Instant Answers: New Year’s Day Q&A

Since Instant Classics launched, we’ve loved getting your questions
and ideas for topics. So for our New Year’s Day episode, Mary and
Charlotte respond to some of those which have tickled their
curiosity too.  Where did the Romans stash their cash? What
was a trip to the doctor like for women? Why do some people still
try to speak (rather than just read) Latin? Was there a Jewish
community in Roman Britain? And are there any feminist role models
in the pantheon of ancient gods?  While it is easier to answer
some of these questions than others, each gives an insight to an
area of the classical world we haven’t yet examined - and reminds
us that however close we think we are to the ancient Romans or
Greeks, huge parts of their lives and the way they thought about
the world are lost to us. Just when we think we have a handle on
them, they elude our grasp once again.  Charlotte and Mary’s
reading suggestions Jean Andreau, Banking and Business in the Roman
World (Cambridge UP, 1999) is a short guide to what Roman “bankers”
got up to. For valuables stored in the Temple of Castor, see
Juvenal, Satires 14, 260ff  The Mildenhall Treasure, now in
the British Museum:  For a translation of Soranus’ On
Gynecology (the qualities of a midwife are discussed near the start
of Book1) Hippocrates’ words of wisdom on midwives Hippocrates on
the medical dangers of being a virgin For a good online article of
Roman midwives, with images of their tombstones:  An article
on learning to speak Latin via the Oxford Latinitas Project For
teaching Latin in the 1920s by the so-call “Direct Method” Article
on a possible Jewish tombstone in Roman Scotland (Warren, M., 2023,
Invisibility, erasure, and a Jewish tombstone in Roman Britain.
Journal for Ancient Judaism, 14 (1). pp. 1-20.) Plus – the
tombstone in question with its decoration of palm fronds (or
menorahs?) Mary discusses kosher garum in her book Pompeii: The
Life of a Roman Town (Profile, 2009) @instaclassicpod for Insta,
TikTok and YouTube@insta_classics for Xemail:
instantclassicspod@gmail.com Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci
Producer: Jonty Claypole  Executive Producer: Natalia
Rodriguez Ford Video Editor: Jak Ford Theme music: Casey Gibson
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