Needless to say, half the audience had the same idea and it took ages to force our way through the crowd and down the stairs to the road.
"Now what will we do?" I asked as we wandered across the grass83 in the general direction of Kenchreae.
"I don't know about you," Lucias said, "but watching all that fighting and so on, I feel restless. How about a visit to the gymnasium?"
"Sure. Will it be open?"
"Don't know. Let's go and see."
We turned and headed towards the centre of town. There were still people pouring out of the amphitheatre84 but most of them must have been peasants from the countryside, for the gateway into the city and the road to the agora were surprisingly clear. Of course things were helped by the fact that all the businesses were shut85, so there were no porters and wagons and strings of pack-animals with which to contend.
Mind you, the agora was crowded. Hawkers had set up their stalls in front of the more respectable shops and the noise, as each man shouted his wares, was almost as bad as being back in the circus. Discarded sunflower seed shells and broken pottery cups crackled underfoot.
"What a mess!" I yelled at Lucias. "It shouldn't be allowed."
"What?" he shouted back.
I shrugged and hurried across the agora, through the triumphal arch and into the relative peace and quiet of the Lecheae Road beyond. There were even stalls out here, under the colonnades on either side, but there were fewer people and those that came were, like us, heading for somewhere else and didn't stop to buy.
Just before the city gate we turned left and followed the narrow lane round past the Asklepion86. Rather to my surprise the gymnasium was open and the slave on duty at the door, an old friend, welcomed us with a big smile. We handed our clothes to the slaves in the dressing room, paid for some cheap oil87 to rub on our bodies, and went out to the large courtyard where a dozen men of all ages were exercising.
"Three times round the wall," I shouted and broke into a run.
"Make it four!" Lucias sprinted to catch up with me.
We stopped, panting, opposite the equipment store.
"That feels better88," Lucias gasped.
I eyed him critically. "You're slow today. You really ought to have your spleen removed89, I could have run much faster."
"Says you!" Lucias retorted and flopped down onto the sand.
I dropped down beside him and we lay there until our hearts stopped pounding.
"Throw the discus?" Lucias challenged, sitting up.
"Nah. Let's check out the weapons and have a fight90."
"Good idea! I'll be the hoplite91 today, you can be the legionary."
The slave in charge of the equipment estimated our sizes with a glance of his practised eye.
"Practice or training weapons, lords?"
"Practice," I replied. The heavy training swords and shields were great for building up your muscle but far too heavy for active fighting.
"Full armour or just shields?"
I looked at Lucias. "What do you think?"
Lucias glanced out the door at the sun, which was already near the horizon.
"Just shields. We haven't the time to dress up."
The slave handed us a rather battered pair of shields; mine the rectangular legionary shield that curved round your body and Lucias' the round, hoplite one, and two wooden swords. I swung mine through the air, whistling it past Lucias' ear.
"No! No!" Lucias sounded pained. "Legionaries never swing their swords. That's why they are so short: they're for thrusting with92 , not chopping."
We strode out to the courtyard and I took up my stance, shield raised almost to eye level, sword poised in my right hand, ready to stab at the advancing enemy. Lucias advanced towards me, his shield held protectively across his body, his arm raised high to bring his sword down on my head.
As soon as he was within range I leaped inside his stroke and thrust viciously at his exposed side. Lucias jumped aside, but before he could recover I was upon him again, hammering at him with the boss of my shield93. He gave way before me and suddenly tripped and fell over backwards. I let out a yell of triumph that turned into a cry of alarm as I felt his legs twine themselves around mine and bring me crashing to the ground.
"Even, I think." Lucias lay on his shield and grinned at me.
"Who would have thought," I lamented, "that a Roman could fight like a barbarian."
Lucias sat up. "It wouldn't work in the ranks, though. There's no room to fall backwards there. You either stand and face your enemy or you die."
We had several more bouts, with the honours going to each of us in turn, so that the question of the superiority of Greek or Roman weapons remained undecided. We then returned our equipment and tried paying tribute to Theseus94 , but sweat made our naked bodies too slippery for effectual holds. We fought each other across the courtyard and ended up by the doorway leading through to the pool.
"Three laps of the pool?" Lucias asked, breaking away and tossing the sweat out of his eyes.
"Make it four."
"You're on."
A short time later the sun finally dropped below the horizon and the gloom of twilight filled the gymnasium.
"Will you be wanting torches, lords?" a slave called to us.
