Which Temperament Are You?

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the world was made of four elements: Air, Earth, Water and Fire. Many of them also believed that human beings were full of liquids or HUMOURS that matched up with these elements.

Use of dry-cupping to suck "bad humours" out of a man in San Francisco  

The ancients (and some moderns) thought that everybody tends to have more of one 'humour' than the others. This excess could determine your TEMPERAMENT. Knowing which of the four 'temperaments' you were would also help ancient doctors prescribe a cure when you were sick. They could 'balance your humours' by either taking away the excess humours (through bleeding, vomit, enema, dry-cupping, etc.) or by building them up through diet. For example, if you had too much mucus they might prescribe a hot, dry baked rooster!

Here are the FOUR HUMOURS. 

Blood = Sanguine temperament = AIR
Black Bile (found in poo) = Melancholy temperament = EARTH
Phlegm (mucus) = Phlegmatic temperament = WATER
Yellow Bile (found in vomit) = Choleric temperament = FIRE

Try this Roman Mysteries Questionnaire to see which of the Four Temperaments you are:

(To download this questionnaire, go to my DORMOUSE page)

If you mainly ticked “a” then you are SANGUINE, like FLAVIA with extra BLOOD.
Enthusiastic but overbearing, you are often impulsive and take risks. You are cheerful, energetic and optimistic but you can also be impatient. You get bored easily and sometimes find it hard to stick to one task, flitting from one thing to another. Although you are apparently friendly, your friendships can be superficial.
Fun Fact about Sanguine Temperament: Ancients believed the extra blood often gave you PINK CHEEKS.

If you mainly answered “b”, you are MELANCHOLIC like JONATHAN, who often has too much BLACK BILE.
You are likely to be a perfectionist who overthinks things. You spot all the mistakes and errors in a plan and so you can seem critical. You can be stubborn, reserved and aloof. On the good side, you are sensitive, thoughtful and often creative. You are also grounded. People might call you a pessimist, but like Jonathan, you maintain you are a “realist”!
Fun Fact about Melancholic temperament: In medieval times people thought CATS were melancholic!

Did you mainly tick “c”? Then you are PHLEGMATIC like NUBIA and your extra "humour" is MUCUS.  Those of a phlegmatic temperament were considered to be patient, calm, nurturing, thoughtful, loyal and non-demanding. The downside is that – like Nubia – you can be overwhelmed the force of stronger personalities.

Fun Fact: Mucus makes you brave and steadfast. According to Pliny the Elder, some soldiers in ancient times drank a concoction of bull mucus and goat mucus to calm them down before a battle. This mixture was called SNORTEUM.

If you answered mainly “d” then you are CHOLERIC like LUPUS.
People of a choleric disposition are often hot-tempered. They can be pushy, bold, insensitive and risk-takers. On the plus side they are adventurous, enterprising and brave. Natural leaders, cholerics are often too independent to accept help or advice.
Fun Fact: The ancients believed that CURLY HAIR was one mark of the choleric temperament.

Sanguine Pooh Bear!

Don't worry if you don't fit easily into one of these categories. The ancients believed your temperament could change throughout the course of your life and even in the course of one day!

And don't try balancing the humours yourself, especially through bloodletting, vomiting or laxatives!

P.S. There is a great summary of the four humours by Christopher Hedley. He matches the four humours with characters from Winnie the Pooh! Winnie-the-Pooh = Sanguine; Eeyore = Melancholic; Piglet = Phlegmatic; Tigger = Choleric. And here's my riff on the humours in super heroes (below)!

Caroline Lawrence writes time machine books which will transport you back first century Rome, Western America in the early 1860s and Roman Britain. For more information, visit www.carolinelawrence.com.

Ten Things Romans Used for Toilet Paper

Me and my talisman!

I know, I know! I'm always blogging about toilets and evil eyes and gladiator-scraping love-potion and suchlike, but I can't help it. It is all so fascinating! My husband Richard was the one who taught me the first lesson of history: NO TOILET PAPER!

