Julius Ratus

Laconic refers to the tersity of their speach, not the linguistic differences. For a specific example of the differences between Doric (Spartan) and Attic Greek, in Plutarch's Moralia is a section called "The Sayings of Spartans". In this section he quotes a few line here and there in Doric Greek. I believe that Doric Greek had a few words different, and had a bit of a drawl to it. When the British translators of the Loeb books translate sentences from Doric they tent to write it in Scottish to show the difference. The problem with that for an American like me is that I can understand Greek better than Scottish! (In the movie "Joeux Noel" about WWI, the Germans, Scots, and French all speak in their respective languages and I found myself wishing for subtitles when the Scotmen spoke. I swear I understood the Germans better, and I don't even know that much German.) EDIT -- BTW, Laconic dosen't come from Lakedaimon, it comes from Lakonia. Lakonia was the area where Sparta was located. In U.S. terms, think of Sparta as a city, Lakedaimon as a county, and Lakonia as a state.

Silly people. March is not about sports. It is about

Its funny, here in Nebraska, in the cities (big towns) like Omaha and Lincoln the people talk with the standard flat unaccented Midwestern dialect, but if you go several miles out into Cornland/The Boonies the people all speak with a degree of hickishness. Words like "Crick" and "Worsh" become common (trans.: Creek, Wash). My brother tells me about his co-workers out in Gretna and I learn enlightening quotes such as: "I'm here to tell you" (used at the end of a declaration to add emphasis) and "I dun frazzled my underbritches" (trans.: I have damaged the structural integrity of my undergraments).

Owl

Iv read it and liked altough im not sure if slaves were Spartan wariors too. Sometimes slaves fought in the Spartan army. The Neodamodeis, the new men, were slaves who had been freed to fight for Sparta. This was more of a Peloponesian War thing, and generally only in fringe campaigns such as Brasidas'. In Gates of Fire the boy isn't a slave, but a resident foreigner (I forgot the Greek word for this term.) There were people who trained with the Spartans who weren't Spartans themselves. Alkibiades, adopted son of Perikles, was trained in the Spartan school system. Sorry about the tangent.

Actually, American style hanging is rather quick (short rope, long drop). Usually when the neck breaks the victim is killed instantly and feels nothing. This is about as quick as it comes, except for the Chinese method of execution, 9X18 Makarov bullet to the back of the head, where the spinal cord connects to the brain. The victim is dead before the bullet has even left his head. My vote for worst goes to boiling. As far as unusual punnishments go, the Roman punnishment for Patricide is the bizarrest. The executee is tied into a sack with a dog, a snake, a rooster, and a monkey and is thrown into the Tiber. BTW, I'v heard that the Romans also employed a particularly sick execution involving rape by Giraffe. Is this true or just a sick story?

I have read very little fiction set in the Roman world but plenty in the Greek World. As far as Roman fiction goes, The Golden Ass anyone? I liked Pride of Carthage, despite the liberties taken in writing it. Over the Wine Dark Sea by Turtledaub (this is Harry Turtledove's pen-name when he writes historical) is a good one, and it has Romans in it, so I think it counts. The Ten Thousand is a rather good Gates of Fire spinoff. BTW, is Harris "the Harris", father of Hannibal Lector?

There were Belgae in both England and on the continent in the time of Caesar. The Romans could rarely tell the difference between Germanics and Celtics so if the Belgae were a Germanic people, then a Germanic language would have been spoken in pre-Roman England.

On the day of you blessed joining, this (half-Irish) intends on celebrating by taking part in the Irish pride, the joy of the Russian people, and that thing which Varangians do best. :drunk: :stretcher: While I am down and out, try not to anger the sullen Sullan too much, though I will try to have the Mummy issue resolved before I go on sabbatical.

