Stuffed animals in togas at the Captives Block; each has a nametag with the animal's name and skills. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Get your photo in Roman costume in front of Vesuvius or in the arena at the Historical/Hysterical Moments booth. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Aluminum foil swords and cardboard shields and even a few helmets at the Armory. Perfect for battles at recess. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Sugar cube pyramids, candy Canopus jars, gauze mummified cats, and scarab necklaces at Egyptian Ephemera. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Votive offerings of eyes and ears, gladiator sweat (strangely similar to Gatorade), and candy bath salts at the Pharmacy. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

The kindergarten and first graders are here. Swords, stuffed animals, and candy seem to be very popular with this demographic. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Votive eyes and ears at the #RomanMarket http://t.co/thb1XH0—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Wax tablets, papyrus scrolls, Beanie Baby scribes, Latin bumper stickers, and peacock feather quills at the Scriptorium. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Fried dormice (chicken wings), Caesar salad, rolls, and grape juice "vinum" at A Loaf and a Jug. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Marshmallow gods, palm reading and fortunes from the Sibyl at the Augury and Lares booth. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Strawberries and pineapple chunk skewers, Gauls (aka Danishes), and candy everything at the Sweet Shop booth. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

In the final moments of the #RomanMarket two hours after we opened for business (and five hours after we began setting up).—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

@Caecilius ~ I would love to see your outlines, plans etc for the #RomanMarket. I think my students would really enjoy this!—
Cheryl Cheatham (@mamacheatham) June 02, 2011

For #RomanMarket each student is assigned to one of 11 booths, and has six weeks or so to plan and make the items that they will sell.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

The entire school visits the #RomanMarket so my students have been looking forward to working the event since Kindergarten.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

@Caecilius your project sounded amazing. Do the kids spend sestertii? Could you tell me more about it?—
Mark Gutkowski (@mylatinteacher) June 03, 2011

We have parent volunteer bankers exchange the student's cash for "gold" & "silver" coins for the #RomanMarket @mylatinteacher—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 03, 2011

@Caecilius and the kids make the products, right?—
Mark Gutkowski (@mylatinteacher) June 03, 2011

@mylatinteacher Yes. They work outside of school in groups for six weeks or so to make everything. They want to outdo the previous Markets.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 03, 2011

@Caecilius , you are super amazing! What was the Most creative item that the kids made? Some of them sounded wild!—
Mark Gutkowski (@mylatinteacher) June 03, 2011

@mylatinteacher So many items were high quality. My favorite item is probably a gorgeous wax tablet that somehow looks like my iPad.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 03, 2011

@mylatinteacher They're also ingenious at selling candy: canopic jars w/ gummy organs, marshmallow votive offerings, licorice daggers, etc.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 03, 2011

Today my youngest students are putting on our annual Roman Market, selling handmade classically-themed items for charity. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

About to grab my coffee before setting up my room for the special day. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

@Caecilius That sounds lovely! What have they made?—
Penelope J. Goodman (@pjgoodman) June 02, 2011

@pjgoodman I'm going to try to live-tweet the event, so I'll highlight each of the 11 booths.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Six large plastic bins and seven large garbage bags full of stuffed animals wearing homemade tunics and togas are ready to go. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Haven't yet put on my tunic, but I'm wearing my gold laurel leaf crown before meeting the first batch of parent volunteers. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

My army of parent volunteers helped prep the cafe-theat-atorium; everything is ready while the kids go to their first classes. #RomanMarket—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

While my Market-eers are elsewhere, I'm about to teach the last class to my oldest students. We're watching Latin videos that they've made.—
Bill Jennings (@Caecilius) June 02, 2011

Four Latin teachers in Pompeii.

(original photo by me)

(original photo by me)

I love this tombstone!

Valgia Silvilla set this up for herself and her husband Tiberius Claudius Auximus, probably at some point in the first century CE.

What I like about it:
A. First of all, she begins with her full name (in the nominative), letting us know that she’s the one who set up this stone. (VALGIA SILVILLA).

