Relevant Rome

  Book 10 begins with a council of the gods. Jupiter accuses the gods of fighting among themselves. Venus talks about the conflict in Italy and accuses Juno of inciting it. Juno responds by blaming all of the issues on Aeneas. Jupiter decides not to take sides, but to leave the rest in the hands of the fates. While this is happening, Turnus and the Rutulians continue to wage war against the Trojans who are desperately trying to fight back from their walls. Meanwhile, Aeneas is sailing down the river with all of his new allies. One of Aeneas’ ships, which has been turned into a divine being, visits him and tells him of the battle happening between Turnus and the Trojans, and pushes his boat to ensure a swift arrival. As the sun rises, Aeneas and his allies arrive and begin fighting back against the Rutulians.  Turnus sees them arrive and directs his armies to turn to face them. A great battle commences. Many men die on both sides, yet still the battle continues.  Pallas and his men are

  Following the Founding of Rome , a line of kings ruled the city. After a while, the Tarquins were running the place. They were not great. The people didn’t like them and they were very focused on themselves instead of the glory of Rome. After many Tarquin Kings, each worse than the last, someone came along and removed the king and the whole idea of having a king, and replaced it with the office of consul. This someone was Brutus. Brutus was actually related to the Tarquins. He was the son of the king’s sister. After a  particularly bloody change in power involving the assassination of various family members, Brutus decided the best way to protect himself from assassination would be to hide his intelligence. Being a male relative of the new king, he was a potential heir, and was very aware that if he became too close to becoming the next king, it was very likely he would be killed. Though he was actually quite intelligent, he put on a façade of idiocy, and played dumb, waiting for his

  Book 9 brings us back to Turnus and the Trojans. Aeneas is off building up their forces, making allies, and admiring his new shield. Juno decides it's about time Turnus started attacking the Trojans, so she sends Iris down. Iris tells him it’s time to quit stalling and go spring a surprise attack upon the Trojans.  Turnus responds by doing just that. After going down to the river to pray, he organizes his  army and they set out to the field outside the Trojans’ gate. He calls out to them to fight, and hurls a javelin to mark the beginning of the battle. The walls, however, remain quiet, the gate closed. Before he left, Aeneas had instructed the Trojans to stay inside the gate no matter what, and to just wait for Aeneas to return. The Trojans didn’t engage with Turnus and the Rutulians. Turnus gets annoyed and decides they should just burn down the Trojan fleet instead. The walls were built by the river and the fleet is moored on the banks. Turnus and his Rutulians light torches

  Every so often I will include reviews of books I have read that in some way enrich my understanding of some aspect of Ancient Rome. Today is one of those days.  The Mythology of Plants: Botanical Lore from Ancient Greece and Rome by Annette Giesecke is a unique cross between gardening and mythology. Annette Giesecke is a professor of Classics at the University of Delaware and author of multiple books. Out of five stars, I give this volume ten stars, though I may be biased due to my love of both mythology and plants. Five stars for the mythology aspect, and five stars for the plant aspect. Ten stars. The Mythology of Plants offers a glimpse into the Roman Villa lifestyle. Giesecke focuses on the interior courtyard garden and its importance to Roman culture at the time. She then delves into the various plants that were very popular to plant in the gardens, as well as their accompanying mythology. She uses Ovid’s Metamorphoses as the main source in analyzing the importance of tho