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was hoping for some clarification, most Roman soldier reenactors I see use helmets and gear with a lot of stainless steel and I was under the impression this is mostly anachronistic. Throughout its height they would likely have used bronze instead, correct? I know they had steel at some point but I imagine not quite the kind of steel we're talking about today, and even then not used all the time
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May 24, 2012 08:42
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Grand Fromage posted:Hannibal was kind of a special case since he defeated everyone, and the defeat at Cannae was so spectacular and horrific that Rome was in such a state of shock that I don't think that was on their minds. Speaking of Hannibal, was there any particular reasons for Rome's exceptional hatred towards Carthage? I mean Rome was often sacked by barbarian tribes and yet it's MO towards them was always conquer and assimilate. And yet Rome didn't take chances with Carthage, opting instead to famously raze the city and salt the earth (yeah yeah this is speculation)
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May 29, 2012 11:48
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Were they unable to simply install a governor/puppet govt?
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May 29, 2012 17:03
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Octy posted:Suetonius' Lives of Famous Whores. I'll be that guy and ask. How prevalent were orgies in Rome? TV and movies make it seem like a house party you had once a month and it had the moral implications of a handshake
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May 31, 2012 10:24
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What were the greatest stories of upward mobility? Someone lowborn holding high office that sort of thing
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May 31, 2012 10:38
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Fintilgin posted:I think that's one of those things that's totally impossible to tell. It's fun to fantasize about a Roman walking on the moon in 1000 A.D. (1753 A.U.C. I vaguely recall reading about an inventor appearing before an emperor with something, I don't remember what (I want to say mirror-like glass?) and being executed because the emperor didn't want the invention to kill certain industries
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Jun 1, 2012 00:53
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), but I imagine it's just as likely large, stable, lasting Rome would have turned inward much like China, and Eurasia would be bracketed on either end by big, technologically conservative empires that both thought they were the perfect center of the universe.
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Don't know if you ever posted in the Rome HBO series thread. Thoughts on what the show did well vs what left you shaking your head?
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Jun 1, 2012 09:46
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I'm not even gonna ask about the historical veracity of something like Starz Spartacus since it's purely entertainment. Just want to see a few words on gladiators. I know the big misconception people love to bring up is that they weren't the cut musclemen we like to cast them as in movies but were likely a little fattier since the layers added protection against wounds to vital organs. I remember watching a History channel thing that suggested some noble ladies did in fact like to "dabble" in gladiator
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Jun 8, 2012 08:12
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The product endorsement thing I've actually never heard of. I know it's silly to imagine a Myrmillo going "Rome-o's, a cereal the gods themselves have put their marshmellow blessings upon! Available at your local Aventine markets!" but that's what I'm imaginingGrand Fromage posted:There are records of female gladiators. They're rare but definitely existed. Never heard of nobles doing it though, that was scandalous enough if a noble man did. Didn't Commodus cause a bit of stir by going into the arena? Granted he would have a steel sword and the gladiator would have a wooden one so fixed doesn't begin to describe it
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Jun 8, 2012 08:58
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And a word on animals. What were the logistics involved for bringing in exotic animals from far away places?
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Jun 9, 2012 12:03
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On the subject of military when a nobleman wanted to join up where would we he get his training? I remember in Rome, Atia hires Titus to train Octavian in combat, though I'm sure that took a bit of liberty in that I imagine a higher ranking officer would be in charge of that.
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Jun 10, 2012 07:44
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Pardon my ignorance, and I have heard the "wasn't X, Y, or Z" quote, but wouldn't it still consititute an empire in its own right? Or was the way the kingdoms were ruled not empirical?
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Jun 13, 2012 04:19
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Speaking of Parthia and adapting, wasn't Crassus' failed campaign there clearly the Roman's cunning-plans-not-being-thought-through point? The all powerful legions had a hole and that was being surrounded by a bunch of dudes who could range them with horses. I guess the later Romans had horse archers if I'm not mistaken but did they ever really learn from the mistakes of Crassus? And on the subject of the lost standards, what ever happened to them? I know they had extreme religious importance but they couldn't always be recovered, so did they simply become bullet items on their to-do list alongside "marble up the house" and "unclog the aqueducts"?