So how did the people in olden days wipe their bottoms?

This question draws in even the most reluctant child. In fact it is often especially appealing to kids who find history dull. It's a Way To Show Them That History Is Totally COOL!

For the past dozen years I've been travelling around the world, speaking to schoolkids about the Ancient Romans and my writing. Everywhere I go, I carry my talisman, my good luck charm, my fave artifact: a sponge-on-a-stick. It's ANCIENT ROMAN TOILET PAPER!

This is how you used the sponge-stick

But recently some respected scholars have totally rained on my parade. Yes, Mary Beard, I mean YOU! And yes, Professor Mark Robinson and your bright and beautiful bevy of research assistants, I mean you, too! lol!

So what if they haven't found any sponges in the sewers or septic tanks of Herculaneum? They didn't even import shellfish from Pompeii only ten miles distant! As Prof. Robinson said in a recent lecture at the British Museum, "There probably wasn't a central market." In other words, they bought goods locally. Very locally.

But all right: I admit the SPONGIA or SPONGE-STICK would have been incredibly luxurious and costly. And if they hadn't had a sponge delivery from the Greek island of Symi for a decade or two the Herculaneans would have needed some alternatives to wiping their bottoms.

So here is my list of TEN things apart from a SPONGE-ON-A-STICK that the Romans might have used to wipe their derrières!

I. THE LEFT HAND - yes, the manus sinistra was always "at hand". This is why it was incredibly rude to point at someone with the left hand. In many cultures it is still a big no-no to hand something to someone using this sinister hand. It was also the sign against evil: procul este profani! ("Stay far away, you unholy creatures!")

II. LEAF FROM A FIG TREE. Or other suitable tree. But not poison ivy or nettles. Yowtch!

III. MOSS. Kind of crumbly but I guess it was absorbent.

Romans had no puppy-soft Andrex

IV. SCRAPS OF CLOTH. This is what Prof. Robinson and his fragrant staff found in the Cardo 5 Septic Tank of Herculaneum. Considering you had to spin and weave cloth by hand this would have been almost as expensive as a sponge-stick. Maybe even more so, seeing as cloth is not reusable. Or was it? Brrr. 

V. PEBBLES. You know those "game counters" we're always finding in archaeological deposits? According to recent scholarship, pebbles were used by Greeks to wipe their bottoms. The proof? A proverb: Three stones are enough to wipe your behind and possible evidence from excavations at Athens. And there's stuff in the Jewish Talmud about using pebbles on the Sabbath. Gives a whole new slant to Andrex toilet paper's Natural Pebble edition!

This is my pine cone. Stay away!

VI. PINE CONES? This pebble business has got me wondering about pine cones. They are like little flat pebbles on a holder! Pluck one off and wipe. Mmmm. Nice pine-woodsy freshness, too! Is that what those mysterious pine cones were doing in the Herculaneum septic tank? (And no jokes about "pine nuts", please!)

VII. WATER. Ahhh! Find a little babbling brook or even the surf of the Tyrrhenian Sea and let nature do the work. Many Turkish and Greek toilets have little spigots that will replicate this effect today.

VIII. SPONGE WITHOUT A STICK. Why even bother to put the sponge on the stick? For ease of use in public latrines like this one (below) in Ostia!

IX. STICK WITHOUT A SPONGE. Yowtch! Is this what they mean by "getting the wrong end of the stick"?

X. NOTHING! Yes, you heard me. Just squat and go, then stand up and go. Urgh! Now that really is revolting.

Thank goodness we live in the age of Puppy Soft Andrex® and Ultra Soft Charmin!

poo-stick prop from Spartacus

P.S. If this has whetted your appetite for more, check out my Pinterest Page on Roman Toilet Habits!

P.P.S. Still want more? Read this great piece about Latrines Throughout the Roman World.

P.P.P.S. Apparently they use "three seashells" in the future, according to the movie Demolition Man. Maybe Romans used three pine cone scales!

P.P.P.P.S.  This poo-stick prop from the TV series Spartacus recently fetched $155 on eBay. It's a cloth-wrapped stick with a little handle. Cool, huh? 