I chuckled, knowing well enough that the gymnasium never provided torches; the slaves wanted to close up for the day.
"Last one to the dressing room is a barbarian," I yelled and heaved myself out of the water.
Laughing and shouting, we sped across the courtyard and into the dressing room where a slave handed us a pair of strigils95 and then fetched our clothes from the hooks. Lucias and I both handed him a drachma and told him to share it with the others, though I rather doubt that the others saw even an obol96 of it. As we went out of the door the slaves pushed it shut behind us and we heard the bolts shooting home.
"Now what?" I asked.
"I suppose it's time to go home," Lucias set off down the lane at a brisk pace. "I'm starting to feel hungry."
"Me too." I fell into step beside him. "I wonder what's for dinner?"
The crowds were only slightly less dense on our way back. Many of the stalls had already lit the torches of resinous pine-wood that flared and sputtered over their pans of boiling oil or mounds of nuts and seeds. We parted at the Kenchreae Gate, Lucias to go straight down the road to his home, while I wended my way through the narrow lanes to our villa.
Cartimandua was in the hall when I walked in, and hurried forward to help me take off my sandals.
"Supper ready, lord. You are want me?"
The look she gave me as she said this reminded me of my mother's reaction to my behaviour last night and I felt my face redden. I wondered how I could make it up to this girl who was still a stranger.
"No, not tonight." A sudden thought struck me. "Have you eaten, Car-Carti - er, have you eaten?"
"Cartimandua, lord. No, not yet."
"Right." I took her hand and led her into the dining room, where my parents were already reclining, half-finished dishes of food in front of them.
"We've started," my mother said, eyeing us closely. "We didn't know when you would be home."
"That's fine, mother." I lay down on my couch. "Carti - er"
"Cartimandua, lord."
"Right. Serve me my supper, then serve yourself some and come and sit down here." I pointed to the foot of my couch.
"That's better," my mother sounded approving. "She may be only a slave, but she's still a woman."
My father snorted good-naturedly. "He'll be wanting to buy her jewellery next." But he didn't sound too annoyed.
Between mouthfuls I told my parents and Cartimandua all about the games and our visit to the gymnasium, deliberately exaggerating my victories slightly, in order to impress the fair-haired girl who sat on the edge of my couch and picked at her food with nervous glances at me. I was just starting on the dessert - something made out of chestnuts and honey - when Antiochus coughed in the doorway.
"Yes, Antiochus?" My father looked up from his plate.
"There's a visitor for Lord Arxes, lord."
"Really?" I swung my legs off the couch and sat up. "Who is it?"
"Lord Alexander, little lord."
"Show him in," I cried. "I wonder what brings him here?" I said when Antiochus had disappeared. "It must be something important for him to come here97!"
A moment later Antiochus returned, with Alexander close behind.
"Alexander!" I cried, jumping up and going to embrace my friend.
He returned my embrace warily, greeted my parents, nodded at Cartimandua - and I thought I saw his eyes widen a trifle as he took in her fair hair and good looks - and sat down on the chair that Antiochus brought for him.
"What can we do for you, young man?" my father enquired. "Any friend of my son's is a friend of mine."
"Thank you, sir." Alexander bowed politely. "If I may, I just wanted to bring Arxes some news."
"What is it?" I asked.
"Well, you know that today is our Sabbath98 ?"
I nodded. Jewish laziness, which led them to be idle on one day in seven was well known (and rather envied by us young people, if the truth be told.)
"We had a visitor at the synagogue today," Alexander continued. "He's a most interesting character, straight from Jerusalem via Bithynia and Athens. He was invited to take the sermon. He's quite a rhetorician!"
"What did he have to say?" I asked.
"Oh, he started off in the usual way, reminding us about our ancestors and how God has treated us. The fun really started when he started talking about the Messiah - you know, the Christos."
"What about the Christos?"
Alexander was always going on about his Christos, especially when we had a friendly scuffle and Lucias and I ganged up on him together. "Just you wait," he'd say as we sat on him. "I'll have you for my personal slaves when the Christos comes and conquers all you gentiles. You'll be sorry!" I asked Athenodorus about it once and he said that there were ancient prophecies that predicted a world ruler who would come from Judea about this time99, but the thought of a Jew ruling the world was too much and the class dissolved in laughter.
"He says that the Christos has come."
"What!"
All three of us spoke simultaneously.
"I hope this doesn't mean war," my mother said.
Alexander shook his head. "No, lady. This Paul preaches about a Christos of peace, whose empire is some sort of spiritual kingdom."
