In this Issue
Justine McLean, To Train a Militia: the Experience of Public Training in Classical Greece and the Early Modern Holy Roman Empire
Marios Koutsoukos, The Theurgic Gift of Well-Being
Joe Broderick, Martial and his Rome: Lived Experience of the Imperial City
Karen Fox, Ovid’s Orcastrated Exile
Antonia Aluko, Intersectionality in Plautus’ Poenulus: Issues of Identity
Sisi Xie, The Experience of Fabia, the Vestal Virgin
Zeren Deniz Ataçocugu, Visits to the Grave in Classical Athens: An Experience Depicted on White Ground Lekythoi
Abigail Carr, ‘Technology run riot’: The Impact of Birth Interventions on Women’s Birth Experiences in 1970s Britain
General Editor’s Comments
The theme of this edition is ‘experience’. Experience can define an incredible range of events and circumstances but the message that emerges throughout the papers in this volume is how experience can be dictated by others and the (obvious) problems this can result in. This edition of Pons Aelius will take your across the Greek world, and into modern times. You will discover how a women’s experience of childbirth could be controlled by others, the troubles of Fabia, and how issues of profession are illuminated across Plautus’ work. You will also get the chance to see a lighter side to identity, as you follow Ovid’s experiences of dolphins (and question what he really might have seen), walk the city of Rome with Martial, better understand misgivings and pressure in the sword fighting arena, and understand how philosophy can become a gift of well-being. All of this may be capped by a visit to Athens, to view how experience could be rendered and interacted with through material culture.
Experience is something personal to all and oftentimes hidden because of it, but it is hoped not only will this papers inform and educate but will pull aside the curtain, even for a second, and provide a piece of insight into the people of the past. After all, history is defined by people, their actions, and yes, their experiences.
Jerome Ruddick (General and Classics Editor), j.m.l.ruddick2@newcastle.ac.uk
Harriet Palin (History Editor), h.palin1@newcastle.ac.uk
Craig Thomas (History Editor), c.thomas5@newcastle.ac.uk
Eleanor Harrison (Archaeology Editor), e.harrison2@newcastle.ac.uk