Horatius

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertain...0A?OpenDocument The selfish part of me hopes this will stay here where I can see it again and again. It is very beautiful, much more so in person."Hawass has not specified what action he would take if the Monday deadline were not met, but at a May 1 press meeting in Cairo, he told the Post-Dispatch that he would disparage the museum in the art world. "I will make their life hell," he said." Honestly, I don't know what to think. I love MY Museum however,it is a great Museum, I am just being selfish.

Yeah I probably shouldn't have posted that but I always thought the Antikythera Mechanism was some mysterious unique mystery. Now I find out that Cicero actually wrote about it or a similar device "recently constructed by our friend Poseidonius, which at each revolution reproduces the same motions of the sun, the moon and the five planets." Makes you wonder about all the ancient technology that just wasn't seen as anything other than a novelty at the time.

http://www.physorg.com/news68796309.html "The writings of 1st-century AD Roman orator and philosopher Cicero - himself a former student of Poseidonios - cite a device with similarities to the mechanism." Hmmmm

Was reading the Paterculus account of the Teutoburg disaster and I came upon this "When the Germans were venting their rage upon their captives, an heroic act was performed by Caldus Caelius, a young man worthy in every way of his long line of ancestors, who, seizing a section of the chain with which he was bound, brought down with such force upon his own head as to cause his instant death, both his brains and his blood gushing from the wound." OUCH! thats gotta hurt! Just thought I would add this here since Paterculus at least seens to single out Caelius' suicide (who apparently surrendered) as more heroic than Varus of which he writes "The leader showed some spirit in dying, though none in fighting; for, imitating the example of his father and grandfather, he ran himself through with his sword." http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roma...rculus/2D*.html

Aelian describing Macedonian freshwater fly-fishing in Roman times. http://www.flyfishinghistory.com/aelian_scholfield.htm Caldrail is right of course other than equipment it hasn't changed much. I fish this way still and use "feathers that grow beneath a cock's wattles" to tie my flies too

That's a good question and something I always wondered about. Did writers actually sell their works at that time and how where they distributed? I think I read somewhere that there were no 'copyright' laws as such. No printing presses so everything had to be handwritten. Wonder if there was an industry to copy these things.Where there libraries where any citizen could come and read them?

I didn't want to post this in Gini's thread about the last Roman senators but it is realated and reminded me of this. "The last games were held in A.D. 549 on the orders of Totilla the Goth, who had seized Rome in 547 and established himself as emperor. He lived in the still-glittering ruins on the Palatine and apparently thought the chariot races in the Circus Maximus would lend credibility to his charade of an empire. It must've been a pretty miserable show because the decimated population numbered something like 500 when Totilla recaptured the city." http://www.frommers.com/destinations/print...ns&search_type= Don't know where frommers got their info here but 500 people in Rome! That must really have been a tumultuous period. Any good sources for this specific incident still around? Guess with 500 people there wouldn't be many hehe. What a strange and sad episode if true, holding chariot races in an empty city that once ruled the world. Sounds like a good movie scene to me

Wow thats facinating. It says they were "apparently upper-class Romans - who would normally have been cremated" but then later says they were also "wrapped in sheets covered with lime, as was common in early Christian burials.". Wonder how close they can date them.It says first century AD but that seems a little early for that many Christians from the upper classes. Hope there is a follow-up to this sometime.

This is probably old hat to most of the people here but this Gaius assasination always interested me and I never read this account before by Flavius Josephus, http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-19.htm Supposedly it is partly based on an eyewitness account by a Senator named Cluvius Rufus. It is hostile of course but gave me at least a different perspective on this whole deal. It seems to me that some in the Senate just had a hostillity towards the julio-claudians that wouldn't rest until they were exterminated. Gaius seems to be young and smart (and a smart-ass too!) but maybe too young for the position he held. Like Caesar he was loved by the soldiers and people but not the Senate. He might have evolved into a good Princeps but he was no Augustus for sure. His constant taunting of Chaerea provided his enemies in the Senate with an opportunity, without it I really wonder what would have happened. Probably way off base here but seeing how the Senate was so quickly cowed and the military held firm for the most part for Claudius you have to wonder what his legacy would have been if he had just been a little kinder to Chaerea.

"Roma caput mundi regit orbis frena rotundi" - Rome capital of the world, holds the reins of the round orb. This was inscribed on Diocletions crown supposedly.From what I gather the orb represented the universe. Compare this http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_1_3c.html The Roman Victory astride the orb symbolizes Romes dominion of the world. This later Emperor holding a globus cruciger symbolizes Christs dominion and his stewerdship. http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/sb/sb1632.html. I love symbols and how they have evolved and are still with us,it is just amazing how many ancient symbols are still part of our everyday lives.

