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Ancient Rome - Blog Posts
The city was silently bloating in the hot sun, rotting like the thousands of bodies that lay where they had fallen in street battles. An oppressive, hot wind blew from the southeast, carrying with it the putrefying stench of decay. And outside the city walls, Death itself waited— in the persons of Titus, son of Vespasian, and sixty thousand legionnaires, who were anxious to gut the City of God.
—Francine Rivers, A Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion series).
Roman gods
If the roman god of beginnings, transitions and ending had demigod children would, they see an alternate version of themselves in their shadows and mirrors, like things that happened to them in the past or will happen to them ?
Just to add, these reflections and shadows can move independently and show different images
~ Helmet of Gladiator.
Date: A.D. 1st century
Medium: Bronze
The gorgeous Bird Mosaic from the so-called House of the Birds in Italica, Spain, features 35 different species of birds.
DOG MOSAICS (From Italy and Greece ××)
It was the Ides of March yesterday and no tyrannical world leaders were assassinated. I’m incredibly disappointed in the world.
Oh my god, guys.
Are we just going to ignore the fact that bay trees and laurel trees—the laurel trees, used for Roman victory wreaths—are the same?? Why is witchblr sitting on this??
And why are bay leaved associated with prosperity? It makes sense, but they should symbolise victory and glory! Success! Fame, winning, being lauded and recognised! Prosperity comes along with this but it's not central.
I only found this out yesterday, I'm shocked.
EDIT: In North America (and probably other places) there is Mountain Laurel, it's a shrub that grows by roads in northern states. It's poisonous. Don't burn or eat it!
The Bay Laurel is the tree used by Greeks and Romans. It's safe and used in cooking.
Thank you so much to @.teawitch for adding this!!! I literally copied their addition into the post, sorry.
"We are ever striving after what is forbidden, and coveting what is denied us."
- Ovid, Metamorphoses
O Fortuna
Velut luna
Statu variabilis
Semper crescis
Aut decrescis
- Carl Orff, Carmina Burana
I am already making preparations for next year.
stay alert, stay safe. and beware the ides of march.
Thinking about how last Ides of March I was in Rome, and this year I'm stuck at home studying anatomy.
Anyways shoutout to Julius Ceasar for inventing the Ceasar salad, you're a real one.
Oh my, this is so beautifully written??
It's been a while since I read something on these two and I'm so glad the first fic after that time was this<33
You didn't disappoint, hope I'll read more angst like this from you<33
I very much recommend reading<33
and if you go, i want to go with you.
⋆ ౨ৎ˚ ⋆ ˚ synopsis: the sister of the empire has died, the emperors subsequently follow. (2.1k)
⋆ ౨ৎ˚ ⋆ ˚ contents: death, depictions of dead bodies and decay, mourning, buckle up for this, intrusive thoughts, angst, suicide, heart attacks and brain hemorrhaging
⋆ ౨ৎ˚ ⋆ ˚: caracalla x sister!reader x geta
⋆ ౨ৎ˚ ⋆ ˚ a/n: making my comeback with something sad!! let me know how you feel about this, as i’m slightly unsure of it! thank you all for being so patient with me, it truly means so so much to me!! a few people wanted angst, and i hope i delivered it properly!!
my masterlist!
the halls have begun to stench.
down the hall, next to geta’s chambers, the doors to their sister’s chambers are thrown open. through the doors, caracalla can see her body, cloaked by a white cloth. his hands wrap tighter around the flowers in his hands, thorns digging into his hands, yet the sting is dull. he hasn’t felt much since she died, flowing through his days as if he was stuck in a wine bottle, slushing around.
he can see geta’s hunched form, laying over their sister.
the moon illuminates the room, casting a light over the now abandoned room, dust covering the untouched surfaces. he can see the jutting of geta’s back through his night robes, the bumps of his spine protruding out as if he was the one dead. they’re the same robes that he had worn when they found their sister, curled into her bed, her soul ascended to the heavens.