Caroline Lawrence is a graduate of UC Berkeley, Newnham College Cambridge, SOAS and UCL, but has the mentality of an 11-year-old thus making her eminently qualified to introduce kids aged 7+ to the world of Ancient Rome. Best of all, she teaches through stories: The Roman Mysteries, The Roman Mystery Scrolls and the new Roman Quests series, set in Roman Britain!

You Can Be an Archaeologist Detective!

My friend Dr. Hella Eckardt (no, that's not her) is a brilliant archaeologist. She knows that the graves of dead people from Roman times provide lots of clues about how they lived. Over the past few years, she and her clever colleagues have studied over 150 skeletons from Roman Britain (between 200-400 CE).

Recently Hella and a team from the University of Reading chose four of the 150 graves to investigate in detail. Together with webmasters from the Runnymede Trust, they have now designed a website that allows schoolchildren (and anybody else) to “look into” those graves and make their own deductions. You can look at the bones of four individuals, including a little girl. You can hear what experts have to say about what the bones, teeth and grave goods tell us.

Then you can make your own deductions and even write a story if you like. That’s what I did. I took the clues the experts gave me and made up a possible story for each of the four. I even got to help name them! We called the little girl Savariana. The young man is Brucco, the exotic and rich young woman from Africa is Julia Tertia and the man from the Black Sea region is Piscarius.

Yesterday a panel of experts spoke to over two hundred schoolchildren in year 3 (aged 8 and 9) at the Museum of London. The children came specially to help us “launch” the new Romans Revealed website.

The speakers were introduced by Dr. Nina Sprigge (far right in the picture below). Her job is to enthuse teachers and schoolkids about the museum's collections and she does a great job.

The children and their teachers got to hear Hella (in the middle) talk about how diverse Roman Britain was, with goods and people coming from all over the empire.

They got to hear Dr. Caroline McDonald (far left below) tell us about all the bones in the vaults of the Museum of London: they have over 17,000 skeletons!

Caroline McDonald, Hella Eckardt, Nina Sprigge & the Spitalfields Lady!

Debbie Weekes-Bernard from the Runnymede Trust brought some booklets with ideas for exciting lessons teachers can build around this new website.

Valentine Hansen & me

Valentine Hansen played the part of an ex-soldier in Britannia. He taught the children to say "hello" in Latin and what it meant to have three names.

I got to speak too! I briefly told the kids how I get ideas by playing with my replica Roman objects, including my infamous Roman bottom wiper: a sponge on a stick! (Learn more HERE!)

Dr. Helen Forte was there, too. She is a Latin teacher but also illustrates the Minimus Primary Latin course and some of my books. She did some of her marvellous drawings for the Romans Revealed website.

But the oldest guest by far was a woman from Rome. She was two thousand years old. You guessed it! She is the skeleton. Although visitors to the Romans Revealed website will only examine virtual bones on the Romans Revealed website, the Museum of London had brought out real bones!

Valentine examines a reconstruction of the Spitalfields Lady

The so-called Spitalfields Lady is probably the most famous of the 17,000 skeletons in the Museum of London vaults. We think she used to look like the bust in the picture up above.

Spitalfields Lady today

But today she looks like THIS! (right)

Dr. Becky Redfern, a researcher at the Museum of London, told us that we can tell by her teeth that she was born in Spain but then grew up in Rome! She then came to Londinium (the Roman name for London) where she sadly died. She was very rich and you can see the objects buried with her in the Museum of London Roman gallery.

You can't see a real skeleton like the Spitalfields Lady unless you visit the Museum of London, but you can visit four other skeletons by a click of the mouse. Have fun and tell me what you think of it!

Romans Revealed!

Caroline Lawrence writes historical fiction for children with kid detectives. She has written over twenty books set in first century Rome including The Roman Mystery Scrolls series – illustrated by Helen Forte – which would be perfect for kids in year 3 or up studying the Romans! Carrying on from the Roman Mysteries, the Roman Quests series set in Roman Britain launched in May 2016 with Escape from Rome.

