The Time Travel Handbook

by James Wyllie

  WRESTLING takes two forms at the olympics: sand wrestling or KATO PALE, a grasping, rolling in the sandpit struggle; and the more formal standing wrestling or ORTHOS PALE, in which the fighters stay on their feet, embrace in a clinch and look for opportunities to trip or throw their opponent. The Romans, always more extreme in their violence, have introduced knuckledusters to some bouts. The referees will be keeping control with the use of a wooden rod, though there are few constraints. The breaking of fingers, however, is expressly prohibited, as is gouging.

  Note that if an athlete has already won three of the first four events in the Pentathlon, they will be declared the winner without the need for a final wrestling decider.

  FOUL! THIS VASE SCENE OF A PANKRATION COMBAT SHOWS A FIGHTER TRYING TO GOUGE HIS OPPONENT’S EYE, AND THE UMPIRE ABOUT TO DISQUALIFY HIM.

  DAY FOUR: THE FESTIVAL OF PELOPS

  Today is the FESTIVAL OF PELOPS, an intriguing and complex cult figure at Olympia. As a boy he was cut up and cooked by his father Tantalos and served to the gods – who were not fooled. The boy was reconstructed from the meal by the divines and he went on to win the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of Oinomaos, King of Pisa, in a race against her father’s chariots – themselves gifts from the gods. Pelops only won the race because he bribed the opposing rider – a course that saw tragedy descend on him and his descendants. Nonetheless, by the late sixth century BC he had become a deity in Olympia, where he was buried.

  The entire Hellanodikai as well as the many hundreds of ambassadors attending from distant cities and Roman provinces, will all join the procession to the ALTAR OF ZEUS, where they will sacrifice and roast a hundred oxen. It’s a cue for feasting. Once you’ve filled up on beef, take a stroll back to the Stadium, where BOYS’ DAY will be under way, with Olympic competitions reserved for the youth.

  DAY FIVE: RACING AND COMBAT

  The day begins with the FOOT RACES, which will be contested over three distances: the DOLICHOS, literally the long-one, a twenty-four-circuit race nearly three miles long; then the STADE, a single dash of 210 yards; and finally the DIAULOS, twice the length, up and down the stadium with a single hairpin turn. There may be up to twenty-two competitors in each race and, depending on the numbers attending the Games, there may well be heats as well as final races. As the runners arrive, you should be able to see them position their feet in specially designed stone grooves built into the track that work as starting blocks.

  The races will be followed by COMBAT SPORTS. First WRESTLING, conducted along the same lines as the Pentathlon, and then BOXING. Recognisable to contemporary eyes, the fighting is much fiercer and rougher than now. Don’t be surprised to see bare fists wrapped in leather thongs and occasionally embellished with studs. Next up is the PANKRATION, the ‘all-power thing’. There really are no rules here, apart from no biting and no gouging, so expect ugly scrapping till somebody gives in or passes out.

  The day will end with the HOPLITODROMOS, a race in armour where the otherwise naked contestants don helmets and carry a small round shield. In the Hellenic era athletes also wore greaves, but these have been abandoned, much to the chagrin of some.

  DAY SIX: FESTIVITIES AND CHAMPIONS

  On the final day, there will be a PROCESSION OF ALL THE OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS to the TEMPLE OF ZEUS, where they will receive their crown of olive leaves. Along the route the crowd will gather to shower them with fruit, twigs and flowers. If you can’t get into the temple – it will be crowded – do hang around outside to hear a rendition of the OLYMPIC HYMN sung to the champions.

  A special banquet will then be held by the Hellanodikai for champions in the Prytaneion back in the Altis. There is no point trying to get yourself an invite to this occasion. In any case, you will note that the crowd is beginning to thin as people head for river, boats and carriages. Lucian, a visitor to the next Olympiad in 165, found himself caught out by the crowds: ‘The end of the Olympic Games soon came – the best Olympics which I have seen, of the four which I have attended. It was not easy to get a carriage since so many were leaving at the same time, and therefore I stayed on for another day against my will.’

  Best not to tarry, and to make your way to the DEPARTURE POINT at the hotel complex by the river.

