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  3. guy

    Mars depicted on coins

    Mars (and the Greek counterpart Ares) were frequently depicted on Roman and Greek coins. In Roman mythology Mars was the god of war and protector of the Roman army. In mythology he was the father of Romulus and Remus. Above is a bronze sestertius of Marcus Aurelius with the reverse showing Mars. Here is an article from NGC ancients about coins with the image of Mars (or Ares). https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/12676/ngc-ancients-mars-ares/
  4. An underground hiding complex from the Bar Kokhba revolt has been discovered. https://m.jpost.com/archaeology/article-792468 Here’s a simplistic (but helpful) explanation of the Bar Kokhba uprising: A recent post about the Bar Kokhba revolt:
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  6. caesar novus

    Plagues of Ancient Egypt

    Here is a malaria map of Italy 1882 but the hotspot returned in the 1940s when Germans sabotaged drainage canals from the Roman thru Mussolini era in deliberate biological warfare. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontine_Marshes for this swamp shaping the location of Via Appia, and how pre Mussolini: So for south of Rome it was solved in the 1930s, backfired cruelly in the 1940s, and: After benefiting from DDT tough love, the first world scaremongered third world countries out of even one time eradications.
  7. Welcome! In case you hadn't noticed, Aeneas' rejection of Dido in Africa sets the stage for the eventual animosity between Rome and Carthage, poetically speaking. I too would ike to see more discussion of the Latin language here myself.
  8. guidoLaMoto

    Plagues of Ancient Egypt

    Allele frequencies are subject to the "use it or lose it" phenomenon, so persistence of the HbS trait in high numbers suggests endemicity of SSD in subSaharan populations, and it's much lower frequency in Egyptians suggests any malaria seen there was more sporatic, maybe epidemic in certain years under more favorable but unusual conditions. Egypt was a major source of grain because the annual spring floods were so consistent & dependable. While the strip of fertile Nile farmland was quite narrow, it was also quite long providing more arable acres than any other region around the Mare Nostrum. Malaria was quite common in the LA Bayou area, I didn't realize it posed such a problem during The Rebellion. Thanks for that info.
  9. guy

    Plagues of Ancient Egypt

    Thank you for reading my post and thank you for your thoughtful response. I will disagree, however, with what you wrote. First, the sickle cell trait’s being in a local population is not sine qua non (an essential condition) for endemicity of malaria. (Interestingly, other conditions also seem to confer some immunity to malaria: G6PD deficiency, thalassemia, blood group O, and a Duffy-negative phenotype.) Second, since Egypt was once the “bread basket of Rome,” I assume the Egyptian microenvironment was different with greater rainfall and temperatures more conducive for grain growth (and malaria). In fact, malaria was not eliminated in Egypt till 2010-2013. In the United States as late as 1850, almost 50 people out of every one thousand who died, died from malaria. During the American Civil War (1861-65), 10,000 Northern troops died from malaria and hundreds of thousands of others were infected. Fortunately, the use of Quinine in the Union Army reduced the morbidity and mortality from malaria. Finally, studies at Amarna, a capital of ancient Egypt from 1346 to 1332 BCE, have shown conclusively that malaria was endemic in the area (affecting perhaps half the population): Thank you, again, for reading my post and responding. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2600412/
  10. Pictured above are some of the 3000 ceramic fragments found. Below is a video on the find: https://divernet.com/scuba-news/archaeology/ships-masts-stand-out-at-roman-harbour-site/ https://www.archaeology.org/news/12215-240315-slovenia-roman-harbor
  11. guidoLaMoto