12 Tasks for the British Museum

The British Museum at night

I am a bit of a nerd. I like lists. I like challenges. I like setting myself tasks.

In my Roman Mysteries Travel Guide I set 12 tasks for kids to achieve at some of the sites where my Roman Mysteries are set. You don't have to do them, but they could make your trip even more fun.

I've just been to the British Museum's fab new exhibition called Life and Death in Herculaneum and Pompeii. [N.B. This show has now finished!] For the benefit of teachers, parents and kids, I thought I would highlight twelve of my favourite objects, ones you could try to spot when you visit the exhibition!

famous plaster cast of a Roman dog

I. The plaster cast of the watchdog. So sad... yet so happy, because he is now one of the most famous dogs in the history of the world. Plaster casts like this were made when archaeologists poured liquid plaster of paris into empty cavities made by decayed bodies, then chipped away the hardened ash to get the shape of the person or animal who had been there. I used to think he was left by accident in the confusion, but now I think his master or mistress left him on purpose to guard the house. They expected to return in a few hours and didn't want anyone to loot their house while they were gone. Roman Mysteries link: my first Roman Mystery – The Thieves of Ostia – was inspired by the memory of a dog barking in the night and I asked the question: What would happen if someone started killing the watchdogs in Ostia, the ancient port of Rome?

herm of Caecilius

II. Caecilius's willy! This is the thing the Cambridge Latin Course never shows us and it came as quite a shock for me. This statue is called a herm and was set up by a freedman (ex-slave) of Caecilius. It shows a "warts and all" portrait bust of the banker Caecilius on top and then half way down are his private parts. The willy makes you giggle and thus turns away evil and bad luck! It's apotropaic. Roman Mysteries link: In the first scroll of The Colossus of Rhodes, Flavia's nursemaid Alma gives Lupus and his friends little willy amulets to keep away bad luck. Some of them have wings and bells on them for extra good luck. You will also see a teeny-tiny penis amulet in the last case of the exhibition. 

Lupus paints a fresco in book #6

III. Fresco of a garden with plants and birds - you can't miss this beautiful three-wall painting. A fresco was a painting done on fresh plaster. When the plaster is still damp, it sucks up the paint applied and the pigment becomes part of the wall. You can see some plants and birds they had in the first century CE. The hanging actors' masks at the top were probably used to keep away evil. You can see the casts of the family of four who lived here at the end of the exhibition. They were found cowering under the stairs. Roman Mysteries link: In Roman Mystery #6 The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina, Lupus helps a fresco painter finish the labours of Hercules.

It's used for WHAT?!?

IV. Two portable toilets or chamberpots - one in clay with flanges for you to sit on, one in bronze with a lid so it won't slop when the slave goes to empty it in the gutter or (hopefully) down the cesspit. My husband Richard always says: "The first lesson of history is No toilet paper. What did they do when they went to the loo?" Romans often had toilets in their kitchens next to the hearth. And of course the communal multi-seater public toilets are famous. They have holes on top – for the obvious thing – and holes at the front  for a sponge-on-a-stick or spongia, the Roman version of toilet paper. (For a page of Pinterest images about Roman Toilet habits, go HERE.) Roman Mysteries link: In The Dolphins of Laurentum, Lupus doesn't realise what the sponge-stick is for and he uses it to beat a drum.

marble boy and dolphin fountain

V. Statue of a little boy in marble - this is a rare depiction of a real little boy. Notice his hair was painted reddish-gold. He was part of a fountain in someone's garden and held a dolphin from which water spouted. Stories of dolphins befriending humans were extremely popular in Roman times and dolphins were even a symbol for early Christians. Apparently there is a tragic tale associated with the archaeologists who discovered this piece but I have no more details. Roman Mysteries link: Also in Roman Mystery #5, The Dolphins of Laurentum, there are several tales of boys and dolphins, including a real one told by Pliny the Younger, who was 17 when the volcano erupted. He is one of our main eye-witnesses to the events of that terrible day. 

