The Legacy of Rome - the Alphabet and Latin

The Alphabet and Latin

 Rome has a rich and long history that goes back 2800 years to the Etruscans and the Greeks and it has been the center of Christianity for the last 2000 years. It was the first city to reach a population of about a million people at the apex of the territorial expansion in the third century AD. Imagine a single political entity covering Europe, the British Isles, North Africa and the Middle East with long periods of peace, one language and one currency. Rome is called the eternal city as one of the great cities in history and for its vast contribution to western civilization. The Roman alphabet and Latin are among the most important.

Roman letters carved into stone

The alphabet used in the ancient Roman language is known as the Roman alphabet. It was influenced by the earlier Greek alphabet and the Etruscan alphabet but the Romans developed it further. With the passage of time, a script with upper and lower case letters was developed. Although over the centuries different letter-forms appeared, especially in the medieval period, the ancient forms the Romans carved into stone inscriptions are still used today. After all, the ubiquitous font Times New Roman is clearly a reflection of that early writing.

The Pantheon

Latin was originally spoken in the area around Rome, known as Latium. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it subsequently would quickly spread over a larger part of Italy, in direct correlation to Roman conquests. Latin became the language of conquered areas because local people started speaking it, and not because the population was displaced by Latin-speakers. Latin was not imposed officially on peoples brought under Roman rule. Latin was the official language and was necessary for anyone seeking to play an important role in administration, politics, and military.

With the foundation of the Roman Empire, a large portion of the western world would come to speak various forms of Latin or have it intermingled with their own tongues. The Roman Legions carried a spoken form of Latin throughout the Roman provinces. Especially in the rest of Italy, Gaul (France) and Spain, this would become mixed with the local languages, and lead to the new languages known as the Romance languages. Without Latin, very few of the tongues we speak today would be possible or recognizable in their current forms.


Latin survived the fall of the Roman Empire. As the centuries passed, it continued to be an international language of the educated and social elite, accompanying the modified tongues of the common people. The language of the Catholic Church was Latin, and all scholarly, historical, or scientific work was written in it. After the medieval period, with the Renaissance, interest in classical Latin as a means of artistic and literary expression grew. Many ancient manuscripts were re-discovered and appreciated during this time.
Latin continues to be important in scientific, medical and legal terms, which allow easy comprehension in the various western languages. For example, Latin is fre­quently used in medical terminology, such as “bacterium”, “umbilicus”, “cerebellum”, etc. Latin was used in creating the scientific names for flora and fauna.  After the Dark Ages, from the twelfth century on, the economic and social development in Europe led to the rediscovery of Roman law, which was then assimilated by many European countries. Still today, we use terms like “modus operandi”, “habeas corpus”, “veto”, “quid pro quo”, “ad hoc” and “ipso facto.”

The Latin language is the bedrock of the language of Western Civilization. Modern students find that having a basis in Latin is useful for learning Romance languages, and even to improve their vocabulary in English.

Inscription from the time of emperor Claudius

As you are walking in Rome, you naturally see Latin inscriptions in the Forum and on ancient monuments like the Pantheon. A place to see more, where they are described in context, is at the the Terme di Diocleziano (Baths of Diocletian) in front of the Termini station. (This is described in the book WALK ROME as part of Walk 6.)

The museum includes an epigraphy section dedicated to Latin inscriptions, including vases, sarcophagi, tombstones and objects worked in metal. The ground floor includes the most ancient writings in Latin and in Greek in Italy. Among the most important are ceramic fragments with the writing REX (Latin for “king”), found near the Regia in the Roman Forum, and the dedica­tions to Castor and Pollux found near Lavinio, a town near Rome. Also on the ground floor are inscrip­tions which describe the popular asso­ciations in “colleges of occupations” which, according the historian Plu­tarch, go way back to the king Numa, that is to the sixth century BC. There are traces of writing of merchants and artisans, freemen and slaves, butch­ers and sellers of flowers, flutists, and associations for actors and singers.

