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Tag: Roman

9
ARTICLES
Bust of Marcus Aurelius in the Louvre. Source: Bob3321 / CC BY-SA 4.0.
26 SEP 2024 · 6 MIN

Marcus Aurelius: A Timeless Guide to Life from the Philosopher King

Roman emperors are perhaps remembered for their notoriety more than anything else. We remember Julius Caesar, after whom all the subsequent rulers took their name, as a brilliant commander (and because he…
A coin from Cyrene depicting silphium: the plant, which only grew locally to the city, became its chief export. Source: ArchaiOptix / CC BY-SA 4.0.
23 SEP 2024 · 6 MIN

Silphium: Can We Rediscover the Roman Wonder Drug?

Cure-alls are, generally speaking, never what they claim. Most medical wonder drugs are nothing of the sort, and snake oil salesmen have existed throughout history, prospering as long as there are people…
Roman orichalcum, which begs the question: how can we not know what this metal is? Well, it seems that perhaps the Romans didn’t know, either (Emanuele riela / CC BY-SA 4.0)
4 AUG 2024 · 5 MIN

Orichalcum: A Lost Metal that we Never Lost?

The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, writing about Atlantis, made mention of a fabulous metal which he called “orichalcum”, literally “mountain copper”. This mysterious element was supposedly second only to gold in value,…