Horatius

If you watch the battle scene in the first episode of HBO Rome I think it illustrates what caldrail is talking about perfectly. In fact the narration if you turn it on mentions that the scene is based on the latest research into Roman battle techniques. They even laugh about Pullo 'fighting like a barbarian' when he breaks ranks and ventures off on his own. To my mind this is the best single illustration of the disciplined fighting machine the Legions must have been and why they were successful against overwhelming odds against less organized opposition.

Don't 'pass', it would be most interesting, (to me at least), even if it isn't 100. Well I would think Livia, Elizabeth the 1st, Catherine II of Russia, Madame Curie and Joan of Arc would certainly qualify for sure, even Helen of Troy if we are including possibly mythological figures. Even men like Adam Smith who was unusually devoted to his mother probably owed at least some of their genius to women in shaping their thoughts. Who influences the influencer's ?

LOL Reminds me of that painting in the Vatican Palace " triumph of Christianity " No subtle symbolism here!

Well I read it here Livy 22 "A Gaulish man and a Gaulish woman and a Greek man and a Greek woman were buried alive under the Forum Boarium. They were lowered into a stone vault, which had on a previous occasion also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings". a really good account of Cannae here. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Livy/Livy22.html and here http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roma...ellus*.html#3.4 but it seems they justified it as a directive from the Sibylline Books http://home.scarlet.be/mauk.haemers/colleg...n_sacrifice.htm

If I remember correctly after Cannae the romans also resorted to human sacrifice.Something certainly not common in Rome and not done afterwards as far as I know. This always struck me more than anything that despair and fear must have been acendant. That is a big social impact and one for which they were not proud.

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That's really interesting Faustes. when i was reading this I did a cursory search on domes in Wiki and found this thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Coupole Reading the construction part is really fascinating. "The Nazi engineers were able to build such a vast structure using poured reinforced concrete by moulding the chalk beneath into a convex shape and then laying the concrete on top". .I don't know enough about geology to know if the formations there are the same as in Italy but it does say it was a former limestone quarry. It's still the largest dome in Europe apparently and I had never heard of it. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Lacouplole.jpg . I guess you could do the same thing with limestone I wonder if this dome was ever above ground.

Yes! that is cool, from the article "it is incredible to think that we have finally found a mythical site which, by our doing so, has become a real place." . Just as an aside I have always felt there is a LOT more historical reality in these early Roman 'myths' than most give them credit for, including my namesake Seems over the years a lot of people have discarded or added things to the ancient sources purely for political, religious or personal agenda reasons. I'm probably wrong of course, but I like to think that anyway. Hoping for some Trojan artifacts to be found in Rome sometime soon lol, hey! it could happen.

But where is the Silphium of yesteryear?

I was always interested in Romans in Africa and found out that Romans did occupy Ghadames which they renamed Cydamus. This oasis in Libya was on an ancient overland route through the Sahara I believe there probably was cross Saharan trade here although maybe just indirectly http://www.caravanserai-tours.com/ghadames.htm ,apparently it was occupied even in Byzantine times so it must have had some value. What I was really interested in were the adventures of the XXII Legion and their campaigns against Nubia and journey to Yemen (Arabia Felix). I could never find anything except sketchy info on this although they had a part in the conquest of Kush supposedly. If anyone has any information on this I would love to see it. I wonder what the contact with Ethiopia was and if they ever went south into Kenya.

This is worth it just for the graphics alone,it is gorgeous. Need Rome Total War patched to 1.5 ( patches are free). Along with RTR Platinum this is my favorite mod. Not much diplomacy just lots and lots of battles. Link for d/l here http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=105433 Forum for this mod here http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32 . Need a fairly good computer to run it but like I said it is realy nice.

