Jump to content
UNRV Ancient Roman Empire Forums

Tobias

Equites
  • Content Count

    633
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by Tobias

  1. That's what i was thinking of - it wouldn't be too helpful if a person with no combat experience or skill gained a position of responsibility in the legions for purely political reasons.
  2. Tobias

    Sappiness

    They say you can't say much more when it's all been said, but i'll say more; A big thank you to the entire admin team for making this site the great and highly populated site it is, and thank you to all the people for the fascinating discussion and great debates. "We all live in a mutual admiration society....." - Graham Kennedy and Toni Lamond
  3. Tobias

    The New Doctor Who

    Well, as i said, having not seen Tennant, i can't comment, but i respect your judgement and am certainly looking forward more than ever to seeing him I agree with the multi-part stories. I don't see anything wrong with two or three part series; maybe they feel that that was a mistake that contributed to the cancellation of the original series, i don't know.
  4. Tobias

    Avatars And Signatures

    Perhaps you should read everything before you post old boy; you're over a month too late. I've long since changed my avatar to Jon Pertwee from Colin Baker (as you'll see if you read one of my above posts). Believe me, I wouldn't be so stupid as to get the two confused, and i have few illusions as far as Doctor Who (or anything else for that matter) is concerned, thank you very much. Thank you for remembering Pantagathus
  5. Tobias

    Availability Of Arms And Armor

    Is this where the saying "The pen is mightier than the sword" comes from? What about lictors? I believe that they were armed with the axes in their fasces, but were they allowed inside the pomerium? I know that if they were guarding an individual with imperium, who was awaiting a triumph etc, they weren't allowed to cross the pomerium until the triumph and not at all otherwise.
  6. Tobias

    The New Doctor Who

    I thoroughly enjoyed the new series of Doctor Who, with Christopher Eccleston as the 9th Doctor. In Australia right now, they're replaying the entire Doctor Who series, and we're up to the series just before Doctor Who was placed on indefinite hiatus (effectively cancelled) due to lack of ratings, back in the late eighties. The new series is a vast improvement over Doctor Who in the late 80's, thanks to the revivals of the Daleks etc, for sure. Unfortunately, Christopher Eccleston, although he was a terrific Doctor, decided no to stay beyond the few episodes he did; we can only hope David Tennant has more longevity On that note, it's also rather unfortunate that Australia hasn't screened any of David Tennant's episodes yet. I'd love to have seen the Christmas Invasion, but we probably wont see it or the Tennant series until later in the year. Ah well, that's life, and as an avid Doctor Who fan, i'll remain patient As for Billie Piper, well i'm sure many got a slight surprise to see her talent; she is quite an asset to the new series.
  7. I'd appreciate that very much sir, thank you Out of interest; do they exhibit anything in the way of Byzantine artifacts at these things?
  8. Tobias

    Byzantine's Nero?

    Yeah perhaps - it was a lapse in detail; i was half asleep when i typed that It is certainly true that Theodora should be considered as the Byzantine's Nero - especially if half the stories about her sexual acrobatics are true, as well as her treatment of the Empire's best General, Belisarius
  9. Tobias

    Flame Warriors!

    Hmm, i don't wholly belong to any of those categories; i'm probably more of an eagle scout than any of the others (although i may not be viewed that way by my colleagues ) Hmm, i don't wholly belong to any of those categories; i'm probably more of an eagle scout than any of the others (although i may not be viewed that way by my colleagues ) "Eagle Scout is a positive, constructive Warrior who endeavors to submit original articles which contain useful content and relevant information with supporting citations and links, thus initiating meaningful discussion threads. Eagle Scout regards the internet as an uplifting, egalitarian, worldwide arena for the exchange of ideas among intelligent, thinking individuals. He does not openly attack, but will (ever tactfully) chastise disruptive comments, gratuitous insults and cretinous insipidity." Unfortunately, i believe i may have a touch of Jekyl and Hyde about me as well
  10. Tobias

    Avatars And Signatures

    Yeah, i've changed mine as well; i got sick of Banjo Patterson and looked through my little book entitled "Treasury of Quotations", and found this current one by Rudyard Kipling; i feel it's a pretty good quote And for my new Avatar, i've gone back three Doctors to the third doctor, acted by Jon Pertwee.
  11. Tobias

    Byzantine's Nero?

    Let us not quibble over details old fellow
  12. Tobias

    Latin Speakers

    G'day everyone A question struck me today when i was reading various topics on the site; roughly how many people in today's world can speak or write in latin fluently? I mean, the language has kind of died out - it's been relegated to higher education. But do any peoples still speak it natively or are taught it from birth? Or is just restricted to those of higher education? I'd appreciate some opinions on the subject
  13. Tobias

    Google In Latin

    It's funny how many things are written in latin in the modern world isn't it I've seen the latin version of a Harry Potter book, a latin version of Encyclopaedia Britannica and now a latin Google? It's very interesting.
  14. Tobias

    Byzantine's Nero?

