indianasmith

I have researched the origins of the four Gospels, as well as the history of First Century Rome, for many years. I am convinced that the canonical Gospels do all date to the First Century, and therefore, do preserve a fairly accurate narrative of the events of Jesus' life. I have two novels published and a third mostly completed that are set in this time period; I would invited everyone on the forum to check them out if this is a subject of interest - the titles are THE REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE and THEOPHILUS: A TALE OF ANCIENT ROME. It was great fun to take everything we know of men like Pontius Pilate, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero and attempt to breathe life into them, transforming them from historical figures to dynamic characters in a flowing narrative. I especially welcome the comments of my fellow Romanophiles!!

I think that Rome, in its glory, surpassed every civilization before the 1600's, and many others afterward. And to think . . . they came within a hair of inventing the steam turbine in the 2nd Century AD. Rome with locomotives - we might still be speaking Latin today!

My favorite quote, regarding the motivations of the assassins, comes from Colleen McCullough's THE OCTOBER HORSE: "He is the sun, we are the stars. As long as he is in our sky, we cannot shine."

After I read the relevant ancient sources. I concluded that it was the governor, Piso, who did it, thinking to curry favor with Tiberius. Actually, Germanicus' murder and the aftermath are an important plot element in my novel, THE REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE. I'd invite you to check it out sometime.

Any pics to go with this? I was looking at the beautiful mosaics recently uncovered at Zeugma the other day and I would love to compare them.

Don't know how this one got by me , but it is indeed a fascinating discussion. While Rome was replete with flaws as both a Republic and an Empire, I still think, in both stages, Roman civilization eclipsed that of ancient Greece on multiple levels.

My new novel, THEOPHILUS: A TALE OF ANCIENT ROME, has just been released on Amazon! I'd love to have some reviews from my fellow Romanophiles here at UNRV, so please go ahead and download it or purchase a copy in paperback. This is the finest tale I have written yet, and I promise you - it's worth every denarius of the cover price! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1632132729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491839182&sr=8-1&keywords=theophilus%3A+a+tale+of+ancient+rome

It's amazing how much stuff is still out there; more being discovered every year!

Actually, I clicked on the "Activity" instead of the "Home" page and got a little confused. It's divided up just like the old forum. Sorry!! LOL

Here is a sneak peek at my cover art!!

I believe that is correct - I know some VERY old stone points have been found in Chile. A friend of mine found some bone tools in the Texas City ship channel in the 1990's that one archeologist believes to be over 20,000 years old!

As a collector of Native American artifacts, this is hardly surprising. Evidence for Pre-Clovis cultures has been building for decades now. Of course, that shifts the question to: Beringia or the Atlantic? or both?

My new novel, THEOPHILUS: A TALE OF ANCIENT ROME will be released April 11. It is a loose sequel to my first Roman novel, THE REDEMPTION OF PONTIUS PILATE. It follows the adventures of Marcus Quintus Publius, a Quaestor during the reign of Claudius Caesar. Given the Emperor's authority to clean up corruption in Rome's provinces, his odyssey takes him from the shores of Brittania to the rocky plains of Judea, where he crosses paths with the disciples of the crucified sage Jesus of Nazareth. I think Roman history fans everywhere will enjoy this story, and I hope that one of you will be kind enough to review it for me!

At some point will the new forum be divided by topics like the old one?