another puteal from Herculaneum

VI. Carbonised windlass and marble well-head - today we just go to our tap and turn it on. Back in Roman times they had several methods of getting water. In some houses, rain water fell through a rectangular hole in the roof (compluvium) into a rainwater pool (impluvium) and then drained down into a storage tank or cistern. Many Roman houses in Pompeii and Herculaneum have a well-head (puteal) so that you can draw water from the cistern. But Pliny the Elder warns that cistern water is often slimy and full of horrid things. Most Romans probably got drinking water from private or public fountains, where the water came straight from the aqueduct. The windlass was the wheel you wound the rope around. The carbonised windlass in case 46 is from Herculaneum. Roman Mysteries link: In Roman Mystery #2 The Secrets of Vesuvius, the well on Flavia's uncle's farm inexplicably dries up the day before the volcano erupted. This is something that really happened. 

oscilla in situ at Herculaneum

VII. Oscillum - nobody knows exactly what these marble discs were used for. They hung between columns of a peristyle and oscillated! (Yes, that's where the word comes from; it means to swing or twirl.) The discs may have been for decoration or to scare away birds or to keep away evil. My learned friend Prof. Girolamo Ferdinando De Simone says "90% of oscilla are connected with Dionysus, god of the region." Roman Mysteries link: One of my Roman Mysteries short stories "The Perseus Prophecy" (In The Legionary from Londinium and other Mini Mysteries) has a rich matron killed by a fallen oscillum. But was it an accident or murder? Flavia Gemina has to use her detectrix skills to solve the mystery! 

Bacchus & Vesuvius

VIII.  Fresco of Vesuvius with Bacchus - The god of wine makes his presence felt everywhere on the Bay of Naples. This marvellous fresco of Vesuvius before it erupted clearly shows it covered with vineyards. The guy inhabiting a cluster of grapes and wearing a vine-leaf garland is Bacchus, the god of wine, or perhaps his Greek equivalent, Dionysus. He is not giving his pet panther some wine; he is pouring a libation. This fresco was part of a lararium or shrine and you can see an altar near the front. Note the snake, too. You will see a lot of snakes in this exhibit, some with red crests. They were considered good luck. One Roman who did not like snakes was the poet Virgil. Just read book two of The Aeneid if you don't believe me.
Roman Mysteries link: In The Twelve Tasks of Flavia Gemina, our heroine detectrix gets a visitation by Dionysus the god of wine. Always a bit dangerous! 

IX. Skeleton mosaic - This black and white mosaic of a female skeleton (once a beautiful slave-girl?) holding wine jugs looks quite creepy and indeed it is. But it's a memento mori, a reminder that one day we will all be dead so we should eat, drink and be merry while we can. Roman Mysteries link: In The Sirens of Surrentum, my most romantic Roman Mystery, set one year after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, a rich patron named Pollius Felix serves wine in silver cups decorated with skeletons to remind everyone that vita is brevis. You will learn about Stoics and Epicureans in this book. And also how to commit suicide with a sponge-on-a-stick. You can still visit the ruins of the remains of the fabulous seaside villa of Pollius Felix on the Capo di Sorrento. 

"Don't eat me!"

X. Glirarium - a clay jar to fatten dormice. (NB dormice with one "o" NOT "doormice") Everybody thinks Romans ate stuffed dormice all the time. In fact, they probably only ate them rarely as a special treat, if at all. But this jar shows they did eat them. This glirarium (in case #15, next to a wonderful carbonised loaf of round bread), looks like a portable toilet at first but if you look inside you see the spiral track for captive mice to run up to get food. The poor critters were fed and kept in the dark until they became nice and plump. Then you would kill them, roll them in honey and poppy seeds and bake them! By the way... nobody knows for SURE if that's what this pot is. Take everything with a grain of salt. Including dormice. Roman Mysteries link: Also in The Sirens of Surrentum, Flavia's father does not want her to visit decadent Baiae because it is "a glirarium of licentiousness". 

