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The source is the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) 13.1983. What the heck is CIL? I certainly won't have known a few years ago. It contains every known Roman inscription found from the entire Roman Empire. I'll let Wikipedia explain: "The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw light on all aspects of Roman life and history. The CIL collects all Latin inscriptions from the whole territory of the Imperium, ordering them geographically and systematically. Earlier volumes collected and published authoritative versions of all previously published inscriptions. The Corpus continues to be updated in new editions and supplements. In 1847 a committee was created in Berlin with the aim of publishing an organized collection of Latin inscriptions, which had previously been described piecemeal by hundreds of scholars over the preceding centuries. The leading figure of this committee was Theodor Mommsen (who wrote several of the volumes covering Italy). Much of the work involved personal inspections of sites and monuments in an attempt to replicate the original as much as possible. In those cases where a previously cited inscription could no longer be found, the authors tried to get an accurate reading by comparing the versions of the published inscription in the works of previous authors who had seen the original. The first volume appeared in 1853. The CIL presently consists of 17 volumes in about 70 parts, recording approximately 180,000 inscriptions...."

Here`s my favorite Ancient Roman inscription. This dedication was found on a tombstone in Roman Gaul from a laborer for his deceased wife. (Although I`ve seen this inscription quoted on various sites, I first saw it on HBO`s "Rome" historical consultants blog.) "To the eternal memory of Blandinia Martiola, a most faultless girl, who lived eighteen years, nine months, five days, Pompeius Catussa, a plasterer, dedicates to his wife, who was incomparable and very kind to him, this memorial which he had erected during his lifetime for himself and his wife...You who read this, go bathe at the public baths of Apollo for us, as I used to do with my wife. I wish I still could." Simple. Beautiful. A sad yearning for a lost love, a love that transcends the ages. guy also known as gaius

I'm finishing the Penguin Classic translation of Ammianus Marcellinus's The Later Roman Empire (AD 354-378). Great read. Here's a sample from his description of a battle between the Roman forces lead by Julian and the Alamanni. (This excerpt is a slightly different translation I found on-line from C.D. Yonge):

Here is the famous statue in Rome of Marcus Aurelius on a horse. This horse doesn't seem large by modern standards. Thank you, Viggen for your help with this image.

(Have patience with me on this one. I was born in the city and grew up in the nearby suburbs, so I

I enjoyed your thoughtful and extensive review of

By 1453 (the year Constantinople fell and the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist), the Renaissance had already achieved critical mass in both Italy and Northern Europe. The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman ruler Mehmet II, therefore, did little to effect the development of the Renaissance. The Byzantine influence on the Renaissance began much earlier than 1453. Byzantine contributions included the re-introduction of long forgotten Ancient Greek scholarship to a Latin oriented Western Europe. These included works by Plato, Plutarch, and the early Eastern Christian writers. Without this Hellenic influence, the West would have been much less rich in its intellectual development. Much of this impact, however, began long before 1453. According to Kenneth W Harl, Ph.D., there were only 50,000 inhabitants in Constantinople by 1453. According to Harl, the last emperor of Constantinople, Constantine XI, lamented that by then the city only needed a mayor rather than an emperor. (At the time of the final siege, the city was able to muster only 7,000 defenders.) By 1453, many of the greats of the Renaissance had already left their mark: Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio in literature; Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, Ghiberti in art; and Brunelleschi in architecture. As written earlier on this subject, 1204 was a more critical date for the development of the Renaissance. It was that year that the soldiers from the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople. The returning soldiers re-exposed Europe to some of the Ancient knowledge preserved in the Byzantine Empire. With the loss of prestige and power, Constantinople began to suffer the exodus of its intellectuals who sought patronage in the more prosperous cities of Western Europe. These intellectuals brought with them the Ancient knowledge that helped to spur on the Renaissance movement. The Black Death in the late 1340