A friend with whom I frequently discuss matters of history, philosophy, and religion recently commented that, in her opinion, the Roman Empire was the most evil government in the history of the world. She talked about its wanton disregard for human life, its practice of slavery on a scale that was unprecedented, the countless cultures it destroyed or assimilated, its cruel and barbaric punishments including crucifixion, and a number of other things which she thought singled it out as a standard-bearer for human wickedness. All of this got me thinking, and I responded thus: So, I've been mulling over your comments last week about the Roman Empire being the most evil nation in the history of the world, and my inner Caesar got his dander up. Here is his reply, then: TO HADES WITH ROMAN GUILT! There was not a single evil you attribute to Rome that was not widely practiced by every other nation in the ancient world. Did we practice slavery? So did every other contemporary nation. Did we crucify criminals? Sure, after the Phoenicians invented the practice. Did we wage wars of conquest? Absolutely - as did Sargon, Alexander, David, Ramses, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus . . . the list goes on! Did we use secret informants? So did the Parthians and the Medes. Did we crucify Jesus? Yes, after his own high priest and the mobs of Jerusalem demanded it of us! So what was Rome's crime? We were better than them all. We were better warriors, better architects, better conquerors, better administrators, better merchants, and better sailors. We met our enemies head-on, studied their strengths, and then copied them and made them our own. We ruled more of the world for longer than any other Empire; the civilization spawned on the seven hills above the Tiber flourished in one form or another for nearly two thousand years (don't forget, the rulers of Constantinople were still Caesars!). Our leaders were so envied that the Germans, the Franks, the Russians, and the Austrians copied our titles - Imperator and Caesar (Kaiser, Tsar, it's all the same!). Our Republic was the template upon which yours was patterned. We will not apologize for being the best. She responded to me later that evening with this: Would that citizens of the modern United States took the pride in their nation that ancient Romans did! Indeed, what you wrote is just what a Roman alive today would say, and nicely stated, though to do so I notice you used that lovely post-Roman invention: punctuated sentences, lol. All that you said is of course accurate and true, and anyone who is unimpressed with Rome's rise and all that Rome did would have to be half-witted. Few civilizations were more interesting or more remarkable, and it is seldom any historian's job to judge the past when studying and discussing it. To put the ethics and policies of individuals dead fifteen to twenty centuries on trial is simply without any point. I do sometimes think what is lost track of is that a case could be made that at its heart no other "country" was evil in quite the same way that the Roman Empire was. The leadership of the Soviet Union did much that was barbarously cruel, yet it should be remembered that even when in actuality its founding ideals were hypocritically disdained, the Soviet Union was birthed upon notions of human equality and betterment: however obscenely perverted those (flawed) high ideals were. Rome never felt any compunction to enshrine universal human rights, or see that all peoples dwelling within received education, medical care, and guaranteed employment. The USSR did those things, chasing after impossible goals through one of the most unworkable systems ever devised, one that spread misery and paved pathways for Satanic dictators to crush the human spirit. Nazi Germany was essentially evil to its rotten core and deserves no kind words, yet it endured not even a decade and a half so I don't think it challenges Rome as a contender given Rome's longevity and far-reach to enact ethnic cleansing and genocide on scales unseen in the West before or since. I think because Rome's very antiquity has made such thoughts meaningless it is not considered how evil the dark hemisphere of its dual nature was, but the case is there to be made that Rome's cruelty ventures into the heart of any definition of what (organized) evil would be. Given its size and its enduring might, Rome simply had more opportunity to bring harm and misery to more people than any other power in history: even China. To laud the public spectacle of human beings fighting one another to the death, or the condemned being ripped apart by beasts, that is like something from the pit of Hell itself. I don't try to say the average Roman was evil, just frequently cruel by Christian standards. I don't argue that Rome ever had a paucity of achievements. I definitely don't think Rome was uninteresting or unworthy of deep study. I do increasingly wonder if we aren't all missing the forest for the trees and failing to recognize that ancient Rome was all in all a great psychopathic enterprise in human depravity run wild amid Godlessness. So, having read both sides, and understanding that "good" and "Evil" are terms that may mean different things to different people - would any of you like to weigh in? Come on, quirites, this place has been dead of late! It could use a good old ethical discussion!

I saw a video of this excavation on FB last week. These mosaics are perfectly preserved and give us a glimpse of how vibrant and colorful the ancient world's artwork really was: http://sci-news.com/archeology/science-mosaics-ancient-city-zeugma-02307.html

I never have been a huge fan of Cato's - his unwillingness to change or compromise did as much to spark the Civic Wars as Caesar's pride did - but I am always willing to re-evaluate my opinions, so I'd definitely give this a read.

Human nature is the one great constant of history, is it not?

It's been a while since I visited here, but I just posted a new short story on my blog that I thought my fellow Romanophiles might enjoy. Check it out and feel free to leave me some feedback, here or in the comments section of my blog: Family ties in ancient Rome could be both a blessing and a curse - especially if you were a member of the Julio-Claudian line. BROTHERS is the story of an unexpected family reunion, late in the reign of Caesar Augustus: www.lewisliterarylair.blogspot.com

Fascinating - I was just there a couple of months ago. Caesarea was my first real experience with a Roman city that is pretty well-preserved, and it was breathtaking!

That's quite a hoard! I live on the wrong continent . . . .

Life's just been very busy! But I did something this week that I thought my fellow Romanophiles might enjoy. It's a short story of ancient Rome as remembered by an ancient Roman. It's entitled "REGRETS." I published it on my blog last night, and you can read it here, along with excerpts from my novels and my other musings about life, archeology, history, and faith: http://www.lewisliterarylair.blogspot.com Let me know what you think of "REGRETS." I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out.

This is a fascinating discovery! A shame it's not going to be excavated and put on public display.

History is all about people, in every era. Rome produced some seriously outsized personalities!

I think that the "Massacre of the Infants" is certainly within the scope of Herod's cruelty and abilities; what most people forget is that Bethlehem was a town of around 200 or so at the end of Herod's reign. The murder of every male child below the age of 2 would have been less than 10% of that number, most likely. It may have been too small an event to have been recalled by Josephus nearly a century later. But we know that such violence was certainly not out of character with Herod, who had five of his own sons put to death.