How to spot the best gelato in Italy

 How to spot good quality gelato in Italy – and avoid the fakes

To create the authentic Italian gelato, artisans use much less fat in the mixture compared to ice cream, and churn it at a slower speed so that less air gets mixed in.

This contributes to a denser texture and more intense flavors than fluffy, whipped ice cream. Gelato is also served at a slightly higher temperature than ice cream, allowing the flavors to shine through. However, Italy doesn’t regulate how terms like ‘gelato’ and ‘artisanal’ are used, so it can be tough for the uninitiated tourist to distinguish between the truly good stuff and the cheap imitations.

For this article we spoke to an Italian gelataio (gelato maker) and one of Rome’s top food authors to identify the tricks anyone can use to spot real gelato a mile off.

 

Good quality gelato

1. Containers

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but you should absolutely judge gelato by the container it’s served in. Look for flat metal tins, which may have lids on them. Plastic tubs are a definite no, but metal tubs don’t always guarantee quality on their own.

Lids are always a good sign, as it shows the gelato is being carefully kept at the right temperatures – and that the gelateria is respected enough that it doesn’t need to draw in customers with bright colors and fancy decorations (see the next point).

The denser texture of gelato as compared to ice cream also means that flat, metal ‘spades’ are better tools than curved ice cream scoops, so take a look at how the ice cream is being served.

2. Colors

For a quality gelato, you want one with a high proportion of natural ingredients, and that means no (or very little) added coloring.

“A quality gelato will never have very vibrant colors, but natural ones,” explains gelataio Domenico Maggiore. “For example, pistacchio should never be green like you might think, but brownish.”

For berry colors, look for deep, muted reds rather than shocking pink, and lemon should be white rather than yellowy. Look at the tone as well. Maggiore warns: “Gelato should never look shiny – that means there are too many sugars, or that it’s oxidized, which means it’s old.”

3. Texture

Remember how a key difference between gelato and ice cream was that the former has less air and a denser texture? This can help you identify the real stuff in a shop.

“Consider the height of an ice cream in the container; if it is piled up too high and doesn’t melt, it means it is rich in vegetable fats and emulsifiers,” explains Maggiore.

Rome food journalist and author Katie Parla adds that the whipped-up mountains of ice cream might be unsafe as well as lacking in flavor. “Gelato overflowing its bin carries the defect of being above the legal service temperature, creating food safety risks,” she warns.

 

Signs to avoid when choosing gelato

4. Flavors

Even if you know exactly which flavor you’re going to order, it’s worth seeing which other options are on offer, as this can give a valuable clue to the gelato’s quality. Tourist favorites such as cookies and cream and bright blue bubblegum (usually called ‘puffo’, which means smurf) are generally a bad sign – though good gelaterias might still offer them as a crowd-pleaser in addition to quality flavors.

You might also spot the exact same flavors and labelling in several different stores, which is a giveaway that this isn’t artisanal gelato but mass-produced, either delivered in bulk or made from a mix. Fruit flavors which are out of season show that they probably aren’t using fresh ingredients. In a good gelateria, you won’t find any fruit that can’t also be found at local market stalls that month.

So what should you look for?

Seasonal fruit flavors are a good sign, and any quality gelateria will serve fior di panna/latte, the basic ‘plain’ flavor of pure milk or cream (it’s rare, and usually not promising, to find vanilla flavored gelato).

These simple flavors should be strong and creamy, without embellishment like sauces or chocolate chips, and if they’re not on offer at all, it’s a sign the shop is using inferior ingredients. Most gelaterias offer free tasting spoonfuls (and if they don’t, get out of there!) so try the fior di panna – if it’s bland or covered up with added flavors, it’s a sign that the other flavors won’t be up to scratch either.

5. Ingredients

“A microscopic fraction of Rome’s thousands of gelato shops use all natural ingredients,” says Rome foodie Katie Parla, who has written an award-winning cookbook and offers food tours of the capital. She says fresh, natural ingredients are a “prerequisite for quality”, and that all Italian gelaterias are required to display their ingredients.

