Category: Mythology

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Archive of Guided Walks/Events for 2025

Every year I keep a list of my guided walks, and tours on my blog the ‘Almanac of the Past’. Here are the walks I have so far done in 2025.

Here is my ‘Almost Complete List of Guided Walks, Study Tours, Lectures’

Ring in the New Year Virtual Guided Walk

Old New Year Card

Monday 1st January 2025 7.00 pm
On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.

The New Year has been a time of review, renewal, and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus who looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption and his second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.

We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festival and New Year London traditions and folklore.

At the end, we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2023.

The virtual walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at the Barbican Underground and continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Doctors Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River Thames.

The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour

The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print
The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print


7:30pm Fri 30th January 2025


January 30th is the Anniversary of the execution of Charles I and to commemorate it we explore the events and the aftermath of the Civil War in London.

Along with the Norman Conquest of 1066 and winning the World Cup in 1966 the Great Fire in 1666 are the only dates the British can remember!

And we remember the Great Fire because it destroyed one of the great medieval Cities in an epic conflagration that shocked the world.

But it wasn’t just the Great Fire that made the 17th Century an epic period in English History. There was a Civil War, beheading of the King, a Republic, a peaceful Restoration of the Monarch, the last great plague outbreak in the UK, the Glorious Revolution and the Great Wind.

The Virtual Walk puts the Great Fire in the context of the time – Civil War, anti-catholicism, plague, and the commercial development of London.
The walk brings to life 17th Century London. It starts with the events that lead up to the Civil War concentrating on Westminster and ends with a vivid recreation of the drama of the Fire as experienced by eye-witnesses. Route includes: Westminster, Fish Street Hill, Pudding Lane, Monument, Royal Exchange, Guildhall, Cheapside, St Pauls, Amen Corner, Newgate Street, Smithfield.


Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk

11.30 am Sun 9th Feb 2025 Monument Underground Station

also on 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25 but starting from Moorgate

Roman Riverside Wall being built
London Roman Riverside Wall o



This is a walking tour features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.

This is a walking tour that features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.

Our Guides will be Publius Ovidius Naso and Marcus Valerius Martialis who will be helped by Kevin Flude, former Museum of London Archaeologist, Museum Curator and Lecturer.

We disembark at the Roman Waterfront by the Roman Bridge, and then explore the lives of the citizens as we walk up to the site of the Roman Town Hall, and discuss Roman politics. We proceed through the streets of Roman London, with its vivid and cosmopolitan street life via the Temple of Mithras to finish with Bread and Circus at the Roman Amphitheatre.

Zinger Read: Talk about a high-quality one-two punch. This walk investigates the groundbreaking archaeological discoveries of Roman London. And then it reconstructs life in a provincial Roman capital using archaeological and literary sources. Discoveries – insights – like flashes of lightning in a cloud. We begin at the site of the Roman bridge. We might be decent young Roman citizens in togas, having this and that bit of
explained to us as we make our way towards the Roman Town Hall. From there we head to the site of the excavation called ‘the Pompeii of the North.’ Followed by the Temple of Mithras. We finish with a walk along the Roman High Street in order to end at the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. So, yes, welcome to London as it was 2,000, 1,900, 1,800, 1,700 and 1,600 years ago. And, yes, the walk’s guided by a real expert, the distinguished emeritus Museum of London archaeologist Kevin Flude. That means you’ll see things other people don’t get to see, delve into London via fissures that aren’t visible, let alone accessible, to non-specialists.

REVIEWS
“Kevin, I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you ever so much for your archaeological tours of London! I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your tours! I look forward to them more than you can imagine! They’re the best 2 hours of my week! 🙂 Best, Sue

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Guided Walk

Georgian female engraving

2.30 pm Sunday 9th Feb 2025

Green Park underground station, Green Park exit, by the fountain To book

Also
9 February 2025Sunday2.30 pm4.30 pm
8 March 2025Saturday2.30 pm4.30 pm
6 April 2025Sunday11.30 am1.30 pm

2025 is the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth in Steventon, Hampshire. We celebrate her fictional and real life visits to Mayfair, the centre of the London section of Sense & Sensibility and where Jane came to visit her brother

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Jane Austen devotee in possession of the good fortune of a couple of free hours today must be in want of this walk.”

People associate Jane Austen and her characters with a rural setting. But London is central to both Jane Austen’s real life and her literary life. So, this tour will explore Jane’s connections with London and give the background to Sense and Sensibility, a good part of which is based in this very area. We begin with the place Jane’s coach would arrive from Hampshire, and then walk the streets haunted by Willougby; past shops visited by the Palmers, the Ferrars; visit the location of Jane Austen’s brother’s bank and see the publisher of Jane’s Books. The area around Old Bond Street was the home of the Regency elite and many buildings and a surprising number of the shops remain as they were in Jane Austen’s day.


Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London’ in 1809 Virtual Walk

sam_syntax-cries-of-london-1820s_gentle-author_03-hot-plum-pudding-seller


7.30 27th January 2025

With the help of a contemporary Guide Book, Jane Austen’s letters, and works we explore London in 1809.

‘The Picture of London for 1809 Being a CORRECT GUIDE to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects in and near London.’

This Guide Book to London might have been on Henry Austen’s shelf when his sister, Jane, came to visit him in London. But it enables us to tour the London that Jane Austen knew in some detail. We will look at the Curiosities as well as the shopping, residential, theatres areas as well as the Port, the Parks and the Palaces.

The guided walk is a thank you to Alix Gronau, who, having been to one of my lectures in 1994, wanted the book to come to me. I have had the book restored and am using it to explore London in 1809.

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30 pm Sunday 9th February 25 To book


A Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s Bath

Poster for the most socereign restorative Bath Water

7.30pm 10th February 2025


Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am Sat 22nd Feb 25


Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London

Druids at All Hallows, by the Tower
Druids at All Hallows, by the Tower

2.30pm Sat 22nd February 2025 Tower Hill Underground

The walk tells the stories of our changing ideas about the origins of London during the Prehistoric, Roman and Saxon periods.

The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, who has an interest both in myths, legends and London’s Archaeology.

The walk will tell the story of the legendary origins of London which record that it was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan and was called New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum. This name was recorded in the words of Julius Caesar; and, then, according to Legend, the town was renamed after King Ludd and called Lud’s Dun. Antiquarians and Archaeologists have taken centuries to demolish this idea, and became convinced London was founded by the Romans. Recently, dramatic evidence of a Bronze Age presence in London was found.

When the Roman system broke down in 410 AD, historical records were almost non-existent, until the Venerable Bede recorded the building of St Pauls Cathedral in 604 AD. The two hundred year gap, has another rich selection of legends. which the paucity of archaeological remains struggles to debunk.

The walk will explore these stories and compare the myths and legends with Archaeological discoveries.

