Gerardine Hoogland

The ancient Romans were prolific letter-writers, and none more so than Marcus Tullius Cicero. That we have the amount of personal correspondence preserved by Cicero’s scribe and faithful servant, Tiro, and discovered by Francesco Petrarch in 1345, is something we must treasure. It is estimated about 900 of Cicero’

Lucius Annaeus Seneca - Seneca the Younger - was a first century Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist who became tutor and adviser to the emperor Nero. He wrote moral essays and letters, as well as tragic plays in the time of Nero. Sadly, Seneca was forced to commit suicide

It has been rather the ride lately since the Australian government brought in draconian age verification laws, which saw many of us locked out of our Substack accounts and then have to search for new platforms that would prove to be more "safe!" - dare I use that

Anguished cries of “The West is Falling!” reverberate throughout the hallowed architecture of Western Civilisation. It may seem that we face an existential threat to our existence and all that the western world has gifted us from these past thousands of years, but it needs to be remembered that our

What is Dis?  It takes its meaning from Dis Pater - “rich father.”  Cicero would associate it with dives - riches and abundance. It is also associated with Hades, hence the oft used interpretation of Hell or Lucifer. In architectural terms, it can be interpreted as a walled, iron city

If one wants to experience a snapshot of life in a bygone era, it is to be found within the pages of a book. If a deeper and more engrossing experience is sought, then it is to be discovered within the shelter of a library. For most of us plebs,

I wish all of you a wonderful Christmas and I sincerely hope the New Year ahead is good for you, and for us all. Thanks to each of you for your support of my writing. It means more than you can know. I am a small cog in the enormous

Waiting and sacrifice can gift us unknown treasures. I drew maps when I was a young child. Lots of maps. Adventure ones. They are all lost now. Sitting at a desk in my room with only paper, pencil and my imagination, I created maps of islands surrounded by ocean. The