Epicness with VIRTVS ANTIQVA

My reenactment group, VIRTVS ANTIQVA, has produced a brand new recruiting video for its gladiatorial school. Open positions: gladiator (starting from candidate level, tiro), slave, libertus/a, priest/priestess, matron, dancer/acrobat, Furies/Erinyes. Who wants in?
Advantages: free weekends, driving license and car, location in/near Cluj-Napoca, Romania, sports, imagination and patience.

Here is also our older recruitment poster, that has also worked pretty well:

Testing the ancient bread oven

Now that the bread oven replica at Camp Virtus has dried in the sun, we wanted to go to the next level. The first step was to correct the cracks that had appeared in the body of clay - as the composition was certainly uneven [see the entry on how it was built] and the exposure to the sun one sided. After these have dried as well, the Roman-inspired oven was fired, noting some persistent cracks where smoke escaped.

The final step was to actually try and bake some bread, to see if the heat was indeed enough for the process. Due to bad weather conditions, we used aluminum foil instead of cabbage leafs or anything more antique. We were also short of the appropriate wooden tools, thus the embedded cord that we used to pull the bread out of the oven.

The result was not bad, the bread loaf a bit undone in the center, but that can be easily fixed with a bit of experience in baking times and procedure. We'll be having practical workshops soon!

 

Beautiful young Dacians and Romans

During the special education week "Scoala altfel" hoards of young Dacians and Romans took part in the reenactment workshops organized by VIRTVS ANTIQVA near Cluj-Napoca, at Camp Virtus. The youngsters were able to try on costumes and pieces of arm and armor typical to ancient Roman soldiers, gladiators, and Dacian warriors, learned how to shoot with bows and arrows, trained the ancient way, and had fun discovering the secrets of perfume making, toilet using, and status display during Antiquity.

Gardening project

One might be surprised of what art has to do with a gardening project. And yet, I have devised such a combination, relating to the idea of a Roman aromatic garden. The "Roman garden" product is a small bottle, painted by hand with vegetal depictions, containing a mix of seeds from plants that the Romans would have grown to use in the kitchen, for cooking or spicing wine, or just for their nice scent. It has coriander, dill, mustard, parsley, mint, sage, basil, savory, caraway, and rosemary seeds, to be planted and cared for in an authentic Roman garden. The project is educational for kids, useful for reenactors, and fun for all those who love herbs and cooking.

the Roman garden project

hand-painted bottle with aromatic plant seeds

contents ca. 25 g, enough for a rather large herb garden

Atelierul de istorie

Our online shop is almost two-years old and its doing good for such a young age :))

In 2008 apARTe and VIRTVS ANTIQVA NGOs have started collaborating for an online shop that presents original artworks and handmade products inspired by the civilizations of Antiquity, mainly Dacian and Roman, employing as much as possible natural materials such as leather, textile, ceramics, metal, and glass. The "History Studio" / aka Atelierul de istorie, has been present at several reenactment festivals and events in Romania and is very active online.