Jump to content
UNRV Ancient Roman Empire Forums

ASCLEPIADES

Plebes
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,115

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by ASCLEPIADES

  1. The "Black Dwarf"?

    in Academia

    Posted

    thanks for checking. These (and other) (seemingly) unattributed "facts" fascinate me. It's usually easy to remember things. Perhaps this has an ancient source but I'd love it if it started with a later, creative historian.

    You wont make a good hagiographer; too much checking sources zeal!

  3. Was this war justified? Did it even help Rome?

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted

    The questions above were posed in a thread dealing with CJ Caesar's Gallic Wars.

     

    Actually I don't see why they shouldn't apply to any other Roman war of conquest.

     

    Have we asked that to virtually any Roman historian, from Fabius Pictor to Zonaras, it seems the answer would have been almost unanimously straightforward:

     

    Rome conquered the world in perpetual self-defense.

     

    What would you answer to the same questions?

  5. At home? At work? Bored?

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    Salve, DD

    I've decided to put together a little blog with links to random pages, videos, etc., mainly for friends to peruse while bored. I figured I'd include the link here. Everything on the page is random and silly, so expect nothing too stimulating. Hopefully, though, it'll provide a fun little distraction for those looking to fill some time.

     

    (And, yes, the top two links came from this very site.)

    Rest assured, you're the best in what you do.

     

    Gratiam habeo for being productively bored.

  6. A Book About Rome

    in Libri

    Posted

    Salve, D

    I am currently reading a wonderful book comparing the similarites between Ancient Rome and America. It is such an fascinating book. Both Rome and America had a Distust in Kings, and the book explains why. It even goes into the history of Rome and the America to explain these differences and similarities. The following is the name of the book and the Author.

     

    How Rome Built--and America Is Building--a New World Empires of Trust,' by Thomas F. Madden

     

    I got the book through the History Book Club in which I'm a member. They have an website at www.historybookclub.com

     

    Delicia

    From the back cover:

     

    "Thomas Madden shows us a different Rome that stablished security and prosperity -and trust- within the hearts and minds of millions in the mediterranean world."

     

    I can't disagree more with the imperialist justification that the prey is eager to be hunted.

    Unsurprisingly, the Roman expansion was done by war, with a good doses of genocide when duly required; even the "peaceful" annexations were basically explained by the threat of War. As any other Empire.

    "Security and prosperity" (at least for some) is the unavoidable consequence of any stable Empire, even the Soviets for some time.

    Madden is deliberately taking fear for trust; the trust that any empire will annihilate any rebel.

    This may surprise Madden (actually, I don't think so) but no nation dreams wth being conquered; just ask the Americans or any other regular human (including yourself of course).

     

    "No. We aren't Rome."

    I can't agree more.

  8. The "Black Dwarf"?

    in Academia

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Salve, G and welcome to UNRV

    Look up Athanasius on the web and you are told that his enemies called him 'the black dwarf'. The "black" part has some calling for the great church infighter to be mentioned during "black history month". But no one sources the insult and I've looked for it in the histories of the time but with no luck. Anyone know who said the little (Julian said he was a manikin) man was called the "black dwarf" by his enemies?

    I must agree with your fellows at forum.org.

    From: Septimus Severan's ethnicity?

    in Tartarus

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Controversial it may be, and I used 'elements' deliberately as a vague term.

    But there are lots of Punic inscriptions covering most of the imperial period, though a fair number are written using the Latin alphabet.

    There certainly isn't as clean a break as you are suggesting. Here is a summary of a recent thesis on the subject. Interestingly, the African limes you mention seems to have provided many of these Punic inscriptions.

    From: Septimus Severan's ethnicity?

    in Tartarus

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Birley talks about Punic origin, not Carthaginian . leptis survived the 3rd punic war and remined a Punic community for years to come . Most important is the fact that "The first thing to note about Lepcis during the first century was its conspicuous lack of immigrants. In marked contrast to the rest of Africa, the city did not see the official establishment of a large Italian community in its midst...That Lepcis did not have such a corporation suggests that the native aristocracy retained their importance under Roman rule" (Richard Cawley) . So, with the fact that the Septimii came from Leptis it is logic to assume, like the UNRV's biography of Severus, that among others, he had Punic blood .

  12. Questions again

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Ummm... Well i could show you my art if you really want.

    It is JP Vieira who does the best art on this site, maybe you're thinking of him. I am writing a novel not illustrating. However thanks for link.

    Thank to PP too. I have acquired a book with the info about winery-villas in just a few minutes ago. But the link will still prove to be useful.

