Marcus Aurelius

It's my favorite day of the year. It seems so much more relevant than our "man made" (fake) holidays.

The knee jerk reaction many of us might have to re-forming a culture similar to Rome is "Oh! Wouldn't that be cool!" Certainly, some of why Romanization isn't possible has been touched on above. My opinion is that, if you take a close look at Roman history and civilization, some of its more incredible aspects, like its reliance on and casual acceptance of slavery, taking hostages in war, free gladiator spectacles as public entertainment, the power of the father over the family, its religion, the laws forcing men to marry and women to have children, etc. would overshadow any accomplishments it could achieve. The regime would be viewed as amongst the most notorious in the world and many powerful nations would be chomping at the bit to extinguish it, take its territory and be declared a hero, besides.

Excellent questions, leedx7. Remember that the Roman civilization existed for an incredibly l o n g time. What was done during one period often changed as time passed. I have read that at certain times during Rome's history, beards were very fashionable. At others, almost all free men were clean shaven. Some of those periods probably lasted for decades, maybe even centuries. Many men simply copied the style of the ruler(s). Interestingly, in many of our modern cultures "fashion trends" with regard to grooming, clothing, language and dance, do not start with the rich, but actually extend upwards from the poor.