Carrara marble

The Romans called it Luna marble, and they used it to clad the Pantheon and Trajan's Column. I'll soon have a slab of my own, and my recent purchase put me in touch with another Italophile. I shared that I keep a website and blog dedicated to my interest in Roman history. This of course made me realize that it's been too long since I've updated this site.

SPQR Today was born out of a concern that I would fall too far behind the contemporary means of marketing and communications, which we all know depends heavily on the internet, email, cell phone technology, apps, etc. At the time I launched this site, I had grown frustrated with my own career advancement and worried I might find my professional life stagnated with only incredibly niche skills in one area and deteriorating and "antiquarian" skills in another. So, I leaned on my 20-something daughter to teach me about Wix and asked myself: If I had to write about something, what would it be? You have stumbled upon the answer.

What I learned about creativity is best summed up by Strummer's Law: "No input, no output." With that in mind, I recently purchased Tom Holland's "Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind," and "A History of Ancient Rome in 100 Lives," by Philip Matyszak and Joanne Berry in paperback. I purchased rather than borrowed because I could add them to an online book order when I had to get "Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story, Remaking a Life From Scratch" by chef-author Erin French, which I needed to read for the book club I recently joined. I got free shipping by ordering the two paperbacks. Yes, free came at price.

"Dominion" is the first book I have read by Tom Holland. I've only reached page 119, at the era of Constantine and his impact on Christianity. The book will move well into the 21st century by page 525, so it's a survey of Western domination, in part via the Christian faith. "100 Lives" presents the brief biographies of Romans, from Faustulus, the shepherd who discovered and nurtured Romulus and Remus, to Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western empire. I'm currently revisiting the life of Sulla, no. 25. I clearly have a ways to go before I finish each. My hope is that -- should I promise here and now to both finish and write at least one more brief blog about them here -- I will do just that.

By the way, I learned I missed seeing Mary Beard when she was recently on her book tour. I'm making up for that disappointment by watching her "Julius Caesar Revealed" again on BBC streaming tonight. Mary Beard is my Taylor Swift. How on Earth did I miss seeing her? :(