The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River at Billingsgate, London Bridge, and into the centre of Roman London.

Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sat Mar 8th 25
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sat 8th Mar 25

The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30 Sat 22nd March 2025
London. 1066 and All That Walk Sat 2.30pm 22nd March 2025

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 11.30am Sun 6th Apr 25


Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sun 6th Apr 25

and

Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book


George Inn,Southwark
George Inn,Southwark


A Walk around Medieval London following in the footsteps of its resident medieval poet – Geoffrey Chaucer

One of the spectators at the Peasants Revolt was Geoffrey Chaucer, born in the Vintry area of London, who rose to be a diplomat, a Courtier and London’s Customs Officer. He lived with his wife in the Chamber above the Gate in the City Wall at Aldgate. His poetry shows a rugged, joyous medieval England including many scenes reflecting life in London. His stories document the ending of the feudal system, growing dissatisfaction with the corruption in the Church, and shows the robust independence with which the English led their lives.

His work helped change the fashion from poetry in French or Latin to acceptance of the English language as suitable literary language. This was helped by the growth of literacy in London as its Merchants and Guildsmen became increasingly successful. In 1422, for example, the Brewers decided to keep their records in English ‘as there are many of our craft who have the knowledge of reading and writing in the English idiom.’

Chaucer and other poets such as Langland give a vivid portrait of Medieval London which was dynamic, successful but also torn by crisis such as the Lollard challenge to Catholic hegemony, and the Peasants who revolted against oppression as the ruling classes struggled to resist the increased independence of the working people following the Black Death.

A walk which explores London in the Middle Ages, We begin at Aldgate, and follow Chaucer from his home to his place of work at the Customs House, and then to St Thomas Chapel on London Bridge, and across the River to where the Canterbury Tales start – at the Tabard Inn.

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude

Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25

Roman layer opus signinum,
Roman layer opus signinum,


Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 3:00pm Sun 27th Apr 25

Thomas Bilney martyred in Smithfield. Black and white engraving
Thomas Bilney martyred in Smithfield.


The Walk creates a portrait of London in the early 16th Century, with particular emphasis on the life and times of Thomas Cromwell and Thomas More during the Anne Boleyn years.


More and Cromwell had much in common, both lawyers, commoners, who rose to be Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, and ended their careers on the block at Tower Hill.

The walk starts with an exploration of Smithfield – site of the stake where heretics were burnt alive and of St Bartholomew’s Monastery – given to Richard Rich after his decisive role in the downfall of Thomas More. We continue to St Paul where Martin Luther’s books were burnt, and later, where Puritans preached against dancing round the Maypole.

We walk along the main markets streets of London, to Thomas More’s birthplace, and to the site of More’s and Cromwell’s townhouses before, if time allows, finishing at the site of the Scaffold where More and Cromwell met their ends, overlooking where Anne Boleyn was incarcerated in the Tower of London

To Book:
https://www.walks.com/our-walks/tudor-london-the-city-of-wolf-hall/

A Boy From Haggerston before the War. 6pm 1st May 2025 Shoreditch Library.


Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.30am Sun 25th May 25 To book


The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 3pm Sun May 25 To book

The Peasants Revolt Anniversary Guided Walk

Medieval drawing of an archer
Medieval drawing of an archer

6.30pm Wed 11th June 2025 Aldgate Underground To book

An Anniversary Walk tracking the progress of the Peasants as they take control of London in June of 1381

Short read: The Summer of Blood

Long read: The Peasants’ Revolt. The greatest popular rising in English history. This is the anniversary walk. The London Walk that heads back to 1381, back to the Peasants’ Revolt. You want a metaphor, think stations of the cross. This is the stations of the Peasants’ Revolt walk. We go over the ground, literally and metaphorically. Where it took place. Why it took place. Why it took place at these places. What happened. The walk is guided by the distinguished Museum of London Archaeologist
His expertise means you’ll see the invisible. And understand the inscrutable.

On the anniversary of the Peasants Revolt we reconstruct the events that shook the medieval world. In June 1381, following the introduction of the iniquitous Poll Tax, England’s government nearly fell, shaken to the core by a revolt led by working men. This dramatic tour follows the events of the Revolt as the Peasants move through London in June 1381.

We met up with the Peasants at Aldgate, force our way into the City. We march on the Tower of London as the King makes concessions by ending serfdom, at Mile End. But the leaders take the mighty Tower of London and behead the leaders of Richard’s government. Attacks follow on the lawyers in the Temple, the Prior at St. John’s of Jerusalem, Flemish Londoners, and on Lambeth and Savoy Palaces.

The climax of the Revolt comes at Smithfield where a small Royal party confront the 30,000 peasants.

Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am 13th July 2025 To Book
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 3pm Sunday 13th July 25 To book
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30 am Sat 2nd Aug 2025 ToBook
Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sat 2nd Aug 2025 To Book
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.00am Sat 16th Aug25 to Book
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 6:30pm Wed 24th Sept 2025 To book
The Archaeology of London Walk 6.30pm Fri 3rd October 2025 To Book
Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 11:30pm Sat 4th Oct 25 To book
The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30pm Sat 8th Nov 25 To book
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.00pm Sat 23rd Nov25 To book
Rebirth of Saxon London 23rd Nov 25
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk sat 11am 6th Dec 2025 To book
Cromwell’s and More’s Tudor London Walk 2pm 7th Dec25 To book
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sun 14 Dec25 To book
Christmas With Jane Austen Virtual London Tour 7.30pmTues 16 Dec25 To book
The London Equinox and Solstice Walk 11:30pm Sun 21st Dec 25To book
The London Winter Solstice Virtual Tour 7.30pm Sun 21 Dec 25 To book

Previous Years Archives

Here are previous archive of guided walks and events

Archive of Events/Walks 2024
Archive of events/Walks 2023
Archive of Events/Walks 2022
Archive of Recent Walks (2021)
Archive of Resent Walks (2019-2020)

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Birthday Of The Sun December 25th

The First Day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Nebra Sun disc from Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum
Nebra Sun disc. Photo from Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum (photo Kevin Flude) The Disc shows the Sun, the Moon, the Pleides, and illustrates the Summer and Winter Solstice movements of the Sun.

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti

On the 25th December were born Jesus, Mithras, Attis, Saturn, Apollo, and the Invincible Sun.

The Sun Gods have quite a complicated interrelationship. Zeus, and Apollo are both also considered to be Sun Gods. Apollo is particularly interrelated to Helios, the Greek God who drives the Chariot that carries the Sun across the skies every day. The Romans had a God called Sol who some say was a deity but who declined to be of minor importance. Then Sol was championed by the transexual Emperor Elagabalas. Aurelian revived the cult in 274 AD. Sol Invictus was the focus of Constantine the Great. Sol has been suggested as a response of the Romans to a trend towards monotheism in the later Roman period. Sol for Constantine was a gateway God to Christianity.

