cheerfullydrab posted:One of the main things I was wondering was where you'd put the end date of the Roman Empire. I'm so very very happy you place it in 1453. I strongly encourage you to never ever ever use the phrase "Byzantine" Is this a general trend for scholars now to move away from designating the East as Byzantium, or just your personal feeling? Because of course Byzantine is a historian's creation, and the East still called itself Roman, but I think Byzantine serves itself well as a reference to that period. Twat McTwatterson fucked around with this message at 16:38 on May 24, 2012 |
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May 24, 2012 16:35
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Chikimiki posted:Exactly. And it was also a sign of weakness for the ruler to indulge in his desires. When Caesar's troops joked that he was every woman's man, it was also very mocking, since this meant he couldn't help but screw any women that offered herself to him. "Caesar conquered Gaul, but Nicomedes conquered Caesar."
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May 24, 2012 20:24
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Plutarch's The Life of Alexander is one of my favorite books. I keep it under my pillow, as Alexander Megas did with Homer. Of course you have to be quite discerning with fact and hearsay, but regardless, it remains a quick and exhilarating read. "It is a lovely thing to live with courage, and to die leaving behind everlasting renown."
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May 25, 2012 05:48
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Grand Fromage posted:Erect dicks were a magical protection against evil. Romans were superstitious as gently caress, I want to get into that occult question after I read a bit. But one of the main places you find the dicks are at crossroads, because Romans viewed everything as having a spirit, including roads, so a crossroad was a magically dangerous place where two spirits encountered one another. Spirits of the crossroads are the Lares, I think. GamerL posted:Grand Fromage, I think you should read Neil Faulkner's Fall of Roman Britain. It's about $20 and would help fill in that area of roman history for you nicely. Or you can just go to a library.
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May 26, 2012 17:10
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What is the obsession with mythically linking Aeneas to the founding of Rome, and when is this idea first espoused in Roman culture? Certainly Virgil did not create the whole idea. And of course I understand the idea of tracing Rome back to a kingly lineage and whatnot, but why specifically a Trojan? Because it's anti-Greek, or Homer is just that dominant and widespread in Mediterranean thought?
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May 27, 2012 03:20
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This might not be necessarily coherent, but what's always insane to grasp is the span of time. Let's say the earth is 4.6 billion years old, life pops up in some form around 3.5 billion, humans in our anatomically modern form pop up around 200,000 years ago, agriculture at maybe 10,000 BCE, pyramids at say 2700 BCE and then Augustus first century CE. When Augustus begins his visionary cohesion and expansion, the pyramids are already nearly 3,000 years old. When Justinian reunites the West with the East (albeit fleetingly), Augustus lived 500 years previously. It's like Christopher Columbus to us, comparatively. Just a loving legend. Historical, but such an incredible amount of time in between. And yet from Augustus to Justinian there is still, at its core and all evident outliers, an identifiable Roman civilization. When Christ walked the earth, Alexander of Macedon was three centuries gone. George Washington to you and me. When Trajan was emperor, Socrates had been dead for six loving centuries. Rome survived from 753 BCE to 1453 CE. I've been alive for 25 years. It's loving insane.
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Jun 4, 2012 04:12
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Details on Roman involvement in Arabia? Coined Arabia Felix, I believe. Felix meaning lucky, but why this term? Arabia is largely, if not entirely, nomadic tribes until Mohammed in the 7th century- if Islam is of the Abrahamic tradition, was that tradition brought to Arabia by Jews as a result of the diaspora? What is the earliest date of Judaism in Arabia? There must be some Jewish involvement...
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Jun 5, 2012 00:00
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Opinions on the Robert Fagles translations of The Illiad/Odyssey and The Aeneid?
