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There have been numerous posts about Roman aqueducts recently (see below). Here is an exceptional short video on the aqueducts that gives a very informative overview.

In a previous post I wrote long ago (and had forgotten), I suggested that Tiberius (ruled AD 14-17) had banned public kissing to prevent the spread of herpes (pictured above and below). I now have to review the evidence supporting the statement from ancient sources. Suetonius reports that Tiberius prohibited kissing. The Life of Tiberius, 34.2, Suetonius 2 He issued an edict forbidding general kissing and the exchange of New Year’s gifts after the Kalends of January The reason for this ban, however, remains unclear. The prohibition on public kissing may have been intended to preserve court etiquette and public decorum rather than to address public health concerns. Tiberius may have been more concerned with regulating Roman social behavior and restoring “traditional standards.” Note: Suetonius is the only ancient source to mention this ban on "general kissing" "Suetonius never explicitly states that Tiberius’ ban was limited to public kissing; his term—“general kissing”—is broad and unspecified. While modern authors often interpret this as a ban on all public kissing, this is a subjective interpretation rather than a definitive ancient fact. Since Suetonius provides no specifics on where the ban was in effect, who it affected, or how it was enforced, scholars generally assume it concerned public decorum, given Tiberius’ reputation for austerity and other etiquette measures. Ultimately, the actual extent of the edict remains unknown: Suetonius is the only ancient source, and his brief mention leaves it unclear whether the ban applied to public greetings, court conduct, or broader social practices." It’s interesting that near-contemporary Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) mentions a facial fungal infection (tinea barbae or sycosis barbae, pictured below): "Mentagra was a notorious skin disease in early Imperial Rome, first noted during the reign of Tiberius. Pliny the Elder describes it in Natural History (AD 77) as a disfiguring eruption that began on the chin and spread across the beard, cheeks, neck, chest, and even the hands. The lesions were scaly, painful, and so unsightly that Pliny remarked death might be preferable to enduring them. The name itself is a Roman joke: mentum (chin) combined with agra (attack). Although initially associated with fashionable elites—its spread linked to intimate contact such as kissing—later medical writers, including Galen, Archigenes, and Celsus, classified it under sycosis, or “wild lichen,” a follicular disease of the beard region. Pliny also recorded herbal treatments such as plantago and lichen mixed with honey, situating mentagra within broader Roman anxieties about “new diseases” arising from luxury, excess, and moral decline." Summary: The precise reasons for the ban on public kissing remain uncertain, possibly related to public health concerns or issues of decorum and morality. Nonetheless, this ban is recorded by Suetonius.

This is a wonderful short video, but I have shared my opinions below: The Roman phrase “bread and circuses” (panem et circenses) comes from the satirist Juvenal, writing in the late 1st–early 2nd century AD. Interestingly, he didn’t say “grain (frumentum) and circuses.” Juvenal deliberately chose "panem" because he was mocking the Roman people’s desire for the finished, consumable product — literal bread in hand — rather than the raw grain they received as their dole. The phrase “bread and circuses” refers to the crowd’s desire for ready-made food and entertainment, not the harder work of grinding wheat at home. Some correction in terminology: The annona was broader than just the dole: it included provisioning the army, Rome’s markets, and even emergency famine relief. The annona was Rome's food-supply system, especially the state-managed import, storage, and distribution of grain. Think of it as the pipeline that kept the city fed, with fleets, warehouses (horrea), and administrators. The frumentatio was a subset of the annona, specifically the citizen entitlement. It was the grain dole — subsidized or free wheat given to eligible Roman citizens. This was the monthly ration, usually about five modii (roughly 35–40 pounds) of wheat per person. Bread distributions were an imperial innovation (notably under Aurelian in the 3rd century AD), reflecting both practical needs and political theater — emperors wanted to be seen as feeding the people directly. Before Augustus, grain supply management was more informal, handled loosely by magistrates and temporary officials. In the late 1st century BCE, Augustus took a major step by creating a permanent office, the praefectus annonae, to oversee the grain supply. This official was responsible for everything related to grain—its import, storage, and distribution to the people of Rome. They managed fleets from Egypt and North Africa, supervised storage warehouses (horrea), and made sure the monthly grain allotment (frumentatio) reached everyone. By ensuring the city was well fed, Augustus helped prevent riots and build a stronger connection with the people. He made the grain supply system a lasting part of the empire's structure by establishing a powerful office, and the person in charge of it became essential to imperial governance.

