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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

4 Sep

The best ancient slingers were known to come from the Balearic Islands, where parents would not allow their young sons to eat unless they could hit the dish of food from afar with a slingshot. The very name of the islands may derive from the Greek "ballein", meaning "to throw".

In the opening minutes of the disastrous Battle of Cannae, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus was hit in the head and killed by a shot from a Balearic slinger. Recent tests showed that a 50-gram sling-bullet hurled by a trained slinger has similar stopping power to a .44 Magnum!

This wonderful artwork shows Carthaginians recruiting Balearic slingers for the Second Punic War (218-201 BC). #ancient #warfare #weaponry

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

26 Aug

1) Tissues at the ready for a magical but tragic story of a Roman boy and his unlikely animal friend. Pliny recounts the extraordinary tale of a young boy who swam at the beach near the ancient city of Hippo (modern Bizerte, Tunisia). One day he swam out farther than usual...

2) ..where he was approached by a curious dolphin. The animal circled, leapt and splashed - eventually allowing the boy to pet him and even climb on his back! The playful dolphin took the boy for a ride out to sea and back again, as people on the shore watched in fascination...

3) Word of the miraculous incident spread and in the following days other children swam out to try and interact with the dolphin but the animal would only recognise his original companion, carrying him through the waves to the delight of gathered crowds...

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

22 Aug

1) It's easy to forget that the ancient world was made up of real people with familiar hopes and fears; where life for many was a daily struggle against poverty, crime and disease. Let's remember one of them: Julia Restuta was a young girl that lived almost two millennia ago...

2) Julia lived in the ancient city of Salona, capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia (modern-day Croatia) - overlooking the Adriatic coastline. The city was a prosperous and bustling metropolis with a forum, theatre, amphitheatre, aqueducts and many public baths...

3) As a well-placed crossroads of trade and ideas, during Julia's lifetime the city was also becoming a centre of worship for an obscure eastern cult calling themselves Christians. A bishop named Domnius and his followers would be executed in Salona's amphitheatre in 304 AD..

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

16 Aug

@TheRealBuzz

1) Imagine if Neil and @TheRealBuzz had walked on the Moon wearing the BIS Lunar Spacesuit. Designed by the British Interplanetary Society in 1949 by a team that included Arthur C. Clarke, it was the first real attempt to design a spacesuit for the Moon and even included a cape!

2) The BIS suit had ingenious systems to cope with the harsh environment of the Moon. Pipes supplied oxygen and took away carbon dioxide. A ‘highly-silvered’ outer layer helped reflect sunlight, whilst a refrigeration system and a silver cape helped to regulate the temperature.

3) The spacesuit was particularly bulky, almost resembling a suit of medieval armour. It even housed a personal airlock system in the chest, the idea was that the astronaut could retract their arms from the sleeves to open the inner door of the airlock, allowing them to..

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

14 Aug

1) Roman medicine offered many amazing treatments - perhaps this thread can help find a cure for your nagging ailments?

Firstly, to ensure the health of small infants they should be washed in the urine of someone who has been living on a diet of cabbage. (Cato, On Farming, 157)

2) In fact “the medicinal value of the cabbage surpasses all other vegetables.” It is an excellent laxative, prevents hangovers, cures fever, cleanses wounds, relieves ulcers, improves joints, and cures any internal organ which is suffering. (Cato, On Farming, 156)

3) To cure a headache, apply to the painful area the head of a snail that you have cut off with a reed, preferably on a full moon. If not this, then use dog hairs. (Pliny, Natural History 36)

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Gareth Harney

@OptimoPrincipi

9 Aug

1) Thread: Does this intriguing Roman epitaph reveal a succession conspiracy playing out during this week in 117 AD? Marcus Ulpius Phaedimus, 28 year-old freedman and main attendant of the Roman emperor Trajan, died on 12 August 117....

2) Phaedimus was clearly a trusted servant of the Emperor, acting as Trajan's butler of sorts “tricliniarcha”, responsible for his food table and wine-service, and as secretary managing his imperial grants and benefits. Phaedimus was his closest attendant “Lictor Proximus”...

3) Mysteriously, Phaedimus died at Selinus (Gazipaşa, Turkey) on 12 August 117 AD, just four days after his master, the Emperor Trajan died there on 8 August supposedly of a stroke. Oddly, his epitaph breaks with tradition...

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