Julius says, "Happy New Year!"

New Years is a cherished holiday today, but what about more than 2000 years ago? Well first, I have to say that New Years has been celebrated since the beginning of civilization. Scholars think that the first people to celebrate New Years were the Babylonians. This may sound odd, but they stripped the king of his clothes and sent him away while the Babylonian citizens did whatever they wanted to do for eleven days. Finally, the king would return after the eleven days passed and his people would go back to their jobs and other things.
The Babylonians celebrated New Years in March, and the Romans copied this practice for many years. But in 46 B.C., Julius Caesar changed New Years to January 1st and instituted his "Julian" calendar. Imagine Easter being moved to December by the president! January was named after the Roman god Janus. Janus is depicted with two faces, one facing the past year, and one facing the new year.
So, to give you a straight up answer, the Romans did celebrate New Years. The feasting started on December 17th, the feast of Saturnalia, lasted through Janus Day on January 1st, and ended on January 3rd, with the religious feast of Compitalia. Similar to the Babylonians, this long period of feasting was marked by closing of the law courts, masters serving slaves, children running households in a game called misrule, and generalized merry making.

ANNUM FAUSTUM! (HAPPY NEW YEAR!)

Did the Romans Celebrate Halloween?

Halloween is many a child's favorite holiday. But, did you ever guess that Halloween came from the Celtic holiday of Samhain? Well, it's true. The Celts, barbarians they may have been, invented one of the most popular holidays in the world with some help from the Druids.
The Druids lived in the British Isles and were made a priestly order by the occupying Celts. We, unfortunately, only know so much about the Druids because they did not write anything down. The students of the Druids were expected to memorize what they were taught without writing it down. We know this much because Irish and Scottish folklore is based on some of the Druidic oral tradition. The Celts sent students to the Druids to be educated.
With the Celts and later the Christians, the holiday of Samhain, translated "summer's end", evolved into Halloween. The Christianized samhain became Hallowmas, or All Saints Day and the night before or the eve was called "All Hallows Eve," or All Soul's Day. This was the day to pray for the dead.
Here's the good part, Julius Caesar spent two summers trying to conquer Britain. The Romans were interested in breaking up the legal and political power of the Druids. The Romans believed that writings about the Druids and Celts were heresy and found some of Druidic ritual intolerable. The Roman custom of religious tolerance when they conquered a region did not include the Druids.
Finally, to answer the original question, "Did the Romans Celebrate Halloween?" The short answer is, no. However, the ancestors of these early Christians, Romans, Celts, and Druids in the British Isles were responsible for bringing this pagan/Christian holiday to the modern world.

THE DOGS OF WAR?

The Romans, kept dogs, just like modern day people. But, the Romans rarely used these dogs just as a house pet, they mostly used them for guarding their homes, for gladiatorial battles, and for unleashing against their foes in warfare. The popular Roman breed of dog is the now extinct "Mollosian," which looked like an oversized Rottweiler. Mollosians were originally from Greece, probably brought to Rome by soldiers or merchants.
In Pompeii, archaeologists found mosaics with images of Mollosians and words the "cave canem," or, "beware of the dog." It is obvious that Mollasians became extinct because of the Romans and Greeks sending them into battles and pittting them against gladiators in an arena. Also, legend has it that Alexander the Great had a Mollosian that killed a lion and an elephant in the arena. So, Romans may have treated their dogs a bit too harshly, but they didn't know any better. The Romans were like children, still learning.

Roman Gladiators: Barley Crunchers?

Have you ever seen one of those old time gladiator movies? You know, like Spartacus. Well, all those cheesy movies falsely describe gladiators! It's all blather, balderdash, poppycock, INSANITY! To honor gladiators, I will reveal the true story, of their lifestyle.
To begin with, gladiators fought barefoot because so-called "gladiator sandals" would make it harder to keep their balance. Gladiators could not do whatever they wanted outside the arena. In fact, they would be flogged if caught womanizing or drinking. Finally, these men had a bland diet of beans and barley, which would build a layer of fat or insulation that could protect him against slash attacks during battle.