it was no murder plot that took her life nor a fit of rage or a sudden spark of depression. no, it was her brain, physician after physician had been dragged into the room, crinkling their noses as they studied the deceased empress, gently pointing out the slight swelling of her head. they had murmured about blood pooling in her skull, leaking from a burst vessel.
even now, a week later, they cannot move her body.
there’s a pile of vomit next to her bed, rotting into the carpet, a sign of her struggle. next to it lies a pile of fabric she had been messing with, giggling about dresses and shawls. it pains him, to stare at the multitude of projects and hobbies littered around palatine, forever frozen in time. incomplete and forgotten. even now, in her bed, with the slight sheen of blistering and bloating, foam leaking from her nose as if she had a cold, caracalla cannot help but think she is beautiful.
he knows geta thinks the same.
even now, lingering at the door and trying to ignore the stench of his rotting sister, caracalla can see how geta holds her as if she’ll awake any minute now, clinging to her like a small child. his hair is matted from his refusal to bathe, darkened by grease as he curls into the side of the bed, refusing to leave. at night, when he sleeps in the room next to geta’s, desperate to be close to his siblings, caracalla will even hear him talking to her, crying pitifully.
but who is he to judge?
at night, caracalla curls deep into his bed, mourning the loss of his anaticula. the bed is no longer warmed by the sleeping body of his sister, seeking out comfort in the dead of night while geta works. no longer do the halls smell of berries and flowers, the curtains drawn tight as the smell of her body fills palatine. no longer does caracalla have support against geta, no one to run to when their brother gets mean. at night, he’ll cry into his bedsheets, trying to cling to the lingering scent of her perfumes.
the servants have left alongside their mother. all that is left is the two of them in their grief, guarded by the praetorian.
-
rome mourns the loss of their empress alongside the brothers.
a darkness spreads over rome, the streets no longer bustling with life and activity when the news breaks. the games are indefinitely paused, any celebrations or parties getting lost in the wave of grief.
banners are hung over every window, aristocrat or commoner in remembrance of the now late empress. a procession is led through town by the praetorian guard once her body is removed from palatine, getting taken through palatine. deification had started later, with an uncanny wax version of the empress being presented in the temple.
when they first see her, the brothers cannot look away.
not while an uncannily similar version of their sister rests upon a bed of ivory and gold, dressed in her finest robes, gold and jewels strewn over her body like garland. a laurel wreath is wrapped around the figure’s head, large and commanding of attention as people pour in to pay their respects. on the left side of her body, the senate sits, cloaked in black as they stare ahead while the brothers sit on the right, dressed in their mourning robes. their outfits are eerily similar to their war uniforms, cloaks dangling off their shoulders with gold plates pressing into their chests, yet instead of white, they’re dressed in black fabric.
on the final day of mourning, geta is the one to seal his sister away, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead before the bier is whistled away.
-
they break tradition.
there is no cremation, no pyre that raises to the skies and carries the scent of death throughout rome. instead, their sister is embalmed and entombed within the pantheon. neither of them see her body before it’s put in it’s tomb, still intact. however, caracalla is cursed to see it while her tomb is getting shut, a glass pane spread over the top of her coffin, her face staring back at him before the door is slammed shut.
he pukes in the pantheon, nasty, gagging sobs leaving his mouth as the image of his sister’s embalmed body sinks into his eyelids.
that night, caracalla dreams of too dull eyes and pale skin.