Galen, Roman Empire's famous Greek physician from Pergamon, departed Rome in 166 AD at the outbreak of the Antonine plague. Many critics feel that this was an act of cowardice. Galen's own words that he wrote thirty years after leaving Rome helped to give this impression: "... having sojourned three years in Rome, the great pest beginning, I hastily set out from the city, going eagerly to my native country [Pergamon]." His own words were later interpreted by some critics to suggest that he cowardly ran away from the epidemic. I recently read an article by Joseph Walsh, MD, "Refutation of the Charges of Cowardice Made against Galen," Annals of Medical History, 3 (1931), 195-208. Walsh presents a good explanation for his departure, exonerating him from the charges of cowardice. Walsh makes several good points. First, Galen was a pious Pagan and an ardent devotee of Aesculapius (god of medicine and healing as well as the patron of the ancient guild of doctors). Walsh writes, "In his Pagan piety, Galen saw the hand of Aesculapius helping him over rough and perplexing places many times." His stoic training would have prepared him to bravely face the challenges and potential death the plague would have brought. According to Walsh, Galen was a very dedicated physician who would have placed professionalism and patients' care above his own well-being and safety. Galen went to Rome in 162. While in Rome, his reputation as a respected physician, philosopher, anatomist, and physiologist grew. According to Walsh, Galen had many rivals among the other medical men in Rome. He was despised by others of the medical community of Rome for his criticism of their theories and methods since Galen based his practice on reason and experience, thus challenging older beliefs based on superstition and tradition. They were jealous of his newly acquired fame and success. Possibly, even his life was threatened. Walsh states, "... he looked forward day after day to the time when he could end the bickering he detested and return to the research he loved so much." Walsh adds that Galen's earlier writings from only thirteen years after his departure from Rome seem to further exonerate his motives. Galen wrote, "When I understood the war [with Parthia] was ended, I set out immediately from Rome. Not long after, Lucius [Verus] returned." Verus didn't return to Rome until March 166. The plague didn't break out in Rome until the spring of 166 and the spring of 167, sometime after Verus had returned. Galen, therefore, left before the plague broke out in Rome. He, therefore, left the relative safety of Rome (which hadn't been devastated by the plague, yet) for regions where the plague was already in full force. This is hardly the act of a coward. Finally, he was summoned by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius two years later and bravely joined him on the plague ravaged battle frontier. He then returned with the Emperor's son, Commodus, to the then plague-ridden Rome to take care of the young prince. According to Walsh, "No ruler in history surpasses Marcus Aurelius in love of virtue, resolute in courage and devotion to duty. It is unthinkable that he would engage as a caretaker for his beloved son a physician so deficient in character and philosophical stoicism as to prove a deserter in time of danger." Maybe history has judged Galen wrongly and too harshly.

Galen was hardly the self-sacrificing physician. He first abandoned the city at the onset of the plague. He was coerced to return to the city on the request of the emperor. Although I agree that the Antonine plague probably represents smallpox, I can't be so dogmatic. First, an exanthem is just a widespread rash. Although is it usually infectious, it can be drug-induced, also. It is certainly not specific for smallpox. Second, I would have been more persuaded if the ancient sources had mentioned the horrible vesicles (blisters) associated with smallpox. (Think the worst case of chickenpox.) These vesicles quickly pustulate (to form "pus blisters"). The feature of widespread blisters is an unforgettable characteristic of smallpox, however. guy also known as gaius

I

I really enjoyed this controversial article by Israeli scholar Nachman Ben-Yehuda about the Masada siege. The article challenged some of my long held beliefs. The subject has not been solved. It may never be solved, but it is a good example of the historical record and archaeologic evidence being used to better understand the past. http://www.deportati.it/static/upl/be/benyehuda,themasadamyth.pdf https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/sites/bibleinterp.arizona.edu/files/images/ZiasJuly3 revised9.pdf

Just a heads up: One of my favorite courses by the Teaching Company is on sale ($99.95) till September 27 (2007). It is Kenneth Harl's " Rome and the Barbarians." This is not an introductory course. It deals with the interaction of Rome with her "barbarian" neighbors. (Check their web site for details.) Great course and I recommend it highly. Remember, only buy these courses when they are on sale. (Fortunately, they go on sale several times a year.)

Sales usually last at least a month. Fortunately, the courses are on sale several times a year. Only buy the courses on sale, however.

I admit I've bought many of these lectures. (My wife insists too many!) And I've liked most all of them. **Only buy them on sale, however. They go on sale several times a year, fortunately. I would gladly participate in any thread discussing a course or answer questions concerning a specific course.