It is also notable that early worship of Jesus is full of solar metaphors, Jesus being, for example, the light of the world. Churches are also virtually all orientated East West, aligned with the rising and setting suns. The Altar is always at the East End, and effigies on tombs face the rising sun.

Celtic Sun Gods?

The Golden Wheel from Haute Marne in France

The Golden Wheel from Haute Marne in France, (Public Domain, Wikipedia)

Did the Celts have a sun-god? Belenos is a contender, but linguists are proposing his name does not come from words meaning bright but from strong. The God Lugh’s name is suggested to mean ‘shining’ but his attributes are more of a warrior than a sun god. Taranis is probably the best candidate, but he is more of a sky or thunder god than specifically a sun god. However, his symbol is a 8 spoked wheel is said to be symbolic of the Sun. It also represents the division of the year by the 4 quarterly sun festivals (Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox) and the 4 cross-quarter festivals, (Samhain or Halloween, Imbolc or Candlemas, Beltane or May Day, Lughnasa or Harvest Festival).

December 25th is a few days after our reckoning of the Solstice. But, as we have previously seen, Christians believed the world was created on the Spring Equinox, and humans on the 4th day, so Adam was created on March 25th. Mary conceived on the same day, and therefore Jesus, after a perfect labour was born 9 Months later on December 25th. (See my post on March 25th and the Creation)

Christmas Cake

Today, you might be tucking into a Christmas Cake (originally eaten on Twelfth Night). Now, I know many Americans have a bizarre belief that fruit cake is the cake of the devil. Something you receive as a gift and give away to someone else, as most Americans hate it. More fool them for missing out on one of the delights of the Christmas period, that and cold turkey sandwiches. Christmas Cake is made on stir up Sunday, the last Sunday in November, to let the ingredients develop their flavour. They are then covered with marzipan and decorative icing.

19th Century Christmas Cake, generally now the icing continues down the side of the cake.

In Germany, they also eat a fruit bread called Stollen or Weihnachtsstollen. The tradition is said to have been started in the 15th Century, when the Pope gave dispensation to allow the use of butter in the fasting period of Advent. Previously, the Germans had to use oil to replace the banned butter, but they could only make oil from turnips, so eventually the Pope allowed the use of butter, with which they made bread with added dried fruits.

Stollen By Gürgi – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3720379

In Italy, they eat Panettone, a fruit bread/cake. It is a sourdough, and a cross between a brioche and a cake. It often comes in a beautiful decorative tin, and is delicious. The centre of panettone production is Milan. Last year was the 200th Anniversary of Milan’s famous Marchesi 1824 which makes artisanal Panettone. It used ‘fine ingredients such as six-crown sultan as, naturally candied fruit, Bourbon vanilla from Madagascar, Italian honey and eggs from free-range hens, blended in a slow-rising dough with the exclusive use of Marchesi 1824 sourdough starter‘. Thank you, Mara from Milan, for the heads-up.

Screen shot from website – does not click through to sales!

Which is best? The only way to find out is to eat several slices of each. America, you don’t know what you are missing.

For stir up sunday see the second half of this post of mine.

Stir Up Sunday! November 26th

First Published 24th December 2022, Republished 25th December 2023, 2024, 2025

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Eve of the Birthday Of the Sun God December 24th

Helios, Colossus of Rhodes, artist's impression, 1880
Helios Colossus of Rhodes, artist’s impression, 1880

The Eve of the Day

Tomorrow is the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti – the birth of the Invincible Sun.  In some calendars, such as the Celtic & the Anglo Saxon, the day begins at dusk.  So Christmas Eve is not the evening before Christmas Day. It is the beginning of Christmas Day itself.

So some countries celebrate the eve as much or more than the day.  The Church would have encouraged this to accommodate former pagan belief into newly converted societies. (the most obvious example is Halloween see my post here).

But the Church also suggests celebration of the Eve derives from the Jewish tradition of the beginning of the day at dusk.  In Genesis are the words;

‘And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.’

Christian tradition holds that Jesus was born on the holy night and thus is celebrated by the midnight mass.

When does the day begin?

This seems a silly question.  In our society, the day officially begins at midnight.  But it clearly begins at dawn. This was the normal start of day for Ancient Egypt,
Republican Romans, and Western Europe till the coming of clocks in about 1400. We have already seen there are calendars that start the day at Sunset: Muslim, Jews, Celts, and the
Saxons. In Britain, astronomers started the day at midday until an Act of Parliament reset it to midnight as recently as 1925.

Dawn seems the obvious choice, it’s called daybreak after all. But the problem is that the first light is so variable.  It is an opinion when the light arrives and will vary depending on clouds, hills and height above sea level etc. Midnight is halfway between dawn and dusk, and I assume can be determined mathematically and astronomically.  So Julius Caesar changed the Roman start of day to midnight when he reformed the Roman Calendar. (See my post on the Julian Calendar here).

Dusk is a counterintuitive choice, I think. The reasoning is that the Sun has gone down. It is finished for the day.   Sunset is the end of the day. So it is also the start of the next daily cycle. 

The Celts started their year at Halloween for similar reasons.  In autumn, the various harvests have been collected.  Most plants have ended their growing cycle and shed their leaves. Therefore, November 1st (or its eve) is the end of the growing year. On the ground, the seeds are ready and waiting to begin sprouting to bring new life. So, this is the new year.  Sort of makes sense?

Christmas Eve Celebrations

In Britain, among the general population, there are no special customs except for preparing for the arrival of Father Christmas, and perhaps going to Midnight Mass.  In Germany, Heiliger Abend is when Gifts are exchanged.  Afterwards, is a relatively light dinner, often consisting of potato salad and sausages. 

In my experience, Christmas Eve is a relaxing evening in front of the TV while wrapping presents.  (After the children have gone to bed of course). Sometimes in front of the first roaring fire of the winter.

Then the filling of pillow cases or stockings full of presents. Last thing is tip-toeing upstairs placing a plate in the hall upstairs with a mince pie, shot of brandy for Father Christmas and a carrot for the reindeer. Then the crinkle of the wrapping paper as the presents are placed on the children’s bed.  Now, the little darlings are finally fast asleep after an overexcited bedtime. These are the precious moments of family life.

Mothers of God’s Eve

December 24th is a day for Mothers, as tomorrow, the 25th, will be born Jesus, Mithras, Attis, Saturn, Apollo, and the Day of the Birth of the Invincible Sun, Solis Invictus. And so we think of Mary, Isis, Theia, the Three Mother Goddesses and mothers everywhere.