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Jun 13, 2012 04:39
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I know it's supposed to be symbolic of...something but the baby hanging from his leg is funny without context
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Jun 13, 2012 04:49
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Veeta posted:Oh man, this is why most historians tend to eschew the term 'Roman' at some point after the seventh century. Makes for confusing reading! But some cool dealings with the Mongols do occur in the thirteenth century, as a number of Byzantine princesses* are married off to Mongol generals. It helps to keep them off the empire's back in Anatolia (though by the late thirteenth century internal disruptions with the horde were doing that just fine). Off hand I can also recall at least one mention of several thousand Mongol troops being sent off by a happily married general to support an imperial army in an assault. Never heard about this one, interesting stuff. My impression was that contact with western Europe was mainly envoys being sent to the Pope and telling them to submit to the Golden Horde or be destroyed but then the Pope basically tossed it into a bill pile and that got put on the backburner, but this isn't the Mongol thread so...
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Jun 16, 2012 11:34
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How did they even know you were a citizen? I imagine your name had to be on some ledger and well known citizens were simply just...known but what if you borrowed your reclusive dominus' clothes and said you were him? Was it just a matter of walking the walk?
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Jun 17, 2012 10:37
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Grand Fromage posted:It's not the only example either, Rome conquered Scotland and then left and walled it off because it wasn't worth the trouble. They also abandoned parts of Dacia that weren't worth holding. But...but I thought Hadrian's wall was because the Scots were so inhumanly badass that they were like "oh man we conquered the celts but the Scots are just too badass for us let's build a wall to keep them out" at least that's what all the true Scotsman keep tellin me
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Jun 19, 2012 00:20
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Farecoal posted:Now that I think about it, why didn't the Roman's conquer Ireland? Not a fan of dark beer
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Jun 19, 2012 02:41
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Grand Fromage posted:Ya'll should read the Agricola, I hadn't actually read the source material before and it's great. Especially since it's easy to imagine the Romans as one unified group that all believed the same things. Tacitus is making GBS threads on Rome and Romans all over this book. I'd like to hear a word or two on the subject of historical bias. Obviously the Romans had theirs, being that they saw themselves as a spreading diamond surrounded by poo poo. Yet some historians seem to be oddly...I don't know if impartial is the right word, but they seem to at least try and get at certain truths, particularly when speaking about enemies of Rome.
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Jun 19, 2012 05:43
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Is there any truth to the rumor that the Romans salted the earth after burning Carthage to the ground?
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Jun 21, 2012 22:58
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What is the probably the most unusual/obscure outpost the Romans had on the farthest reaches of their empire that people don't typically talk about?
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Jun 22, 2012 01:58
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But they subsisted on a mostly grain ration right? I imagine some meat got thrown in but they would be more lean as opposed to muscular weird question, since they tended to march a lot, what kind of anti-athelete's foot treatments did they have?
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Jun 22, 2012 10:52
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DarkCrawler posted:They are going to make Rome II Total War? Googlage tells me it's still a rumor
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Jun 24, 2012 22:36
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Grand Fromage posted:Best as I can tell law enforcement elsewhere was done by the army, under the watch of local magistrates. There would've been private security too. The army also served as firemen as needed. What kinda methods did the Roman firefighters use? Also on the subject of crime and punishment, what other "disciplinary measures" did they use besides the more commonly known crucifixion/enslavement/arena sentences (and occasional beheadings). Anything from lowest offense to highest. I guess the weirder the better Alan Smithee fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Jun 26, 2012 |
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Jun 26, 2012 06:11
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There were rumors Crassus got mad rich by basically running fire protection rackets that he may or may not have started himself, any truth to them?Grand Fromage posted:The Tarpeian Rock is a fun one, a serious criminal (traitors) would get thrown off that during Republican times. There was also a special staircase people were thrown down as an execution. I imagine it had banana peels, tacks, and ball bearings on it? DarkCrawler posted:Some other enemies like Hannibal though...let's say that you don't have to wonder why he committed suicide. Pretty badass last words too. Back on the subject, I know Grand Fromage said  why Hannibal never went all the way with Rome. Wasn't it basically he was no longer being supplied by the Carthaginian counsel at home? They let him do his thing but when they had Rome in a corner the Carthaginians basically got afraid that Hannibal was getting too powerful, at least that's what I got from all those History Channel specials. My favorite bit from one of the docs was after the Romans came back from PWII (GREATEST ROMAN GENERATION) to defeat Carthage again they imposed even more drastic financial tribute on them, when the Carthagians were weeping while counting it all out Hannibal just...laughed. When they asked how dare he laugh, he told them all off saying that staying their hand when they had Rome right where they wanted them was the time to weep.
