by Stephanie Dray | Dec 6, 2011 | Food, Fun Stuff, Miscellany
Guest Post by Melanie McDonald One of the most fascinating research topics for Eromenos involved food: What foods were available, how those foods were prepared, and how members of the imperial court ate, especially in comparison with the citizens in the street—all of...
by Stephanie Dray | Dec 1, 2011 | Articles, Daughters of the Nile, Lily of the Nile, Research, Song of the Nile
Ancient Rome was going to get a new theatre; this was never in any doubt. Julius Caesar acquired and cleared the land on the shore of the Tiber River. However, his grand designs for the place were frustrated by his untimely assassination. Still, what are a few fatal...
by Stephanie Dray | Nov 25, 2011 | Food, Fun Stuff, Miscellany
Guest post by Shawn LambMention French food and automatically people think rich butter sauces, truffles and Julia Child making sense of French cuisine for the American palate. However, during the 17th century, France was still a feudal country and regional cooking...
by Stephanie Dray | Nov 22, 2011 | Food, Fun Stuff, Miscellany
So, we all know about the wine. Falernian, Caecuban, etc. Ancients drank the stuff in copious quantities. But what else did they drink? This was a point of inquiry for me when writing Song of the Nile: A Novel of Cleopatra’s daughter who became the highly...
by Stephanie Dray | Nov 19, 2011 | Miscellany, My Works, Song of the Nile
To the ancient Romans, just about everyone was a barbarian. (Except the Greeks, who gave them the word in the first place, not to mention an inferiority complex to go with it.) Whether it was Blue Picts of Scotland or Gallic and Germanic hordes, the Romans generally...