First Published 24th December 2022, Republished 2023,2024,2025

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December 21 – Reflections on the Solstice

The Solstice and the East Pediment of the Parthenon

British Museum Shop, reproductions of Hestia and Selene’s Horse from the Parthenon Marbles

At the Summer Solstice, I took a group to the British Museum and, a few days later, to Stonehenge, and managed to ‘integrate’ the two into a solstice narrative. At the BM, over years of trying to explain the sculptures, I have been building in my mind an interpretation of the Pediment that gives, I hope, an original insight into the possible intentions of the sculptors. I don’t know how ‘true’ it is, but I do think it gives an insight into metaphor and symbolism in great works of art. Bear in mind that there is a lot of uncertainty about some of the attributions, and, that the male and female virtues that I am talking about are traditional ones, not necessarily how we would express it in the modern world.

Pediment Sculptures Photo by Nicole Baster on Unsplash

At the left of the above photography, you see the horses that take Helios chariot into the sky to bring up the sun to light the world every day. Most sun deities are male, and the Sun gives light and life to the world, without it this earth is an inert block of ice cold stone. The next statue is casually laying back and looking fit, relaxed and not looking as if he is in that position because of the impossible triangular Pediment space he inhabits. He is the epitome of male strength, usually identified with Hercules but other people have other ideas and a young Dionysus is another suggestion. Whoever he is he represents male beauty and strength. So this end of the pediment represents the Sun and male virtues. This is the East Pediment of the Parthenon which is orientated to the rising sun, a little north of east.

Next figure is Demeter, the goddess of fertility, the goddess of the earth. Placed here to remind us that the Sun needs the Earth to create life and sustenance. It reminds us that the universe is not male, the male only works in conjunction with the female. Demeter is cuddling her daughter Persephone, the Goddess of Hades. She reminds us that life is a cycle of death and life. Plants die, turn into soil and create the conditions for future life.

Next is Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera, wife of Heracles (Hercules). She is the cupbearer to the Gods and gives them the ambrosia that keeps them forever young. She is the Goddess of Immortality, a reminder that the universe is eternal.

Next to Hebe is a void where there was the central statue of the east pediment depicting the Birth of Athena (according to Pausanias who wrote a guide in the 2nd Century BC to the Temple). Athena was born from the head of her father Zeus- a virgin birth. Athena therefore is, in some ways, the greatest of the Olympians, as she has the virtues of her female sex and the virtues of her father’s masculinity (and, dear Gods, hopefully not the massive ‘Me Too’ vices of her father). She is therefore, wise, nurturing, just, intuitive, decisive, a leader; an ideal combination of male and female.

Zeus (sitting) Hephastus to right (looking back with Axe) Athena just visible above Zeus's head
Zeus (sitting) Hephastus to right (looking back with Axe) Athena just visible above Zeus’s head

Her back story is that her dad, Zeus eats her mum, Metis, who is pregnant with her. Sometime later, he has a cracking headache. Hephaestus, the disabled artificer God hits Zeus over the head with an axe to clear the headache. Zeus gives birth to a fully formed Athena through the split in his head. She was known as Athena Parthenos, Athena the Virgin. Her name is originally Athene but it got changed to Athena in 500 BC.

Hestia, Dione, Aphrodite, Horse of Selene’s chariot

To Athene’s left is Hestia (Vesta for the Romans). Her name means “hearth, fireplace, altar” and she is the goddess of the domestic sphere, of the comforts of home, of a warm fire enjoyed by a loving family.

The next set are two beautifully draped women languidly leaning on each other, and these are Dione, with her daughter Aphrodite – the Goddess of Love. Dione is the daughter of Gaia and Uranus daughter of earth and sky. So, here, counterpoised to Hercules, are epitomes of women. Women of power, creation, and love.

Finally, we have the exhausted horse of Selene. Her chariot takes the moon into the sky, positioned opposite to Helios and the Sun. Selene is the Moon goddess, and the Moon is beautiful, powerful as it gives us the tides and fundamental to the life of humans as she presides over the menstrual cycle. Compared to the movements of the Sun which any fool can work out, and which are relentless (symbolising Justice) the movements of the Moon are mysterious to most of us. So Selene is beautiful, powerful, creative and the Goddess of Intuition.

So, if you put it all together, the East Pediment of the Parthenon shows that the world is a union of the male and the female, balanced between the two with Zeus and Athene in the middle, with Athene holding the main part because she, in her person, represents both the male and the female.

Of course, we know that the Athenian society was a patriarchal one with women mostly kept in the domestic sphere. But here, at least, women were given an equal billing in the organisation of the Cosmos.

Sculptures from the east pediment of the Parthenon
Sculptures from the east pediment of the Parthenon

I must end by warning the reader that this is only my interpretation. I am not a scholar of Ancient Greece. I have come to my own conclusion based on spending a lot of time looking at the marbles, doing Solstice Virtual Tours, and mostly informed by the labels in the gallery, with of course, some reading including Mary Beard’s book entitled ‘Parthenon’ and the BM’s guidebook. In particular, I have not incorporated into my ‘story’ the sculptures that were in the gaps that do not survive or only in fragments scattered throughout the Museum world. However, what we do know is that in the centre is Zeus and Athene and at the edges are the chariots of the Sun and the Moon. And so fitting to celebrate the Solstice.

For a look at the Winter Solstice in general, look at my post here:

Originally written in 2022 and revised 2024, 2025

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Greater Cycles & the Ages of Man December 19th

Capella Palatina Palermo 12th Century Mosaics God is shown creating the firmament. ‘And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’

We are coming up to the key days in the year. And so will be looking at calendars and counting days. But what about ages, epochs and aeons?

‘Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition’ reports that there are seven ages of the world:

This is how they calculate it: the life of a yew tree is 729 years, and there are seven ages from the creation of the world until its doom. So the world will last 5103 years.

‘Practical Magic’ divides ages up as follows:

A wattle has a life of 3 years (1*3)
Three wattles are the life of a hound – 9 years (3*3)
Three hounds are the life of a steed – 27 years (9*3)
Three steeds are the life of a man – 81 years (27*3)
Three men are the life of an eagle – 243 years (81*3)
Three Eagles are the life of a yew. – 729 years (243*3)

How Old is a Yew Tree/Eagle

A comment by a reader has prompted me to write the following about the ages given above:

‘Practical magic’ says the poem is ‘Ancient’. So it’s folklore and not science, and the ages are opinion not scientific fact.

As I understand it Yew trees live a long time but not quite as long as many people think. I base this on the Yew Tree at Steventon, Hampshire where Jane Austen was born. The tree has/had a plague on it saying it was 1200 years old. I used to visit it regularly. On one visit, I was told that an expert opinion suggested it was more like 700 years old. (ifmy memory serves). I do not have the details, but my source would have been one of the people associated with the Church.

The Woodland Trust (says Yew Trees get old at 900 years. They cite a few which are ‘said to be’ over 2000 years old. But are they? The scientific sites I have looked at suggest that Yew Trees should be described as ‘ancient’ from 400 not 900 years. There are problems with dendrochronology dating of yew trees, and so most methods depend upon an estimation from the width of the tree trunk. But that, itself, depends upon how much you believe in the claims of the ancient trees. So, I think it’s best to take the extreme cases with a very large pitch of salt. So 729 years is probably not so far off the mark for a Yew tree.