  Opening Night at Shakespeare’s Globe

  11–12 JUNE 1599 LONDON

  THE RECONSTRUCTED GLOBE THEATRE on London’s South Bank gives contemporary audiences a flavour of what it might have been like to see the work of the world’s greatest playwright in its original setting. But why not see what it was actually like? On this trip our travellers will attend the very first play ever staged there – the PREMIERE OF JULIUS CAESAR. Amidst the electric atmosphere of an Elizabethan theatre, you will enjoy the excitement, thrills and spectacle of this historic moment, and hear some of the most quoted lines ever written uttered for the very first time.

  While theatre today is an eminently respectable art form, back in Shakespeare’s day it was the target of much hostility and criticism. Accommodating the poor alongside the well-to-do, thereby erasing the social distinctions and hierarchies that defined and ordered the Elizabethan world, theatres were an egalitarian force, a shared ritual that offered not only entertainment but a running commentary on the state of the nation. As a consequence they were constantly under attack from religious figures, and London’s governing bodies were always looking for an excuse to close them down, and periodically did so. However, nothing could stem the public’s appetite for drama, and it was the genius of Shakespeare – and his brilliant contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson – that helped elevate its status. For the first time playwrights were named and credited for their work, and plays began to appear in print alongside poetry and prose. Though, for many, the theatre would never be respectable, it was institutions like the Globe that secured the legacy of Shakespeare and his fellow scribes, ensuring their words would survive to inspire future generations.

  This thirty-six-hour trip will also include a day’s sightseeing in London, allowing you to experience this great metropolis – the largest in Europe at the time – as it inspired and nurtured Shakespeare, the country boy with stars in his eyes. The Bard clearly fed off its cosmopolitan energy and the rapid social change affecting the city – and England – as the medieval world faded away and a more dynamic one came into being.

  BRIEFING: THE BIRTH OF THE GLOBE

  Around dawn on 28 December 1598, a dozen armed men trudged through the snow towards the site of The Theatre Playhouse (or simply The Theatre) in Shoreditch. Built in 1576, this was one of the oldest and most renowned theatres in London and was home to the Chamberlain’s Men, a company of actors formed in 1594 under the patronage of Lord Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain, which included William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, John Heminges, Augustine Phillips and Thomas Pope.

  Having performed over 100 plays at The Theatre, the Chamberlain’s Men had a problem: they had failed to renegotiate the lease with the landlord, Giles Allen, while a plan to open a new venue in Blackfriars had fallen foul of its well-heeled residents. An alternative site had been found south of the river in Southwark – beyond City limits and the long arm of the Privy Council – near the ROSE THEATRE, used by their main rivals the ADMIRAL’s MEN. This was secured on a thirty-one-year lease to run from Christmas Day 1598. However, the company still needed to construct an actual theatre. Starting from scratch would be ruinously expensive. So they came up with an audacious scheme. Though Allen owned the land The Theatre stood on, the Chamberlain’s Men owned the building. Why not dismantle the whole thing and transport it lock, stock and barrel to the new site?

  With Allen on holiday in Essex and a royal performance pencilled in for New Year’s Eve, time was of the essence. Having faced down some of Allen’s friends, the men went to work, supervised by the Master Builder Peter Street. By dusk they had removed the whole frame of The Theatre, with its huge, heavy square posts, and stored it in a warehouse by the river. Four days later, the job was done, an
d the materials were ready to shift by boat and cart once the foundations of the Globe were dug. (Allen later sued the Chamberlain’s Men but lost the two-year court case).

  This part of the process was near completion by early spring 1599, but then a cold snap slowed construction work and was followed by heavy rain and flooding at the end of May. However, once the weather cleared, the foundations were finished and the carpenters and sawyers moved in to fit the reassembled frame together. The outer walls were hoisted into place, and cross-frames and curved braces added for stability. Then ‘setting up’ could start: with fresh timber arriving every day, new joists, rafters, partitions, seating and staircases were built. Glaziers appeared, as did plumbers, smiths, thatchers (for the roof), plasterers (who used lathe, lime and hair to cover the wood frame to give it the appearance of stone), and painters and specialists to marble the wooden columns on stage.