Decimus, I have the Heath book, and I definately intend o usiang it as a source. I will look at the Laxdoela Saga, Thanks. Does anyone have any idea as to where I can find a certain Journal article? Here's the citation. D. Smythe. "Why do barbarians stand around the emperor at diplomatic receptions?" in J. Shepard and S. Franklin, eds. Byzantine Diplomacy. (1992) I have been looking for this article for a few weeks not, and even after using the correct name (I was looking under Shepard, the editor, oops) I have still had no luck. Thanks again to you all.

I don't know what his status in Kazakhstan is, but if romanian autorithies find him he is going to spend some time in a computer free enviroment. It's a Borat reference. Isn't the DVD out now?

Indeed, Posca yet breathes, and I got a good laugh at Jocasta's expense. She's married to an ex-slave (a bad thing in Rome) and he's married to a girl that looks like a fish. What a match.

A better equation would be to psycoanalyze MPC in two thousand years, using biographies written 100 years after his death. One can judge Caesar's politics but not very easily his personality. Our two main descriptions of Caesar's personality come from Plutarch and Suetonius, both living well after the Divine Julius' death. What they have to say is quite interesting. Both agree that he was a driven man, Plutarch inststing that he always wished to be king. He also was loved by the majority of the people, though in Plutarch, his kingly aspirations push some away from him. With Plutarch one must be careful. His goal in writing his parallel lives is to equate each famous Roman with a famous Greek. Caesar's pair is Alexander, so the whole king thing is throne into some question. Actually, I have to write a report for a class about this very subject, so this thread holds special interest for me.

9% ABV :drunk: & ~$9.99 for a 4 pack Bready without being 'malty' per se. Forget the cloying descriptions though, it's just really good & hides the high alcohol content very well...) I don't consider anything short of 70 proof as having high alchohol content, but sounds good all the same. At $9.99 I can pick up a pack and see how good it is. Thanks for the heads up.

Who needs to know this? Where's the Alchohol content and price? That's all I need. Until someone tells me these I'll stick to PBR, Bud, and Spaten when I'm feelin' classy! Edit: BTW, what in Loki's name does Biscuity flavour taste like???

Being the Imperially appointed Gov of the territories of Tankograd and Magnitogorsk I will feel free to bring my 15mm toys into the fray as well. I am seconding this motion! :mummy: -- Your offer of Egyptian bellydancers is tempting (one of my friends from the 101st Airborne spent some time in Egypt and said the girls there are 'quite friendly' ). But, as a Varangian Lictor, my loyalty is unshaken.

If someone is fat they eat a lot. If they eat alot they can afford to eat alot. If they have money they are sexy. Back in the day there were no McDonalds and other such industrial eateries. People couldn't afford to eat a lot of meat and other such fattening foods, and if they could, they were rather well off. There's my theory as to why fat girls were dead sexy back in the day.

It appears to be the same fellow. I will hopefully have enough sources to write this paper. I have the Alexiad and King Harald's Saga on order. I'm trying to find the Russian Primary Chronicle as well.

Thus is human nature, some are always willing to whore themselves out to the highest bidder.

Don't worry, when you enter the UNRV senate house on the 15th I won't be as easy to distract as Marcus Antonius!

Thanks all. Nephele -- my University has a rather extensive selection of Journals, I will check them after my Russian exam, then get back to you. Thanks.

Julius Ratus is Lictor #2. By the way, is there a UNRV fasti? If so does 2007 become the year of Octavius and (TBA)? Edit -- BTW (part 2) Actually, I'll go Varangian, screw the fasces, I'll just use the axe.

I blame the Pope. If the Inquisition still had any cojones, silly hoaxes like these either would not happen, or they would be "warmly" greeted. Very warmly indeed...

On a similar line, I read that the Spartans carried halves of broken sticks with them. If they were beyond recognition (FUBAR) after the battle, the sticks would be matched up to the other half back at camp and you would then know who was who. They used sticks because they were worthless and so looters wouldn't run off with them. While this has seemingly no relevence to what you asked, it does show that the idea of identification markers was in existence in the ancient world.

There is no argument with the barrel of a gun. -- Anon