As to Eagles, this website on eagles says they can live to 30ish in the wild and 68 years in captivity. So the claim for 243 years is way off the mark! Wattles what are they? I have searched, but not found any reference. My guess is a short-lived bird.

The End Was Nigh

Archbishop Usher of Armagh (1581 – 1656) calculated that the world was created in 4004 BC. He counted the begettings in the Bible. If we accept his date, and apply the seven yew tree ages rule (5,103), then the world should have ended in AD 1099 (give or take a year). But it didn’t end then, did it? We are in the 9th Age and counting.

It doesn’t make sense to me to have a factor of 3 for the smaller divisions, and then to switch to a factor of seven. Surely, far more logical is to have a factor of 3*3 years. So, if there were nine ages of the world, then it would survive for 6561 years, which will end in approx. 535 years time (cAD2557). This calculation has the massive advantage of not yet being proved wrong! (Please note, cult owners, I have copyright on this date).

It’s notable that when a Cult declares the imminent end of the world, and they trudge up to the top of a high eminence to observe it (normally by Hampstead Pond in London). They seem quite happy to trudge back down again. Soon they are up and running again with the same enthusiasm for the next ‘end of the world’ date.

Of course, the world was created around 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years ago according to Wikipedia. According to the Doomsday Clock the world will end at 12 O’clock and we are 89 seconds away from it. This is based on a catastrophic end for our civilisation. If we avoid this then other scientists have suggested mammals will be wiped out in approximately 250 million years.

Abrahamic Ages

The Jewish tradition was for six or seven ages of 1000 years. The seventh didn’t really count because it was the age of the messiah when there was a 1000-year sort of super sabbath. Or another idea is that it was an age that ran parallel with the other six. So the world was to be 6000 years long.

With the coming of Christianity, dating the Creation, and (therefore the Day of Judgement) became more important. The Romans dated from the foundation of Rome, and the Greeks from the First Olympiad. But beyond that they had a whole mythology and creation myths about an Age of Gold. Followed by a Bronze Age (Troy and all that) followed by their very own base Iron age. You can read about this in my post about Hesiod.

The Anno Munda

An early Christian attempt to tell the age of creation was the Anno Munda‘s arrangement of the Year. This is pretty complicated and is based on a Talmudic tradition. A late Roman version uses ‘the Diocletian Years’, which is when the persecution of Christians began. It held that the world was created 5500 years before the Birth of Christ. So we are 5500BC plus 2025 years since the date of the creation. And it was supposed to have ended in 500AD. 6000 years after the Creation. so we have outlived Creation by 1525 years.

St Augustine of Hippo took the tradition of six ages and brought it into the Christian canon. These are the six ages:

  • The First Age “is from the beginning of the human race. That is, from Adam, who was the first man that was made. Down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood“, i.e. the Antediluvian period.
  • The Second Age “extends from that period on to Abraham, who was called the father indeed of all nations”.
  • The Third Age “extends from Abraham on to David the king”.
  • The Fourth Age is “from David on to that captivity whereby the people of God passed over into Babylonia”.
  • The Fifth Age is “from that transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ“
  • The Sixth Age: “With His [Jesus Christ’s] coming, the sixth age has entered on its process.”

Wikipedia.

As each age is 1000 years, then you can see why so many people were worried as 1000 AD approached.

The Seven Ages of Man

The Age of Man can also relate to the average age of a human lifespan. Of course, six is not such a magical number as seven, and so Shakespeare ran with the idea in the Seven Ages of Man spoken by Jacques in ‘As you like it’. If there are seven ages of human life, and we have a span of six score and ten, then each age is ten years.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.

And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.


(Jacques, Act 2, Scene 7)

Seven Ages of Man Statue 22-foot high cast aluminium Sculpture by Richard Kindersley, located on Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, near the Blackfriars. St Andrew’s by the Wardrobe in the background. Photos k. Flude

The Kalendar of Shepherds

Now, the Kalendar of Shepherds has a similar idea, but it calculates it differently. The Kalendar, based on a 15th Century French original, says there are 12 ages of man, corresponding with the 12 months of the year. Each age is 6 years long, and so our likely lifespan is 72.

Kalendar of Shepherds

Each month is allocated to one of the ages, and has an insight into human life for that span. In January, the first 6 years of a human life are mapped out. If you read above you will see we have no ‘wit, strength or cunning. Nor ‘may do nothing that profiteth’ in those first years. A little harsh, and as a fond grandfather, it, I refute it. In December, the last 6 years are prefigured.

Our alloted span, says Practical Magic is 81 years, Kalendar of Shepherds say 72, and Shakespeare offers us 70.

The Office of National Statistics says:

‘In 2022 to 2024:

  • Life expectancy at birth in the UK was 83.0 years for females and 79.1 years for males. This is an increase of 18 weeks from 82.7 years for females and 21 weeks from 78.7 years for males since 2019 to 2021.‘

Capella Palatina, Sicily

By the way, the Capella Palatina, illustrated at the top of this post, is a marvel of gold mosaics. It is absolutely stunning. It makes a trip to Palermo a must.

On This Day

1843 – Charles Dickens published ‘A Christmas Carol’

First Published on December 18th 2022, revised and republished in December 2023, 2024,2025

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Collect your Holly & Ivy December 18th

Picture of Christmas greenery on a gift box
Holly and Ivy by Tjana Drndarski-via unsplash

So, the old Sun is dying, and if the Sun keeps going down we are all going to die. With all of nature dying or hibernating, evergreens are a symbol of a promise/proof that life will continue through the dark days. So, with its bright-green leaves and its luminous berries, Holly is the ideal evergreen for the Solstice. And as the prickles symbolise Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and the berries the red blood of Jesus, the symbolism works, too, for Christians.

Henry Mayhew (editor of Punch) in his ‘London Labour and London Poor’ (1851–62) talks of Christmasing for Laurel, Ivy, Holly, and Mistletoe. He calculated that 250,000 branches of Holly were purchased from street coster mongers every Christmas. He says that every housekeeper will expend something from 2d to 1s 6d, while the poor buy a pennyworth or halfpennyworth each. He says that every room will have the cheery decoration of holly. St Pauls Cathedral would take 50 to a 100 shillings worth.

He also calculates that 100,000 plum puddings are eaten. Mistletoe he believes is less often used than it used to be, and he hopes that ‘No Popery’ campaigners will not attack Christmassing again.