  As summer approached, the new theatre – named the Globe – was nearing completion. Saturday 12 June was chosen for the grand opening. The date (on the Tudors’ Julian Calendar) coincided with the SUMMER SOLSTICE, a full Moon, and the appearance of Venus and Jupiter in the night sky, all signs that augured well for the theatre’s future. For a society obsessed with astrology, such auspicious portents could not be ignored.

  All the Chamberlain’s Men needed was a new play to open with. Shakespeare, who had recently moved home to South-wark, close to the old Clink Prison, had already written Henry V that year, and now turned his attention to the classical world. He quickly knocked out Julius Caesar – 2,500 lines total, almost all verse – had it approved for performance by the chief censor, the Master of the Revels, and rehearsals began. At these, each actor learned his part from individual scrolls, with only his bits of the text written on it – the whole company working flat out to be ready for the premiere.

  THE TRIP

  You will arrive at 9.30 am on Friday 11 June 1559 in the fields that straddle the fringes of urban SOUTHWARK. Bear due east for about a quarter of a mile and you will hit the main route to LONDON BRIDGE, the entry point for every kind of visitor from the continent and from the grand estates, farms and villages of south-east England.

  DRESS, ROOMS AND VICTUALS

  DRESS CODE in the Elizabethan era is used to distinguish social rank or profession. You will be wearing items that place you amongst the middling sort; not gentry or nobility, but still affluent and successful, borne aloft by self-made money, much like Shakespeare. Current trends are for colourful, eclectic, European styles: Spanish sleeves, French gowns, Dutch cloaks.

  As the weather will be pleasantly warm, you won’t be needing too many layers of clothing, but WOMEN TRAVELLERS will require a number of different garments under their dresses (bared arms and legs are out, but generous displays of cleavage are OK if you’re unmarried). To cover your delicate parts you will have a length of washable linen, over which will be a chemise, then a linen smock with foreparts laid over it, and around that a fabric-covered framework (farthingale) to support your petticoat. Finally, you can put your gown on, with its ruffs and ruffles to add a touch of class, a neckerchief (partlet) and optional mantles to decorate the shoulders. You will have silk stockings and, considering the amount of walking you are likely to do, soft leather slippers with buckles. Extra adornments will include jewellery and a wig. To combat the sheer stench of the city, you will be wearing strong perfume – amberg, made from whale sperm, or civet from the cat of the same name – and carry a linen pouch stuffed with lavender.

  MEN will have less clothing to negotiate: a linen shirt with a doublet and waistcoat, a cloak for theatrical effect, hose, breeches and high leather boots. A felt hat with a coloured hat band and dyed feather, an earring, and dagger worn at the waist, complete the ensemble. You may fancy one of the latest hairstyles imported from the continent, while a neatly trimmed beard is the fashionable choice.

  ROOMS

  The standard of ACCOMMODATION in London’s taverns is quite high. Your room will be spacious and comfortable, its walls decorated with painted cloths. There will be a large four-poster, curtained bed with a feather mattress on top and feather pillows and pillowcases to rest your head on. There will be clean linen sheets, blankets, coverlets and quilts. Men will don a NIGHTSHIRT and CAP, while women will pull on a smock-like NIGHT RAIL. Additional items include a candle, candle holder, and a chamberpot by the bed, or, if you’re lucky, a CLOSE STOOL: a square box with a hole in the top and a padded seat to plant your behind on. You are best off using the facilities in your room, as the public latrines (jakes) are pretty foul. If you are caught short when you’re out and about, there are three communal privies on Tower Street, while the largest is on London Bridge and empties directly into the Thames.

  PIPE AND A PINT AT AN ELIZABETHAN TAVERN.

  VICTUALS

  Those hoping to gorge on a Tudor roast will be disappointed. To encourage people to consume more fish, it is against the law to eat meat on Fridays and Saturdays. Expect your FISH to be poached or boiled in heavily spiced sauces, with added fruits and natural sugars, served with vegetables and a salad (sallat) option, followed by cheese and dessert.

