a sheet to form a small tent over where our tables are, with a pitcher of water and glasses.
The magic moment arrives, when the red sand runs out, the shadow reaches the meridian line!
We take a morsel of bread, a piece of cheese, a fruit, a drink of water, and the work goes on. By now you and the slaves have finished tracing out the lines, now your are drawing strange curves that intersect the diagram from east to west. They turn toward the north above the line of the equinox, to the south below it. And I go on saying ‘red’, ‘white’, ‘black’, turning the clocks and marking the tablet, and the young slave marks the location, following the shadow of the pole tip, with the stones on the ground.
It is almost sunset when Lucius arrives to inspect the work. He seems satisfied, but you stops him just in time before stumbling on one of the stones that have been laid out.
'What are these? I don’t understand them – they weren’t included in the design! Why have you put them here?'
I’m stupefied, has all my 'work' been useless? Why has Eulalia kept me all day watching sand sinking, saying ‘red’, ‘white’, ‘black’?
Now Lucius seems upset.
The last white stone as big as an apple is laid when the sun sets behind the hill of Naples and the shadow of the gnomon fades away.
'You see, Lucius, the precisely positioned stones indicate the error that the Romans make in always dividing the length of daylight into twelve hours. The taut strings, and the path now traced under them, represent the time in the way you Romans favour. The red stones, on the other hand, indicate hours that have the same duration as on the days of the equinox when the hours of the day and those of the night are equal, that I call fixed hours. As you can see, today the daytime lasted over fourteen of these equal fixed hours, the black stones indicate how much each ‘hour’, according to your system, is longer than the fixed hour, and the white stones indicate the deviation from the other hours if we start to measure the time from sunrise here, and track the fixed hours, they show how they relate to the hours of your time-system.'
It’s a challenge! Eulalia, how dare you contradict Lucius? We’re risking a hundred lashes!
But Lucius looks attentive, surprised, then he says:
'Of course Eulalia, you're right, you’ve done it just right, you've traced the hours of our system. But the Romans are not so naive as not to understand that before the equinox our hours are shorter, and after it they are longer, but we pay those who work for only six hours before then, because the day is shorter, and only for eight hours after the equinox. Workers always think they’ll work for the same length of time, but in summer they work up to twelve of your fixed hours, so we save on the payroll and get more work done!'
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Velut Luna
Sibilla Cumana
Amica 21a
We go immediately to the bath-house, next take a light dinner, and then we go into Lucius’s study to plan the work for tomorrow. Finally, at last, in bed, cuddling, while the little black night-elf sneaks in between us to claim for himself a little bit of pampering .
It is dawn, Lucius has already left to go to Stabia, and then to Sorrento, he'll be away a couple of days, accompanied by two slaves as bodyguards.
A wagon bringing the obelisk, and another with the plinth and some large, inscribed, monumental stones have arrived on the great square where the sundial is to stand. Meanwhile the slaves have already done the excavating for the foundation, and they have prepared the cement.
Roman cement, you explain to me, is a mixture of sea-shell and limestone grit [testa et carbunculus] cooked in large kilns, with the addition a volcanic ash called ‘excavated sand’ [harena fossicia]. These materials, 'testa, carbunculus et harena fossicia', are used to make a cement between stones or bricks being used in erecting a building.
These should not be confused with the traditional ‘puteolana’, whose name originates from the town of Puteoli [Pozzuoli]. According to the book De Architectura by Vitruvius, ‘puteolana’ is used exclusively for the construction of marine works, such as harbours, or in the foundations of bridges, whereas 'harena fossicia, carbunculus testaque’ are used in making mortar for construction on dry land.
It’s hard work setting down the plinth for the obelisk so that there is no instability, as the place where the base of the obelisk will rest must be horizontal. The slaves who work here have great experience, they are working fast but with precise control of their tools at every moment of their job. Finally, hauled by oxen and supported by a large wooden structure, the obelisk rises to exactly its correct position on its plinth.