pouring plaster into man-shaped hole

XI. Resin woman - most of the casts you see in this exhibition were made with liquid plaster of paris, like the first cast of the dog at the beginning of this exhibition. But this one from Oplontis (a place between Herculaneum and Pompeii) was made of resin. The picture I've put on the right is from a 1954 film called Viaggio in Italia or Voyage to Italy. It shows the Bay of Naples as it would have looked nearly 60 years ago. There are even some (probably staged) shots of archaeologists making the plaster casts. If you look closely at the resin woman, you can see folds of the fabric she was wearing outside and some of her bones inside. You can also see some of the jewellery she had with her as she fled the eruption.

XII. Two books by me! Along with fun books like Dorkius Maximus and The Rotten Romans, you will find two of my Roman Mysteries in the children's bookshop at the end of the exhibition. Despite the "Famous Five-ish" cover, The Secrets of Vesuvius and The Pirates of Pompeii are full of accurate facts and they will transport you back to AD 79 so you can experience what children went through before – and after – the eruption of Vesuvius! You can also watch a BBC TV series based on the Roman Mysteries though it is not as accurate, and please visit my Facebook page where I post fun news about Ancient Romans regularly. Let me know YOUR favourite item in the exhibition by leaving me a comment below. And if you want to learn more about Roman kids or critters, read the summaries of two talks I gave in May: Animals in Herculaneum and Pompeii and Children in Herculaneum and Pompeii 

Want more? See TEN MORE THINGS, including curator Paul Roberts' fave item.

And visit my Pinterest pages: Vesuvius, Roman Children and Roman Toilet Habits...

P.S. This show has now finished.

Caroline Lawrence is a graduate of UC Berkeley, Newnham College Cambridge, SOAS and UCL, but has the mentality of an 11-year-old thus making her eminently qualified to introduce kids aged 7+ to the world of Ancient Rome. Best of all, she teaches through stories: The Roman Mysteries, The Roman Mystery Scrolls and the new Roman Quests series, set in Roman Britain!

"Give Romans a Hug!"

Paul Roberts

I am so excited about the upcoming "Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" exhibition at the British Museum.

It will be on from Thursday 28 March through until Sunday 29 September 2013.

In a recent interview with art historian Alastair Sooke, British Museum Roman curator Paul Roberts (right) says he wanted this exhibition to show what daily life in Ancient Rome would have been like.

Roman Mystery #2

Daily life in Ancient Rome is my passion, too. This is what I try to explore in my children's historical fiction series, The Roman Mysteries. Yes, my four protagonists solve mysteries and even go on a few missions for the Emperor Vespasian, but there is lots about ordinary life in a Roman town: shopping, eating, sleeping, napping, going to the baths, going to the doctor, entertainment, observing the festivals, etc. After all, the Romans were a lot like us, only they used a sponge-on-a-stick as loo roll and they didn't have chocolate!

Because Paul Roberts wants the exhibition to be about daily life, he and the organisers decided to set out the exhibition like a Roman house. The artefacts, objects or bodies (!) that might have been found in those rooms will be on display. The first thing you would have seen upon entering many Roman houses was the watch dog. Some houses had clever mosaic depictions of watchdogs. There are at least three different versions that I am aware of.

three different watchdog mosaics from Pompeii

These mosaic dogs were not meant to fool would-be robbers, but rather they warned potential perps about what might be waiting within. In fact, one mosaic actually has the Latin slogan "CAVE CANEM" written in tesserae beneath the dog. This literally means Beware of the Dog!

plaster cast of a watchdog who died in Pompeii

The famous plaster cast of the watchdog who died in the eruption of Vesuvius and left his negative space in the hardened ash will be the first item to greet us. This heartbreaking image inspired my first mystery, (and also Cerberus in the Cambridge Latin Course). Like many other objects that will be on show, he has never been shown in the UK before.

Over the May halfterm holiday, I am honoured to be giving two lectures supplementing this exhibition! The fun, illustrated talks will be aimed at families with children 7+, and they will focus on two of my favourite subjects: Animals and Children in Roman times.

