Month: December 2009

More sources for the meaning of “bruma”; winter solstice? midwinter? etc

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Following this post, in which I listed the supposed sources for the meaning of the term “bruma” and quoted some, I have been looking up some more.  The English translations are not specially concerned with this word, so should be treated only as a guide.

Ovid, Fasti, book 1, line 163:

quaesieram multis; non multis ille moratus
contulit in versus sic sua verba duos:
‘bruma novi prima est veterisque novissima solis:
principium capiunt Phoebus et annus idem.’  (from here)

[161] Thus questioned I at length; he answered prompt and tersely,
throwing his words into twain verses, thus:
“Midwinter is the beginning of the new sun and the end of the old one.
Phoebus and the year take their start from the same point.”  (from here).

 Cicero, Epistulae ad familiares (Letters to his friends) 3.7.3:

Quid? cum dabas iis litteras, per quas mecum agebas, ne eos impedirem, quo minus ante hiemem aedificarent, non eos ad me venturos arbitrabare? tametsi id quidem fecerunt ridicule; quas enim litteras afferebant, ut opus aestate facere possent, eas mihi post brumam reddiderunt. (from here)

What! at the time you delivered that letter to them, in which you remonstrated with me against preventing them from finishing their building before winter, did you suppose that they would not come to me? However, on that point, at least, they made a ridiculous blunder: for the letter they brought with them asking to be allowed to carry on the work in the summer, they delivered to me after midwinter. (from here)

Caesar, Gallic Wars 5.5:

In hoc medio cursu est insula, quae appellatur Mona: complures praeterea minores subiectae insulae existimantur, de quibus insulis nonnulli scripserunt dies continuos triginta sub bruma esse noctem. Nos nihil de eo percontationibus reperiebamus, nisi certis ex aqua mensuris breviores esse quam in continenti noctes videbamus. (from here)

In the middle of this voyage, is an island, which is called Mona: many smaller islands besides are supposed to lie [there], of which islands some have written that at the time of the winter solstice it is night there for thirty consecutive days. We, in our inquiries about that matter, ascertained nothing, except that, by accurate measurements with water, we perceived the nights to be shorter there than on the continent. (from here)

Vitruvius 9.3.3:

3. scorpionem autem cum sol ingressus fuerit occidentibus vergiliis, minuit progrediens ad meridianas partes longitudines dierum. escorpione cum percurrendo init in sagittarium ad femina eius, contractiorem diurnum pervolat cursum. cum autem incipit a feminibus sagittarii, quae pars est attributa capricorno, ad partem octavam, brevissimum caeli percurrit spatium. ex eo a brevitate diurna bruma ac dies brumalis appellantur. e capricorno autem transiens in aquarium adauget ex aequa sagittarii longitudine diei spatium. ab aquario cum ingressus est in pisces favonio flante, scorpionis comparat aequalem fursum. ita sol ea signa circum pervagando certis temporibus auget aut minuit dierum et horarum spatia. Nunc de ceteris sideribus quae sunt dextra ac sinistra zonam signorum meridiana septentrionalique parte mundi stellis disposita figurataque dicam. (from here)

3. When the sun enters into Scorpio at the setting of the Pleiades, he diminishes, in passing to the southern parts, the length of the days; and from Scorpio passing to a point near the thighs of Sagittarius, he makes a shorter diurnal circuit. Then beginning from the thighs of Sagittarius, which are in Capricornus, at the eighth part of the latter he makes the shortest course in the heavens. This time from the shortness of the days, is called Bruma (winter) and the days Brumales. From Capricornus passing into Aquarius, the length of days is increased to that of those when he was in Sagittarius. From Aquarius he passes into Pisces at the time that the west wind blows; and his course is equal to that he made in Scorpio. Thus the sun travelling through these signs at stated times, increases and diminishes the duration of the days and hours. I shall now treat of the other constellations on the right and left side of the zodiac, as well those on the south as on the north side of the heavens. (from here)