Sounds like Himilico from what I can see at this website http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/geoghi...ts/proutes.html Thats about all I can find out just by website searches. That account of Hannos encounter with Gorillas is pretty funny too.

Seen this today and it started me thinking, I am not particuarly good at that and combined with my superficial knowledge of history I thought I would turn to you folks for opinions.Didn't see anything on the subject in search. "For a society that tried to build a world empire, the Romans had a mind-numbing lack of interest in geography. We have records of one Roman legion crossing the Sahara, some trading missions to India, and one diplomatic mission to China, and that is the totality of Roman exploration. The Romans never went into the Baltic, or explored Ireland, or penetrated Eastern Europe. Very few Romans wrote about neighboring cultures or languages." http://www.uwgb.edu/DutchS/CosmosNotes/cosmos6.htm So why not any great Roman explorers? Most great cultures have at least one it seems.Not really looking for what if scenarios but speculation on what in the Roman psyce would account for this apathy, if it is indeed true. OH! and most of all are there records of a legion crossing the Sahara? I can't find anything on that at all. Sounds intriguing though. Why on earth would they do such a thing .

"Your life is what your thoughts make it."- Marcus Aurelius

Maybe so but he is a darling of Venus. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml.../22/wrome22.xml http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4135591.stm

If it was 2000 years ago would Berlusconi march on Rome? I think so! His dignitas demands it:) hehe have fun.

Entrance to the 1904 Worlds Fair in St Louis

Yeah I got that at a Best Buy here as a free promo thing. Think I am going to wear it out watching it lol. I don't have HBO so have never seen the rest but would buy them. Hope there is a release soon.

Primus Pilus said "Here are some samples of various Julio-Claudians from vroma." Nice link it included one that is new to me. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_1_3c.html I have never seen a nike and orb on an original statue before.Be interesting to know the history of that peice. It is in excellant shape. Comparing it with representations of the original Phidias is interesting too. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...tue_of_Zeus.jpg http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/jmac/rs/7zeus.gif http://www.educnet.education.fr/musagora/m...es/sq3/zeus.jpg

What baffles me though is that Augustus appears to take great pains not to appear as the dictator he was but as restorer of the Republic and just as First Citizen. Appearing as a wise, distingushed older gentleman would seem to reinforce that image better than the image of him as a military hero. Especially since his only real military expierience was against other Romans in a painfull civil war. Portraying him as older in his role as Pontifex Maximus for instance would seem to be much more appropriate. Maybe if that symbolism instead of the Emperor as military dictaor was used his system would have evolved differently. Was it really his intention to create a permanent almost absolute monarch for Rome? I like to think he was sincere and intended something else and it just got hijacked along the way. He probably was a lot more rutheless and power hungry though than my extermely limited understanding of him.

Actually I meant as far as statuary or mozaics and things like that. I can see why he would always want to be depicted as he was in the famous Prima Porta Augustus statue,just wondered if there were any representations of him in his 60's and 70's. Kind of a silly question just was curious.

The Romans always seemed to depict their leaders fairly accurately but I can't recall seeing any representations of Augustus in his 60's or 70's. Are there any? Was there a prohabition on it in Augustus's case? I get the impression he remained pretty sharp right up untill his death.

"Yes the Fetials! http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2446" HA! This actually does get interesting:) Sorry I missed that. So many things to read here and not nearly enough time. Thank you.

Found an interesting reference to a method of declaring war at least. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/650livy1-34.html. Would be intersesting to read a whole text of a treaty I think,how the terms and conditions were spelled out and the penalties. Polybius has some comments on treaties with Carthage "The first treaty between Rome and Carthage dates from the consulship of Lucius Junius Brutus and Marcus Horatius, the first Consuls after the expulsion of the kings, and the founders of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. This is twenty-eight years before the crossing of Xerxes to Greece. I give below as accurate a rendering as I can of this treaty, but the ancient Roman language differs so much from the modern that it can only be partially made out, and that after much application, by the most intelligent men". http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roma...olybius/3*.html apparently he is translating from some document he had access to. I wonder what the ancient Roman language he refers to is. Etruscan maybe?

was wondering if anyone knows or can direct me to some good information on Roman diplomacy.How it worked and the official titles and so forth. I would be especially interested to know if there are any treaties that survive (or at least the text),seems there were many of them. Probably not a very glamorous subject but it always appeared to me that Rome was also noted for it's diplomacy. When I read about treaties with Parthia,Carthage or the different barbarian tribes I always wonder about the details of how they were done. Was there a Roman equivalent to the State Department? Did Roman generals have authorization to negotiate treaties or was there an official process that had to be followed? Was diplomacy a 'position' or was it just too dangerous and not done with any real expectation of immunity in most cases. I can not really find much on this subject (probably due to my meager research skills). Hope this is posted in the right place.