Valeria Aemilia

Valeria is the third and much younger wife of Gnaeus. They were married sub manus, which by Roman law meant that the guardianship for the woman changed from father to husband. She came under the full patria potestas of her husband, lost all controll over her dowry and her family wouldn’t inherit any of it in case the bride died.
This is not so important for Valeria’s role in the story, but might help in understanding Portia’s and Lucius’ marriage.

Quotes from other characters about Valeria are not readily available, so to still give you something, the quotes are from Valeria herself:

“I know I am only your stepmother, but I’d like us to be friends. So come to me any time you want to share something on your mind.”

“Don’t mock me, Lucius. We both are too young, but surely your tutors taught you about Sulla, too. Gaius Iulius could announce proscriptions just as easily.”

“It might not seem so, but I loved your father and he loved me. In his way…”

Gnaeus and Valeria

Senator Gnaeus Aemilius Plautus

Gnaeus is the head of a minor branch of the Aemilian family, father of Lucius and Marcus and husband to Valeria. He is a member of the Roman Senate and his allegiance lies with the Optimates.

Quotes from other characters:

Friend: “My dear Aemilius, what a joy to be in your presence again.”

Lucius: “Keep your mouth shut, Father! You and your dire predictions of death and doom… I’m fed up with them!”

Marcus: “Well, he may love the idea of having more than one son. But he doesn’t actually love me. I think it may be because of my mother.”

The Fountain 2

I bought the lion I had in mind for the waterspouting ornament:

Some time ago I bought a powder to make a mould with, but I never tested it. The plan is to make the mould, fill it with Fimo and then flatten the head before it goes into the oven.
If this fails I’ll just saw off the face and paint it.
I’ll keep you posted.

First Part

Tribune Marcus Aemilius

Marcus is the second son of the family. At the start of the story he is just returned from Gaul, where he serves as a tribune with the thirteenth legion under Gaius Iulius Caesar.

Quotes from other characters:

Portia: “Who does he think he is? So rude! I never…”
Valeria: “Leave it be, Portia. Marcus is… well, Marcus. You’ll get used to it. And give thanks to the Gods that he isn’t at home that often.”

Gnaeus: “Apologise? You must be insane! He defied my patria potestas*! I have every reason to kill him on the spot! He must be the one to apologise.”

Caesar: “We are pleased with your conduct. Well done, my foolish young patrician.”

* The Patria potestas is the power over live and death a family head had over the members of his household.

The Fountain 1

I already wrote about the idea here, now I’ve started the work on it.

Step 1: the basin

I used the packing from a cream cheese I had to provide the form of a straight back with a curved front. The only thing I had to do was straighten one of the edges.

Then I applied several layers of spackle, originally with the intend to build a mold, but it stuck so well I’ll just leave it.

The next steps will include sanding the basin and building a back wall. After that I will have to somehow build the lion’s head (I already figured out the how to theoretically), choose a mosaic for the bottom (that’s where Mick’s trip to Rome will come into play) and “pour” the water.

Presenting the cast

I had thought about giving a more in-depth view into the characters, but feel that might give away too much of the storyline. Instead I came up with another way of telling a bit about them, that simultaneously should show my commitment to the story.

So I am going to give a short description about the character’s position in the household, followed by a pic and some quotes from the story.
Yes, that’s correct, you’ll get quotes.
Those will give away some plot points as well, but that can’t be helped.

Please keep in mind that the story still is a WIP. By my estimation I have finished about half of it, but still the finished parts might be subject to changes. So don’t be mad, if you can’t find the exact quotes in the published version (as if anybody would look…).

Expect to see the first character introduction on Sunday.

Roman Matrons

The lady on the left is one of my choices for Portia (still undecided, doing costume tests with different dolls), the lady on the right is Valeria.

Roman chairs

The problem with the Roman project is the undifferentiated approach on many websites. When they write about “ancient Rome” in general, you can never be quite sure which time period they mean. So unless I can verify some detail with a more reliable source, I usually skip it.

Which brings me to the chairs. I have seen a lot of different styles and materials. I have found bits here and there about seating customs. Most of them I could not relate to my time period, so in the end I had to decide on something, rather than procrastinate any more on the topic.

The Aemilii

I already have the cast for the display and an eventual story, it will be a family: the Aemilii, a Roman noble family living in the middle of the last century BC.

Pater familias is Gnaeus Aemilius Plautus, a senator.

His first wife was the late Cornelia. Their eldest son Gnaeus died in his childhood. The younger one – Lucius – survived, while his mother died giving birth to him.
In a second marriage Gnaeus was married to Flavia, they are divorced. From this alliance comes Gnaeus’ second living son, Marcus.
Now Gnaeus is married for the third time (it’s the lucky charm, right?) to a much younger woman named Valeria. Strictly for political reason, of course.

Lucius is running for the office of curulian aedile and is married to Portia, the daughter of a rich eques. They have no children so far.

Marcus just started on the cursus honorum, he serves as a tribune in the Legio XIII in Gaul and is not married.

Additionally there will be other nobles, some slaves and even Gaius Iulius Caesar himself!
I will present them all with pictures and some more information (but not too much, it’s going to be a story after all) at a later time. For now you can see some of the cast here.