Hi All, Just thought you might be interested in my new novel 'The Eagle & the Wolf'. Set in the early 5th century AD, it explores the encroaching worlds of the Huns and the Romans, as tensions ramp up between the two superpowers. Here's the blurb: As Hun hordes and Germanic tribes maraud through Imperial lands, two legendary men – Attila the Hun and the “Last of the Romans” General Flavius Aetius find their fortunes entangled with the chaos. Flavius Aetius, a noble Roman son, is an outsider in a savage land. He has been banished, given as hostage to the barbaric Huns and sent to the edge of the world. What the Huns do not know, however, is that his father and mother have been murdered in a coup. He is an orphan, with no value at all. His life hangs on a lie. In this new harsh world, he manages to find one grudging ally, a young boy named Attila. A brotherhood is formed. One that, the shamans foretell, will shatter the world. If it sounds of interest, you can pick up a copy at bookstores worldwide, or order online from the websites listed here: http://books2read.com/b/Attila1 Thanks! G

It can be quite a convenience to click "watch on youtube" then stop playback and click on "ask" for an AI summary. Then can pick a point to expand with an excerpt playback (altho I often forget I have to then un-stop by hitting play). Not so needed for this short video, but what a tool to preview those many videos stuck in your "watch later" playlist. Especially those slow to get to the point.

Magister Craft describes the different types of boats and ships used by the Romans. The merchant ships/cargo ships (navis mercatoria/oneraria) that moved goods around the Mare Nostrum were too large to navigate the Tiber River to get to Rome proper. They docked at Ostia and the cargo was transferred to barges capable of the journey up the river.

Here is an interesting article about DNA evidence from grape seeds recovered from wells at Cetamura del Chianti, the site of the famous “red” Chianti (pictured above). Archaeogenetic evidence from ancient Tuscany, however, shows that the dominant grape cultivated by the Etruscans and Romans in Chianti was a white grape variety. Since grape skin color is the key determinant of wine color, those vineyards would have yielded white wines. “Between 300 BCE and 300 CE, local residents dropped grape pips into deep wells, where oxygen-poor mud preserved them.” The article describes how archaeologists sequenced DNA from 2,000-year-old grape seeds found in wells at Cetamura del Chianti in Tuscany, providing the most detailed genetic look at ancient grapevines from a single site. They analyzed 80 seeds and found that most came from a single, identical variety that was grown continuously from the Etruscans to the Romans, showing a strong consistency in local grape growing. The genetic markers revealed that this main clone produced white grapes, which is surprising since Chianti is now famous for its red Sangiovese wines. After the Romans arrived, new grape varieties appeared, indicating that carefully chosen cultivated types were brought in from across the empire. Some seeds also showed signs of wild grapes. One of the most interesting findings is a lineage genetically close to a rare Hungarian grape and to the famous Maribor vine in Slovenia—the world's oldest living fruiting grapevine. This points to long‑distance connections in ancient viticulture and hints at the broader networks through which grape varieties moved across the Roman world. Cetamura’s grape seeds are important because they provide a rare and well-preserved glimpse into how viticulture developed in central Tuscany, spanning from the Etruscan period to Roman rule. The history of grape seeds found at Cetamura del Chianti is told through well-preserved layers in two ritual wells. These layers date back to the Etruscan period (3rd–2nd century BCE), then through the Roman Republican and Imperial times, and even into the Late Antique era (4th–6th centuries CE). It's interesting to note that the later Roman grapes weren’t examined because of the biological changes they underwent. This uninterrupted sequence shows that viticulture in the Chianti Hills was already established before Roman influence, intensified during Roman agricultural expansion with greater varietal diversity, and persisted even after the decline of Roman authority, making Cetamura one of the rare sites in Italy where the evolution of grape cultivation can be traced continuously for nearly a millennium. The DNA also shows no direct match with modern Sangiovese but does share alleles with Tuscan heritage varieties such as Colorino, Canaiolo Nero, and Malvasia The real surprise is the grapes' color: the dominant lineage carried alleles for white berries rather than red. In other words, the people living in the Chianti hills two thousand years ago were cultivating a white‑grape variety (and drank white wine), despite the region’s modern association with red Sangiovese wines. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/ancient-dna-from-tuscan-wells-reveal-origins-of-modern-wine-413573 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440326001354?via%3Dihub

Magister Craft's take on aqueducts....fewer details, but better practice for your Latin comprehension.