     

    vtc

    Ooops! Indeed :D

     

    Anyway, I would really like to check on your literary art ASAP.

     

    Glad to know that link was useful for you.

    Regarding the Roman villa, FAUSTUS have excellent material and you can see some nice examples at HOMVNCVLVM, Brigantia by NORTHERN NEIL.

    Additionally, reading Somnium Scipionis may be of some help for the general context, even if MT Cicero wrote it almost a century later.

  13. Septimius Severan's ethnicity?

    in Romana Humanitas

    Posted

    Septimius Severus' African ancestry -

    "...the first known Septimius of Lepcis was of Punic origin, a Roman knight in the year 95 or earlier...it seems logical to indentify them (the Septimii Maceri) as the likeliest ancestors of Septimius before the family acquired a Roman style gentilicium and citizenship" . (Septimius Severus By Anthony Richard Birley)

     

    About his color - It seems that the Romans did not care...

    Birley is a good example; aside from being presumably born in Africa, what does this author really meant by Punic origin regarding any Equite in 95 AD? This would be like two and a half centuries (ie ten whole generations) after the absolute oblteration of the Carthaginian people and civilization at the end of Punic War III.

  14. What Was Rome's Popular Flower?

    in Colosseum

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Salve, Amici

    I enjoyed reading the answers to my question about if there was a popular flower in Ancient Roman, and the lovely Mossaic photos of the cat. I love this photo of the cat. It goes to show that the cat has been around around for centuries which makes them so unique. Maybe the Romans loved cats, because they were beneficial to the Roman's health and well-being, because cats help people from suffering from strokes. They are such relaxing animals. Also I love the reply about the flowers and how the Romans used flowers.

     

    Delicia

    You know, this ih the kind of trivia Caius Secundus Plinius Maior had in mind when he wrote his Naturalis Historia.

  16. The Roman Empire and America

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted

    Salve, Amici

    As NN said, we have been here before...

     

    Most peoples through history have had some kind of ancestral role model to follow, commonly in a highly idealized conception; for the Roman themselves it were their first fathers. For Europe and the European-related world, this model has frequently been the ancient Romans in one of their many facets; in general terms the world-conquering Empire has been more popular than the democratic Republic. Sometimes the analogy is made in a negative way, specially from religious groups (Christians, Jews) remembering persecution times; but the vast majority of comparisons are positive.

     

    Nowadays, the analogy between the United States and the Roman Republic in its late (imperialist) phase is so commonplace that prof. Walter Scheidel from Stanford wrote an intriguing paper just to explain why he disagrees:

    Republics between hegemony and empire:How ancient city-states built empires and the USA doesn

    From: The Battle Of Alesia - The Effect The Battle Of Alesia had on th

    in Tartarus

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Salve Amici Welcome V

    Try reading Inker's account of the battle. There is a chapter at the end on the aftermath of the defeat.

     

    'Caesar's Gallic Triumph: Alesia 52BC' by Peter Inker.

     

    If you're in the UK; Alesia at Amazon.co.uk

     

    If you're in the US; Alesia at Amazon.com

     

    If you don't want to buy it you should be able to get it from a library.

     

    Thanks, I checked up on it, it doesn't have very good reviews, so I'll try to get it from my local library. That end chapter might be worth it alone!

  18. Past Their Best

    in Gloria Exercitus - 'Glory of the Army'

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire - Edward Luttwak

    This book is indeed a nice piece of work; Luttwak reached some pragmatical conclusions regardibg the comparison of the Roman Armies from different times in his Charter III "DEFENSE-IN-DEPTH. The Great Crisis of the Third Century and the New Strategies" (pg. 170-173):

    moved

    in Tartarus

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    I'd prefer not to see any more 2 year old bumped threads simply to try to rectify a situation with another member. Send him a PM... work it out. No worries.

    My apologies if I gave you that impression; no situation to rectify with CC nor any other UNRV member.

     

    I just check on previous old threads here at UNRV and I found this one on Titus' death interesting.

     

    Some old threads of CC attracted me becaues of his particular taste for propography; but if that might became an issue here, then it was a bad idea and that's all; it wont happen again.

     

    EDIT: BTW, please check on the Augustus-M. Aurelius thread, PP.

  23. Titus death - your opinion

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted · Edited by ASCLEPIADES

    Good points .

     

    Maybe the controversy emerged because of the unique combination of very short reign and , apparently death of natural causes and not from old age . Let me see , it did not happen ever again until........ WOW

    Another good point; Titus was 42.

×
×
  • Create New...