Princeps

Did he pull his toga over his head? Every time I've seen him die he doesn't do this, but I've read that's what he actually did (so that his enemies could not see him die apparently).

BBC1 Tuesday night around 10 I think. Repeated on Sunday. (Possibly wrong about both of those times though). Does anyone have a link to HBO? We should all mail them and beg for another series.

http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/static/pages/3499.html Glad to see the Enterprise has made it's return

Hard to say really. Do you get many BBC productions? What about HBO? (I'm thinking Sopranos, but I'm sure they've done other stuff too).

It does. Not sure why Pertinax has chucked Canada in there too.

An oldie, that won several awards. The tyres are specially weighted (the weight being off set somewhere within the tyre). That's the only real fake they used, I think everything else is legit in that ad.

Yes, that first sentence in your reply is what I was intending to say - the British museum saw the value of the marbles and rightly intended to preserve guard them with the greatest of care. I really don't think that the Greek government deserve to have them back considering their attitude in the past (ie leaving them out in the open with absolutely no regard fot their signifigance). They would do a good job nowadays, but they've lost the chance of that as far as I am concerned.

I saw a programme on tv the other day where the cast of "I Clavdivs" analyzed the series. Being in my early 20s (ok mid 20s ) I missed the original series. However, I was suprised to hear their views on Roman history (back in those days the majority of BBC actors were the public school Cambridge types, yet they seemed remarkably ignorant on certain aspects of Roman history - eg they seemed to think Augustus was a weak minded buffoon, and that his wife (can't remember her name) was the real power behind the Empire). What concerned me most though were the views on Caligula - they all seemed to think he was literally stark raving. Examples- 1) His belief that he was a devine being. Mad? Not really - it was a fairly common belief (or at least commonly used propaganda). Hadrian's orders were to be considered devine. In later history, the Japanese Emperor was also thought of as a devine life form. What made Caligula so mad? 2) He made his horse a Senator. Madness? Not really - I always considered this a slap in the face of the Senate, a display of power and arrogance, not a serious action. 3) His Brittanic booty (sea shells). imo a ham-fisted attampt at saving face. Did he literally see the shells as valuable treasure, or just symbolic of his adventures? 4) The most contentious point - cutting his unborn child from the womb and canibalising it. This last one would surely be the act of a madman, but did it actually happen? Many serious texts that I've read seem to suggest that this is pure fiction, but I can't be sure of this.

What's your view on the return of the Elgin marbles to Greece? Being English, I am probably biased to some degree, but personally I think they should stay in England. I have seen these in person, and they are absolutely amazing, some of the greatest works of art I have ever encountered. Why should they stay here? Well, as I understand it, when Elgin encountered them they were being systemattically destroyed by the local population (ground up into dust I believe, though for what ends I cannot say). It was an act of preservation to take them, and I shudder to think of how may were destroyed. Now that the Greek government realises the true value they want them back, well tough luck (no offence to Greece, my girlfriend is half Greek). What's your view?

Please elaborate Ursus, I'm not sure what you mean.

Personally I think the main problem with the system was his aversion to dynasties. If he had compromised on this issue it may have been a more successful endeavour (would have lasted longer at least), but the tensions created by his insistance on not allowing the senoir Emperors' sons to become Caesars created issues and rivalries. That's my opinion.

It's really kicking off now on BBC (2nd episode). I thouroughly enjoyed the treachery and military wranglings in this episode (but missed the first 15min, have to catch the repeat). I thought the bit where Octavian and his family were arguing over who should kill who etc was a little bit silly (unrealistic), but it made good comedy drama, so it was ok I suppose.

atm im listening to "shake it off" by mariah carey. Before that it was hard-fi (cctv), and before that Ian Brown (Solarized)

It is a regional/language not a political poll, New Zealander and Australians are also not the same, still i put them together, and well Europe without UK/Ireland are about 50 countries, i dont have so many options for a poll, so unless Ireland wants to be lumped together with the rest of Europe it stays that way... cheers viggen ok, good point. I suppose that most Americans know the distinction anyway, given the Irish heritage of many.

Not wanting to be a **** or anything, but I gotta object to the UK and Ireland being lumped together! I am sure some of the Ireland people may do too. They are two very different places (check out the history of WW2 for example). That's where I'm from though.

I'd also like to add "Caesar" and "Soldier blue" (though that one depressed me a bit).

How narrow minded! I hate designer clothing. I do like painting and reading though, and I used to go gyming (now I swim). I am a student of architecture. And president of the Doctor Who fan club.

Trajan 96% Vespasian 82% Augustus 82% Marcus Aurelius 71% Hadrian 68% Tiberius 61% Nerva 57% Antoninus Pius 54% Claudius 50% Vitellius 46% Domitian 43% Commodus 43% Nero 29% Caligula 18%

That is correct I think. It was done out of the public eye.

Or not! It was all or nothing at Actium. His first big mistake (imo) was to carry on the main sails to his vessels, that would have seriously undermined his troops' confidence. I'm also not sure how well Antony did in naval battles (he was an infantry General wasn't he?) where as Agrippa was a celebrated Naval officer afaik. He'd also lost the propaganda war by that point. That considered, he should not have been fighting a breakout battle (as, imo, he would have been unlikely to gather enough support to take Octavian on land).

Patrician You scored 81% on Social Skills! You are one of the ruling elite. Thought your family may not be rich in money, you are rich in power and through that power you can replinish your coffers at will. Caesar doesn't trust you, nor should he. You don't trust Caesar or the Plebians (citizens), as you know just how fickle the two can be. Thus you spend lavish sums to put on games, festivals and theater performances for the masses, in an attempt to show up Caesar. You play a dangerous game with the crocodile, in the hopes that he will eat you last... I think we all got Patrician because we probably all followed the example of the previous great Emperors.

"There were 80 complaints about it, many concerning the graphic sex and violence scenes shown just after the watershed." Heh! That's quite a few . There were rather a lot of gratuitous sex scenes imo.

Indeed, hence the question. No matter I suppose as everyone gets a chance eventually. I just hope this thread hasn't been too much of a spoiler for our Brit and other European visitors. Nope, not for me at least. I have left this thread well alone until tonight. I really enjoyed the first episode. I'm not entirely sure I liked the portrayal of Pompei though. Kind of pandered to the misconception that he was an idiot of some kind. Just my opinion, looking forward to next week though

---(a group of countries under a single authority) An accurate definition for both the British Empire and the USSR.