Livy 43.18.1:

[18] Perseus principio hiemis egredi Macedoniae finibus non ausus, ne qua in regnum uacuum inrumperent Romani, sub tempus brumae, cum inexsuperabilis ab Thessalia montes niuis altitudo facit, occasionem esse ratus frangendi finitimorum spes animosque, ne quid auerso se in Romanum bellum periculi ab iis esset,… (from here)

[43.18](B.C. 170-69) In the early days of winter Perseus did not venture beyond his frontiers for fear of the Romans attempting an invasion while he was absent from his kingdom. About mid-winter, however, when snow had blocked the mountain passes on the side of Thessaly, he thought it a good opportunity for crushing the hopes and spirits of his neighbours, so that there might be no danger from them while his attention was wholly devoted to the war with Rome. (from here)

Columella, De arboribus (On trees) 24:

XXIV [1] Piros autumno ante brumam serito, ita ut minime dies quinqueet viginti ad brumam supersint. Quae ut sint feraces, cum iam adoleverint, alte ablaqueato et iuxta ipsam radicem truncum findito. In fissuram cuneumpineum tedae adicito et ibi relinquito; deinde obruta oblaqueatione cineremsupra terram spargito. (from here)

[English translation to be found]

Manilius 2.404.

Temporibus quoque sunt propriis pollentia signa:          265
aestas a Geminis, autumnus Virgine surgit,
bruma Sagittifero, ver Piscibus incipit esse.
quattuor in partes scribuntur sidera terna;
hiberna aestivis, autumni verna repugnant.
…
quod si forte libet, quae sunt contraria, signa
per titulos celebrare suos sedesque, memento
solstitium brumae, Capricornum opponere Cancro,
Lanigerum Librae (par nox in utroque diesque est),          405
Piscibus Erigonen, iuvenique urnaeque Leonem;
Scorpios e summo cum fulget, Taurus in imo est,
et cadit Arcitenens Geminis orientibus orbi.  (from here)

[English translation]

Censorinus, De die Natali (The birthday book) 21:

[12] Initia autem istorum annorum propterea notavi, ne quis eos aut ex kal. Januariis aut ex aliquo tempore simul putaret incipere, cum in iis conditorum voluntates non minus diversae sint, quam opiniones philosophorum:[13] idcirco aliis a novo sole, id est a bruma, aliis ab aestivo solstitio, plerisque ab aequinoctio verno, partim ab autumnali aequinoctio, quibusdam ab ortu vergiliarum, nonnullis ab earum occasu, multis a canis exortu incipere annus naturalis videtur. (from here)

I have indicated at what epoch these years commence, so that nobody should suppose they always dated from the calends of January, or from any other like day; because on the question of aeras, one does not find less diversity among the statements of their founders than amongst the opinions of the philosophers. Some make the natural year commence at the Birth of the Sun, that is to say, at Brumalia, and others at the Summer Solstice; some make it the Vernal Equinox, and others the Autumnal Equinox; some at the rising and some at the setting of the Pleiades, while still others fix it at the rising of the Canicular star. (from here).

J’ai dû indiquer à quelle époque commencent ces années, pour empêcher qu’on ne pensât qu’elles commençaient toujours aux calendes de janvier, ou à quelque autre jour semblable ; car, sur la question des diverses ères, on ne remarque pas moins de divergence dans les volontés de leurs fondateurs que dans les opinions des philosophes. Aussi les uns font-ils commencer l’année naturelle au lever du soleil nouveau, c’est-à-dire en hiver, les autres au solstice d’été, plusieurs à l’équinoxe de printemps, les autres à l’équinoxe d’automne, ceux-ci au lever, ceux-là au coucher des Pléiades, d’autres enfin au lever de la Canicule. (from here)

Pliny the Elder, Natural History, book 18:  (There are several references, which I must work on more):

221: horae nunc in omni accessione aequinoctiales, non cuiuscumque die significantur —, omnesque eae differentiae fiunt in octavis partibus signorum, bruma capricorni a. d. VIII kal. Ian. fere, aequinoctium vernum arietis, solstitium cancri, alterumque aequinoctium librae, qui et ipsi dies raro non aliquos tempestatum significatus habent. …

227: miretur hoc qui non meminerit ipso brumali die puleium in carnariis florere….

