jesuisavectoi

My main goal for 2011 is to raise my GPA and do better than I did last semester, which was good enough that I could transfer into a higher degree but with some wiggle room in case I did terribly in a unit later on but I'm my harshest critic. I won't rest until it's all HD's (high distinctions)

I'm not French, but I studied it for 2 years and fell in love with it. Fantastic language. Hence the name and avatar. I think the course is primarily reading with some writing and I picked that up pretty instantaneously with French - hopefully that's a good sign!

Hi all! I'm considering taking up Latin this coming semester at university but I don't know anyone who has done it so I'm hoping that some of you out there have and can leave me your thoughts on it. How did you find it? Was it challenging? Are there any languages that might help you pick it up faster? and more importantly, did you enjoy it? I'm so excited to start it but I'm just a little worried, a lot of people wanted to drop out of the course last semester because they found it too difficult.

I've heard good things about Always I Am Caesar by Jeffrey Tatum. It's supposed to by quite entertaining, so it shouldn't be too dry to read either.

I've only seen a couple documentaries and skimmed over a couple books so all my opinions are pretty much just first impressions, feel a bit embarrassed about how off the mark I seem to be! You all have some really interesting points.

Set for release this year and classed as "in development" by IMDb.com is I, Claudius, the film. Has anyone heard anything about this?

The books I'm reading now might be of some use to you then! It's "Life in Ancient Rome" by F.R Cowell, first published in 1961. I've only read the first 20 pages or so but so far it's covered housing, furniture, gardens, lighting etc; It cost me AUD$31 but I'd imagine it'd be much cheaper somewhere with a better dollar like the UK or US. It gets a bit dry if what's being discussed isn't that interesting to you and it does seem to make a couple of assumptions but when painting a picture of life back then I think that can be forgiven.

Sydney, Australia. Home of a big bridge and really bad ice hockey.

It seems when discussing the Emperors many modern sources class Nero as the worst Emperor. He didn't expand the empire, ransacked sacred temples etc; but is this merely based on our society's own guidelines of what is 'fas'? In our society his actions in his private life in many minds would outweigh any good done and at the same time possibly distract from any military blunders or political transgressions and extended periods of absence from the state, which seems odd when whilst the empire was rocky after his death it was still for the most part intact.

Congratulations, did you get into MacQ? if you did i hate you Yeah MacQ. I just scraped in though! The campus is amazing. Seriously, we have a lake! If you're at another uni now you can always transfer.

I have never read Plato nor Sophocles. What do they write about? ~I just finished reading 'The Kite Runner'. I disliked the main character a lot. Sophocles was a playwright, one of his most famous plays Oedipus inspired the Shakespearean play of the same name. He was Greek so not the most relevant to this site but the way each sentence is crafted to me is so beautiful. The Symposium is about a group of some of the best minds in Greece including Socrates talking about love; what it is, the types, love as a god etc; like I said if you can get past the societal differences it actually is pretty heartwarming to read. Socrates speech in it confuses me though, I've re-read it a couple times now but it didn't help. It's more the re-telling of the event so there's undoubtedly a lot of creative license going on.

I'm after any book in the Loeb Classical Library collection but the only ones I can find in Sydney are $50+ each. I've looked in second hand stores but no luck. If there's anyone who can help me out I'd be so grateful. It's that time of year again to expand my library!

Hi there! I seem to constantly get an error when I try to load the pages to add an avatar, signature and edit my profile etc; I've verified my account so I'm at a loss. Any help at all would be great and don't worry, I'm not always this bad with technology Thanks, Becky.

What was it that made an Emperor to be deemed successful? They all had individual opinions, strengths, weaknesses and visions for Rome and the Empire yet they all had the same or similar enough power. Also, who, in your opinion was the 'best' Emperor? I'm just getting back into this period and would love to here all of your thoughts. I do realize that the emperors or princeps didn't have to adhere to the same guidelines as officials elected during the Republic, just thought it'd be an interesting talking point since it is mainly Claudius, Caligula and Nero that you hear of, perhaps because of how sordid they're rules were. Becky.

Some great points here! I think I was pretty lucking getting into my university, they're the most comprehensive for Ancient History in the state, have their own museum and have a strong connection with archaeological digs which students can participate in. Here's hoping my GPA's good enough to go on one of them!

Plato The Symposium. I'm in the process of reading it now and I love it! I read a bit to my boyfriend but he couldn't see past the boyfriends/lover thing and didn't care for it at all but if you can manage to see past that and read it completely objectively it's a great read. I think next I'll re-read my very weathered copy of the complete plays of Sophocles. Perfect way to spend a rainy day here in Sydney.

Anything to do with religion, society and women in Rome would probably be some of my favourite topics and all of the sordid tales of course!

I would love to meet Tiberius Gracchus, he was a major part in a unit I studied this past semester and I just couldn't help but feel sympathetic for the guy! I'd at least settle for Doctor Who to go back and maybe give him a warning, though I doubt he'd listen! I just totally revealed how much of a nerd I am, didn't I?

I don't have my Plutarch's Roman Lives with me but I wrote an essay for a class this past semester about Sulla. The scene that Plutarch sets I think is one of the most horrific ones, Romans were fleeing Rome for the protection of Sulla's camp during a battle, which immediately seems bizarre - people leaving their home, the Capitol, for protection in a battlefield, I think it was Marius who had taken control of Rome, or was at least a major player in it and they begged Sulla to come back to Rome and help. As you can imagine bloody chaos ensues and they basically trade one dictator for another. He also describes Sulla leading the way with a blazing torch burning the city, citizens throwing roof tiles to protect their homes etc; Thousand were killed during this siege, and no mercy was shown. The proscriptions mentioned before as well were brutal. That being said, I'm a little skeptical of Plutarch's accounts (a topic my essay ending up revolving around!) it just seems a little too sensationalized for a secondary source.

I was watching a documentary about Nero the other day, it was really interesting. The people loved him for a while, whether this was because of the role his advisers had or his lineage and he had some great intentions for Rome after the most of the city was destroyed in fire but seemed to lack understanding about how to go about it,from the accounts I've read he sounded like a complete spoiled brat so I'd imagine budgeting wouldn't have been on his mind! He wouldn't everything and refused to wait, even ransacking a temple to get money for lavish statues, artwork, building etc; but I think when we look back at Nero the bad will always outweigh the good to most people, this is a man who killed both his wives and then had a young slave castrated to become the living image of his deceased second wife. Speaking of that, I haven't had much luck in researching Sporus, the castrated servant, I think it was mentioned in Suetonius but I can't find anything with a bit more detail. The psychological implications of that are fascinating, especially after Sporus kept up the facade years after Nero's death.

Hi there! My name's Rebecca and I'm a first year university student hoping to eventually get my Honours, Masters and Doctorate in Ancient Roman and Greek History, I'm also minoring in Anthropology which I start in less than a month now!