    Plagues of Ancient Egypt

    Malaria = mala aria = bad air The ancients were very close to a germ theory of disease. Pliny wrote in some detail about it. The classic example of genetic adaptation to disease is the malaria/sickle cell trait so very common in the sub-Saharan population. HbS (sickle cell trait) is not very common in modern Egyptians, so it's a stretch to claim it was common among their ancients forefathers. Malaria is spread only by the Anopheles mosquito which is adapted to life in the rain forests of central Africa, not temporary wet land seen only during the seasonal floods of the Nile Valley. The Roman forum was a swampy area at The Founding. The Lacus Curtius was big & deep enough to get a horse and rider (Curtius) bogged down in the first Sabine war. It no longer exists having been drained by the Cloaca maxima. The conditions were ripe, no doubt, for any number of mosquito borne infections to be prevalent-- yellow fever, the equine encephalopathies, West Nile Virus etc etc....but viral illnesses, as we saw with the 1918 influenza and 2020 CoViD epidemics, are prone to pop up suddenly and then rapidly mutate/evolve to less devastating forms rapidly, so again, it-s a stretch to claim our modern viral diseases were common in ancient times.,. Malaria and TB are not viral. Tuberculous bone lesions are not rare among Neandertal fossils, and the prevalence of the HbS allele suggests an ancient origin. It's also a stretch to equate a club foot, usually seen as a congenital problem, with polio. Other forms of acquired neuropathy that allow for long term survival in order for bony aabnormalities to mature would be more likely than polio.
  12. The prevalence of malaria has been long suspected in Roman Italy. In fact, there is a debate whether Alaric, the Visigoth King who sacked Rome in AD 210, died of malaria in Southern Italy (see post below). Recent studies of mummies have showed DNA evidence of several debilitating and lethal infections in ancient Egypt. The DNA of boy pharaoh Tutankhamun (King Tut) and several mummies showed evidence of malaria. Other DNA evidence suggests one in four people may have had tuberculosis in some locations. The mummy of Ramesses V has scars indicating a previous smallpox infection. It is thought up to 70% of Egyptians suffered from malaria. Swarms of malaria-infected mosquitos living in the stagnant pools of the Nile Delta would have made malarial infections endemic. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-malaria-smallpox-polio-life-ancient.html
  13. Hi, new here, I am interested in the Aeneid, Punic wars and Latin language.
  14. A) Correlation does not prove cause & effect. 2) Romanization, including both linguistic and social/political tendencies, exhibited a dilution/diffusion effect with distance from the center. Catholicism came relatively late to outlying areas, so, less ingrained/more easily lost. c) The obviously very successful organization of the Roman govt (emperor-senate-govenors-legionaires) translated readily to Pope/king-college of cardinals/privy council-bishops/dukes etc-priests/army. It's easier to modify/adapt an existing engine to a new application than it is to design a whole new engine from scratch. 4) The European countries that went on to build colonial empires were the ones that were organized and consolidated earlier. Italy and Germany were still fragmented along feudal lines until late in the 19th century.
  15. Two Roman-era copper-alloy bracelets from around the 2nd century AD have been found on Anglesey. (Anglesey is the small island off the coast of Northern Wales.) The bracelets were found by a local metal detectorist and have their appearance has been influenced by indigenous Celtic communities. The Roman presence in Wales has become a field of increased study (see posts below). Anglesey, once a Druid stronghold, is now appreciated for its struggle against the Roman subjugation (see video below). Tacitus described the invasion of Anglesey (referred to by the Romans as the island of Mona) and the frightening spectacle that greeted them (Annals 14.30): https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/03/roman-bracelets-found-on-anglesey-declared-treasure/151012 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0078:book=14:chapter=30 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_conquest_of_Anglesey
  16. I can't really see the British Empire as a descendant of the Roman one. English is not a Romance language, a clear indication of how significant the Anglo-Saxon migrations were, and the medieval French of the Normans has almost vanished. The subsequent Angevin Empire was lost too, the territories in France gradually conquered. The British Empire was a new construction starting from the 16th century with victories against a few European powers and the beginning of the colonial era.
