Ask A Historian by Greg Jenner

Author:Greg Jenner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781474618632
Publisher: Orion

So, those are some interesting tree facts for you. But my absolute fave story, which is purely one for the column marked ‘funny’, is the fact that the famous Roman politician Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus allegedly enjoyed an erotic dalliance with a tree. Passienus is a fascinating figure; he was extremely wealthy, highly intelligent, very well respected, and was the second husband of Agrippina the Younger (making him stepdad to the teenage Nero). And yet, despite all this – or maybe because of it – Pliny the Elder tells us Passienus became romantically besotted with a sacred tree in a grove dedicated to the goddess Diana, and as well as offering it wine (he would lie on his back and pour booze over the roots) he also fondled and snogged it too. It might have been a very silly joke, but it made both the tree and the man famous throughout the Roman world.

So, there you have it, Ruby: a veritable forest of historical tree stories, and judging by my Twitter replies, there’s a load more out there should you want them.

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