Say What?

Headline and first paragraph of an item in the Appeal Democrat:

Ancient Greeks considered chocolate the ‘food of the gods’

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the tropical cacao tree. In the Mayan language, it is pronounced “kakaw,” and in Greek, it is called “Theobroma,” which means “food of the gods.”

The lack of a sense of anachronism is mind boggling …

This Day in Ancient History: ante diem vi kalendas novembres

ante diem vi kalendas novembres

  • ludi Victoriae Sullanae (day 2) — games held in honour of Victoria commemorating Sulla’s defeat of the Samnites in 82 B.C.
  • 43 B.C. — Marcus Junius Brutus commits suicide in the wake of the defeat at Philippi (by one reckoning)
  • 113 A.D. — the emperor Trajan departs from Rome for his war against the Parthians
  • 251 A.D. — the future emperor Valerian is elected by the senate to the recently-revived office of censor
  • 1469 — birth of Erasmus