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Farecoal posted:Did Rome ever have an empress? (I know the Byzantines did, but you can't have a Roman empire without Rome Western Rome was way to sexist for that to ever be a thing. Cleopatra was just unfathomable to them. However the wife of hte Augustus was "Augusta" and treated with reverence sometimes. And women could become players in politics. I guess more so earlier before Western Rome became a rump state run by the generals. Republican Rome and late Empire are so completely different.
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May 25, 2012 00:57
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thetruth posted:How did political campaigns work in Rome, pre-emperor? Massive bribery and reliance on patronage. You could also murder your opponent or bring a mob to the Campus Martius. Wiki goes into great detail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribal_Assembly It was actually pretty complicated. euphronius fucked around with this message at 19:50 on May 25, 2012 |
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May 25, 2012 17:05
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If the (western) Roman Empire had fully integrated the Germanic Tribes like they integrated the Gauls or the Iberians or the Illyrians then who knows what would have happened. If Ricimer had been crowned Emporer by the Roman Senate history might have turned out completely different. Although the advent of feudalism in Italy was very destabilizing. edit Changed Greeks to Iberians. Duh. euphronius fucked around with this message at 19:39 on May 25, 2012 |
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May 25, 2012 19:36
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GamerL posted:Was there some decision not to? Or could they not do it because the rough terrain, lack of rich targets prevented it from being worth it/possible to romanize them? I.e. build and defend roman towns, establish regional governments, etc. Anti Germanic nationalism by the Italian nobility. Probably. They were romanized. Ricimer (and Flavius Stilicho before him) we as roman as anyone. There were lots of Illyrian emperors as a counter example.
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May 25, 2012 19:41
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Legionaries threw pila before engaging so they weren't 100% melee. And yeah the slavery practiced in the American South was probably the most brutal and dehumanizing version of slavery in history.
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May 27, 2012 18:55
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You could go to Parthia.
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May 27, 2012 19:21
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The Euphrates was about as far east as the Romans got, minus some campaigning that did not last very long. Alexander did conquer what is now Iran. euphronius fucked around with this message at 19:34 on May 27, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 19:29
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Romans also got lucky in that Hannibal's motives may not have been perfectly aligned with Carthage (Or Carthage's aligned with Hannibal's). He certainly seemed like he could have taken Rome at some point but never did. euphronius fucked around with this message at 04:21 on May 30, 2012 |
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May 30, 2012 04:19
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The Romans also built bridges better than anyone.
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May 30, 2012 12:22
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Pontifex may mean bridge builder, but it probably is a translated Etruscan word considering early Rome was a Etruscan city. Too bad the Romans destroyed so much of Etruscan writing. We don't know all that much about them other than what we can see in their (glorious) murals. The legendary first five kings of Rome were probably Etruscan. Claudius allegedly wrote a huge and authoritative history of the Etruscans but it is lost. 
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May 30, 2012 18:25
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DarkCrawler posted:Isn't it true that a SHITLOAD of Roman writings were lost? Like a vast majority of the stuff written during their era? Yeah as mentioned. Also everything Etruscan is gone, everything before the Gauls sacked Rome is gone. The library in Alexandria was burned at some point, maybe more than once. It's kind of really sad.
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May 31, 2012 01:54
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Knighthood only makes sense in the frame of feudalism which did not start fully developing until after the Western Empire was gone. (The breakdown of order in the West sowed the seeds of feudalism).
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Jun 1, 2012 12:58
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The Roman equites were I suppose similar to "knight" though.
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Jun 1, 2012 13:18
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In late (western) empire they seemed to have had small groups of horse based troops that could quickly respond to incidents on the borders (Rhine, Danube) and then permanent legions based in forts all year (like the one in Belgrade). The horse based quick response troops probably fought on foot though and just used their horses to get to the action. I am remembering this from the History of Rome podcast so sorry no cites.
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Jun 1, 2012 17:23
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GamerL posted:To follow up on Pochoclo's question, what were general views on magic and the occult in pre-christian Rome? Magi and Egyptians? Cults of Mithras? Other references of sorcery, sin, etc? Romans adopted every popular religion. Cults and mysterious rites were very popular. The HBO show Rome shows this well I think. Traditional Roman magic included reading the auspices. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auspice Which is where we get the English word auspicious, by the way. Wikipedia has an excellent entry on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_ancient_Rome
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Jun 4, 2012 23:12
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They used wills just like we do.
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Jun 5, 2012 04:39
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WoodrowSkillson posted:I don't know a ton much more about it, I know that blue was made from woad which is a common plant as well, which would make that idea of blue being used by sailors perfectly plausible. It was common enough that a bunch of the tribes Caesar conquered would use it to dye their bodies a la Braveheart. Indigo was separate as it was made using far more expensive stuff and mostly all came from India, hence the name. I think there was color coding in the single stripe on the togas as well, but it escapes me at the moment, its late here and I need to go to bed. If I am not mistaken, purple was also used to color the togas of important men like senators and priests. The expensive purple (Tyrian) came from a specific mollusk off the coast of Lebenon.