-
geta becomes cruel once their sister is gone.
he’s a mean shell of a man, screaming and launching items at caracalla as if he were a stray dog, haunted by the ghost of his sister. at night, he sees her still, curled into her side of the bed, head swollen with blood leaking out of her lips. he cannot move once the phantom joins him, unable to move or talk. he stays awake until the day breaks, the illusion of his sister disappearing once the light begins to seep into his room.
everywhere he goes, he sees her. phantom laughs echoing through palatine, flickers of tan skin and curly hair running through the garden, whispered proclamations of love flowing through the library. catching glimpses of white dresses running around a corner, forever out of his reach.
her death keeps him awake, constantly aware.
paranoia seeps into his chest as he continues on his duties, waiting for someone to take advantage of his weakness, waiting for the inevitable knife to slice through his chest. he cannot look at caracalla, haunted by his eyes that shine the same way their sister’s did. he pushes for more military invasions, not wanting to spend anymore time with the mourning look in general acacius’ eyes when they meet, pushing back any attempts of consolidation. geta wishes for pain, for suffering.
he wishes for sleep.
one night, he lies next to his phantom sister, mind sluggish with exhaustion and grief. the room is swelteringly warm, silence pressing into his chest as he thinks back to the warm nights he’d spend with his sister, sitting out on the balconies and watching rome, unbothered by their duties outside of their relationship.
and he wants to do it again.
he wants to loosely braid his sisters hair as she looks at the stars, stumbling through the stories of her day as she basks in the warmth of rome’s nights. he wants to bury his head in the junction of her neck and shoulder, to feel the comforting scratch of her nails in his hair as he cries. he wants to hear uncontrollable laughter and the slight rasp of her breath as she sleeps.
-
he finds himself standing in front of her tomb.
the pantheon is empty, bare of it’s vestal virgins and priests, the moonlight seeping in through the windows, illuminating her tomb. his fingers dig into the stone as he pushes the door open, ignoring the loud creaking and dragging of the door.
his sister stares back at him.
if he didn’t know better, he’d assume she was stuck in her coffin, still breathing. heart still beating. she looks like nothing had ever happened, like she never rotted in palatine for days, organs and muscles deteriorating. as if her vessels had never exploded. as if geta didn’t spend weeks mourning over her dead body, feeling her skin grow cold and nasty as she blistered.
he knows he should turn back. that he should slam the door closed and return to the ghostly apparition waiting in his room. but he finds himself creeping closer to her coffin, stretching out a hand to lay against the glass panel, feeling the chill of her tomb creep into his body.
and then he cannot stop.
he’s slamming the coffin door open, the embalmed body of his sister falling into his arms as he sinks to the stone floor, holding her body close.
he cries like a baby into pale skin, tangling his hands in the familiar curls of his sister’s hair. he knows deep down, that it’s not truly her body, a mess of wax and embalmed organs lying in his grasp, the remnants of her hair blended in with hair that didn’t belong to her. he knows that it’s the body from her mourning, not the decomposing mess they had removed from palatine.
but he seeks out comfort from it nonetheless.
in the morning he will be found, clutching her close, wrists sluggishly bleeding as his body is removed from her tomb, freshly deceased. weeks later, he will be entombed in the same tomb, forever next to his sister.
-
caracalla is left by himself.
there is no one for him to lean on, no comfort to be found in the sprawling halls of palatine as he mourns the loss of his older brother and younger sister. the weight of rome rests upon his shoulders now, cruel and demanding as he plans for geta’s mourning, for his brother’s embalming.
enemies have begun to press into rome, hearing whispers of the back to back loss of the empire. riots break throughout the streets, the people angry with the lack of consideration, with the lack of support and leadership. but caracalla cannot bring himself to face the masses of people, selfishly wishing that he could still hide behind geta’s demanding attitude. to be safe behind his brother’s iron throne and his sister’s popularity with their people.
hallucinations haunt him at night, twisting his preexisting sickness into something crueler.
terror seeps into his bones at all hours of the day, his heart forever seized in terror as he waits for his inevitable return to his siblings. every creak and whisper of wind within palatine sends him into a fit of terror, hiding underneath geta’s bed like a small child, curled around the linens that used to comfort his brother.
it’s with one clamber of a sword that caracalla is sent over the edge.