"Tell us about him," I urged. "Who is he? What's his name? Surely he isn't one of the Herods?"
Alexander shook his head again. "He's not a Herod, thank goodness. He's a rabbi from Galilee who was killed by the Romans a few years back."
"Killed by the Romans?" My father sounded amused.
"Yes, sir." Alexander blushed slightly. "I couldn't follow everything that Paul was saying, but I gather that he was killed by the Romans because they thought he was going to rouse the people against them."
"And a dead man is going to rule the world?" my father queried, his eyebrows raised.
"That's the bit I couldn't quite follow, sir. Paul says that he's come back to life somehow and that that gives him the right to rule."
Alexander blushed as he said this, because everyone knows that the dead descend into Hades - even the Jews believe this100 - and only return as unquiet shades. I tried to cover up for him by asking another question.
"What did the other people in the synagogue think?"
"Oh boy!" Alexander grinned broadly. "It was almost as good as being at the games. Everyone was shouting and arguing at once and two of the elders almost came to blows. Some said that the dead do not rise and others - who belong to the sect we call pharisees - said that they do."
"Is this man a pha - what do you call them?" I asked.
"Yes, I think he must be," Alexander nodded. "He's also a bit of a philosopher, very well educated, knows all the Greek poets and scientists off by heart. I'm going to visit him tomorrow and try and find out more. Want to come?"
"Where does he live?"
"At the moment he is living out on the Lecheae Road with the refugees. He's started up a cloth-making business of some sort."
"Cloth making?" My father sounded interested. "I wonder what sort of stuff he's turning out. If it's any good, I might be interested."
"Be careful, Arxes," my mother cautioned. "We don't want to get into any trouble with the Romans."
"What sort of trouble?" I demanded.
"Well, if this man is preaching sedition against Rome, you don't want to get caught up in it. You don't want to end up in the circus instead of at the circus."
"Yes," my father said, "be careful. Claudius seems a good ruler, but he's not as daft101 as they make out by any means. He won't stand for rebellion."
83 The final scene of Apuleius' The Golden Ass begins at the amphitheatre of Corinth, where the ass finds grass growing on which he can graze. Excavation has shown that the amphitheatre was nearly a mile east from the city centre, well outside the ancient walls. Return
84 A Roman amphitheatre could hold as few as two or three thousand up to as many as twenty thousand spectators. Return
85 When Augustus gave games in Rome, Suetonius in his The Twelve Caesars tells us "he posted guards in different parts of the city to prevent ruffians from turning the emptiness of the streets to their own advantage." (p. 79) Return
86 There were many shrines to Asklepios, the god of healing, in the ancient world, but the cult had its origin at Epidauros, 25 miles south-east of Corinth. Asklepios was the son of Apollo and a princess who died in childbirth. The boy was brought up by the centaur Chiron, who taught him the secrets of medicine, but because of his divine origin Asklepios was even able to raise the dead. This, however, was to step beyond the limits of his craft and so Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt.
The Asklepion of Corinth was second in reputation only to the one at Epidauros. Those seeking healing came and lived in the Asklepion for a period of time, during which they might take part in cultic meals (three dining rooms have been found in the ruins), watch sacred dramas that re-told the story of Asklepios and some of the cures that had been wrought in his sanctuary. Finally the patient was taken by night to an underground dormitory where the god appeared to him in a dream (some have suggested that this was a priest dressed up but this explanation lacks conviction) and prescribed the cure: a course of medicine or a sacrifice or pilgrimage. Return
87 Pliny, in his Natural History XV.vii, says concerning olive oil, that "Some people mix in not only marjoram but also more expensive scents, just as the oil used in the gymnastic schools is also perfumed with scents though of a very poor quality." Return
88 Paul's statement that "bodily exercise profiteth nothing" would not have found favour among the Greeks, who regarded an all round development as the ideal. Pausanias, in his Guide to Greece VI.iii praises an Olympic winner: "They say when Hysmon was only a boy he contracted a muscular disease and that was why he took up the pentathlon, to become a sound, healthy man by hard work, a discipline which was to bring him glittering prizes. His statue is by Kleon and it has old-fashioned jumping weights." These, no doubt, were laid aside for the real competition. Return
89 In the Natural History XI.lxxx Pliny comments, "Sometimes the spleen causes a peculiar impediment in running, owing to which runners who have trouble have an operation to reduce it." The mind boggles at the thought of such surgery without anaesthetics or sterile conditions - just to win a race - but then the mind boggles at the stupidity of those who use steroids and other illegal drugs in order to excel in athletics.