Yes, but what a great opening scene it was! Despite the many obvious historical inaccuracies (where are the pila when you need them?), the opening battle scene was very powerful. I even enjoyed the ridiculous and unlikely musings of Marcus Aurelius about returning the power to the Senate. I've watched the opening scenes dozens of times. I don't think I've ever watched the entire movie beyond Aurelius's death, however.

Any explanation for the "fall of the Roman Empire" must answer these two simple questions: 1) Why did the Byzantine (Eastern) Empire continue for nearly a thousand years after the Western Roman Empire collapsed? 2) Why didn't the Roman Empire collapse two hundred years earlier during the "crisis of the third century"? Lead poisoning played little, if any, role in the "fall of the Roman Empire". It makes for a seductively simple, but obviously incomplete explanation for a multifactorial event.

On the subject of courtesans, I enjoy the relationship between the Athenian ruler Pericles and his mistress Aspasia. (Don

I admire the logic, rationalism, and the humanism of Ancient Greece. I acknowledge that much of Ancient Roman culture is derivative of its Ancient Greek and Hellenistic predecessors. I can

There are some interesting discussions on the internet about the authenticity of Josephus's writings. This is plagarized from Peter Kirby who has an interesting internet site Early Christian Writings. This is one of Josephus's passages he critiques: Antiquities 18.3.3. "Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct to this day." Opinion on the authenticity of this passage is varied. Louis H. Feldman surveyed the relevant literature from 1937 to 1980 in Josephus and Modern Scholarship. Feldman noted that 4 scholars regarded the Testimonium Flavianum as entirely genuine, 6 as mostly genuine, 20 accept it with some interpolations, 9 with several interpolations, and 13 regard it as being totally an interpolation

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Despite the brutality and cruelty that pervaded Ancient Roman Society, there was also a glowing humanity that still shines through the mists of time. In ancient Roman history, there were many acts of friendship, self-sacrifice, loyalty, and love that are known to us today.

This plague you describe was known as the Antonine or Galen's plague (164-180). As you mentioned, this plague was probably brought back by from the Eastern frontier by Verus, serving as co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius. Galen, the Greek physician from Pergamum, initially fled the plague, but was called back by the co-emperors to help control the plague. Most people (myself included) think it was a variant of small pox. Galen described a skin eruption occuring on the ninth day: sometimes dry and sometimes pustular. This does not sound like typhus or boubonic plague. A couple thousand people a day in Rome would die of this plague. Verus (and less likely, Aurelius) probably died from this plague. Fortunately, we no longer suffer from smallpox. But it was the scourge of more recent history, too. I feel that the impact of disease in the Ancient world has always been underestimated. This type of plague would have had a devastating impact on society. (Think about the impact of the Black Plague in Europe during the Middle Ages, for example. That plague killed at least a third of Europe's population. No one would write a serious history of the Middle Ages without at least a mention of the impact of the plague. Somehow, Ancient Roman history is frequently written without the slightest mention of the diseases that were so much a tragic part of everyday life in Ancient Rome.) Plagues such as this would have caused immense depopulation and disruption in society. The Antonine plague and the later plague of Cyprian, also known as the Aurelian plague, (that lasted from 251 to 266 and killed Emperor Claudius Gothicus) could have resulted in the pressure for the Roman armies to recruit increasingly more barbarians into their diminishing ranks. These plagues would haved caused food shortages due to the disruption of the food supply from the abandonment of farms to the breakdown of the means of transport. Undernourishment would only have made a population more vulnerable to the ravages of disease. The plagues were excellent propaganda tools for the ruling elites. In Pagan Rome, the plagues could be seen as a result of the disruption of the Pax Deorum by the Christians. Later, in Chrisitan Rome, they could be seen as the result of the "wrath of a Christian [?] God." In answer to your question, since Roman medicine did not adequately understand the cause (etiology) of these plagues, I doubt anything was done to prevent their spread except for isolation. (Remember, the simple concept such as handwashing in maternity wards wasn't widely accepted by Western medicine until the 19th century.) At best, treatment would have been to reduce discomfort (palliative measures only)--narcotics and wine for pain, pleny of fluids, and blankets. At worst, use of bloodletting or cathartics would have hastened the poor victim's demise. Prayers and offerings would have had dubious benefits. guy known as gaius