231: a kal. Novemb. gallinis ova supponere nolito, donec bruma conficiatur. in eum diem ternadena subicito aestate tota, hieme pauciora, non tamen infra novena. Democritus talem futuram hiemem arbitratur, qualis fuerit brumae dies et circa eum terni; item solstitio aestatem. circa brumam plerisque bis septeni halcyonum feturae ventorum quiete molliunt caelum. sed et in his et in aliis omnibus ex eventu significationum intellegi sidera debebunt, non ad dies utique praefinitos expectari tempestatum vadimonia.

lxiii   232: Per brumam vitem ne colito. vina tum defaecari vel etiam diffundi Hyginus suadet a confecta ea septimo die, utique si septima luna conpetat; cerasa circa brumam seri. bubus glandem tum adspergi convenit in iuga singula modios. largior valetudinem infestat, et quocumque tempore detur, si minus xxx diebus continuis data sit, narrant verna scabie poenitere. materiae caedendae tempus hoc dedimus. …

lxiv  234: A bruma in favonium Caesari nobilia sidera significant, III kal. Ian. matutino canis occidens, quo die Atticae et finitimis regionibus aquila vesperi occidere traditur. pridie nonas Ian. Caesari delphinus matutino exoritur et postero die fidicula, quo Aegypto sagitta vesperi occidit. (from here)

221: The winter solstice begins at the eighth degree of Capricorn, the eighth day before the calends of January, in general…

[More English to be added, when I can find it]

Others to find: Terence Ph. 709; Cicero Div. 2.52; solis accessus discessusque solstitiis brumisque cognosci; Cicero Natura Deorum 2.19.

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Is there an English translation of Varro’s “De lingua latina”?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I find that book 6 has an interesting bit on the bruma and the solstice; quoted in this post of mine.  I’d like to see a professional translation.

UPDATE: There are two volumes in Loeb, and they’re on Archive.org: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2

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More on Choricius of Gaza

Posted on by Roger Pearse

We’re interested in Choricius because one of his works contains a description of the magnificent celebration of the winter festival, the brumalia, by the emperor Justinian.  We’re interested in the facts about the brumalia because there are rumours online that Christmas is ‘really’ the brumalia.

This evening I find the following in the latest Patrology volume (tr. Adrian Walford), p. 269-70:

Chroricius of Gaza was the disciple and successor of Procopius of Gaza, whose close friend he was and whose funeral oration he delivered.  He spent the whole of his life in Gaza, which was then, in the 6th century A.D., at the height of its fame.  He composed encomia for Marcianus bishop of Gaza and other notables, a funeral oration for Marcianus’ mother Mary, and epithalamia for several of his pupils.  In addition there survive declamations on various mythological and historical subjects, and popular discourses on various philosophical subjects.  Although undoubtedly a Christian, his writings display no interest in theology.  As a rhetor, he was regarded as a model for later Byzantines.

Editions: CPG 7518; R. Foerster, E. Richsteig, Orationes, declamationes, dialexes, Leipzig 1929.
Studies: Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 160 (ed. Henry, vol. 2, 121-123); H. Gärtner: Der Kleine Pauly Lexicon der Antike 1 (1964) 1159-1160; D. Stiernon, EEC 1 (1992) 201.

The mention of dialexes must be significant; one of these contains the Justinian material.  The content of his work means that he does not appear in Migne.

CPG 7518 is found in volume 3 of the Clavis Patrum Graecorum, p. 403; but just gives the 1929 edition.  However it does add that the edition also contains the funerary oration on Procopius of Gaza (p.109-128) and the oration on Mary the bishop’s mother on p. 99-109.