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Jun 6, 2012 14:20
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The pope is just the Bishop of Rome. His claim to lead all of the churches is quite controversial as you can imagine. The bishop of Rome being super Pope didnt happen until way later. And also the Emperor was never really in Rome much in the late empire. Anyway here is the first priest to win a showdown with an emperor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose quote:Theodosius I, the emperor of the East, espoused the cause of Justina, and regained the kingdom. Theodosius was threatened with excommunication by Ambrose for the massacre of 7,000 persons at Thessalonica in 390, after the murder of the Roman governor there by rioters.[1] Ambrose told Theodosius to imitate David in his repentance as he had imitated him in guilt — Ambrose readmitted the emperor to the Eucharist only after several months of penance . This incident shows the strong position of a bishop in the Western part of the empire, even when facing a strong emperor — the controversy of John Chrysostom with a much weaker emperor a few years later in Constantinople led to a crushing defeat of the bishop. euphronius fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Jun 7, 2012 |
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Jun 7, 2012 03:41
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I don't think anyone drank the water down river from Rome.
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Jun 7, 2012 15:12
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The outfall of Rome's original ewage system (first built but the Etruscans!) is still there today and still works (somewhat)  It is the smaller arch down near the two guys sitting down. Another picture of the ancient Roman sewers 
euphronius fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jun 7, 2012 |
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Jun 7, 2012 23:01
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If the legions would have been loyal to the "state" rather than whatever Augustus or Caesar was leading them it may have worked. It seems to me it was just to easy to get a few legions together and start a civil war (or it was just to easy to be reasonably afraid the OTHER GUY was going to start a civil war so you better start one first.)
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Jun 8, 2012 03:03
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Yeah exactly, Romance languages are alive and kicking.
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Jun 10, 2012 04:10
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Sicily was hugely important up through and including the Punic wars and then through the end of the Republic. It was a big warzone. It was run by enourmous latifundia in the empire and basically devoid of civilization other than agriculture. As far as backwaters Cyrenaica basically grew crops for 600 years and nothing else.
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Jun 11, 2012 05:28
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Recent Podcast on the Etruscans http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0151q7j Apparently there were still Etruscan noble families around 1 AD. Claudius married one I think, too.
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Jun 12, 2012 04:56
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Augustus Caesar successfully fought for an received most of Caesar's wealth. He demanded and convinced everyone to call him Julius Caesar, Son of a God. He then successfully won the loyalty of Caesar's soldiers. He then formed a partnership with Marcus Antonius and another guy who is not important. He then murdered huge chunks of the senatorial class and confiscated their land. He then destroyed Brutus and Cassius. He then turned on Antonius and won a civil war against him (and Cleopatra) and no one was left to oppose him. He then stacked the senate with his friends. Then he was emperor. But even then, Augustus Caesar kept up the facade of a republic. He was as big of a bad rear end as Julius Caesar, but in different ways. euphronius fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 16:19
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The "legal" way Caesar Agustus became emperor is that the Senate gave him the authority of a bunch of offices that used to be separate. (He took some himself too with out waiting for the Senate.) An American example would be if Congress made Obama president, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and Chief Justice (and also say Governor of California, New York and Florida) and kept renewing his term of office while also having the entire US military swear oaths of personal allegiance to Obama. euphronius fucked around with this message at 16:34 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 16:31
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Caesar only had proconsular authority at that time in Gaul. He had not authority to lead a legion in Italy (since he was not a consul). It would be kind of like in the first Gulf War, Schwarzkopf loading up the army and landing on the lower Potomac with a grudge. euphronius fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jun 12, 2012 |
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Jun 12, 2012 21:03
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Also with JC crossing the Rubicon, there was no army between him and Roma and everyone knew it.
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Jun 12, 2012 21:10
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Ravenna was easily defensible. Those were all puppet emps that lived there anyway.
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Jun 13, 2012 04:07
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The ROmans did build a doom fortress in Constantinople. Probably one of the biggest reasons the east lasted so long.
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Jun 13, 2012 04:12
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THe Franks (France) were a german tribe, by the way. They started being active in the Rhine area in the 4th century or so.
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Jun 13, 2012 04:32
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They got them back. THe scene is on a famous statue of Augustus.
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Jun 13, 2012 04:43
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If there was an unbroken chain of emperors between Romulus Augustus and Charlemagne I would say we would consider the HRE to be the Roman Empire.
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Jun 13, 2012 14:25
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English is still incredibly influenced by Latin. The legal system as well. Though that is mostly due to the Normans.
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Jun 14, 2012 18:58
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Hoxne Hoard was buried sometime after the Legions left http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoxne_Hoard Maybe that stuff was buried because of a general breakdown in order? Who knows. Hoxne had this gorgeous body chain: 
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Jun 15, 2012 18:43
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Baden Baden has a modern roman bath. Imgur is down so enjoy a link to google images https://www.google.com/search?q=Car...iw=1525&bih=712
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Jun 17, 2012 14:25
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The Sanhedrin could have tried Jesus, no?
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Jun 20, 2012 01:23
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Grand Fromage posted:He would've been a non-citizen in a famously resistant province stirring up trouble against the state. There would not have been a trial. He and every follower they could find would've been crucified. If they had considered it a serious threat they would've started razing cities. Resistance against the state was the fastest way to get the entire Roman civilization crashing down on your head. I seem to remember that the Romans at that time took a hands off approach in Iudaea and let the Sanhedrin run some criminal trials. Oh hey a wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin_Trial_of_Jesus
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Jun 20, 2012 02:55
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Roman Crimea? Cyrenaica? Felicitus Iulia?
euphronius fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Jun 22, 2012 |
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Jun 22, 2012 02:02
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Legionaries in the Principate and Dominate stages lived in settled forts. They would have had regular quality meals. Not on campaign of course.
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Jun 22, 2012 16:38
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