Hot plum pudding seller from Sam Syntax Cries of London 1820s from the Gentle Author Spitalfields Life web site
Hot plum pudding seller from Sam Syntax Cries of London, 1820s
from the Gentle Author Spitalfields Life website

Culpeper on Ivy (1814 edition):

‘Ivy’ says Culpeper in his Herbal of 1653, its winter-ripening berries are useful to drink before you ‘set to drink hard’ because it will ‘preserve from drunkenness’. And, moreover, the leaves (bruised and boiled) and dropped into the same wine you had a ‘surfeit’ of the night before provides the ‘speediest cure’. (The Perpetual Almanac of Charles Kightly)

It is so well known to every child almost, to grow in woods upon the trees, and upon the stone walls of churches, houses, &c. and sometimes to grow alone of itself, though but seldom.

Time. It flowers not until July, and the berries are not ripe until Christmas, when they have felt Winter frosts.

Government and virtues. It is under the dominion of Saturn. A pugil of the flowers, which may be about a dram, (saith Dioscorides) drank twice a day in red wine, helps the lask, and bloody flux. It is an enemy to the nerves and sinews, being much taken inwardly, out very helpful to them, being outwardly applied. Pliny saith, the yellow berries are good against the jaundice; and taken before one be set to drink hard, preserves from drunkenness, and helps those that spit blood; and that the white berries being taken inwardly, or applied outwardly, kills the worms in the belly. The berries are a singular remedy to prevent the plague, as also to free them from it that have got it, by drinking the berries thereof made into a powder, for two or three days together. They being taken in wine, do certainly help to break the stone, provoke urine, and women’s courses. The fresh leaves of Ivy, boiled in vinegar, and applied warm to the sides of those that are troubled with the spleen, ache, or stitch in the sides, do give much ease. The same applied with some Rosewater, and oil of Roses, to the temples and forehead, eases the head-ache, though it be of long continuance. The fresh leaves boiled in wine, and old filthy ulcers hard to be cured washed therewith, do wonderfully help to cleanse them. It also quickly heals green wounds, and is effectual to heal all burnings and scaldings, and all kinds of exulcerations coming thereby, or by salt phlegm or humours in other parts of the body. The juice of the berries or leaves snuffed up into the nose, purges the head and brain of thin rheum that makes defluxions into the eyes and nose, and curing the ulcers and stench therein; the same dropped into the ears helps the old and running sores of them; those that are troubled with the spleen shall find much ease by continual drinking out of a cup made of Ivy, so as the drink may stand some small time therein before it be drank. Cato saith, That wine put into such a cup, will soak through it, by reason of the antipathy that is between them.

https://www.complete-herbal.com/culpepper/ivy.htm

Happy Eponalia

Roman Horse from Bunwell, Norfolk. Illustration by Sue Walker.

In 2021 I posted about Eponalia for the 18th Dec but I have now added the text to this page.

I’ve been too busy working on my Jane Austen and Christmas Virtual Tour ) to post over the last few days. And I have, therefore, shamelessly stolen this post off my Facebook friend Sue Walker, who is a talented archaeological illustrator, artist and a very good photographer.

She wrote: ‘the 18th December is the festival of the Celtic goddess Epona, the protector of horses, she was adopted by the Romans and became a favourite with the cavalry. This finely sculpted bronze horse with a head dress and symbol on its chest is 37mm high – found in Bunwell #Norfolk #Archaeology’

First published on December 17th 2022, Revised and republished December 2023

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Grecian Winter – Hesiod’s Works & Days December 15th

Abney Park cemetary in winter
Abney Park cemetery in winter photo by Harriet Salsibury

Hesiod is a contemporary of Homer, and therefore one of the first European poets, writing about 700BC. One of the first commentators on Greek life, thought, religion, mythology, farming and time keeping. Hesiod’s Works & Days ‘ is his Farmers Almanac and therefore long overdue an appearance on my Almanac of the Past.

Hesiod’s poems also introduce the idea of the epoch. Past glorious epochs of Gold and Bronze with a further descent to his own epoch which was of the base metal age of Iron. His so-called Myth of Five Ages, starts with a Golden Age, in which Humans don’t need to work. Followed by a Silver Age where they live to one hundred years, but live a life of strife. The Bronze Age follows which is an even tougher age as the bronze armoured men are thoroughly violent. The Age of Heroes follows which is the age of the Trojan War. There follows the Iron Age which is Hesiod’s age a time of toil and misery!

.In the 19th Century, European antiquarians, imbued with a humanist belief in Progress, developed the idea of Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages, an almost direct opposite of Hesiod’s, downhill-all-the-way to the present day idea.

Hesiod also brings in early references to Prometheus and Pandora, two of the great myths of the flaws of humanity.

Hesiod and Winter

This is what he says of Winter. It is from a translation by Christopher Kelk, available to download here (I have added line breaks after full stops, just for ease of reading.)

Excerpt from Hesiod’s Works & Days

…. you should make
A detour during winter when the cold
Keeps men from work, for then a busy man
May serve his house. Let hardship not take hold,
Nor helplessness, through cruel winter’s span,
Nor rub your swollen foot with scrawny hand.

An idle man will often, while in vain
He hopes, lacking a living from his land,
Consider crime. A needy man will gain
Nothing from hope while sitting in the street
And gossiping, no livelihood in sight.

Say to your slaves in the midsummer heat:
“There won’t always be summer, shining bright –
Build barns.” Lenaion’s evil days, which gall
The oxen, guard yourself against. Beware
Of hoar-frosts, too, which bring distress to all
When the North Wind blows, which blasts upon the air
In horse-rich Thrace and rouses the broad sea,
Making the earth and woods resound with wails.

He falls on many a lofty-leafed oak-tree
And on thick pines along the mountain-vales
And fecund earth, the vast woods bellowing.
The wild beasts, tails between their legs, all shake.

Although their shaggy hair is covering
Their hides, yet still the cold will always make
Their way straight through the hairiest beast.

Straight through
An ox’s hide the North Wind blows and drills
Through long-haired goats. His strength, though, cannot do
Great harm to sheep who keep away all chills
With ample fleece. He makes old men stoop low
But soft-skinned maids he never will go through –
They stay indoors, who as yet do not know
Gold Aphrodite’s work, a comfort to
Their darling mothers, and their tender skin
They wash and smear with oil in winter’s space
And slumber in a bedroom far within
The house, when in his cold and dreadful place
The Boneless gnaws his foot (the sun won’t show
Him pastures but rotate around the land
Of black men and for all the Greeks is slow
To brighten).

That’s the time the hornèd and
The unhorned beasts of the wood flee to the brush,
Teeth all a-chatter, with one thought in mind –
To find some thick-packed shelter, p’raps a bush
Or hollow rock. Like one with head inclined
Towards the ground, spine shattered, with a stick
To hold him up, they wander as they try
To circumvent the snow.

As I ordain,
Shelter your body, too, when snow is nigh –
A fleecy coat and, reaching to the floor,
A tunic. Both the warp and woof must you
Entwine but of the woof there must be more
Than of the warp. Don this, for, if you do,
Your hair stays still, not shaking everywhere.