Few people know that Google books search gives different results if you are outside the US to inside.  It’s not just that some books are not viewable; the list of results differs.  This evening I have found more on Choricius, in Reinhard Pummer, Early Christian authors on Samaritans and Samaritanism, here.  Chunks on the Samaritans are given from Foerster, with Litsas’ translation, preceded by the following introduction:

Choricius of Gaza
c. 490 – c. 543

Almost nothing is known of the life of Choricius.[1] He mentions that he was born in Gaza but gives no further details about his life. Nor do any of his contemporaries, including Procopius, who was his teacher, speak about or refer to him. Later sources, such as Photius and Suda. speak only of his literary works. The approximate date of his birth is inferred from his first oration, held shortly after 518, at the occasion of the death of the mother of Bishop Marcian, Maria;[2] Marcian must then have been thirty or thirty-five years old. Moreover, at the time of the oration, Choricius already had established himself as an excellent rhetorician. For these reasons, he must have been born in the early 490s.[3]

There are a number of similarities between Choricius and Procopius. Like Procopius, Choricius lived all his life in Gaza, except for his studies in Alexandria and Caesarea; he seems to have declined offers to teach in other cities; and he was never married. His life was dedicated to scholarship, teaching, charitable work, and the administration of the school.

The extant works of Choricius can be grouped thus:[4] 10 Orations (lo/goi),[5] 12 Declamations (mele/tai),[6] and 25 Dialexeis (diale/ceij). The latter are either independent compositions about philosophical subjects or proems to longer orations. Choricius’ excellent education in classics comes to the fore in quotations from Greek writers, including Homer, Thucydides, and Demosthenes.

Choricius’ primary concern was rhetoric. Any historical data contained in his works are therefore incidental to his main goal and, in fact, are sunk “into a profusion of allusions, rhetorical nuances or stylistic ornamentation.”[7] The Samaritans are never mentioned by name. It is only through affinities with other sources, such as Cyril of Scythopolis’ Vit. Sab. 70, that we are able to tell that certain passages in some of Choricius’ orations make reference to Samaritan unrests in 529-30.

1 For a short summary see PLRE 3, 302.
2 On Marcian cf. PLRE 3, 819-820 (Marcianus 1); on Maria. PLRE 3, 827 (Maria 1).
3 See Litsas. Choricius 13.
4 Cf. the edition of Choricius’ works by Foerster and Richtsteig p. XXXV.
5 Encomia in honour of important personalities; epithalamia: and epitaphs.
6 On mythical, historical, and invented subjects.
7 Litsas, Choricius 64.

This is very helpful for those of us trying to get a handle on what Choricius wrote.  Some of the orations were published by Foerster for the first time in the late 19th century, prior to including them in his edition, such as this one, on Miltiades.  Online is also his orations on Achilleus and Polyxena here.

Choricius has a great deal to say on how speeches should be made.  In his funeral oration on Procopius, he says that “no non-Attic word ever passed his lips” (from here).  A couple of extracts from one of his orations are to be found here.

UPDATE (22 Dec. 2016): A translation of Choricius’ oration about the Brumalia, and a wonderful summary of information on Bruma and Brumalia, has been made by Roberta Mazza, and is online here.[1]

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  1. [1]Roberta Mazza, “Choricius of Gaza Oration XIII: Religion and State in the Age of Justinian”, in: E. Digeser, R.M. Frakes, J. Stephens (eds.), The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity: Religion and Politics in Byzantium, Europe and the early Islamic World, Tauris Academic Studies: London-New York 2010, 172-93.↩

Choricius of Gaza, the Suda on the “brumalia”

Posted on by Roger Pearse

One of the authors mentioned in yesterday’s post about evidence for the winter festival of the Brumalia was Choricius of Gaza.  Apparently he records the magnificent celebration of this festival in the first consulship of the emperor Justinian.  If you’re like me, this is an author about whom you know very little.  He seems to be an author of the 6th century, whose declamations have come down to us, at least in part.