The height of the obelisk is less than that of the wooden pole used yesterday to for tracking of the lines of the great solar clock. On its tip is inserted a bronze bar on which is positioned a gilded bronze sphere, and on top of that a pointed cone, also of bronze. These three pieces, properly adjusted, will determine the exact position of the apex of the gnomon.
Other slaves are attaching carved plaques to the wall of the domestic quarters, with large bronze pins.
One is a calendar with all the months and all days of the year, indicating the kalends, the nones and ides, and the dates of festivals, on the other door is a diagram of the seasons, days and hours.
Anni quidem vertentis initium capiunt aliia
Sic diem incipiunt alii ab
Continet autem hic dies
On the four sides of the plinth that supports the obelisk were carved these inscriptions:
the first concerning the signs of the zodiac:
Aurato princeps Aries in vellere fulgens
Respicit admirans aversum surgere Taurum
Summisso vultu Geminos et fronte vocantem
Quos sequitur Cancer, Cancrum Leo, Virgo Leonem
Aequato tum Libra die cum tempore noctis
Attrahit ardenti fulgentem Scorpion astro
In cuius caudam contento dirigit arcu
Mixtus equo volucrem missurus iamque sagittam
Tum venit angusto Capricornus sidere flexus
Post hunc inflexa defundit Aquarius urna
Piscibus assuetas avide subeuntibus undas
Quos Aries tangit claudentis ultima signa (1)
on the other an inscription:
Prima salutantes atque continet hora
Exercet raucos tertia causidicos
In quintam varios extendit Roma labores
Sexta quies lassis, septima finis erit
Sufficit in nonam nitidis octava palaestris
Imperat excelsos frangere nona toros
Hora libellorum decima est, Eupheme, meorum
Temperat ambrosias cum tua cura dapes
Et bonus aetherio laxatur nectare Caesar
Ingentique tenet pocula parca manu
Tunc admitte jocos: gressu timet ire licenti
Ad matutinum nostra Thalia Jovem (2)
------------------
P.S. Free translation by Eulalia
(*)
The years begin on different dates :
at the winter solstice for the Romans,
the summer solstice for the Athenians,
the autumnal equinox for the Asians (of Asia Minor),
the spring equinox for the Arabs and Damascenes (Syrians).
Likewise, days begin at different times:
at sunrise for the Babylonians,
at midday for the Umbrians and Etruscans,
at sunset for the Athenians and Judaeans,
at midnight for the Romans, Egyptians and Hyrcani Parthi
Nevertheless, the day contains these:
the light,
the dawn,
the evening twilight,
the shades, or night.
The parts of the light are:
morning,
midday,
afternoon (sun sinking, or the mild time),
sunset or the final time.
The parts of the night are:
evening,
the first lamp [lit],
early sleep,
the dead of night,
midnight,
the turn of the night,
cock-crow,
the quiet before dawn.
(1)
(2)
I – II Unwanted visitors, haven’t I got enough to do?
III – IV In court, lawyers get hoarse haranguing me.
V All Rome’s at work like slaves.
VI Siesta time, thank Jove!
VII Finish papyrus-work, signed, sealed and sent.
VIII Sweat in the gym, chill in the plunge-bath.
IX Collapse on cushions.
X Time for my little notebooks, scribble some lines...
XI Euphēmus, what a feast you manage for us –
Caesar the good himself imbibes- though sparingly –
from little glasses, nectar of the gods!
XII Oh, take my silly verses, Euphēme -
Thalia, my cheeky little muse,
is far too coy to toddle up with such unworthy stuff
at dawn for great Jove’s representative on earth!
(based on Martial, Epigram VIII)
We go immediately to the bath-house, next take a light dinner, and then we go into Lucius’s study to plan the work for tomorrow. Finally, at last, in bed, cuddling, while the little black night-elf sneaks in between us to claim for himself a little bit of pampering .
It is dawn, Lucius has already left to go to Stabia, and then to Sorrento, he'll be away a couple of days, accompanied by two slaves as bodyguards.
A wagon bringing the obelisk, and another with the plinth and some large, inscribed, monumental stones have arrived on the great square where the sundial is to stand. Meanwhile the slaves have already done the excavating for the foundation, and they have prepared the cement.