Be stoutly shod with ox-hide boots which you
Must line with felt. In winter have a care
To sew two young kids’ hides to the sinew
Of an ox to keep the downpour from your back,
A knit cap for your head to keep your ears
From getting wet.

It’s freezing at the crack
Of dawn, which from the starry sky appears
When Boreas drops down: then is there spread
A fruitful mist upon the land which falls
Upon the blessed fields and which is fed
By endless rivers, raised on high by squalls.

Sometimes it rains at evening, then again,
When the thickly-compressed clouds are animated
By Thracian Boreas, it blows hard. Then
It is the time, having anticipated
All this, to finish and go home lest you
Should be enwrapped by some dark cloud, heaven-sent,
Your flesh all wet, your clothing drenched right through.

This is the harshest month, both violent
And harsh to beast and man – so you have need
To be alert. Give to your men more fare
Than usual but halve your oxen’s feed.
The helpful nights are long, and so take care.

Keep at this till the year’s end when the days
And nights are equal and a diverse crop

Keep at this till the year’s end when the days
And nights are equal and a diverse crop
Springs from our mother earth and winter’s phase
Is two months old and from pure Ocean’s top
Arcturus rises, shining, at twilight.

Hesiod’s Works and Days: Translation Christopher Kelk
Roman Bust of Hesiod (Wikipedia photo by Yair Hakla) Neues Museum

Acturus is not seen in winter, and in the Northern Hemisphere its rising (50 days after the winter solstice) and has always been associated with the advent of spring.

Boreas was the winged God of the North wind, which bore down from the cold Mountains of Thrace (north of Macedonia). One of his daughters, Khione, was the Goddess of Snow. Lenaion was associated with January one of the festivals of Dionysus, and a theatrical season in Athens particularly for comedy.

To see more of Hesiod see my post hesiod-and-a-grecian-spring/

First published 15th December 2022, republished December 2023, 2024,2025

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Anniversary of the Birth of Jane Austen December 16th

Wassail Bowl being brought in by a Servant into a dining hall on Christmas Day
From ‘Old Christmas’ by Washington Irving

To Celebrate the Anniversary of the Birth of Jane Austen in Steventon on Tuesday 16 December 1775. I am running my Virtual Tour entitled:

Christmas With Jane Austen

tonight at 7:30 GM

It looks at the traditions of Christmas during the Regency period and how Jane Austen might have celebrated it. It will give some background to Jane Austen’s life and her knowledge of London. We used her novels and her letters to find out what she might have done at Christmas.

This is a London Walks Guided Walk by Kevin Flude and to book just click here:

Over the winter, I am running a series of online talks. The next one is on the Winter Solstice.

Sorry about the short notice, but the marketing is all done by London Walks, and tend not to add links to my walks and lectures here. But as today is Jane Austen’s Birthday it seemed silly not to!

These are the upcoming Virtual Tours. To book for any click here:

To see my post christmas-with-jane-austen click here

First Published on December 16th 2025

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Ashmolean Advent Calendar, William Burges & the Singing Pierides December 12th

The Great Bookcase by William Burges Ashmolean Museum (Photo K. Flude)

The Ashmolean posts, every year, an online Advent Calendar with gorgeous items behind each ‘flap’. The choice seems to be, mostly, a random selection. But their collection is so wonderful, they are all interesting.

The Great Bookcase by William Burges & the Singing Pierides

In 2022 The Ashmolean featured the Great Bookcase by William Burges. Burges is one of the great Gothic Revival architects and a designer in the Arts & Crafts Movement with an affinity for Pre-Raphaelite painters. He asked 14 of them to paint panels on his bookcase. The decorative scheme was to represent the Pagan and Christian Arts (Museum label).At the bottom of the Wardrobe are the Singing Pierides painted by Henry Stacy Marks. The Pierides were a sort of classical Greek Von Trapp singers, 9 daughters who foolishly challenged the Muses to a singing competition. Of course, the Goddesses of the Arts — the Muses won., As punishment for their vanity, they turned the Pierides into songbirds. Let this be a warning to all those who overrate their own talents!

‘Whenever the daughters of Pierus began to sing, all creation went dark and no one would give an ear to their choral performance. But when the Muses sang, heaven, the stars, the sea and rivers stood still, while Mount Helicon, beguiled by the pleasure of it all, swelled skywards tilI, by the will of Poseidon, Pegasus checked it by striking the summit with his hoof.

Since these mortals had taken upon themselves to strive with goddesses, the Muses changed them into nine birds. To this day people refer to them as the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker and the dracontis pigeon.’

Antoninus Liberalis‘ Metamorphoses (wikipedia)

Burges & the International Exhibition of 1862

Engraving of the International exhibition of 1862, Cromwell Road
Print of the International Exhibition of 1862, South Kensington

The bookcase by William Burges was originally displayed as the centre point of the ‘Medieval Court’ of the 1862 International Exhibition, South Kensington, London. The Exhibition was almost as successful as the more famous Great Exhibition of 1851. Both got about 6m visitors. The 1862 Exhibition was just south of the site of the 1851 (on the south side of Hyde Park) and in what were then the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens (now the Science, Natural History Museum, Imperial College etc.)

Raphael

This year, they posted a Raphael drawing of an angle. I show a screen shot below. But to have a real look click here.

The Nuragi

Last year it was a nuragi bronze age stature of a shepherd, a screen shot of which I show below. 2023 December 12th’s choice was a netsuke.

Nuragi statue of a Shepberd

I discovered the Nuragi on a University Field trip, with my students, to the Capital of Sardinia, Cagliari. The Nuragic culture is not well known. However they have amazing Bronze sculptures which give the viewer a really vivid view of their lives and fashions in the Bronze Age. They lived in round towers called nuraghe, which are a little like the Brochs of Scotland. They were around during the time of the Mycenaean Culture in Greece. But their origins and indeed their history are argued about. They may be part of the ‘Sea People’ who brought the end to the Bronze Age cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, or they may not.

Here, in Britain, the Bronze Age is dominated by discussions of henges, barrows, metal axes and swords. But with very little sense of what life was like to live in those days. However, go to the Cagliari Museum, look at these wonderful statues, and it becomes possible to picture the people. Particularly with a copy of ‘Il Popolo di Bronzo’ by Angela Demontis to hand. It is a catalogue of Nuragi statures with interpretative drawings. It really brings the people to life depicted in the statues. They are mostly warriors, but also there are ‘normal trades’ such as shepherds and bakers which are depicted as well.

Here is my slight adaption of one of the drawings. It is of a shepherd similar to the one photo’d above.

