Gini
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Everything posted by Gini
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Difficult to explain but I feel very emotionallyconnected to the Romans - as well as finding them fascinating. The Chinese Empire may have been as advanced and influential in the East but Ihave absolutely no interest in it - so its not the levelof civislisation. - it's something else. The fall of the Western Empire makes me feel very upset and I can feel this haunting sense of loss. Quite emotional and yes of course I'm female
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The Western Empire Under Valentinian I
Gini replied to Emperor Goblinus's topic in Imperium Romanorum
The book on the fall of the Roman Empire - the End of Civilisation by Bryan Ward-Perkins is a very good read for a factual account of the fall of the West He bases it on scientific evidence rather than a barrow to push. He estimates that the west was still stronger than the East whe it fell but it has difficult borders to protect etc whereas Constantinople had a dream location -
Procopius desribing the Emperor justinian "In the first place, Justinian having no natural aptitude towards the imperial dignity, neither assumed the royal manner nor thought it necessary to his prestige. In his accent, in his dress and in his ideas he was a barbarian. When he wished to issue a decree, he did not give it out through the Quaestor's office, as is usual, but most frequently preferred to announce it himself, in spite of his barbarous accent....
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The Taboo Roots Of Imperial Collapse
Gini replied to Classique et Germanique's topic in Imperium Romanorum
Who was is who asked who the Romans were ethnically? Is the theory that they came from the ruins of Troy still considered? I think it is the ancient legend. -
Not one particular source.. I've read too many books on Rome and things connected with Rome for the past 25 years now and cannot pinpoint a particular source that all of this comes from... I have a fairly good picture in my mind now of how Rome looked and how the citizens lived... It certainly helps if you are a writer. i Please tell me more aobut your books I tried to email from your site but my Outlook Express doesn't work for some reason I am in New Zealand Are yor books available here
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Does anyone know if the Sybilline prophecies quoted in I Claudius by Robert Graves are real or not? e.g. as hundred years of the Punic curse And Rome will be slave to a hairy man A hairy man that is scant of hair Every man's woman and each woman's man etc about Juilius Caesar and it goes on about all the other Caesars up to Nero
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Daily Life In Sixth Century Rome Help Needed
Gini replied to Gini's topic in Postilla Historia Romanorum
Thanks I've ordered it along with Procopius -
Can anyone give me any ideas on what life was like in Rome at this time. Certainly Rome had been conquered many times. It had had Gothic rulers and its population was more interested in daily living than recapturing their greatess. when Belisarius defended Rome there were no gates to the city as there were no craftsmen to make them This may have been partly due to the time factor though. He defended with phalanxes The aqueducts had been destroyed in the last century by the Goths Were they ever rebuilt?Also when was the forum and the great market (Trajan) finally destroyed andwho did it?
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I enjoy reading Suetonius Whatever his faults - don't all wirters/journalists have a level of bias) he is a genuine Roman and writing at the time How much better is that than something written today I find much of his stuff pretty eyewitness/factual anyway
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The beautiful women of Rome! would you agree with their idea of beauty. In Rome a prominent hooked nose was considered beautiful and a small one ugly - unless my memory seves me ill!
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Metallurgy And Weapons And Tactics
Gini replied to Kathleenb's topic in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'
Getting back to the superior armies of the Romans I think most of it was the disipline and training of the troops and the ability of the generals to conduct a war - ot just semi manage a rabble as in the case of many of the opponents An example of this would be the Franks who relied on their throwing axes to make a big impact on thier foes but had no back up plan when confronted by archers -
The armies that overran rome were not even big armies and would have been well dealt to by a well trained Roman one. I don't think it was moral failings by romans - if anything the opposite was true. Romans became too civilised, too cultured and joining an army to fight for an emperor just didn't work any longer Christianity also had an effect. The patriotism that had existed earlier wasn't there. There is a question Is blind patriotism inversely related to education?
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As a newcomer to this site I find myself surrounded by people who have fantastic knowledge of Rome. Mine is not up there - I just have a greatlove of it for some reason. I voted in this poll for late Republic because the late Repulblic and next 200 years were when Rome was at the height of her power but to be completely honest the terms used are new to me I gather principate and dominate are around the times 0-200 and then 200 - 40? Is that correct?
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Just an interesting aside A family I lived with in ITaly had a father that looked as if he came out of Roman history I'm sure if I looked for his face in history books i would find it He wasn't emotional like his theatric wife but serious, rational, practical and an engineer by trade. A comment he made when his wife was heading of to the opera was " I can't understand what my wife sees in that stuff The only music I like is military marches" He was different to most Italians I met there
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what methods did the Romans use for wine making I would think that would influence the wine more than the vines used. wasn't a sweetish wine quite popular with them? No reason for saying this - just impression
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Sad is the word. It makes me feel absolutely gutted. Strange to have such as reaction to something so long ago!! I think the population had largely left because of war, starvation and the plague around that time. The Italian countryside has been impoverished as well because of the wars. Noone has made an accurate movie of this have they?
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Thanks so much for that. (I have started to write a novel with those executions in it) I will leave it that those characters THINK that it is the end then. Where did you fijnd that material I would be be very interested to read it This is a fantastic site! Other people enthralled with Rome as well I wish I'd discovered it before
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I voted late republic though the following 200 years were als fascinating. I find the late republic embodies the Roman virtues ( the vices are always there) There is strong patriotism and sense of Rome that was gradually lost over the following centuries. Somehow the Byzantine era for me is not Roman. It has Roman connections but then so did most of Europe - but Rome itself had disintegrated - and Byzantine for me has a sad feeling about it - Roman in name only
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You've taken a hard comparison from what I know of it Romans became too civilised rather than decadent. They were much less nationalistic/patriotic than earlier times, couldn't afford to pay the army needed partly because of corruption and were not nearly as Rome centred. America is very patriotic and can affford to pay what it wants. Would love to see what you write though
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It is my understandig that the entire senate and their families were massacred by the Goths around 560AD They had been taken hostage and when Count Blesarius from Justinian killed their king in one of his impossibly won battles, then the hostages were killed in retaliation. The Senate was never formed again though it had been operating until that time. Rome was nearly emptied around this time by starvation, war and the plague. This dealt to the current patrician class of the time though as the power over the centuries had changed around a lot, there must have been many with illustrious bloodlines still.
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The last of the senate and their families (Rome) were taken hostage by the Goths (around 560 AD) and when Beliisarius took Rome and killed thier king Theudel?, the families were massacred in retaliation. this was the end of the Senate in the West. Does anyone know anythng about the Senate in those times how it stil operated and the patrician life in general?