B. Next comes the fact that she set this up for herself (SIBI).

C. Only then do we learn that she also set this up for Auximus (ET TI CLAUDIO AUXIMO)

D. … and that he is her spouse (CONIUGI SUO) and he is well-deserving of commemoration (BENE MERENTI), a cliche found on thousands of Roman tomb inscriptions.

E. Next she set this up for the freedmen and women (LIBERTIS LIBERTABUS/QUE) that they used to own.

F. But Valgia makes sure to specify that some of these belonged to her (SUIS) and some to her husband (ET AUXIMI).

G. Finally, she also set this stone up for the children (POSTERISQ) of the freedmen and women (EORUM).

Valgia Silvilla is also known for another inscription that she dedicated to Bona Dea Castrensis. No mention of her husband there, unsurprisingly. Both inscriptions were found in Rome, and one street which displayed the Bona Dea inscription is now named Via Valgia Silvilla in her honor. (I wonder how Auximus must feel.)

dis manibus
sacrum
Valgia Silvilla
sibi et
Ti. Claudio Auximo
coniugi suo
bene merenti et
libertis libertabus
que suis et Auximi
posterisq eorum

“Dedicated to the spirits of the dead.
Valgia Silvilla [set this up]
for herself and
for Tiberius Claudius Auximus,
her husband,
well-deserving, and
for the freedmen and freedwomen,
both hers and Auximus’s,
and for the children of those [freedmen and women].”

(original photo by me)

This inscription, which would have been underneath a statue of Aeneas, was found in the building of Eumachia in the forum of Pompeii. This is a reproduction and reconstruction in the Museo della Civilta Romana. The letters in red are reconstructed.

CIL 10.808 + 8348

Aeneas Veneris
et Anchisae f. Troianos
qui capta Troia bello super
fuerant in Italiam adduxit
bellum suscepit
[...] en [...]
[...] lbu [...]
oppidum Lavinium condidit et
ibi regnavit annos tris in
bello Laurenti subito non con
paruit appellatusq est indigens
pater et in deorum numero relatus (est)

Aeneas, son of Venus and Anchises, let into Italy the Trojans who had survived when Troy was captured in war. He undertook a war [...] founded the town Lavinium and reigned there for three years. In the Laurentine war he suddenly disappeared , and was called Father Indigens, and was received in the number of the gods.

(original photo by me)

Sketch reproducing an ancient Roman graffito of a gladiator, originally from Pompeii.

When I went to Capua in 2004, the Gladiator Museum had an exhibit of replica gladiator graffiti, originally found on the podium of a tomb in the necropolis outside the Nucerian Gate of Pompeii. Many of the graffiti show drawings of gladiators.

Another Flickr user identified this type of gladiator as a Thraex = Thracian.

(original photo by me)

Pompeii in the rain.

(original photo by me)

A. Umbricio A. f. Men
Scauro
II vir i.d.
huic decuriones locum monum.
et HS [][] in funere et statuam equestr.
in foro ponendam censuerunt.
Scaurus pater filio.

[In Latin inscriptions, there is a special symbol which I have represented as HS. It stands for "sestertius". In this inscription, I was unable to reproduce the two symbols that immediately follow the HS. These look somewhat like a modern infinity symbol, and they stand in for the Latin word "milia". Combined, they mean "two thousand sesterces".]

"For Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, son of Aulus, of the Menenia tribe, duumvir with judiciary authority. The city councilors voted the site for a monument to this man and two thousand sesterces toward the cost of a funeral, and that an equestrian statue be set up in the forum. Scaurus the father (set this up) for his son."

Aulus Umbricius Scaurus was Pompeii’s one of the most successful manufacturers of garum, the well-known Roman fish sauce. Approximately 30% of the garum containers discovered in Pompeii and nearby were made in one of the factories of the Scaurus’ family. Scholars can tell this because the containers were stamped with identifying labels, an early form of branding. One container of garum with the Scaurus brand has been found in southern France.

Scaurus’s house in Pompeii can also be identified, since he had mosaics showing amphorae of garum with his name on it in the atrium of the house. Amphorae with some garum still preserved have been excavated in the house.

(original photo by me)