MARGINALIA

My wife and I took a trip across Afton Mountain to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA. Performances at the ASC take place in t...

Ancient and modern Rome has always considered April 21 to be the date of its founding. In honor of this auspicious day, I have read Ovid ...

The Vatican Museum's decision to return artwork from the Parthenon to Athens unfortunately has not provided any incentive for the Briti...

Photograph of the the Vatican fragments (courtesy of  Kathimerini  newspaper) frpm the Greek City Times article (referenced below) Pope Fran...

An article in the Greek Reporter reminds us that the story of Romulus and Remus is not the only one to consider when pondering the founding...

The Ides of March are nearly upon us, so I thought I would mark the occasion with a reading of Suetonius ' description of the assassinat...

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I thought I would take a look at some of the fifth-century Latin written by this remarkable individual an...

I was looking through a folder of photographs from a trip to Rome in 2014 and came across this interesting pic of a well-preserved portion o...

I posted this pic of the conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter on the evening of March 1, 2023 on my other social media and added the...

Today is March 1st, the birthday of the Roman poet Marcus Valerius Martialis, commonly called Martial. I would often teach about Martial and...

Last fall, I was invited to give the keynote address at the 2022 Virginia Junior Classical League Convention in Richmond. Here is the fleshe...

It seems today is the day for classical literacy. Behold this humorous take on the whole carpe diem theme:

I came across " ad nauseam" twice this morning in my readings. The Latin phrase means "to the point of sickness or disgust,...

David Pellegrino, a retired, high school Latin teacher who lives in Upstate New York, occasionally shares on Facebook "short, doable La...

A bust of the Roman emperor Decius , who ruled during the mid-3rd century CE. I captured this image in the Capitoline Museums during my las...

Retirement came easily, more easily than I had expected or ever planned. When I began my teaching career in 1987, retirement was far from my...

I am returning to my blog after a nearly five-year hiatus. Of course this statement is technically correct, but I notice I really haven'...

Hello! My name is Mark, and I am hoarder of classroom materials. I finished the annual task of packing up and cleaning out my classroom to...

I just returned home from a farewell dinner for two Latin colleagues leaving our school system at the end of the week. Each one is depa...

As exam week rolls into view, I find it necessary to take stock of this year which, I must admit, has not been a good one, either for m...