Exercise in Rhetoric: Comparing Alexander and Caesar

In ancient times, a common rhetorical exercise was to have students compare famous individuals. This past week our son wrote an essay comparing Alexander the Great and Caesar, and we discovered an example from the past. It is a fascinating read, and Appian of Alexandria , makes these men's lives come vividly to life.

Excerpt:

"They were both supremely ambitious, warlike, rapid in executing their decisions, careless of danger, unsparing of their bodies, and believers not so much in strategy as in daring and good luck. One of them made a long journey across the desert in the hot season [1] to the shrine of Ammon, and when the sea was pushed back crossed the Pamphylian gulf by divine power, for heaven held back the deep for him until he passed, and it rained for him while he was on the march. In India he ventured on an unsailed sea. He also led the way up a scaling-ladder, leapt unaccompanied on to the enemy wall, and suffered thirteen wounds. He was never defeated and brought all his campaigns to an end after one or at most two pitched battles...

In Caesar's case, the Adriatic yielded by becoming calm and navigable in the middle of winter. He also crossed the western ocean in an unprecedented attempt to attack the Britons, and ordered his captains to wreck their ships by running them ashore on the British cliffs. He forced his way alone in a small boat at night against another stormy sea, when he ordered the captain to spread the sails and take courage not from the waves but from Caesar's good fortune. On many occasions he was the only man to spring forward from a terrified mass of others and attack the enemy..."


A rhetorical exercise: Alexander and Caesar



Wikipedia: Caesar

Early Christian Symbols - Chi-Rho and the Mosaics of San Vitale

For our son's Art History, we've been enjoying slowing working our way through Laurie Adams' A History of Western Art. It was in the chapter on Early Christian and Byzantine Art that discovered the beautiful mosaics of San Vitale.

In the picture at the left, the green shield is decorated with Constantine's Chi-Rho. Constantine was very important in the history of early Christianity because his Edict of Milan made it safe for Christians to open practice Christianity. A precise account of Constantine's relationship to Christianity is not known, but according to Eusebius, Constantine saw two visions before his battle with Maxentius. In one, the Cross appeared against a light with the words "In this sign you conque," while on the other, he was told to place Chi-Rho - the first two letters of Christ's Greek name on the shields of his soldiers. Eusebius also told of Constantine's baptism as a Christian.

For more views of the mosaics, check the following link: San Vitale Basilica.

For more, read here about Early Christian Symbols.The fish is an acrostic: in Latin fish is icthus; in Greek, Iota Chi Theta Upsiolon Sigma is an acrostic for Jesus Christ, of God, the Son, the Savior (Iesous Christos, Theou Uiou Soter). The drawing of two fish and an anchor (at right) was another early Christian symbol seen in an ancient Roman catacomb.





The two images above were taken from Dr. Ralph Wilson's Ichthus as Early Christian Symbols.

Is the Cave in Ancient Rome the Wolf Den of Romulus and Remus?

While Emperor Augustus' palace on Palatine Hill was undergoing restorations, archeologist discovered a underground grotto believed to be worshiped as the site where a wolf nursed Romulus and Remus - the Lupercale.

Not all archeologists agree, but it is quite a find as the area is covered with mosaics. So far it is too structurally fragile to enter, but archeologists are exploring it the best they can with endoscopes and laser scanners. For more a few more pictures, check out this article at BBC News

The cave of Romulus and Remus?

Classics Break!: Talk to Julius Caesar

Need a little break? Click the link to Talk to Caesar. Using a clever Applet, he'll chat with you about Brutus, the Ides of March, his picks for the greatest Roman and non-Roman generals of all time, Pompey, Cassius, the Gauls, and Cicero.



BTW, We're speaking at Boston's Learning and the Brain Conference this week and next, and so will be going off the blog briefly. We'll be back blogging on our regular schedule April 26th.

Ancient Romans: Horatius at the Bridge!

"With weeping and with laughter
Still is the story told,
How well Horatius kept the bridge
In the brave days of old." - Thomas Babbington Macaulay


The story of Horatius Cocles (one-eyed) at the Pons Sublicius bridge (across Tiber River to Rome) is a great one, and Macaulay's Horatius from The Lays of Ancient Rome should be recited aloud (with feeling of course!) after the story read.

There are several versions of Horatius at the Baldwin Project site, but we like this Horatius story best. While most of the men at the bridge fled at the site of the advancing Etruscans, Horatius held his ground and fought courageously, allowing the Romans enough time to destroy all the bridges, saving the city. He lost an eye in the process and dove into the Tiber River. Livy reports he survived and was able to enjoy a statue in his honor from his grateful city.



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