Dr. Karl Grosschmidt, a forensic pathologist, at the University of Vienna analyzed gladiator bones found in a Roman gladiator graveyard in Ephesus. Of particular interest, was a tombstone that depicted a man holding the palm leaf, the symbol of the champion. The dead gladiator's name was Polombus and he was not a slave. Gladiatorial fights started as funeral rites performed by a few slaves and spilling blood honored the dead. By Caesar's time, many gladiator schools had been built and opened. Polombus went to one of these schools and survived the training. The special thing about Polombus is that he started a new generation of gladiators. Gladiators that fought for money.
It was discovered that Polombus was a Murmillo gladiator. A Murmillo was taken from the Greek word, mormylos or fish because of the fish-like shape of their helmets. . The Murmillo's nemesis was the Thracian, who carried a deadly curved sword and a square shield. Polumbus may have also fought a Retiarius who wore little armor. They brandished a trident and net. The Retiarii were the only gladiators with no helmet.
After analyzing more and more bones, Dr. Grosschmidt found four tiny pinpricks on some of the bones. There was no known weapon wielded by a gladiator that made markings like that. A quadrant weapon must have been used in the arena to cause this pattern of injury to the bones of gladiators. After x-raying these bones from the graveyard in Ephesus, it appears from the healed bones that gladiators received good medical care. It was expensive to train and feed these fighters and it would not be smart to have them disabled after a fight.
If a gladiator was very successful in the arena, he was treated like a "movie star." He could have his name on products for sale. Children might play with a "gladiator action figure." As long as you could stay alive in the arena, you could retire with a comfortable savings.

I close with the gladiator salute, "Nos morituri te salutamus."

The life and times of the Colosseum

Have you ever thought about the world famous Roman Colosseum's origins or history? Well, the Colosseum's construction started between 70 and 72 AD under the Roman emperor Vespasian. He wanted to give back land that was stolen from Roman citizens by Nero. The roman emperor's son, Titus, completed the construction in 80 AD. The original name was the "Flavian Amphitheater." The amphitheater was renamed as the "Colosseum" for the colossus statue of Nero that was brought to the early structure.

The Colosseum could originally seat about 50,000 people. The main purpose for the theater was to hold gladiatorial games. Public announcements and speeches were also delivered from its' vast stage. It would also be flooded for mock sea battles and animal fights. To my surprise, I read that the Colosseum's arena was not sand or dirt, but it was actually made of wood. Below was a basement like area where animals and gladiators waited to perform.

The Colosseum was used for four centuries as the main fighting arena in Rome. After the Colosseum had officially opened, 100 days of games and fights were held.

A Roman ship found off the coast of Spain

A Roman ship was found by accident in 2000. It is 100 meters long and weighs 400 tons. It is the largest Roman ship ever found in the Mediterranean. The ship is around two-thousand years old and sailed to Spain in the 1st century AD. Among the ship's cargo were jars of garum, a fish sauce that rich Romans fancied.

Carles De Juan, the co-director of the wreck's research team said, "I am not going to say it was on the beach but almost." The believed explanation is that the ship went down in storm while heading back from Cadiz in southern Spain to Rome. "Proper exploration" began in July, 2006.

Roman Sarcophagus found near Trafalgar Square, London England

Did you know that in 2006, a Roman sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton was found near Trafalgar Square, London. It was found during excavations at St. Martin-in-the-Field Church in central London. The find dates back to 410AD and it was outside the old Roman walls of London.

Taryn Nixon, the director of th Museum of London Archaeology Service said,"It means that perhaps St. Martin-in-the-Fields has been a sacred site for far, far, far longer than we previously thought. This gives us an extraordinary glimpse of parts of London we haven't seen before, particularly Roman and Saxon London."This was a monumental archaeological discovery in 2006 that gave us a different point of view about what Roman London was like two-thousand years ago.