Ancient Portraits

Even while I have been with you, you have not seen my soul; you knew it was in this body because of the actions that I performed. In the future, too, my soul will remain invisible to you but you should still be able to credit its existence just as you always have.                

  On Old Age by Cicero

I found these expressive portraits of ancient Romans which adorned their stone caskets. I believe these were all found in Egypt. I also took the liberty of "restoring" the painting slightly, enough to eliminate the distractions but not enough to affect the wonderful detail.

When I look into their eyes, I cannot help but feel a kind of closeness, a kinship that stretches over time. I could pass them on the streets of Izmir today.

This man here, for example, looks like an angry man. Certainly a very serious person. Where did all that determination come from and where did it go? I wonder how he treated his wife and children.

Here is the young scholar, no doubt.  Imagine what kind of devastation was left behind when he died at this early age. All his father's dreams were scattered to the winds. I am not sure but I think I might have taught this young man. He looks awfully familiar but , despite appearances, I am not quite THAT old.

Exactly the kind of face you would see going to a football match on a Sunday afternoon. To me, that slight smile suggests a playful sense of humor.  Actually those colors belong to Goztepe, don't they?

I think the texture of the damage to the paint adds a lot to the portrait. A young wife and mother, I presume. Probably not an aristocrat, she seems fairly tanned. Beloved daughter?

This is clearly a doctor you would take orders from and trust. I don't know why I thought he was a doctor but maybe it is that star-shaped head piece. Maybe he's a priest? If you look very closely at the eyes, they seem slightly crossed. But when you stand further back- they sit perfectly in the face. This is not a person I would want to get into an argument with.

Even though this last portrait is probably the least realistic, I think I might like this one the most. On the other hand, look at the curls of hair on her forehead.   I am curious about the shape of her neck though.

Which one is your favorite?

Flickr Tags: Roman. Ancient Rome,Portraits

Ancient Wisdom

We should not treat living creatures like shoes or pots and pans, casting them aside when they are bruised and worn out with service, but, if for no other reason, for the sake of practice in kindness to our fellow men, we should accustom ourselves to mildness and gentleness in our dealings with other creatures.

 From Plutarch’s  Life of Cato

Technorati Tags: Animal rights,Cato,Roman philosophy,ancient morality

The Story of the Boy and the Dolphin

Pliny the Younger, a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome, is known for his hundreds of surviving letters, which are an invaluable historical source for the period. In the excerpt below, Pliny tells a poignant legend about a boy and dolphin.

There is in Africa a town called Hippo, situated not far from the seacoast: it stands upon a navigable lake communicating with an estuary in the form of a river, which alternately flows into the lake, or into the ocean, according to the ebb and flow of the tide. People of all ages amuse themselves here with fishing, sailing, and swimming; especially boys, whom love of play brings to the spot. With these it is a fine and manly achievement to be able to swim the farthest; and he that leaves the shore and out-races his companions at the greatest distance gains the victory.

It happened, in one of these trials of skill, that a certain boy, bolder than the rest, launched out towards the opposite shore. He was met by a dolphin, who sometimes swam before him, and sometimes behind him, then played round him, and at last took him upon his back, and set him down, and afterwards took him again; and thus he carried the poor frightened fellow out into the deepest part; when immediately he turns back again to the shore, and lands him among his companions.

The fame of this remarkable accident spread through the town, and crowds of people flocked round the boy (whom they viewed as a kind of prodigy) to ask him questions and hear him relate the story. The next day the shore was thronged with spectators, all attentively watching the ocean, and (what indeed is almost itself an ocean) the lake. Meanwhile the boys swam as usual, and among the rest, the boy I am speaking of went into the lake, but with more caution than before. The dolphin appeared again and came to the boy, who, together with his companions, swam away with the utmost precipitation.

The dolphin, as though to invite and call them back, leaped and dived up and down, in a series of circular movements. This he practiced the next day, the day after, and for several days together, till the people (accustomed from their infancy to the sea) began to be ashamed of their timidity. They ventured, therefore, to advance nearer, playing with him and calling him to them, while he, in return, suffered himself to be touched and stroked. Use rendered them courageous. The boy, in particular, who first made the experiment, swam by the side of him, and leaping upon his back, was carried backwards and forwards in that manner, and thought the dolphin knew him and was fond of him, while he too had grown fond of the dolphin.

There seemed now, indeed, to be no fear on either side, the confidence of the one and tameness of the other mutually increasing; the rest of the boys, in the meanwhile surrounding and encouraging their companion. It is very remarkable that this dolphin was followed by a second, which seemed only as a spectator and attendant on the former; for he did not at all submit to the same familiarities as the first, but only escorted him backwards and forwards, as the boys did their comrade. But what is further surprising, and no less true than what I have already related, is that this dolphin, who thus played with the boys and carried them upon his back, would come upon the shore, dry himself in the sand, and, as soon as he grew warm, roll back into the sea.

It is a fact that Octavius Avitus, deputy governor of the province, actuated by an absurd piece of superstition, poured some ointment 1 over him as he lay on the shore: the novelty and smell of which made him retire into the ocean, and it was not till several days after that he was seen again, when he appeared dull and languid; however, he recovered his strength and continued his usual playful tricks. All the magistrates round flocked hither to view this sight, whose arrival and prolonged stay, was an additional expense, which the slender finances of this little community would ill afford; besides, the quiet and retirement of the place was utterly destroyed. It was thought proper, therefore, to remove the occasion of this concourse, by privately killing the poor dolphin.

http://www.bartleby.com/9/4/1107.html

LiveJournal Tags: Dolphin,legend,roman writing,animal cruelty

Cicero and the Roman Art of Facing Death

Marcus Tullius Cicero January 3, 106 BC – December 7, 43 BC

Cicero is generally perceived to be one of the most versatile minds of ancient Rome. He introduced the Romans to the chief schools of Greek philosophy and created a Latin philosophical vocabulary, distinguishing himself as a linguist, translator, and philosopher. An impressive orator and successful lawyer, Cicero probably thought his political career his most important achievement. Today, he is appreciated primarily for his humanism and philosophical and political writings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero

The quote below is an extract from an essay he wrote for his son, Marcus, while he was in enforced exile. The subject was the beauty of growing old and this particular excerpt deals with facing mortality without fear.

And yet, for goodness' sake, what in the whole human condition lasts for any length of time? Think of the longest of all possible lives; let us imagine we shall attain the age of that king of Tartesessus- I have been reading about Arganthonius of Gades who reigned for eighty years and lived for a hundred and twenty. Even so, I suggest that nothing can be called long if it has an end. For when the end comes, then all that has gone before has vanished. Only one thing remains- the credit you have gained by your good and right actions. Hours, days, months, and years go by: once they have passed they never come again. And what is to come in the future we cannot tell, So whatever life is allotted us, we ought to be content.

And actor need not remain on the stage until the very end of the play: if he wins applause in those acts in which he appears, he will have done well enough. In life, too a man can perform his part wisely without staying on the stage until the play is finished. However short your life may be, it will still be long enough to live honestly and decently. If, on the other hand, its duration is extended, there need be no more sorrow than a farmer feels when the pleasant springtime has passed and summer and autumn have arrived. For spring, the season of youth, gives promise of fruits to come, but the later seasons are those that reap the harvests and gather them in. And the particular harvest of old age, I repeat, is it abundant recollection of blessings acquired in earlier years.

Technorati Tags: Roman philosophy,Age,Death,Cicero