If you have children with even a speck of interest in Ancient Rome, book tickets to see the Pompeii Exhibition for the May halfterm holiday. If you come on Monday, 27 May, you can reserve a free place to hear me give an illustrated lunchtime talk about Animals in Pompeii and Herculaneum. I'll be showing images of animals in mosaics, frescos and sculpture. I'll also introduce you to some real animals I have met on my research trips, like posh and scruffy cousins below. These dogs are the descendants of the ancient Roman watchdogs, lap dogs and hunting dogs.

Strangely, children aren't as well represented visually as animals. For every hundred images of animals, I'd guess we have only one or two of children. (Fewer, if you don't count cupids!) But if you come to my free lunchtime talk on Friday 31 May, you will learn some fascinating things about Children in Pompeii and Herculaneum. There are lots of fun and surprising facts about a day in the life of a Roman child. Including the ancient Roman version of toilet paper!

In his interview with Alastair Sooke, Paul Robertson said, "I want to give Romans a hug; that's what I want."

Roman Mysteries author Caroline Lawrence at the British Museum

I agree. I love the Romans. Sometimes I even dress up like one!

If you and your children also like the Romans, do book now for this exciting exhibition and also for one (or both) of my talks, and let's give the Romans a hug!

[This lecture is long gone but you can still get the 17 books in the Roman Mysteries series. They are perfect for children 9+ studying Romans as a topic in Key Stage 2. The Roman Mystery Scrolls series is aimed at kids aged 7+ and the Roman Quests series, set in Roman Britain, is a follow on for kids 9+]

12 Tasks for kids on the Bay of Naples

Perseus fresco

I know, I know! "Tasks" doesn't sound like a holiday word. But it's always good to have a few fun goals when you go on vacation, even if it's getting your grandmother one of those tiles she likes so much or sourcing the best local dessert.

So here are 12 child-friendly tasks for you to do in the Bay of Naples. They range from easy to challenging and you will have to get your parents to help!

1 Sorrento is famous for its lemon groves; try a lemon sorbet or - if your parents are agreeable - get one of them to order limoncello after dinner and ask for a sip, but just a sip! It is very strong.

rope marks on the well-head

2 Visit Herculaneum and find ancient rope-marks on one of several marble well-heads by the impluvia (rain-water pools) in some villas.

3 Have Sanbitter (a bright red, non-sweet, non-alcoholic Italian aperitif) and nibbles on the terrace of the Hotel Bellevue Syrene in Sorrento; ask if you can see the Roman rooms downstairs first, to help make the cost of your drink worth it!

funny ducks mosaic in Naples

4 Find the funny ducks mosaic at the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples (right).

5 Visit the so-called Villa of Poppaea AKA Oplontis (at Torre Annunziata on the Circuvesuviana Sorrento-Naples train line) and look at the cake-like layers of tufa (hardened ash) and papilli (light volcanic pebbles) that Vesuvius laid down.

6 Find the public water spouts in Castellammare di Stabia and taste one of seven different types of mineral water.

7 Go all the way into the Blue Grotto in Capri.

Villa of Pollius Felix (model)

8 Visit the model of the Villa of Pollius Felix in Piano di Sorrento (left).

9 Swim in the secret cove of the Villa of Pollius Felix on the Capo di Sorrento. (OK, then, just take a photo...)

10 Find the little fresco of Perseus with the head of Medusa (top of this post) at the Villa San Marco at Castellammare di Stabia. You'll have to get a taxi at Castellammare di Stabia, but it's worth it.

Temple of Mercury, Baia

11 Visit the flooded so-called Temple of Mercury at Baiae. It used to be part of a bath-house but the flooding is caused by a phenomenon known as bradyseism. (Look out for the upside down fig-tree growing in a cave-like vaulted room next door!)