Roman cement, you explain to me, is a mixture of sea-shell and limestone grit [testa et carbunculus] cooked in large kilns, with the addition a volcanic ash called ‘excavated sand’ [harena fossicia]. These materials, 'testa, carbunculus et harena fossicia', are used to make a cement between stones or bricks being used in erecting a building.
These should not be confused with the traditional ‘puteolana’, whose name originates from the town of Puteoli [Pozzuoli]. According to the book De Architectura by Vitruvius, ‘puteolana’ is used exclusively for the construction of marine works, such as harbours, or in the foundations of bridges, whereas 'harena fossicia, carbunculus testaque’ are used in making mortar for construction on dry land.
It’s hard work setting down the plinth for the obelisk so that there is no instability, as the place where the base of the obelisk will rest must be horizontal. The slaves who work here have great experience, they are working fast but with precise control of their tools at every moment of their job. Finally, hauled by oxen and supported by a large wooden structure, the obelisk rises to exactly its correct position on its plinth.
The height of the obelisk is less than that of the wooden pole used yesterday to for tracking of the lines of the great solar clock. On its tip is inserted a bronze bar on which is positioned a gilded bronze sphere, and on top of that a pointed cone, also of bronze. These three pieces, properly adjusted, will determine the exact position of the apex of the gnomon.
Other slaves are attaching carved plaques to the wall of the domestic quarters, with large bronze pins.
One is a calendar with all the months and all days of the year, indicating the kalends, the nones and ides, and the dates of festivals, on the other door is a diagram of the seasons, days and hours.
Anni quidem vertentis initium capiunt aliia
Solstitiis Hyberno ut Romani
Aestivo ut Athenienses
Aequinoctis Autumnali ut Asiani
Verno ut Arabes, Damasceni
Aestivo ut Athenienses
Aequinoctis Autumnali ut Asiani
Verno ut Arabes, Damasceni
Sic diem incipiunt alii ab
Ortu, ut Babilonii
Meridie, ut Umbri, Hetrusci
Occasu, ut Athenienses, Judaei
Media nocte, ut Romani, Aegyptii, Hyrcani Parthi
Meridie, ut Umbri, Hetrusci
Occasu, ut Athenienses, Judaei
Media nocte, ut Romani, Aegyptii, Hyrcani Parthi
Continet autem hic dies
Lucem, cujus partes sunt
Mane
Meridies
Occiduum sive serenum tempus
Solis iccasus sive suprema tempestas
Meridies
Occiduum sive serenum tempus
Solis iccasus sive suprema tempestas
Diluculum
Crepusculum
Crepusculum
Tenebras, seu noctem, cujus patres sunt
Vesper
Prima fax
Concubium
Nox intempesta
Media nox
Media noctis inclinatio
Gallicinium
Conticinium (*)
Prima fax
Concubium
Nox intempesta
Media nox
Media noctis inclinatio
Gallicinium
Conticinium (*)
On the four sides of the plinth that supports the obelisk were carved these inscriptions:
the first concerning the signs of the zodiac:
Aurato princeps Aries in vellere fulgens
Respicit admirans aversum surgere Taurum
Summisso vultu Geminos et fronte vocantem
Quos sequitur Cancer, Cancrum Leo, Virgo Leonem
Aequato tum Libra die cum tempore noctis
Attrahit ardenti fulgentem Scorpion astro
In cuius caudam contento dirigit arcu
Mixtus equo volucrem missurus iamque sagittam
Tum venit angusto Capricornus sidere flexus
Post hunc inflexa defundit Aquarius urna
Piscibus assuetas avide subeuntibus undas
Quos Aries tangit claudentis ultima signa (1)
on the other an inscription:
Prima salutantes atque continet hora
Exercet raucos tertia causidicos
In quintam varios extendit Roma labores
Sexta quies lassis, septima finis erit
Sufficit in nonam nitidis octava palaestris
Imperat excelsos frangere nona toros
Hora libellorum decima est, Eupheme, meorum
Temperat ambrosias cum tua cura dapes
Et bonus aetherio laxatur nectare Caesar
Ingentique tenet pocula parca manu
Tunc admitte jocos: gressu timet ire licenti
Ad matutinum nostra Thalia Jovem (2)
------------------
P.S. Free translation by Eulalia
(*)
The years begin on different dates :
at the winter solstice for the Romans,
the summer solstice for the Athenians,
the autumnal equinox for the Asians (of Asia Minor),
the spring equinox for the Arabs and Damascenes (Syrians).