Unfortunately the 1929 edition by Richard Förster and Eberhard Richtsteig, Choricii Gazaei opera, does not seem to be online.  The Wikipedia article lists an English translation by Robert J. Penella, made in this very year, but of course none of us plebs have access to that.

I would like to pin down the portion that deals with the brumalia, and quote it.  There is an 1846 edition online here.  Unfortunately the only reference to the brumalia is in a footnote on p.305.

The introduction to the Penella volume appears here on this site, discussing the “twelve declamations” and gives the following reference:

…on the occasion of Justinian’s Brumalia, the sophist [Choricius] compares the emperor to Zeus, but makes no reference to his Christianity (Dialex. 7 [XIII]).

The excerpt on the site gives a very clear idea that Penella’s volume is a good solid piece of work, which I wish I had access to.

Moving on, the 10th century lexicon the Suda is online.  The entry (beta, 556) for “Brumalia” reads:

This was devised by Romus, since he and his brother Remus, having been born as a result of fornication, were exposed and reared by a woman. It was [considered] disgraceful among the Romans to eat someone else’s food. At drinking parties each guest would bring his own food and drink in order not to gain the reputation of being feeders-off-others. On account of this Romus invented the Brumalia, having declared that it was necessary for the king to feed his senate in the winter, when they enjoyed respite from war, starting with the alpha up to the omega, and he ordered the senate likewise to invite the soldiers. And when the soldiers were ready to leave, they used to play pipes starting in the evening so they would know where they would find their meal. And Romus devised this in atonement for his own outrage, giving the meal the name “Brumalium”, which is ‘to feed off another’s goods’ in the Roman language.

This gives no indication of when the brumalia was held beyond “winter”.

UPDATE (22 Dec. 2016): A translation of the oration in question by Choricius, and a wonderful summary of information on Bruma and Brumalia, has been made by Roberta Mazza, and is online here.[1]

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  1. [1]Roberta Mazza, “Choricius of Gaza Oration XIII: Religion and State in the Age of Justinian”, in: E. Digeser, R.M. Frakes, J. Stephens (eds.), The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity: Religion and Politics in Byzantium, Europe and the early Islamic World, Tauris Academic Studies: London-New York 2010, 172-93.↩

On “bruma” and “brumalia” in ancient Rome, as found in the OLD

Posted on by Roger Pearse

There is a certain amount of wild talk around online about a festival of bruma, or the brumalia, connected with Christmas.  It would be interesting to find out what is truly known and discoverable from ancient sources about the nature and date of this event.  So I reached for the OLD!

According to the Oxford Latin Dictionary (p.243), the word bruma is the superlative of brevis (=short), i.e. breui-ma which became breu-ma.  Three meanings are listed.

1.  The shortest day, the winter solstice or the period during which this occurs, mid-winter; also (astronomical) the position of the sun at the winter solstice.

References are given for this:

ubi solstitium fuerit ad brumam Cato, Agr. 17.1; Varro L. 6.8.  eas (litteras) mihi post brumam reddiderunt Cicero ad fam. 3.7.3; dies continuos xxx sub bruma esse noctem Caesar, Gallic war 5.13.3; Vitruvius 9.3.3; Livy 43.18.1; Ovid fasti 1.163; Manilius 2.404; Columella Arb. 24; Pliny the Elder, NH 18.231; Terence Ph. 709; Cicero Div. 2.52; solis accessus discessusque solstitiis brumisque cognosci N.D. (?) 2.19.  (A couple more references to the latter meaning are also given)

2. Winter.

References are given for this, and also for a third meaning expressing “a winter” as a period of time.

The adjective brumalis is also listed, meaning “connected with the winter solstice”, the tropic of capricorn, or merely “wintry”.  For the first meaning it gives

Cicero Arat. 295 (61), de orat. 3.178, Div. 2.33; Lucretius 5.616; Ovid Pont. 2.4.25.