his body grows heavy with something he cannot explain, head spinning wildly as he curls into the linens deeper, terror spreading through his chest. he can do nothing but grasp the linens tighter as his body grows heavy, the world spinning as the pain in his body grows deeper.
in the morning, the praetorian guard will find him seemingly asleep underneath geta’s bed. the physicians will whisper about a broken heart and stress as he’s carried off to the temple, body being placed upon the same bier that held his brother and sister. caracalla will join them in the tomb, placed on the other side of his sister.
maybe in another life, they are not emperors and empresses, instead they will be small children once more, unburdened by power. every life they will find each other once more, together even in death as they’re reunited again and again. in some lives, they will be siblings, in others they will be classmates or soldiers in a war. in some they will be born to royalty once more, facing the same tragic fate of sudden death. in every life, their sister dies first and they follow suit, forever chasing her through time.
-
Emperor Nero:
French fries? No thanks I only do that to Christian’s
Oh boy can’t wait to start the Aeneid by virgin my favorite forgotten boy
Cleopatra was once smuggled to Caesar in a bed-sack
It’s a well known story recounted by Plutarch that Cleopatra, aided by her confidant Apollodorus the Sicilian, hid herself “full-length inside a bed-sack” to elude her brother Ptolemy’s guards and gain secret access to Julius Caesar at Alexandria in 48 BC. Allegedly, Cleopatra landed at the palace when it was already dark and Apollodorus tied up the bed-sack before carrying it indoors to Caesar. Cassius Dio notes simply that Cleopatra “sent for Caesar in secret” and that he was captivated by her beauty and wit, but he omits any smuggling device. This story may be victim to Plutarch’s signature dramatisation, but it is compelling nonetheless.
The other day I was telling someone about the Five Good Emperors of Rome. She looked at me like I was crazy and replied: “There were five of them?! I didn’t even think there was one!”
Julius Caesar once received a graphic love letter in the Senate
According to Plutarch, when Caesar and Cato were standing and debating in the Senate chamber, a messenger showed up and gave Caesar a small note. Cato was suspicious about the note and wanted it to be read out to the assembled senators. Caesar handed the note to Cato, and when he opened the note, he discovered it contained a graphic love letter from Servilia (his maternal half-sister), detailing her passionate desires for Caesar. Embarrassed, Cato read the it aloud, then threw the letter back at Caesar, saying, "Take it, thou sot," before continuing his speech as if nothing had occurred.
Your month, your insult told to Julius Caesar due to his alleged homosexual affair with Nicomedes IV
January - Dolabella: "the queen's rival, the inner partner of the royal couch”
February - Licinius Calvus: "Whate'er Bithynia had, and Caesar's paramour."
March - Bibulus: "the queen of Bithynia”, "of yore he was enamoured of a king, but now of a king's estate."
April - Cicero: "No more of that, pray, for it is well known what he gave you, and what you gave him in turn."
May - Caesar’s soldiers: “Caesar subdued Gaul, Nicomedes subdued Caesar”
June - A random Octavius: greeted Pompey as "king" and Caesar as "queen."
July - The elder Curio: "the brothel of Nicomedes and the stew of Bithynia."
August - Gaius Memmius: said that he acted as cup-bearer to Nicomedes with the rest of his wantons at a large dinner-party, and that among the guests were some merchants from Rome.
September - Cicero: said that Caesar was led by the king's attendants to the royal apartments, that he lay on a golden couch arrayed in purple, and that the virginity of this son of Venus was lost in Bithynia
October - Caesar’s soldiers: "All the Gauls did Caesar vanquish, Nicomedes vanquished him; / Lo! now Caesar rides in triumph, victor over all the Gauls, / Nicomedes does not triumph, who subdued the conqueror."
November - The elder Curio: Every woman’s husband and every man’s wife.”
December - Cicero: “I wish it may be true about the Queen and that Caesar of hers”
Rest in peace ❌ Rest in pieces ✅
Hope you're having fun these Ides of March!
Goodnight everybody it's been an honor stabbing with you all