12 Take a hot mud (fango) bath in the oldest spa on the island of Ischia. Or visit one of the modern baths like Negombo.

These "tasks" are adapted from the Roman Mysteries Travel Guide: From Ostia to Alexandria with Flavia Gemina, now available on Kindle. And if you want some good reading, try the three Roman Mysteries set on the Bay of Naples: The Secrets of Vesuvius, The Pirates of Pompeii and The Sirens of Surrentum. Buon Viaggio! 

History Chickens!

me and my soft toy chicken

[I first published this on the History Girls in 2011]

One of the drawbacks of being a historical fiction author living in 21st century London is that you have to keep reminding yourself about things that would have existed in first century Rome. Or a Nevada mining town in the 1860s. Or Jerusalem during the siege of Titus. Or where-ever, when-ever.

Some things don't change about town life: beggars, pickpockets, street markets... But there were lots of critters roaming about back then that you rarely see today on the Kings Road, Chelsea. Horses, stray dogs, feral cats, flocks of goats and... chickens!

ancient Roman pawprint

My husband Richard and I are both avid fans of historical fiction, especially movies and TV productions. Whenever we are watching a Western or a Sword and Sandals drama and we see poultry, we punch the air and shout "CHICKENS!" Then we mentally give the film or TV show an extra star, a kind of "chicken-o-meter" of authenticity. (We have recently added a "spittoon-ometer" to gauge the historical accuracy of westerns. What is YOUR accuracy barometer?)

Forum Boarium 1855

One of my favourite things about HBO's Rome was the presence of chickens in the forum. Most set designers wouldn't dream of making Mark Anthony step over a roosting free-ranger as he went to give Caesar's funeral oration, but the producers of this programme were spot on in this respect. Most Romans would have encountered a daily hazard in steaming piles of manure, scavenging dogs, fleabitten feral cats, etc. "Friends, Romans, Countrymen... Lend me your ugh! What did I just step in?" Any Roman passing through the Forum Boarium would definitely have had to watch his or her step. Forum Boarium means "Cattle Market", but they also dealt in goats, sheep, pigs and no doubt chickens. This is one of the 10% surprises I have blogged about elsewhere.

"Only three sesterces..."

Another one of my favourite historical dramas is HBO's Deadwood. This TV series – with its amazing evocation of an 1870s mining town in the Black Hills of South Dakota – revived the Western genre in America and partly inspired my new P.K Pinkerton Mysteries series. But the producers of Deadwood made one grievous error. NO CHICKENS! (apart from some briefly glimpsed dead chicken feet in the title sequence, that is.) 

So you can imagine how thrilled I was when screenwriter Dom Shaw introduced a sacred chicken and its owner to the CBBC TV adaptation of my book The Slave-girl from Jerusalem. Floridius the Soothsayer, brilliantly played by Mark Benton, posts a sign in the forum:

Threptus & Aphrodite

Aulus Probus Floridius: Haruspex, mercator sacrarum gallinarum, orator, peritissimus ad horoscopos operaque varia. 

(Aulus Probus Floridius: Soothsayer, dealer in sacred hens, orator, very skilled in horoscopes and random tasks)

Floridius also says amusing things like: "Would you like me to sacrifice this nervous chicken to ensure the verdict? Only three sesterces?" and "The entrails of the sacred chickens never lie!" Also, he falls into the fountain a lot.

Most authors would be peeved if a screenwriter introduced a major character into an adaptation of their story. But I loved Floridius so much that I gave him a walk-on part in the final Roman Mystery, The Man from Pomegranate Street. Then I let him have a bigger part in the second volume of Roman Mini-Mysteries, as sidekick to an 8-year-old beggar-boy detective named Threptus. And finally I conceived an entire spin-off series starring the two of them.

And all because of those chickens. 

You can read "Threptus and the Sacred Chickens" in The Legionary from Londinium & other Mini-Mysteries. 

The Roman Mysteries are perfect for children 9+ studying Romans as a topic in Key Stage 2. The Roman Mystery Scrolls series (with chickens) is aimed at kids aged 7+ and the Roman Quests series, set in Roman Britain, is a new spinoff series for kids 9+.

For more information about me and my books, visit carolinelawrence.com