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Jun 6, 2012 03:59
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The Apostate. Tell me about him. From a cursory study he seems extremely important. I don't think there's been a mention of him yet. edit: Important may have been the wrong word, as opposed to personally interesting. Twat McTwatterson fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Jun 25, 2012 |
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Jun 25, 2012 06:11
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DarkCrawler posted:Not Christianity exactly but so many important traditions and beliefs that people think come straight from 0-30 AD were created by Roman Christians way after Jesus or anyone who knew him died. But that's not a mystery, cursory reading of Christian history tells you that the Roman Empire and Romans have more to do with modern Christianity then Jesus of Nazareth ever did. It's incredible when you really think about it. Christianity is a fascinating subject- its history, lore, mythos. And its level of importance in history cannot be shied away from. It's still here and arguably stronger than ever. And it's all because of... Rome. The very existence of Christianity is a response to the Roman world- a new different worldview as opposed to the Roman worldview. (In the minds of the early Christians and Jewish Christians at least)
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Jun 27, 2012 00:47
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DarkCrawler posted:
Alexander is my favorite Pharaoh.
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Jul 1, 2012 07:20
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DarkCrawler posted:Yeah, but he was a Greek. right, but he was still "crowned" Pharaoh when he took Egypt.
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Jul 1, 2012 15:29
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I'm rereading the Odyssey and I just want to know if Penelope is as smoking hot as I am thinking she is.
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Apr 6, 2013 01:56
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bobthedinosaur posted:What do we know of the attitudes of wine/booze culture in the empire? Was it only for the bourgeois and soldiers? Distillation didn't exist until the medieval era, I think. Wine for Romans, beer for barbarians. Wine was always/usually cut with water.
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Apr 9, 2013 02:51
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Grand Fromage posted:There has been long debate about whether Romans were just pussies or there was something different about ancient wine. The issue is still unresolved. Hmm, I always just assumed that since they drank it so often, they cut it with water in order to prolong the drinking and not get hosed up too quick.
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Apr 10, 2013 05:27
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Is it true that Alexander slept with a copy of the Iliad under his pillow every night? And would it be weird if I did that?
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Apr 29, 2013 02:33
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Grand Fromage posted:No, I don't. That's part of the problem finding it. I think that's one of those internet... not urban legends, but commonly said/assumed things that turn out to be false.
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May 17, 2013 12:17
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It was one of those off-hand things in a book that I didn't think to properly research at the time and now it haunts me.|
Touching upon the religious aspect/Judaism/Christianity/Roman It seems as if Rome and Christianity both offered alternative, competing world views. Both wanted to create one world, but Rome wanted one empire and Christ's followers wanted quite a different union. Imperium v ekklesia. Imperial theology kept everything in order, made everyone want the gifts of empire, everyone wanted to be Roman. The worldview of Octavian is peace through victory. Victory is predicated upon (Roman) piety. Prudentius, writing in late antiquity, wrote "God taught the nations everywhere to bow their heads under the same laws and become Romans." Accept Rome, it's how it must be. Christ's vision is peace through justice. The grace of God versus the grace of Caesar, the peace of Rome vs the peace of God. A subsequent question to these musings is this: who were the converts to Christianity? Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Jews were relatively widespread as a result of the diaspora, not just limited to Judaea. To pagans, Jews are strange. Very restrictive, genital mutilation, etc. Yet with the diaspora, Greeks and other Gentiles are quite familiar with Judaism, some maybe half-Jews; that is, not Jewish, but effectively practicing the faith anyhow. I summarized this information from In Search of Paul by Crossan and Reed.
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Jun 16, 2013 15:40
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karl fungus posted:What was Rome even like in the time of Alexander? Still restrained to Italy for the most part. This is pre-Punic wars even, afterall.
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Jun 27, 2013 02:45
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Hey guys. Is it correct to think of Minoans as Greeks (proto-Greeks), or should they be thought of as distinct? Obviously they are way before the Myceneans. And no doubt Minoan myth becomes entwined with Greek myth. But... are they Greeks?
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Apr 30, 2021 13:39
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How fascinating. The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur then is of a Mycenean, Theseus, interacting with Minoans. I mean obviously, I'm just thinking out loud here. This myth must be from the earliest days of the Myceneans then, predating the Trojan War. A particularly old story of the Greeks.
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Apr 30, 2021 14:29
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eke out posted:the way "greek" cultures preserved bronze age legends throughout the dark ages but then projected their present geopolitics on them 700+ years later is one of the more fascinating things about the era imo The legends have saturated themselves in my brain and I think about them daily and see them everywhere... every time I pass a mile marker or a pile of rocks I see Hermes there, smiling. They are real to me.
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Apr 30, 2021 15:29
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