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Average Life Expectancy

You wake up one morning to find that you are an average Roman citizen; your childhood birthday wish has come to fruition. Every single course of action comes to mind at once. You approach Rome’s current pontiff—Numa Pompilius must be, or must have been, king by this point—and choose to listen in on his religious preachings. By minute 10, you become weary from faking the cooperative expression you’ve been forcing to remain on your face—it’s clear that everything the pontiff says must be taken with a grain of salt. He begins to wrap up his spiel—blah blah short average life expectancy, blah blah sacrifice yourself for the greater good of our religious welfare. But His facetious grin stops him dead in his tracks. He was only joking... or was he?

In any case, you think to yourself—short average life expectancy, huh? Upon asking around, you discover that people, on average, don’t live past 30! How does this property of life affect those living during antiquity? This raises a lot of questions about how much intrinsic value a shorter life might have to the individual. To family members. To the community. Does it mean they value and cherish each and every day more so than we do in 2020 AD, or is it the opposite? Does it justify their barbaric tendencies? For instance, King Tullus believed the state of Rome was growing complacent from inaction, which doesn’t sound like the type of conclusion a powerful figure such as Tullus would have made, had the Roman people possessed a longer average life expectancy. Whatever reason it may be, this was over 2000 years ago. Among many other reasons, it’s a privilege to be able to one, study these ancient people and two, reap the benefits of modernity, such as a relatively more civil lifestyle and longer lifespans.

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The First Interregnum of Rome

An Interregnum, as described within the context of ancient Rome, is the period between two kingships. These periods of time are often, and unfortunately, characterized by political disorder and civil distress. And, historically, the longer these periods lasted, the more likely a government would fall into disarray. Let’s start by examining the transfer of power between King Romulus and King Numa Pompilius.

Once Romulus mysteriously disappeared out of office, it must have been difficult for ancient Roman citizens to have anticipated anything less than anarchy. During his reign of power, Romulus exuded hostile ambition. But, lucky for the citizens, his patriotism freed them from any burden of abuse or corruption. Instead, he funneled this energy into elevating the city’s status. This meant fortifying important geographical landmarks to increase the city’s size and introducing foreign Sabine women to increase the city’s population. Romulus was hungry, to say the least.

The consequences of his actions were vast. The neighboring people, from which the women came from, made several attempts to fight back. And in the rubble and devastation of these battle rose not a shiny, new and improved, Romulus, but a missing one instead! For better or worse, his inherent and/or nurtured aggressive demeanor left the Roman Citizens practically to their own devices.

So, what’s next? Within less than forty years, this infant of a city has seen tremendous growth, at the expense of destruction, rape, and bloodshed. The next logical course of action was to elect a new official. But with Romulus’ emphasis on expansion and power, the Roman people had very little to work with. Even between the senate, the plebeians, and other honorable mentions, this interregnum period was still almost futile. 

Luckily for Rome, time was able to heal even the most grievous of wounds; Numa Pompilius eventually assumed power as the second king of Rome. And with him came an unprecedentedly long reign of peace and political order.

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Nereids: Nymphs of the Sea

Mermaids... but why? There’s absolutely no doubt that questions surrounding the existence of these aquatic figures haven’t overwhelmed your mind at some point. But the answer is out there! Between Hollywood's almost frivolous depiction of them to their incredible significance in Greek Mythology, the age-old question can be easily answered

Before we can delve into this matter, it’s important to understand what comprises the mermaid body. For starters, their body waste up resembles that of an idealized human woman. With a waist circumference that most could only dream of and a complexion that could only be achieved with the most detailed makeup, these creatures are nothing short of a miracle. On the flipside (quite literally) the mermaid body rocks a dazzling, serpent-like posterior tail. This characteristic coupled with the upper body aesthetic appeal of Ms. America makes mermaids the perfect candidates for pop culture idolization and academic exploration.

Here’s something we’ve seen before. Take a troubled child, for instance. Problems at home persist and the light at the end of the tunnel loses intensity by the day. A common way to escape these hardships might be to lose yourself within fiction and fantasy. And what can be better than to put yourself in the place of a dazzling mermaid: a creature of vast profundity and mystery that glides effortlessly with the current, against a rich blue backdrop? Heartwarming indeed.

As for their origin, the stereotypes that describe mermaids are not as cut and dry. In ancient Greek tales, mermaids, or Nereides, are one of the many variations of an inferior female mythological creature, known as a Nymph. 

As far as Greek Mythology goes, fifty Nereids exist in total, and each plays an integral role in maintaining order in the ocean. This means that one Nereid might be responsible for generating waves, while another might create sea foam along the shoreline (pictured above is a Nereid demonstrating her intimate relationship with the sea).

Although their interactions with humans are scarce, they would prioritize nothing over steering a ship out of a storm, for instance. Some sources even indicate their hospitality and willingness to entertain sailors and other sea travelers with song and dance! But don’t be fooled, Nereids are as dangerous as they are virtuous. If threatened, a Nereid will drop its act and assemble her 49 other siblings to rain hell on the provoker.

In Metamorphoses, Nereids are depicted as having the capacity to hold long term grudges as well! Well along in the story, the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses) discovers that his ship was set ablaze by Latin warrior Turnus in an attempt to impede the Greek onslaught. On page 342 it is noted that Nereids acknowledged the wreckage of what was once a ship and “joy shone in their faces”. Although the motive to do so is unclear, this behavior demonstrates a stark contrast with the altruistic mermaids we see today. 

So these Nereid creatures are not quite the same as our mermaids today. So what? It’s clear as to why they existed in the first place: from the Nereids’ complex characteristics and key roles in Greek History to the simplified manifestations that came to be in modern pop culture, they are important and will be remembered.

Sources:

https://mythology.net/greek/greek-creatures/nereid/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/nymph-Greek-mythology

https://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Nereides.html

https://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/mermaid/

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/aeneid/section9/