I need to look these up and tabulate them here.

A google search revealed remarkably little of substance, but apparently there is something in John Lydus, De mensibus (which we have met before!).  However doing the same search via an anonymising proxy reveals more.

John Malalas in his Chronicle 7.7 gives an account of the origins of the festival.  This tells us it was in the winter, and instituted by Romulus (or “Romus” as Malalas calls him).

Because of this Romus devised what is known as the Brumalia, declaring, it is said, that the emperor of the time must entertain his entire senate and officials and all who serve in the palace, since they are persons of consequence, during the winter when there is a respite from righting. He began by inviting and entertaining first those whose names began with alpha, and so on, right to the last letter; he ordered his senate to entertain in the same way. They too entertained the whole army, and those they wanted. . . . This custom of the Brumalia has persisted in the Roman state to the present day. — [The Chronicle of John Malalas, trans. E. Jeffreys et al. (Byzantina Australiensia 4, Melbourne, 1986), p. 95]

John the Lydian in his de Mensibus book IV discusses the Brumalia.  According to that secondary source it was celebrated between November 24 and December 17.  Apparently John says that the people all call it the festival of Cronos (i.e. Saturn).  Unfortunately I can’t see the references in that text.

Lydus’ description of the Brumalia, however, hints that the situation was not in fact quite so simple. This popular holiday, celebrated between November 24 and December 17, was a time of dinner parties and wishing one’s friends “vives annos.” It had an extremely long history connected with the celebration of the winter solstice, and Lydus gives many details of the pagan rites associated with it in antiquity. The holiday continued to be celebrated in Lydus’ time, for he notes that “to greet someone by name during the Brumalia is a rather recent development,” and more pointedly, “the truth of the matter is that people call this the festival of Cronos; consequently the Church shrinks away from this affair.” He goes on to tell about Cronos and the association of chthonic demons with the festival. If it were not for the mention of ecclesiastical disapproval, we would not know that the festival had any contemporary dimension at all. This is all the stranger because Agathias reported without censure of any sort that the Brumalia was being celebrated by the citizens of Constantinople at the time of a great earthquake in 577. Malalas also described the contemporary imperial celebration without flinching. We know that Justinian celebrated the Brumalia on a lavish scale with banquets and spectacles throughout the empire, as Choricius of Gaza’s Oration attests. In 521 Justinian had inaugurated his first consulship with magnificent entertainments during the Brumalia (on the day that began with the first letter of his name). As spelled out in Novel 105 some years later, this was in accordance with his attitude about the ceremonial responsibilities of the consulship to provide parades, games, and theatrical productions for the populace. The pious emperor felt no impropriety in celebrating the Brumalia together with the consulship. In another law concerning pagan worship, Justinian reiterated the idea that ancient festivals might be celebrated by his subjects – as long as no pagan sacrifices were performed. We see here the grounds on which he was prepared to celebrate time-honored festivals. He was no more concerned about the “paganism” of the Brumalia than he was about that of the consulship. Both were simply part of the secular ceremonial of everyday late-antique life, as far as the palace and the public were concerned. On one level de Mensibus can be seen as a simple expression of this interest and of the acceptance of certain civic celebrations.

Lydus’ comment on ecclesiastical disapproval, however, suggests a more complicated situation and requires that we look to a later period. Such ceremonial did not forever remain immune from charges of religious impropriety. By the end of the next century, attitudes would change considerably. The Quinisextum Council (“in Trullo” ) held in Constantinople in 692 proscribed in its sixty-second canon celebrations of the kalends, Vota, Brumalia, and Panegyris, festivals going on in Lydus’ Constantinople and all described in de Mensibus as they existed in Roman antiquity. Pagan associations that the church found merely objectionable in Lydus’ day assumed greater significance in the seventh century. Why did Lydus make a point of the church’s censure when the Brumalia was being celebrated without comment by the emperor and devout Christians? He evidently recognized its pagan (as opposed to merely antique) history, but did not wish to elaborate further. Perhaps the antiquarian material had not been completely neutralized after all. [Michael Maas, John Lydus and the Roman past, 1992, p.64-6]

Just as an aside, every time I read a passage of Maas’ excellent book, it makes my fingers itch to commission someone to translate the 111 pages of book 4 of de Mensibus!  Or even just the 8 pages on December!  It looks as if the passage is on p.174 (PDF p.276)  of the 1903 edition which is online. But back to the brumalia.