  Most of your food will be sourced from one of London’s many MARKETS, which you will encounter everywhere you go. Open six days a week, from 6am to 11am and 1pm to 5pm, they are all under the control of the Lord Mayor and his councillors, who fix prices and levy fines for offences like forestalling (intercepting goods before they reach the market). Your fish will come from Stocks Market, Billings-gate, and the fishmongers of Fish Street, your FRUIT AND VEGETABLES from Greenchurch Street Market or Queenshithe by the river (or any of the City’s 377 grocers), while CHEESE will come from one of these markets or the cheese shops of Bread Street. Though you won’t be able to eat any meat, you’ll see plenty of it, whether alive and kicking at Smithfield or straight out of the slaughterhouses at Cheapside, where there are carcasses and joints hanging from hooks and skewered on spits.

  Nobody drinks water. Instead, it’s BOTTLED BEER, made from malt barley, water and hops; ALE, which has no hops and a three-day shelf life; or WINE, of which there are 30 named brands available.

  FRIDAY 11 JUNE: THE CITY

  Jammed with traffic, human and animal, and lined with impressive buildings on either side, LONDON BRIDGE offers visitors a spectacular introduction to the CITY OF LONDON. Immediately you step foot on it you will see two corn-grinding mills, then a drawbridge (no longer functioning) with a tower that sports the skulls of sixteen executed traitors and, midway across, a disused chapel.

  Interspersed between these landmarks are large four-storey dwellings belonging to wealthy merchants, some with shops on the ground floor. The most grandiose of these is NONSUCH HOUSE, a Renaissance extravaganza, pre-fabricated in Holland and erected on site, with turrets, gilded columns and carved galleries projecting out over the river. As you approach the northern end you will be confronted with an arch containing a massive water wheel. Passing this you will now be close to ALDGATE, the City’s front door.

  Criss-crossed by broad thoroughfares and linked by narrow streets and twisting alleyways, the CITY is a hotchpotch of dwellings, from the slums of the dirt-poor to the mansions of the filthy rich, all rammed together alongside official buildings, trading houses, retail outlets and churches – many of them disused, There are many gardens and, always within walking distance, open green spaces, though many of these are occupied by laundresses drying their washing.

  Wandering the streets, some paved or cobbled, others covered with gravel and beaten earth, you will notice how young everybody looks; half the population is under twenty. You will hear people being referred to as Goodman This or Goodwife That, and if somebody calls you snout fair, it means they think you are good looking. If, by contrast, they consider you as much worth as a piss in the Thames, take that as the insult it is clearly intended to be. Be wary of COURTESY MEN who prey on visitors, befriending then robbing them, while male travellers should be on their guard against A DEMANDER OF GLI
MMER, an attractive women who promises you her body, takes your money and runs. You may also find yourself being accosted by TOURIST GUIDES, ready to lead you a merry dance around town and relieve you of your cash. Don’t be suckered into accepting their help.

  You will meet SELLERS crying their wares, flogging timely (fresh) fruit and pies from baskets, BUSKERS, STREET PERFORMERS and BALLAD SELLERS; at some point you will probably be handed a playbill advertising the grand opening of the Globe. BEGGARS will be hard to avoid – they are all licensed by church authorities to operate in a particular area for a specific period of time. You may also come across people being paraded around on CARTS (carting); these are minor offenders being publicly humiliated for their misdemeanours. Some may be tied to horses, but facing backwards. You will see individuals with either one ear or both ears missing: these are ex-cons who have been subject to a brutal punishment called pillioring.

  LUNCH IN BISHOPSGATE

  The main meal of the day is at midday. We recommend you dine at either THE BULL or THE GREEN DRAGON in Bishopsgate. You will be expected to wash your hands before eating and will be given a towel to dry them with. The menu will not be as elaborate or extravagant as some of the more extreme examples of Elizabethan cuisine. Nevertheless, you will be able to choose dishes like ELUS BAKYN, eels baked in red wine sauce; PYKES IN BRASEY, grilled fish in wine; or SALMON poached in beer, vinegar and herbs. CHEESES on offer will include green (new) cheese, hard cheese (Cheddar) or soft cheese with herbs. DESSERT will come in the form of a fruit tart, perhaps filled with strawberries in red wine with sugar, cinnamon and ginger, or cherries with mustard, cinnamon and ginger. Or you might feel like a TRIFLE made with a pint of thick cream, seasoned with sugar and ginger and rosewater.