  17. I saw this post just now. https://old.reddit.com/r/ancientrome/comments/1bed6er/why_do_romance_languages_have_so_strong/ And I admit I'm quite flattered someone linked two old discussions I made on this site! Still its an intriguing question the OP makes. I already covered the correlation of Catholicism to former Roman territory in the links OP took from this site but I never also realized how much of the former Western Roman Empire speaks romance languages! And how much the Romance family is so correlated with Catholicism! So I'm wondering what people say about the topic? Particularly OP observation that most of the European colonial empires like France and Spain in addition to being devout Catholic strongholds and using a Romance language, also became the mightiest empires of their time? OP even insists in adding the UK as an example because of how much influence French and Latin had on the English language despite being Germanic and how English Christianity especially the Anglican Communion is so heavily modeled after the Roman Catholic Church, having the most similarity to Latin Rites than almost any other Protestant denomination out there. So he argues the British Empire is proof of the continuation of the impact Rome had on European civilization and that the British Empire is one of the direct descendants of Rome along with the French and Spanish Empires and the Kingdom of Brazil.
  18. A sculptured head and bust were discovered during construction work at an English country house near Stamford, Lincolnshire. The house belonged to the Cecil family and is thought to have been purchased during a family member’s “Grand Tour” of Italy in the 1760s. The statue dates from the first or second century AD. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/03/sculptured-head-and-bust-from-roman-period-discovered-at-burghley-house/150965
  19. The style of hilt is not unusual for ancient times and bear in mind the gladius was inspired by Spanish swords. Also bear in mind that the Romans practised thrusts against the palus, a vertical wooden pole, which was a rather solid target to practice thrusts against, so if the grip hurts your hand/wrist your technique is at fault, not the sword design.
  20. Good post. I think you two have re-invented the wheel by trial and error. One of the reasons for the Romans great military success was their use of the combination of the large scutum plus the short gladius. It would pretty difficult for Errol Flynn to go swashbuckling away with grace and finesse while holding a long rapier if he also had to lug around a 30 lb scutum....In order to deliver a long thrust, the scutum would have to be moved out of the way, taking away your defense, whereas an "upper cut" short thrust of a gladius could be delivered from under a scutum tipped strategically....and as pointed out in the video, the upper cut with hammer grip is more ergonomically/anatomically efficient. We might also analyse Rocky Marciano's boxing style. He had short arms, and would concentrate on giving body blows tiring his opponent and wearing him out...as opposed to long armed M. Ali who kept his distance and danced about looking for openings to attack. That might work well in one on one combat, but not when positioned shoulder to shoulder with your comrades in acies formation.
  21. This vid is what I'm referring to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRzc--zUjsk Its 6 minutes so if you haven't seen it yet I advise you to do so to get the context of this post. Now I was dong a friendly sparring with a scutum and rubber foam Gladius with a weight and feel similar to the real thing but designed in a way that it doesn't really send out hard hits when you get whacked by it especially if you wear protective gear which we both were. Now I'll openly state out I never learned proper sword training before though I have held replicas of real weapons with similar weight and designs tot he real thing. Even wielded actual blades that can cut and stab to cause wounds at Renaissance fares and in dojos. So I'm not the best person to seek advise from. However in our friendly "light whack" "light stab" play fighting (yes even with foam weapons and authentic protective gear we decided to be safe and just horseplay around), I noticed something. As my friend was whacking my scutum I felt secure enough to push in close enough that my rfoam gladius was close enough that if we were horseplaying with just our fists, I'd be able to do an uppercut to his stomach. In fact I began to approach my friend with the shield in front of me like I'm an invincible tank and while he's flailing and poking at me I simply do a semi talk to push his weapon away and then rush straight at him like a football player except witha s shield in front of me. He instincitvely backs away and you cans ee panick in his face every time I do this. I don't simply just walk towards him, I speed up for an instant confident my shield is protecting me and close in enough to poke his upper body ranging from chest to down tot he stomach. Now I noticed during our horseplay if I try to do thrusts faroma far distance, it indeed does feel awkward like Skallagram states and even outright hurts as my wrist gets bent in an in appropriate way while my hand is gripping the hilt but its stuck to grip in a hammer holding manner by default because of the hilt's design. So when I was watching Skallagram's video the first time days ago I immediately recognized what he meant about the wrong grip hurting you and my hand was doing the exact same hing as he was showing as incorrect because I was literally doing that because of the way the gladius forces you to hold a blade........ However I immediately had in my head the moment Skallagram brings up the Gladius specifically the though of "if he had tried using a Gladius with a shield and sparred a few hours, he'd know not only how to stab properly with it but why the Gladius was designed with that kind of grip". I already have an assumed theory that I think is completely correct and answers Skallagram's question at the end of the vid. But as I said I lack actual training with weapons which is why I am posting here because I want input of veterans in this subject. OK here goes. The Gladius was designed to be at extremely close quarters. To be specific its meant to be used in the same range at which two boxers exchange punches at each other. So there's really no need to learn how to change grip and hold it in more precise manners because its meant to be a close weapon. And as with waht I seen w playing with the scutum, the shield basically protects you from other longer blades and allows you to quickly rush in for the kill with the Gladius. So over-extended thrusts similar to longswords and rapiers isn't really meant to be done with the Gladius because you're meant to close in and the a brute first stabs at exposed areas in the body. If anything the grip of the Gladius which Skallagram criticizes int he vid and calls it unusual, citing that it prevents safethrusting technique actually was designed for safety! Because as we spared one thing I notice witht he Gladius is that as long as you come close for the stab, it is impossible to lose grip of the sword just by sloppy technique alone. The way the hilt with its large top guard and the ball at the bottom actually is designed to force you to hold it as a hammer grip. So you don't drop it as your fist is tightly clenched on the weapon while you do repeated thrusting. So it actually is a safety measure for the range at which a Gladius is supposed to be used. Not just that it optmizes effective stabbing and thrusting. Because A few times I unintentionally thrusted harder than warranted in friendly playing and while we were wearing full protection, my friend told me a few times He really felt my stabs and if it wasn't for the metals mixed in with softpadding and plastic underneath these replicase, he would have felt like he got punched , probably with a few bruises. The hammer grip the sword's hilt forces really does subconsciously make you stab in such a way that it'll be easy to penetrate someone's muscles possibly bons even if you have no training is what I got from using the foam items similar in feel to a Gladius. Last but not least and quite heavily related to all that I said earlier.......... Roaen warfare was fought in square rectangular formation in interlocked shields. Just by this fact alone you're not gonna have the chance to really do a long thrust rapier style. In these tight formations you're pretty much gonna be locked ina tight space so pretty much the enemy barbarians who can't kill you because of the scutum's size and in tandem with the rectangular shield wall, will at some point find himself closing in on you..... Well guess who's gonna find himself with holes in his stomach? And quite releated once the Roman legion goes ont the offensive, you're talking about a primitive moving tank. As they start steamrolling over the disorganized barbarians, just like in my horseplaying, it begins to bake sense why you need a hammer grip as you're closing in poking out exits for blood spillage as you get near enough to punch them except you're doing it with a deadly sword. So it all makes sense and I think this should answer Skallagram's question. If I knew how to make videos I'd even send a response video (unfortunately I don't know anything behind film making). Just one more note from what I send from authors, sparing sessions between Roman soldiers and known accounts between a Legatus (Roman generals) and barbarian chieftains even a few famous Gladiator events, often the outcome decided by effective use of the shield and getting the enemy into close range. You'll find the winner does moves to knock the shield away and then runs in to get close enough for punching range and kills the opponent. Or lets the opponent attacks nonstop and using the scutum for stonewall defense until the enemy gets fatigued or makes a mistake in his barrage that leaves and opening. To get close in at punching or even clinching range and then do the lethal stabs. Sometimes not even blocking with the shield at all but simply stepping backwards or circling the enemy to get him frustrated until that vulnerable moment where you can get in to send a punch but with a sword that kills him instead of KO. Without a shield? I seen an account of a centurion literally grabbing a barbarian champions arm, pulling him in for a clinch and then stabbing himg. Well thats my personal hot take based on my sparring experience and wikipedia level reading into the subject. So whats your thoughts? What response do you personally give to Skallagram about his confusion near the end of the vid? Is his question stemming from not understand the nature of the Gladius (which is my presumption right now)?
  22. The Welwyn Roman baths in Hertfordshire will be documented and studied further by 3D digital imaging as part of a photogrammetry project. The baths were first excavated in the 1960s. The baths are preserved in a vault under a modern highway. They date from the early third century AD, possibly during the reign of Septimius Severus. The Welwyn Roman Baths are under the A1(M) just north of Welwyn Garden City https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-68496266 Photogrammetry further explained: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry (Location of Hertfordshire)
  23. guidoLaMoto

