Roman/ancient history: Checkmate, Atenists

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Roman/ancient history: Checkmate, Atenists

Mr. Mambold: Feb 13, 2011; Aha. Nice post.

Modus Operandi posted:

Makes sense. Dicks are also used in Buddhist culture a lot as talismans for prosperity and virility. The crossroads thing is very Feng Shui. I wonder if different cultures adopted this superstition against crossroads because it was a place of uncertainty and banditry. I suppose a lot of people may have mysteriously disappeared at junctures back in ancient times.

The dick you see is not the true dick. The virility and power symbolized by the erect monolith phallus represents the original universal creative urge in the ancient religions, iirc. The temple and roadside lingams of ancient and modern Hinduism, as well as all the ancient cultures, was not associated with the physical penis, that was regarded as pedestrian.
If you saw it as a big old stone dick, it wasn't going to do you any good against the Unknown.
Rather the male and female organs were seen as metaphoric, although obviously actual organs symbolizing the Big Bang, if you will, the male lingam being positive.
And any symbol that gets archetypal reinforcement accrues power.

# ¿ May 28, 2012 04:47

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# ¿ May 6, 2024 10:15

Mr. Mambold: Feb 13, 2011; Aha. Nice post.

Grand Fromage posted:

Romans didn't benefit from many of the technologies that make modern crop yields so good. They had irrigation and mechanical grain mills. They also had some sort of mechanical grain reaper, we've never found one and the technology disappears but there are pictures of it.

Grapes were by far the most popular fruit to grow, both for eating and for making wine. Olives were the standard cash crop, olive oil is a big seller everywhere on Rome's trade network. The grains were a bit more varied than what we usually eat today. They grew wheat, millet, barley, emmer (very popular at the time but not much now), rice. Asparagus was highly prized, it would be dried for use throughout the year or stored in the snow in the Alps. Cabbage, turnips, and leeks were common. Beans and chickpeas, lentils were considered especially good. Kale, broccoli, cucumbers, artichoke, mushrooms. Any spices they could get their hands on were prized.

A lot of it is similar to the Mediterranean diet of today, since that's what grows in the region.

So they understood the principles of refrigeration to some extent, they created advanced ag. technology, they understood principles of civic sanitation apparently....I've long admired their aqueduct systems, highways, etc. but I'm enjoying learning more from this great thread.

# ¿ May 30, 2012 00:38

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Roman/ancient history: Checkmate, Atenists