What single scientist is this ? You can just look at Venus and see what an atmosphere composed primarily of CO2 does. The fact that CO2 has almost doubled since the industrial revolution is telling. The way anthropogenic gases like CO2 interact with the environment is the problem.Water vapor provides the bulk of global warming and it is directly influenced by CO2 according to models,as the temperatures rise this fuels more water vapor and an increase in temperature and changes in the way biosystems work. Climates change of course but over long periods of time, that this seems to be accelerating to the point that it is noticeable in the lifespan of humans is what is alarming to some. Over 10,000 years biosystems can adapt, if it's 100 years they might not be able too. This show illustrates how the Arctic plays a role and has had changed within human lifespans http://www.sciencefriday.com/video/060807/scifriseg060807 . Of course as MPC apparently believes it could all be a nefarious plot by those kooky,greedy scientists with their fancy book learnin to 'disrupt normal science' , whatever that is. Some things are just too big for people to comprehend easily, if you watch that show you will hear some of these scientists say that they only fully understand their piece of the puzzle. It is how it all fits together that makes it compelling and as touched on briefly there are some that think it is just too late anyway. If it becomes apparent to even the most rabid denier that things are out of control it will be too late. It really doesn't hurt to read some of the actual research on this stuff with an open mind. There is a reason the vast majority of science is in agreement, I seriously doubt it is all greed.

Who would have thunk it ! http://www.conelrad.com/conelrad100/images...nagecaveman.jpg

If you read the article it actually says it COULD damage Persepolis indirectly "there are also concerns that humidity, spreading through underground waters from the dam, could damage the nearby Persepolis." Certainly nothing like the Taliban who went out of there way to dynamite the Buddhas of Bamyan or even the Vatican which built a parking lot over Roman ruins http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/546208.stm . I'd like to read some other points of view before I would jump to conclusions. I can't see where they are quite as callous about their history as some posters are making out at least. There are only a few places where you can build a dam for it to be effective. Hard to believe they are just building it to eradicate their history out of sheer vindictiveness with no benefit at all to modern day society. The Wiki article on it at least seems to be a bit more balanced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sivand_Dam

Download the plug-in and watch it. Very interesting and when you see the illustrations of how he imagines the ramps set up so teams can work in tandem you will just go ahh! Pretty amazing technology and organization for the time really,or any time.

ROFL Looks like a job for Domoarigato !! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgc75yujwG4

I forgot all about this but it is really intriguing.Interesting to speculate what would have happened if Petrov had actually taken this as a genuine attack and Andropov had been informed. http://www.brightstarsound.com/ Good interview here http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2004-17-23 . Not Roman history but history nonetheless.

Any of you old enough to remember when we wore political buttons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cato_an...aganda_cups.jpg

Ahh but we have the Proscription lists! http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2003/pipc10042003.html still a few left, money can still be made! What do you think our troops are still doing there except for participating in a war of attrition ? "War of Attrition- A war of attrition is a protracted conflict in which one side attempts to wear down its enemy by continuously engaging in battle." Remember why Busch I never invaded Iraq? "Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, ..would have incurred incalculable human and political costs ... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. ...Under those circumstances, there was no viable exit strategy we could see, ... Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land." from "A World Transformed" Kind of weird reading that. 'It's funny cause it's true'. Does anyone really think any good can come out of this mess?

While this book is classed historical fiction I haven't seen many find fault with the history in it. I really enjoyed it and your local library most likely has a copy if you don't want to buy it. http://www.amazon.com/Count-Belisarius-Rob...s/dp/0374517398

I know! I don't think I will ever understand the late Republic. The same veterans that fought for Sulla to ensure the dominance of the patricians join Catiline years later for some populist/plebeian agenda against the Senate. Just one example but every time I think I might understand something I find I am missing the point entirely, lol. I think Caldrail might have the right idea on the Empire though. Plus the rise of a large permanent professional army with a guaranteed pension and benefits perhaps? Where there any permanent standing legions during the Republic?

You are quite right here but no surprise the Maliki 'Government' is controlled to a large extent by Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Mahdi Army and Hadi Al-Amiri's Badr Brigades . While the militia death squads may look like justice to some it just looks like ethnic cleansing to me.I guess the tyranny of the majority is more 'legitimate' but it is still tyranny. I see no solution but partition now. What is strange is the U.S. is propping up the pro-Iranian anti-secularist faction. Many of them implacably hostile to the U.S. .That can not turn out well. I can't see there ever being a secular Iraq again. I don't think there is any light at the end of this tunnel.

"As a noose was tightened around Hussein's neck, one of the executioners yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr," -CNN Yeah that's gonna help things out :/ Here is how one Sunni perceives it at least "Basically, with this execution, what the Americans are saying is "Look- Sunni Arabs- this is your man, we all know this. We're hanging him- he symbolizes you." And make no mistake about it, this trial and verdict and execution are 100% American." http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/ What a mess.