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Jun 26, 2012 06:22
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For a split second I thought they meant New Jersey. "Yeah da fuckin Romans were in New Jersey how bout dat? Don't know nothin about it"
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Jun 26, 2012 12:53
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How's The Eagle? I don't know if it's worth a watch as I don't care for 90+ minutes of the loaf of white bread that is Channing Tatum
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Jun 27, 2012 04:03
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Grand Fromage posted:There are stories of being able to basically like hang under the horse's neck and shoot accurately behind you. It's loving ridiculous and yes, there are so many accounts that it's almost certainly true. Parthians were famous for being able to retreat, then turn around and shoot pursuers. The Parthian shot. Why didn't the Romans adapt to it? You would think they'd have learned some lesson after Crassus lost all those troops for nothing
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Jun 27, 2012 06:53
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Yeah I imagine we like to fancy the Romans had detectives (I remember reading there was a pretty popular series of Roman detective novels), though in reality it was probably more like serial killer: (kill kill kill) witness: "city watch! there are bodies everywhere" city watch: "You there, you were standing by the bodies and you're a nobody, you will be crucified!" witness: "umm but I'm the guy who told you about the bodies" city watch: "Nail em Dano!" witness: "and this is why you dont snitch AHFUCKITHURTS"
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Jun 28, 2012 23:41
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Since Rome tended to adapt gods, was there ever a crossover period where they worshipped all the gods PLUS the one true God and Jesus?
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Jun 29, 2012 01:53
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Just chiming in to say gently caress yeah Rome II. I know there's a games thread for this sort of thing, but I never did get to try out all the supposed realism/accuracy mods
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Jul 3, 2012 02:41
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Grand Fromage posted:Calendar. He's updating the day's date. Talk to me about graffiti. I remember when the Rome tv thread was on people were saying some interesting stuff about how historically accurate it was. "Such and such sucks cocks" sorta thing
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Jul 3, 2012 06:40
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physeter posted:And their traditional alphabet is Carthaginian. So good luck with that. How much do we know about the Carthaginians anyway? Since Rome basically utterly destroyed them anything we would know would have to be documented by the people who hated them most physeter posted:He's all like, "Aaaaand what am I supposed to do with that?" Even though the Latins probably originated somewhere inside it, they felt no particular cultural connection with Western Europe at all. How was Gaul integration with the empire compared to the Germanics? The Germanic peoples always seem to be very contentious, going between serving Rome on the front lines to sacking it. The Gauls I imagine we're looked down upon for some time (hence the scene in Rome where Cicero uses the Gallic senators as proof of Caesar's corruption, cuz they're a bunch of long haired dirty hippies) but I imagine eventually assimilated with less fuss?
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Jul 3, 2012 22:33
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Anyone watching the new Spartacus season? I know I know, this might not be the place for it but I would love to see some deconstruction on it
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Feb 21, 2013 13:59
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Not to get into 300 again but Artemisia I who led Persian naval ships seems like a good thing to look into? Granted she was obviously an exception to the rule and the sequel is probably gonna make her look like Persian Cersei
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Sep 1, 2013 04:17
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And I can't help but wonder if the whole "women are for babies, men are for lovers" thing was just a bit exaggerated.
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Sep 2, 2013 02:29
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sullat posted:Pericles certainly loved his wife very much, as Samos found out the hard way. Explain? I looked up wiki and saw reference to Samos but not in relation to any wives
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Sep 2, 2013 10:38
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echopapa posted:That goes double for tales of the Spartans - we only have what the Athenians wrote about them, and the Athenians didn't like them very much. For all we know, the tales of Spartan women as warriors in their own right could've just been an insult along the lines of "your momma wears army boots." I know the Spartans were uh...Spartan, but did they literally keep no records?
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Sep 3, 2013 09:31
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was reading r/badhistory (yeah yeah yeah), someone mentioned "hannibal rome's worst nightmare" being a decently accurate movie, is it worth a watch? I didn't realize there was a Hannibal movie outside of the History channel one
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Nov 25, 2014 20:11
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speaking of Rome, there were historical references to a Vorenus and Pullo in the XIII that the characters were loosely based on though from what I remember it was just a note of their exemplary soldiering. Was there any other written records about them beyond that?
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Nov 27, 2014 23:29
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