Study the list, and if you see ingredients like vegetable oil (olio vegetale) or artificial colors and flavors (usually shown as a number and letter code), Parla advises you to “run away”. The same applies if the ingredients list itself is hard to track down: most gelaterias are proud to show you what goes into their creations.

6. Design

This tip is based less on the science behind gelato-making and more on common sense. Clued-up visitors to Italy know that it’s generally best to avoid the tourist trap restaurants with chequered tablecloths, long menus in many languages, and a charming waiter beckoning in customers from the street.

Apply the same logic to gelaterias: often, the very best won’t need to do a huge job to look inviting, because if the gelato’s good enough, word will spread. That means a huge sculpture or cardboard cut-out of an ice cream cone could be a red flag, and if there are dozens of flavors on offer, they’re unlikely to all be premium quality.

                Catherine Edwards, The Local, This article was first published in 2017.

 

Italy is known for its top-tier gelato, so it’s no surprise the country wants to maintain that status. And to do so, it’s considering laws dedicated to the quality of the frozen treat. The proposal ties bad gelato-making practices to fines and even suggests banning ingredients like artificial flavors and colors.

Games Romans Played

Romans appreciated the public games sponsored by senators and emperors, most notably the chariot races in the Circus Maximus and the gladiatorial combat in the Colosseum. Other athletic activities were enjoyed by the youth of Rome, such as wrestling, boxing, swimming, racing, and various ball sports.

Fresco from Pompeii

Away from the arena, the Roman people enjoyed simple dice and board games as well.  Playing games was most likely a pleasant escape from daily labors. On a hot sunny day under a merchant’s awning or in an icy-cold barracks, a game of marbles or dice must have added to life, and especially if there was money to be won. Some of the more common board games played by ancient Romans were dice, knucklebones, marbles, and a form of checkers, chess, tic-tac-toe, and backgammon.

Children and adults loved to play a game that was called Knucklebones.  Five or ten small bones, usually sheep or goat bones, but they were also made from glass, metal, or wood, would be thrown down. Depending on how the bones landed on the ground, points were awarded.

 Dice (Tesserae) was a gambling game.  Players rolled the dice and bet on the results.  Like today, dice were shaken in a cup and tossed onto a table. People also placed bets. Paintings found on ancient Roman walls show that they played with three dice. 

 Terni lapilli was a game drawn in the shape of boxes, crossed lines and especially in a wheel shaped diagram on the stones of amphitheaters, on floors of public monuments and on the steps of many theatres. This game was the ancestor of the modern Tic-Tac-Toe, but had different rules that made the game very interesting compared with the current version.

Terni lapilli etched onto a stone surface, and a modern equivalent

 

They also played a game called Ludus Latrunculorum (“robbers or soldiers”), a Roman form of chess. It used a board made either of wood, marble, stone, or silver, and black and white army pieces that fight it out. 

This game was a game of capture like modern checkers and chess with different types of pieces that were moved around a board made up of squares. A Roman game of strategy and direct battle, it was simple but also very exciting. At Vindolanda in Roman Britain, gaming boards have been found both inside and outside the walls of the fort, and in a range of different social contexts. For example, inside the fort some boards were found near the home of the commanding officer and in the barracks, while outside the fort, other boards were recovered near the baths, showing that it was popular among all residents.

 

A board for latruncoli discovered at Vindolanda in Roman Britain

A family of related games known as Duodecim Scripta or Ala, are probably the ancestors of modern backgammon. Merels (the ‘mill game’) is essentially the same as modern Nine Men’s Morris. Other games, especially those played with dice are mysterious to us because we have no records of their rules.

 

Ancient and modern versions of Nine Men's Morris

Nevertheless, we know that both games of chance with dice or knucklebones and board games were commonplace both in Roman Britain and in the wider Roman World. Archaeologists and historians investigate ancient games through a range of sources. Some ancient authors - such as the poets Ovid or Martial – drop hints about the rules of ancient games, while others, like Suetonius, tell us that people as important as the Emperor Claudius played board games. We can compare this with material evidence such as gaming boards, gaming pieces and dice to try to understand how the Roman people played games in the past.