Ludovicus

I like the movie's point of view. You saw the Roman presence in Spain? thru the eyes of a non-Roman. It was touching to see him with his ancestral gods. What a different perspective.

I agree. The Decameron is a lot of fun. You can get master director Passolini's version in VHS or DVD. The Italian is dialect which makes the movie even more endearing. It's rated R, strictly for adults. Think Canterbury Tales humor and license.

As I recall, the date of Christmas was fixed in the 300's at Rome. How was this done? What relationship did the Christian holiday of the Nativity have to do with pagan Saturnalia?

Losing pension benefits is on everyone's mind these days in the USA. And maybe elsewhere. We're losing our middle class here, too. At least the NYC transit workers are taking a stand to protect what was gained in the past.

I'm wondering why the loss of Egypt, the Empire's granary, didn't figure in the poll. Interesting discussion, tho.

It's no nightingale, but a new seismic technology nicknamed Chirp is making music for the ears of archaeologists interested in the wrecks of sunken ships. Named for the bird-like blips it makes in action, GeoChirp 3-D is able to generate three-dimensional images of just about anything lying beneath the seafloor, including shipwrecks hidden under years of muck and sand build-up. Sounds wonderful, but the link is dead.

CONSIDERING THE LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE!!!!!! YES!! In case you havent noticed, spanish is a romance language, meaning it came from LATIN!! Your source has one problem, and thats, that it doesnt state any dates and time periods! The Romans conquered that terretory and Romanised it, and this beverage was also known in Italica. There are a number of high frequency words in Spanish that do not come from Latin. For example the word for dog "perro" is not Latin-derived. There are others, too. "First it should be pointed out that about a fifth of all Spanish words were not derived from Latin. Most of these came from Gothic and Arabic (see the history above), though of course many others are from Basque..." http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/2444/splatin.html

"...other info i couldnt care less about." That's not a way to discuss a topic. One needs to be more polite in a public forum.

As a US citizen, when I look at the history of my country and the annals of Roman history I'm forced to admit that there are some comparisons that invite a lot of discussion and reflection. The one that hits me the most is the fact that both entities fought kings to win an independent republic. Both republics contributed mightly to the science of politics and human rights. Then the Roman and the US republics turned into empires. All through the empire phases republican symbols were/are used to distract the citizens from the fact that the empire was/is eating the republic.

Salvete, Where do I find a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about this website, especially for the forum? For example, what is the system of social mobility the website forum employs. I started as a slave. How many levels are there?

Salvete, Perhaps many of you teaching the classics are familiar with this website. It's Virtual Roma or vroma. Enjoy all the resources, literary and artistic: http://www.vroma.org/

If I remember correctly, Justinians attempts to retake the city of Rome cause a tremendous amount of damage there. The "barbarians" had been doing a nice job of carrying on Roman institutions and living standards. Along comes Justinian's armies which battle inside the ancient capital. They fighting destroys the City's political and physical infrastructure. Of course, the plague helped, too. Shortly thereafter the Senate ceases to exist. The population of Rome contracts even further, possibly to as few as 30,000. Many Romans within the city and in the surrounding countryside view the Eastern Romans with their destructive armies and high taxes as far worse than the barbarians.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, here! City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. In the US.

Thanks, this new link works. Felix Dies Saturnalia!

So the slaves become senators and the senators dogs like us slaves. Where's the Saturnalia button in the Forum software to enable this important day? Yes, we need a Saturnalia button. Any worthwhile website devoted (so very devoted) to things Roman would have one. Don't talk of food, talk of revolution for a day! Talk of turning tables like the true Romans did. Senatores and Equites, your togas please, on the Saturnalia.

What information exists about the status of Latin in the eastern half of the Roman Empire after AD 476? Was Greek officially adopted as the language of the Eastern Empire? If so, what decree made it so? The Codex of Justinian appears in Latin and then it seems that someone shut the official lights out on the language right after that. What about the coinage? Is there a date for the last Roman coin of the East with Latin words or abbreviations? Granted that Latin was never the spoken language of much of the East, still someone must have made a decision to end it's official life.

This sounds like a great story. Unfortunately, I find the link you've included to be dead. Did you misspell it?

Zeke, this is an excellent question with relevance for today's world. From Montesquieu: "You cannot maintain a republic and empire simultaneously." Seems like the latifundia system undermined the independent Roman citizen farmer's social position, drove him and his family into the large pool of unemployed in Rome. Off the land and into the hands of unscrupulous politicians and power players. Sounds like an old tune that survived classical times down to the present era.

Hi, Anyone interested in chatting about the wonderful stream of finds coming out of Oxyrhynchus, an ancient Greco-Roman site in Egypt where bits and pieces of long lost classics are coming to light? Anyone want to speculate on what might turn up in the next few years? Anyone got a wish list on that? Ludovicus for more: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Infrared_techn...ssical_writings http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/ http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/oxyrhynchus/

Hi, For all of you Contantinoplephiles a website shows the most famous of the Byzantine capital's monuments, walls, churches, and fora just before the arrival of the unruly Crusaders. http://www.byzantium1200.com/introduction.html Click on the word "Contents" on the list to the left. Then click on a specific building. Dazzling! Ludovicus

This is curious. What evidence does Flavius V. Constantinus have that the victims' families "will always find satisfaction" from the execution of the killer? Seems like some of these families have found some Christian peace from forgiving. Even Christ forgave his killers ...and that crime was deicide.

Capital punishment is one thing that generally divides Europeans from us here in the US. When I met my Italian cousin for the first time he said that he couldn't understand why the state of Texas had executed 130 some people in a year. I couldn't explain it either. I hadn't thought much about it but his incredulity made me look at the issue in a different light. How many of those executed have been innocent?

According to Bertand Lancon in his book, "Rome in Late Antiquity," the latest record for the Roman Senate is for the year 573 AD, under the prefect Gregory. The book is a fascinating study of the city of Rome at the end of the ancient world. It ends with Pope Gregory the Great in the early 600's.