A sketch drawing of a Nuragi sculpture derived from ‘Il Popolo di bronzo’ by Angela Demontis

What you can see is some detail of the clothes and the knife belt around the torso. Not to mention the sheep around his neck! The drawing brings a living person from the Bronze Age before you, not just a lump of bronze. Wikipedia has a long article on the nuragic culture. You can see a wonderful collection of nuragi bronzes and their homes on this website.here.

Originally written for December 12, 2022, revised and republished December 2023, and the Nuragi added in 2024 and Raphael added in 2025

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The Winter Festival of Brumalia, Roman Hoodies and Diocletian’s Edict of Maximum Prices December 11th

To illustrate rainwear in the Roman period and to illustrate winter showing Philu from Cirencester
Tombstone of Philus from Corinium Dobunnorum
Winter from Ostia Antica
lullingstone mosaic for winter
Mosaic from Lullingstone Villa, Kent, representing winter.

December 11th is dedicated to Bruma the Roman Goddess of Winter or so says my Goddess Book of Days,. However, I’m not having much luck tracking her down. Elsewhere, I find reference to a Greek or Roman festival of Winter called Brumalia. It starts in late November and ends on the 25th December, the Roman Solstice. Or so they say. But, only the Goddess Book of Days has it on December 11th.

cOVER OF THE GODDESS BOOK OF DAYS by Diane Stein
Cover of the Goddess Book of days

However, there is more evidence for the Brumalia festival in the Eastern Roman Empire. So, let’s imagine a Winter Goddess beginning her reign on November 24th. Then, Saturnalia took place from 17th – 24th December and the climax of the reign of the Winter Goddess was Brumalia on the 25th December. The festival was celebrating the seeds in the ground, necessary for a good harvest. To ensure a good harvest Civic officials delivered gifts of wine, olive oil, grain, and honey to the Priests and Priestesses of the Goddess Ceres. Farmers sacrificed sheep and pigs to Saturn and Ceres. They inflated sheep bladders with air and jumped upon them as part of the celebration!

December 25th

Aurelian in 274 AD fixed December 25th by as the day to celebrate Sol Invictus. The worship of the Unconquered Sun was the Roman attempt to have a monotheistic element to their religion. December 25th was also chosen by Mithras, Saturn, and Christians. For more about December 25th see my post here.

Underlying this confusion of dates is the difficulty of aligning the solar year to the calendar year, and in the Roman period it was all over the place until Julius Caesar fixed the Calendar. (for more on that, see my post here)

Roman Hoodie

The picture of the tombstone, above, comes from Cirencester, and the inscription says:

Philus, son of Cassavus, a Sequanian, aged 45, lies buried here.

For details look at the ‘Roman Inscriptions of Britain.org’ here:

Philus’ cloak is very interesting. Similar Hoodies are found in other places in Roman Britain, for example, on a mosaic at Chedworth. They are called the Birrus Britannicus. And were famous throughout the Empire. It was a hunting cloak made of wool. I imagine it was a sort of ‘thorn proof’ woollen garment that was warm, rugged, and waterproof. Britain was exported hunting dogs and slaves. The Cotswold wool was also famous in medieval Europe. It was made from Cotswold Lion sheep which were introduced first during the Roman period into the local sheep stock. The large number of rich Roman villas in the area suggest that the wool made the local economy strong.

The British Hoodie, and Inflation.

In AD 301, the emperor Diocletian issued his Edict of Maximum Prices. In it, the Emperor rages against inflation:

Greed raves and burns and sets no limit on itself. Without regard for the human
race, it rushes to increase and augment itself, not by years or months or else days, but almost by hours and very moments. Diocletian Maximum Prices Edict (click here for Pdf)

The Edict then lists maximum wages and prices. The birrus listing says that the Tailor,

‘cutting and finishing a hooded cloak (birrus) of the finest quality shall have a maximum wage of 60 denarii. ‘

The sanctions against breaking the Edict were terrifying. This suggests the difficulty of enforcement was compensated for by extreme punishment. Diocletian also insisted that labour shortages were addressed by making children follow the same profession as fathers. Interesting how familiar rampaging inflation and severe staff shortages seems to a post.

Reorganisation of the Roman World

Diocletian, having a hug in with his junior Augustus and 2 Caesars, Venice

Diocletian was obviously a very logical man, looking for structural fixes to society’s problems. His analysis of the Roman Empire and its frequent Civil Wars/Coup D’Etats/Usurpers was that there was a deficiency in the career ladder for megalomaniacs. So to stop them usurping the Emperorship, he set up a rational career progression and divided up the Empire as follows:

1 Augustus for the Eastern (Greek speaking) Empire
1 Augustus for the Western (Latin speaking) Empire
2 Caesars for each Augustus
Prefects reporting to the Caesars
Vicari reporting to the Prefects
Governors reporting to the Vicarius.

So you could begin your career in charge of a Province, then progress to the Diocese, then to the Prefecture, then to a quarter of the Empire, then to the Western Empire and finally to be the top dog in the richest Greek-speaking part of the Empire – the supreme Augustus. Brittania was divided up into 4 provinces, each controlled by a non-military Governor. They reported to the Vicarius in London, who reported to the praetorian prefecture of the Gallic region, which was based at Trier, who reported to Rome. They copied in the supreme Emperor who normally hung out in the East of the Empire. (the rich bit).

Did it work? Well, while Diocletian was alive maybe. When his Augustus of the West Constantius Chlorus died, his troops, in York, declared his son Constantine to be Augustus. Thus, bypassing the peaceful progression from Governor to Augustus. The system reverted to the usual tactic of wiping out your fellow Prefects, Caesars and Augustii. After his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine was universally recognised as the supreme Augustus. He moved the Eastern Capital from Nicosia to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople.

More on the Sequani

The Sequani were from the upper Saône Valley, near Besançon.

One of our readers alerted me to the Wikipedia page on the Sequani which explains that the name comes from the Goddess Sequana who is a water goddess. The centre of the territory is Besançon which is on the Doubs River. part of the Haute Saône Doubs and near to the springs that are the source of the Seine (west of Dijon). The Fontes Sequanae (“The Springs of Sequana”) gave her name to the River Seine, and a healing spring was established in the 2nd/1st BC. Enlarged by the Romans, it became a significant health centre. as Wikipedia explains in the clip below:

Image of Sequana in a duck boat by Wikipedia FULBERT • CC BY-SA 4.0

‘Many dedications were made to Sequana at her temple, including a large pot inscribed with her name and filled with bronze and silver models of parts of human bodies to be cured by her. Wooden and stone images of limbs, internal organs, heads, and complete bodies were offered to her in the hope of a cure, as well as numerous coins and items of jewellery. Respiratory illnesses and eye diseases were common. Pilgrims were frequently depicted as carrying offerings to the goddess, including money, fruit, or a favourite pet dog or bird.’

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequana

First, published on December 11th,2022. Revised and republished on December 11th 2023, 2024, 2025

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