The spleen plays an important part in keeping the body healthy. Children who have had their spleens removed are 50 times more likely to die young from various infections; adults are eight times more likely to succumb. Return
90 Greek youths were encouraged to take part in rough sports. Plutarch, in The Age of Alexander tells us that Demosthenes "because he was delicate and physically under-developed, his mother discouraged him from training in the wrestling school and his tutors did not press him to attend it." (p. 191) Return
91 A hoplite was a heavily armoured Greek soldier. Return
92 Roman soldiers were trained to fight in a particular way. The first action was to throw their javelins, the first one light, to carry a distance and the second heavy for closer range. Javelins had barbed heads to prevent them being pulled out of whatever they hit and were designed so that the shaft bent on impact with something solid, like a shield. This meant that the enemy was hampered from the start by shields made awkward with bent javelins.
The legionary covered his body with his shield while his head was protected by a helmet. The whole line of men advanced, stabbing forward rhythmically at about waist level. If an enemy attempted to stab back, the soldier caught the sword with his shield and killed his man with a thrust to the unprotected left chest. If the enemy swung his sword up to strike over the shield, his chest was exposed to a thrust from the soldier or one of his neighbours. So long as the legion kept its ranks it was very difficult to beat. Return
93 This was a standard technique in the Roman army. Livy, describing the final battle against Hannibal in his History of Rome XXX.xxxiv tells us "The Romans immediately broke the enemy's line at the first attack, then they pressed on with their shoulders and shield-bosses, steadily advancing as the foe fell back." Plutarch, in The Fall of the Roman Republic, tells of a soldier in Caesar's army: "Acilius, for instance, who in the naval battle of Marseille boarded an enemy ship and had his right hand cut off with a sword, but still kept hold of his shield with the other hand and struck his enemies in the face with it till he drove them all back and got possession of the ship." (p. 259) Return
94 Theseus was supposed to be the inventor of the art of wrestling. Pausanias, in his Guide to Greece I.iv, tells us: "They say Kerkyon killed his wrestling partners, all except Theseus, who outwrestled him chiefly by skill; Theseus invented the art of wrestling and later on the teaching of it started from him. Before Theseus it was all size and strength." Return
95 Incredible as it may seem, Pliny remarks in his Natural History XV.iv "Those parents of all the vices, the Greeks, have diverted the use of olive oil to serve the purpose of luxury by making it a regular practice in their gymnasia; the governors of those institutions have been known to sell the oil scraped off the athletes' bodies for 80,000 sesterces!" Yuck! Return
96 Greek currency was a little complicated: there were 8 bronze coins to an obol, 6 obols to a drachma and 100 drachmae to a mina. In classical times an obol was the average daily wage for a labourer and its purchasing power is shown by the following quotation from Plutarch's essay On Contentment (p. 224):
"Socrates once heard one of his acquaintances remarking how expensive Athens was: 'A mina for chian wine, three minae for a purple-dyed robe, five drachmae for a kotyle of honey.' Socrates grabbed hold of him and showed him some grain, 'An obol for half a hekteus; Athens is cheap': and then some olives, 'Two bronze coins for a choinix; Athens is cheap': and then some simple cloaks, 'Ten drachmae; Athens is cheap'."