The festival was proscribed by the Quinsext synod (“in Trullo”) in 692.

Tertullian apparently also mentions the festival (De idololatria 14).

Suggestions are welcome as to where else we might look!

UPDATE:  Cato, Agricultura 17.1:

Robus materies, item ridica, ubi solstitium fuerit ad brumam semper tempestiva est. Cetera materies quae semen habet, cum semen maturum habet, tum tempestiva est.

Oak wood and also wood for vine props, is always ripe for cutting at the time of the winter solstice. Other species which bear seed are ripe when the seeds are mature, while those which are seedless are ripe when they shed bark.

Here brumam is used to mean “winter”, as an adjective for solstitium.  Or possibly “shortest solstice”?

Varro, De Lingua Latina 6.8:

Alter motus solis est, aliter ac caeli, quod movetur a bruma ad solstitium. Dicta bruma, quod brevissimus tunc dies est; solstitium, quod sol eo die sistere videbatur, quo ad nos versum proximus est. Sol cum venit in medium spatium inter brumam et solstitium, quod dies aequus fit ac nox, aequinoctium dictum. Tempus a bruma ad brumam dum sol redit, vocatur annus, quod ut parvi circuli anuli, sic magni dicebantur circites ani, unde annus.

8. There is a second motion of the sun, differing from that of the sky, in that the motion is from bruma ‘winter’s day’ to solstitium ‘solstice.’ Bruma is so named, because then the day is brevissimus ‘shortest’: the solstitium, because on that day the sol ‘sun’ seems sistere ‘to halt,’ on which it is nearest to us. When the sun has arrived midway between the bruma and the solstitium, it is called the aequinoctium ‘equinox,’ because the day becomes aequus ‘equal’ to the nox ‘night.’ The time from the bruma until the sun returns to the bruma, is called an annus ‘year,’ because just as little circles are anuli ‘rings,’ so big circuits were called ani, whence comes annus ‘year.’

This tells us that the bruma and the solstice are not the same.

Note: thanks to Bill Thayer for spotting the mistyping of De mensibus as De mensuribus! Oops!

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Ancient wargaming figures

Posted on by Roger Pearse
gal_mp70
Essex Miniatures 25mm late Macedonian phalangite

Somewhere in my loft is a 25mm Seleucid wargames army.  Metal figures, all painted by me, glued onto cardboard which I painted green.  It fought a good few times at a wargames club near my school.  Mostly I lost, as I had no better idea of tactics than to advance and roll the dice when my forces collided with someone else’s. 

But I still cherish the victory I achieved over a cavalry force, probably of Sassanid Persians.  This was nearly impossible under the rules, as they had all the mobility.  So I had to force them to come to me.  I set my army up in a corner of the board/table, in a square with an open rear and side at the edge of the table.  The L-shape of the rest was anchored on a hill, and I waited for my foe to execute a flank march to enter my square from behind.  When he did so — as I thought he would, rather than try to attack heavy infantry in square — I rearranged my square to place my best troops facing where he had to appear.  He duly did, with all his heavy cavalry, and duly got pummelled.  Victories were few in those days, but that one I recall.

This evening I wondered if anyone still makes 25mm metal figures of ancient armies.  A hunt around the web revealed that Essex Miniatures still do.  Their website is here (that link takes you straight to the ancients page).  Prices are probably about the same, considering the depreciation; now about $1.50 per foot figure.   The image is of a painted late Macedonian phalangite.

