Month: December 2013

Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog | The Most Disfunctional Family in History: the Ptolemies

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

@Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog

The Most Disfunctional Family in History: the Ptolemies
http://feeds.strangehistory.net/~r/strangehistory/~3/sNd04YqfT14/

What Have the Greeks Ever Done For Us? Christmas Edition

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ 1 Comment

Hopefully you’ve already read the Roman side of Christmas (see the previous post), which has some scholarship behind it … the Greek side, however, strikes me as a bit wanting and rather rambling. As often, it hails from the Greek Reporter, which seems to let its minimal editing down even more during holiday times:

Christmas is the most important, and perhaps the most treasured, celebration of Christianity filled with joy and love. Every country celebrates with different customs that have deep roots within history and tradition. We can find a variety of similarities in the commemoration of the birth of Christ and Dionysus between ancient and contemporary Greece. If we look at the ancient Greek history and the traditions within, we will see that some of our customs have their roots in ancient Greece.

In December, the Ancient Greeks celebrated the birth of Dionysus, calling him “Savior” and divine “infant.” According to Greek mythology, his mother was a mortal woman, Semele, and his father was Zeus, the king of the Gods. The priest of Dionysus held a pastoral staff as did the Good Shepherd. On December 30, ancient Greeks commemorated his rebirth.

The most well-known custom throughout the Christian world are the Christmas carols that have roots deriving from ancient Greece. Specifically, Homer — during his stay on the island of Samos, along with a group of children — composed the carols. In ancient Greece, carols symbolized joy, wealth and peace, and the children sang the carols only in the homes of the rich. Children would go from house to house, holding an olive or a laurel branch adorned with wool (a symbol of health and beauty) and different kinds of fruits. The children brought the olive branch to their homes and hung it on the doors where it remained for the rest of the year.

The Christmas tree appeared for the first time in Germany at the end of the 16th century. It became globally known in the 19th century. In our religion, the Christmas tree symbolizes the rejoicing of the birth of Jesus Christ. The tree was adorned first with fruits and later with clothes and other household objects. Ancient Greeks also used to decorate the ancient temples with trees, symbolizing the divine gift offering. The Christmas tree tradition made its way to Greece in 1833, when the Bavarians decorated the palace of King Otto.

Santa Claus, who travels around the world on Christmas Eve delivering gifts in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, is another impressive similarity. A similar tradition also existed during the celebration of Dionysus in ancient Greece who resembled light. Then, the chariot transformed into a sleigh and horses transformed into reindeer.

The New Year’s cake is also the evolution of an ancient Greek custom. Our ancestors used to offer Gods the “festive bread” during the rural festivals, like the Thalysia or the Thesmophoria.

In an interesting bit of synchronicity, if it can be called that, the original article tries to make a visual connection between Phaethon/Apollo flying in a chariot and Santa with his reindeer. I think my efforts from a decade ago — recalled by Dorothy Lobel King earlier today: A Rogue Classicism Christmas ..(thanks for the plug!) — is rather more convincing and probably has more scholarship behind it (maybe not). So often the historical/hysterical material in Greek Reporter seems to be cutting room floor items from My Big Fat Greek Wedding:

What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us? Christmas Edition

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Nice little feature on Classical elements in Christmas … according to Matthew Nicholls at Reading (so it’s got a scholar behind it!) … via the University of Reading:

When opening your presents or enjoying a night out this Christmas spare a quick thought for the Romans. We owe much of our festive fun to them.

The Romans celebrated the winter festival of Sigillaria on 23rd of December, part of their Saturnalia¹ festivities. Just like on Christmas Day, Sigillaria saw presents exchanged. So how does Sigillaria compare to a modern day Christmas? And can we say that the Roman’s invented Christmas?

Dr Matthew Nicholls, a senior lecturer of classics at the University of Reading, has explored the work of Martial² and Seneca, writers of the time, and found striking similarities including gifts of ugly but warm ‘jumpers’, ‘Kindlesque’ portable storage for books and even a Roman bah-humbug!

Dr Nicholls is the creator of Virtual Rome, an ambitious digital model of the entire ancient city of Rome.
Gifts

That’s just what I always wanted

“The poet Martial’s work indicates that gift recipients would have faced similar ‘reaction’ issues to our own. Quality of presents varied enormously. The traditional present for the Saturnalia was some nuts – not unlike old fashioned handful of walnuts in a Christmas stocking. Martial mentions ‘gifts given and received’ some of which sound rather familiar.

“Fish-sauce, jars of honey, bottles of wine, toothpicks, a pencil case, perfume, a flask encased in wicker-work and clothing – even an item that sounds like an ugly but warm Christmas sweater…a ‘shaggy nursling of a weaver on the Seine, a barbarian garment … a thing uncouth but not to be despised in cold December … that searching cold may not pass into your limbs … you will laugh at rain and winds, clothed in this gift’. (Ep. 4.19)

The Roman Kindle that could store the entire Iliad

“Many of us will be hoping for or a Kindle or similar come Christmas Day. Well carrying large amounts of literature was also an issue for the Romans. A scholar would have wished for a Kindle equivalent…which was available!

“Roman books were traditionally scrolls of papyrus – fragile, bulky, and not very practical for travellers. Martial sings the praises of a novel form of book, the sewn-leaf codex, made of tough parchment (ancestor of all of today’s books), and ideal for someone who wants to carry a lot of literature around in a small volume.

“He boasts that a single codex can hold the entire Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, or the whole of Livy’s multi-volume history ‘which my whole library does not contain’. These Roman ‘Kindles’ were ideal for taking on journeys -‘this parchment shall be your travelling companion. Imagine you are taking a journey with Cicero because they are light, tough, and pack a lot in’.”

It was still the thought that counted

“It’s warming to hear that the festive spirit was alive 2000 years ago. Martial tells us that the quality of a friendship can’t be measured by the value of the gifts, and even tells recipients of his cheap presents that he’s been ‘mean’ to save them the expense of buying something expensive in return (Ep. 5.59: ‘people who give much, want to receive much in return’). Simple presents were a token of friendship.
Party Time

Did the Romans get into the party spirit early too?

“Just like our festive season, it seems that the whole of Rome geared up early for Sigillaria. Seneca noted: ‘It is now the month of December, when the greatest part of the city is in a bustle. Loose reins are given to public dissipation; everywhere you may hear the sound of great preparations’. (Ep. 18.1).”

What tipple might they have enjoyed on the 23rd?

“There was no ‘set’ seasonal beverage. Wine was very much to the fore. Martial tells of ‘raisin wine, wine flavoured with pitch, honeyed wine, a not very good wine for serving to one’s freedmen. Even a special wine for loosening the bowels’…”

A Roman Scrooge….

“Of course not everyone embraced the Christmas sprit. As today, some people found it all a bit too bit much. The elder Pliny, the bah-humbug of his time, even had a special set of rooms in his house he could retreat to in order to hide from the festivities! (Ep.2.17.24).

And did the Romans invent Christmas?

“The works of Martial and his contemporaries tell us that Roman festive celebrations were in some ways not that different to what we enjoy today. Indeed many of those traditions can be traced back to that period. We know that during the conversion to Christianity the Romans weren’t keen to end the fun and tradition enjoyed during their annual pagan festival, so traces of Saturnalia celebration may survive in the Christian celebration of Christmas – and many cultures celebrate a winter festival at this darkest, coldest time of the year.

“It’s hard to say definitively who invented Christmas but how about raising a glass to the Romans this year. We can be sure our Christmases would be very different if it wasn’t for them.”

Perhaps more interesting for us cynical types, the article has a “notes to editors” section after it explaining some of those names and big words …