    Staying cool in Ancient Rome

    Good article. With water plentiful and running constantly, wealthy Romans could also pipe it to flow over the roofs of their houses to keep them cool. Getting out of the city to villas in the nearby hills is a tradition started by the ancients (Cf- Nero,s giant barge on lake Nemi SE of Rome along the Appian Way) and continued to this day (Cf- the Pope s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo near lake Nemi in the Alban Hills.)
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  25. Here is an interesting article about staying cool in Ancient Rome during the summer: https://phys.org/news/2024-03-coast-dip-pool-chilled-ancient.html
  26. Although this video predates the success of the Vesuvius Challenge (see below) to read the chared scrolls of Herculaneum, I think it captures the rivalries and pettiness that led up to their successful deciphering. This video is from April 1, 2018:
  27. Thank you for continuing to post all these excellent topics for further study and thought. My comments were merely to point out the many pressures to change styles over the course of 1200 years. Of course the regional differences in style as the military came to rely more heavily on non-Italian personnel was a heavy pressure. Even today, it ,s pretty easy to sit in a cafe in Rome and pick out the American tourists from the European or Asian by their clothes.
  28. A statue fragment measuring 3.8 meter (12 feet) of Ramesses II the Great was found in Egypt at the ancient city of Hermopolis. His long and influential reign lasted from 1279-1213 BCE. In Ancient Greek, Ramesses II was called Ozymandias, also the title of the haunting poem by British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). In an episode of the TV series “Breaking Bad,” the poem “Ozymandias” was featured (see video below). According to Wikipedia: “In 1817, Shelley began writing the poem ‘Ozymandias’, after the British Museum acquired a head-and-torso fragment of a statue of Ramesses II. Shelley wrote the poem in a friendly competition with a friend and fellow poet who wrote a sonnet on the same topic with the same title. The poem explores the worldly fate of history and the ravages of time: even the greatest men and the empires they forge are impermanent, their legacies fated to decay into oblivion. ‘Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ exemplifies the arrogance and hubris of a leader who believed his dominion would endure indefinitely.” Huge Statue Of Pharaoh Ramesses II Unearted In The Ancient City Of Hermopolis - Ancient Pages https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/archaeologists-find-top-half-of-giant-ramesses-ii-statue-completing-a-century-long-puzzle https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/03/archaeologists-uncover-giant-statue-of-ramesses-ii/150887 https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/08/15/who-was-ozymandias/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias
  29. Thank you for reading my post. I think the point of Sebastian's video above was that changes after AD 165 were not necessarily a function of improved technology. The changes, instead, were a result of pressures on production and increased need for the recruitment of barbarian troops in the ranks, as well as persistent pressures from barbarian tribes. The difference between an American Revolutionary War soldier and a modern soldier reflects improving technology and tactics. The difference between a legionary in Augustus' military and a probably-barbarian Roman soldier in the Late Empire was not an improvement. It was an adaption to increasingly dire circumstances and exogenous pressures.
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