Likewise, days begin at different times:
at sunrise for the Babylonians,
at midday for the Umbrians and Etruscans,
at sunset for the Athenians and Judaeans,
at midnight for the Romans, Egyptians and Hyrcani Parthi
Nevertheless, the day contains these:
the light,
the dawn,
the evening twilight,
the shades, or night.
The parts of the light are:
morning,
midday,
afternoon (sun sinking, or the mild time),
sunset or the final time.
The parts of the night are:
evening,
the first lamp [lit],
early sleep,
the dead of night,
midnight,
the turn of the night,
cock-crow,
the quiet before dawn.
(1)
The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac
The princely RAM, clad in his golden wool,
Looks back admiring to behold the BULL
Against him rise; who with a cheerful face
Looks back to the TWINS and bids them mend their pace;
The CRAB next follows, and the LION then,
Next the celestial MAID untouched by men;
LIBRA comes after, who, lest time should fail,
Weighs out the days and nights in equal scale;
And calls the SCORPION on, who in his train
Bears a bright, fulgent star, at which in vain
The CENTAUR with his string drawn to his ear
Aims his keen shaft; the goat does next appear
That’s CAPRICORNUS called, who often glowers
Because to quench his star AQUARIUS showers
His lather forth; next after him come fast
PISCES, that of the twelve signs are the last.
The princely RAM, clad in his golden wool,
Looks back admiring to behold the BULL
Against him rise; who with a cheerful face
Looks back to the TWINS and bids them mend their pace;
The CRAB next follows, and the LION then,
Next the celestial MAID untouched by men;
LIBRA comes after, who, lest time should fail,
Weighs out the days and nights in equal scale;
And calls the SCORPION on, who in his train
Bears a bright, fulgent star, at which in vain
The CENTAUR with his string drawn to his ear
Aims his keen shaft; the goat does next appear
That’s CAPRICORNUS called, who often glowers
Because to quench his star AQUARIUS showers
His lather forth; next after him come fast
PISCES, that of the twelve signs are the last.
(2)
A Roman Patrician’s Busy Day
I – II Unwanted visitors, haven’t I got enough to do?
III – IV In court, lawyers get hoarse haranguing me.
V All Rome’s at work like slaves.
VI Siesta time, thank Jove!
VII Finish papyrus-work, signed, sealed and sent.
VIII Sweat in the gym, chill in the plunge-bath.
IX Collapse on cushions.
X Time for my little notebooks, scribble some lines...
XI Euphēmus, what a feast you manage for us –
Caesar the good himself imbibes- though sparingly –
from little glasses, nectar of the gods!
XII Oh, take my silly verses, Euphēme -
Thalia, my cheeky little muse,
is far too coy to toddle up with such unworthy stuff
at dawn for great Jove’s representative on earth!
(based on Martial, Epigram VIII)
sequitur....
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the Zodiac poem is The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac,
translated from Manilius Astronomica by Thomas Heywood, 1612,
modernised by eul.
'Hyparchi' in the first piece was a problem for us,
Luna had found the text in an 18th century book,
we decided it was copied from a manuscript where a scribe
had made an error copying the names of two Scythian peoples,
Hyrcani and Parthi - that sort of 'eye-skip' is common, as is c for uncial t.
translated from Manilius Astronomica by Thomas Heywood, 1612,
modernised by eul.
'Hyparchi' in the first piece was a problem for us,
Luna had found the text in an 18th century book,
we decided it was copied from a manuscript where a scribe
had made an error copying the names of two Scythian peoples,
Hyrcani and Parthi - that sort of 'eye-skip' is common, as is c for uncial t.
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