The left hand frame indexes to five different “pages” of armies and figures, all of which seem to relate to the old Wargames Research Group army lists.  How I remember those!  My own force was equipped in accordance with it, although the rules rather hampered anyone who wanted to deploy a phalanx.

I feel something of a tug, to order some figures, buy some paints — acrylic, rather than enamel — and paint up a few.  But whatever would I do with them?  Alas, my days as a table-top general are over.

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Glad I didn’t go to Egypt this Christmas

Posted on by Roger Pearse

For the last two years I have escaped the drizzle and misery of “Exmas” by going to Egypt for a week, coming back on Christmas Eve.   I stayed in the best hotel in Luxor, the Maritim Jolie Ville.  Indeed last year Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of the Egyptian president, stayed there.  I nearly fell over her (plus beefy security man) coming round a corner in the hotel.

But each time I go there, I get an upset stomach.  I’m pretty careful, but it still happens.  I’ve tended to put this down to change of climate, sudden heat, the stress of the journey and so on.  But I noticed when I went to TripAdvisor that a lot of people, in every hotel, were complaining about this.

This evening I saw a news item on the BBC (also here on Norwich Evening News):

A couple have described how a dream holiday to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary became a nightmare after they both fell ill with a potentially fatal virus.

Nine weeks after returning home from the disaster cruise Keith Kiddell is still unable to go to work because of the damage caused by a serious E coli infection.

Both he and wife Jane, both 58, were struck with the potentially fatal 0157 strain of the virus during what should have been an idyllic cruise down the Nile.

Doctors are concerned that Mr Kiddell may have suffered long-term damage as the infection spread to his arthritic knee, leaving him unable to walk steadily.

I’ve always known that the boats were sudden death.  I well remember going on a day cruise from Luxor to Dendera and back.  This was day 1 of a 4 day cruise, if you stayed; but I only did the day trip.  Everyone was tucking into the food, which looked delicious, served on spotlessly clean plates and so on. 

I knew the score.  So I ate nothing.  I was quite hungry when I got back to the hotel.

Three days later, the other cruise passengers came back, after going up to Aswan.  Apparently one and all had spent day 2 in their cabins, being sick.  That food — the same food I saw and declined — had poisoned most of them.

The only reason for this horrible series of illness is laziness and negligence in the hotels.  It can be nothing else.  There is no need for people to get sick at all, never mind contract life-threatening forms of food-poisoning!  It is purely down to carelessness by Egyptian staff.

I am glad I stayed away.  I love Egypt, but I really do not need this sort of thing.  Luxor is largely a tourist farm these days; the authorities need to get a grip on this problem.

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New forms of devotion in Firmicus Maternus? Or possibly not…

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve returned to translating Firmicus Maternus.  Part of the preparation for doing so was to get hold of the French editions and translations, and I ran one of these through a machine translator.  Working through this, I came to the following remarkable output:

 Si tu veux, libéré, suivre la lumière de l’époux, rejette tes erreurs et occupe-toi avec un zèle assidu de racheter par une religieuse dévotion les crimes de ta vie antérieure.

If you want, freely, to follow the light of the bridegroom, reject your errors and occupy yourselves with assiduous zeal to repurchase by a chocolate éclair devotion the crimes of your former life. 

How “religieuse” became “chocolate eclair” I can’t imagine!  But somehow, although inappropriate as a translation, isn’t the phrase “chocolate eclair devotion” rather an apt one?

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The transmission of the Blessing of Isaac, Jacob and Moses by Hippolytus

Posted on by Roger Pearse

In the Patrologia Orientalis 27, fascicle 1-2, a text called The blessing of Jacob appears.   It is a commentary on Genesis 49.  This is given in Greek, but also in Armenian and Georgian.  A French translation is included.  The Greek text seems to have been discovered relatively recently, and contains glosses at some points, as the Armenian shows.  There is also a text called The blessing of Moses printed, which is extant only in Armenian and Georgian, with a couple of fragments of Greek only.

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