    I would advance the name Alexius IV Angelus. Perhaps he was not as bad as Nero, but he was obviously a devious double-dealer, and rather stupid into the bargain. He promised the Fourth Crusade a huge sum of money to install him on the Byzantine throne; when he reached Constantinople, he and his co Emperor, Isaac II, could barely raise half of this sum. He then told the Crusaders he would do no more, and he was eventually killed, thus establishing the Latin Empire. He was motivated by greed and lust for power, and was towards the end rather unstable; a mere usurper. There is no denying the terrible damage he inflicted on the empire; perhaps the second fatal blow was administered thanks to him.
  15. Tobias

    Failed Plots

    I believe that the plot to assasinate Caesar would rank high as an ill-conceived plot. They killed an essentially effective administrator who was about to go and add further territory to the Republic. They had no long-term plan for the Republic. Thus, they were defeated by Antonius and Octavian. If these two hadn't been there, i shudder to think what course Rome would have taken (most likely total collapse or anarchy, in which case another like or worse than Caesar would have risen anyway). Sometimes i wonder what would have happened if Caesar had survived, went to campaign against the Parthians, and left Octavian to carry out his reforms? An interesting thought eh, although perhaps slightly irrelevant I was trying to find some failed plots of famous or influential Emperors in later Eastern Roman history, but i didn't get too far; the plots either succeeded or were detected and not written about in detail.
  16. Tobias

    Worst Roman Legacy To America

    It's obvious that for countries such as America, that are set up according to Imperial measurements, it would simply not be practical to just change the country's official system of measurement to metric. So what is the solution? Does America (And i refer to the United States of America) remain Imperial for the rest of it's existence? Or does it slowly, over time, become metric?
  17. Tobias

    Christmas Giveaway

    I haven't received mine yet - but i'm not surprised; once i bought something over Ebay from America that took about 3 months to arrive, so i'll remain patient
  18. Tobias

    Ignorant Instructors...

    Hmm, well, once i had a person (whom i knew had very little proper knowledge on the subject) proceed to lecture me in great detail exactly how Julius Caesar conquered Asterix and the Gauls
  19. Tobias

    Pumpkin Seed Oil

    Hmm, that looks very interesting. If it should ever reach Australian shores, i'll be sure to give it a try
  20. Don't worry about that mate - it's alright I'd love to go to this, but as i said above....ah well
  21. Again, the land on that side of the Black Sea was not necessarily safe (or charted), and another fact is that for much of the time, the Byzantines actually controlled quite a large amount of the Eastern Black Sea coast (Either directly or through client states). The best course to take was through the Byzantine's land - via the Silk Road. If you took precious goods through uncharted and potentially hostile lands, where you weren't necessarily likely to meet protective authorities such as the Byzantine Army, that would seem to me to put the goods at a bit of unnecessary risk. I hope i'm answering your question properly Favonius, and not just making it worse for you
  22. Tobias

    Late Roman Army

    Certainly much of the Roman army of the time was composed of Germans. It is hardly surprising considering the amount of migrations of the time, and (as has been above mentioned) the slight apathetic phase that the Roman citizens seemed to be going through. The Germans were of considerable use to the Romans as allies - and of course terrible as foes - and this is demonstrated at the Battle of Chalons. Aetius (amazingly) managed to ally both the Goths and the Alans to his cause (defeating Attila). I think that gives a bit of insight into whether the empire may have lasted longer or fought better if the Germans had not been ill treated.
  23. I believe you'd pretty much be able to join the legions at a very young age i.e. 17-20, if you were physically fit enough. Caesar had a system with which he placed his youngest recruits ("green" recruits) altogether in the highest numbered of his Legion. This legion would march, fight and be seasoned, and as he lost soldiers in his other legions, he would take the seasoned young men from this legion to plump out the numbers of his other legions. A good system; Unless the legion containing the youngest soldiers suffered heavily (i.e. Sabinus and Cotta in Gaul).
  24. Tobias

    Worst Roman Legacy To America

    Yeah, it's the same here. I've been brought up in the metric system, so to me using centimetres, metres, kilometres, litres, kilograms etc is just second nature. But my parents, grandparents etc all are still in Imperial. One of my relatives has hardly spent any money since 1966 (When decimal currency was introduced in Australia) because she doesn't understand the Dollar as opposed to the Pound. It's all relative - the old world refuses to die Although i live in a predominately Metric (officially) country, i hardly think that the Romans can be beaten up for keeping America to feet, yards etc.
  25. Tobias

    Why Are The Romans So Captivating?

    Exactly. The Romans had such profound influence on the world as we know it that it's difficult to avoid finding something that wasn't influenced by the Romans. They were a leading race of people - they broke ground in their own time, they beat enemies larger in power and expanded throughout all of known Europe. They produced men who wrote the military handbooks, and men who advanced technologies and medicine. I guess (for me at least) it's the sense of looking into such a great institution - of perhaps reliving it's greatness, that makes people enraptured in Rome.
×