The kotyle was approximately half a pint and there were 4 kotylae in a choinix, 8 choinixes in a hekteus and 6 hekteis in a medimmus. By New Testament times, however, inflation had increased the daily wage to a drachma with a corresponding rise in prices. A choinix of grain was regarded as the minimum daily requirement. Return
97 As a general rule, Jews kept to themselves in order to avoid being made unclean by contact with a gentile who might have just eaten pork or be otherwise unclean. There were degrees of strictness, however, and some could be very lax indeed. Return
98 Although the Jews were a despised minority, at this time they had not rebelled against Rome and were regarded with tolerance and curiosity by their gentile neighbours. Their insistence on a weekly day of rest was so peculiar that it soon became widely known and even pagan authors used to refer to Saturn's day as "the Sabbath". Thus Suetonius, in The Twelve Caesars records a story about Tiberius:
"During his stay at Rhodes a professor of literature named Diogenes used to lecture every Sabbath, and when Tiberius wanted to hear him some other day of the week, sent a slave out to say, 'Come back on the seventh day.' Diogenes now turned up at Rome and waited at the palace door to pay Tiberius his respects. Tiberius' only revenge was a mild message, 'Come back in the seventh year.'" (p. 131)
That the Sabbath began at sunset was also well known. Suetonius quotes a letter written by Augustus which says, "Not even a Jew fasts so scrupulously on his Sabbaths as I have done today. Not until dusk had fallen did I touch a thing." (p. 97) Augustus may have been confusing the Sabbath and the Day of Atonement, the point is that he did not eat until after dusk had fallen. Return
99 In describing the start of the Jewish Revolt in 70 AD, Suetonius in his The Twelve Caesars has this to say: "An ancient superstition was current in the East, that out of Judaea at this time would come the rulers of the world. This prediction, as the event later proved, referred to a Roman emperor, but the rebellious Jews, who read it as referring to themselves, murdered their governor, routed the Governor of Syria when he came down to restore order and captured an Eagle." (p. 281) In Suetonius' view, the prophecy referred to Vespasian, who became emperor while quelling the revolt. Return
100 Some may be surprised to learn that many Jews did not believe in soul-sleep and bodily resurrection. Here is what Josephus has to say about the subject in his Discourse Concerning Hades.
"Now we must speak about to Hades, where the souls of the righteous and unrighteous are kept. Hades is a place in the world not properly finished; a subterranean region, where the light of this world does not shine, from which circumstance - that in this place the light does not shine - it follows that there must be in it perpetual darkness. This region is set apart as a place of custody for souls, in which angels are appointed as guardians to them, who distribute to them temporary punishments according to everyone's behaviour and manners."In this region there is a certain place set apart as a lake of unquenchable fire, wherein we suppose no one has hitherto been cast; but it is prepared for a day before determined by God, in which one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men: when the unjust and those that have been disobedient to God and have given honour to idols made by the hands of men as to God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting punishment, as having been the causes of defilement; while the just shall obtain an incorruptible and never-fading kingdom. These are now indeed confined in Hades, but not in the same place wherein the unjust are confined. "For there is one descent into this region, at whose gate we believe there stands an archangel with an host; which gate, when those pass through that are conducted down by the angels appointed over souls, they do not all go the same way. The just are guided to the right hand and are led with hymns sung by the angels appointed over that place, into a region of light, in which the just have dwelt from the beginning of the world; not constrained by necessity but ever enjoying the prospect of the good things they see and rejoicing in the expectation of those new enjoyments which will be peculiar to every one of them and esteeming those things beyond what we have here. With them there is no place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing cold nor are any briars there; but the countenance of the Fathers and of the Just, which they see, always smiles upon them, while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven which is to succeed this region. This place we call The Bosom of Abraham. "But as to the unjust, they are dragged by force to the left hand, by the angels allotted for punishment, no longer going with a good will but as prisoners driven by violence; to whom are sent the angels appointed over them to reproach them and to threaten them with their terrible looks and to thrust them ever downwards. Now those angels that are set over these souls drag them into the neighbourhood of hell itself, who, when they are hard by it, continually hear the noise of it and do not stand clear of the hot vapour itself; but when they have a nearer view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation of a future judgement and in effect punished thereby, and not only so, but where they see the place of the Fathers and of the Just, even hereby are they punished; for a chaos deep and large is fixed between them; insomuch that a just man that has compassion upon them cannot be admitted nor can one that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it." (p. 637)
It follows that "Abraham's Bosom" is certainly not the conventional heaven and Jesus' parable about the Rich Man and Lazarus is hardly support for the notion that the soul goes immediately to heaven (or hell) when the body dies. Return
101 The emperor Claudius was supposed to be little more than an idiot and only came to the throne by accident. After his nephew Caligula was assassinated Claudius hid behind a curtain in the palace but a passing soldier saw his feet, fetched him out and carried him off to the army camp. Claudius was sure he was going to be killed but to his surprise the populace demanded that he be made Caesar and the soldiers, after being promised 150 gold pieces each, supported him.
Despite his reputation for mental instability, Claudius was a wise and humane ruler. Suetonius, in his The Twelve Caesars tells of an occasion when Claudius was sitting as a judge and gave an almost Solomonic decision. "A woman once refused to admit that she was the mother of a young man produced in court and a conflict of evidence arose; but the truth came out when Claudius ordered her to marry the man." (p. 194)
He is attractively portrayed in Robert Graves' two books, I, Claudius and Claudius the God, which have been televised. Return