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Pantagathus

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Posts posted by Pantagathus

  4. The Barbarians

    in Historia in Universum

    Posted

    Donna,

     

    I guess it depends on where you draw the line with the term 'Barbarian.'

     

    Would the early archaic latin speaking Romans have considered a rough and tumble tribe of Oscan speakers from Campania or Umbrian speakers from the Apennine mountains to be barbarians by the definition adopted from the Greeks? Maybe, maybe not; I personally think not.

     

    Also, we certainly aren't left with the impression that the early Romans considered Etruscans to be barbarians.

     

    So I think the safe answer is to say that the Celtic tribes like the Senones and the Boii that pushed into Etruscan territory around the 4th Century BC were indeed the first true barbarians that the Romans fought against. Because even though the Ligurians were always closer to Roman territory proper, Rome didn't start really clashing with them until more into the 3rd Century BC (mid to late).

  5. Latin Gazetteer for UNRV Members

    in Lingua Latina

    Posted

    For the Latin scholars on this board: Any comments regarding whether or not these are plausible Latin translations by Vicipaedia's contributors?

    If Andrew Dalby sees this Nephele you'll get a 2 for 1 deal because I seem to remember him mentioning that he contributes to Vicipaedia...

     

    Anyway I love what they call the United States: Civitates Foederatae Americae

     

    I also love the name of my home state: Carolina Septentrionalis (North Carolina)

  6. Plebeians and Patricians

    in Res Publica

    Posted

    EDIT: A better analogy might be Americans who take such enormous pride in tracing their families back to the Mayflower. These American patricians didn't begin as richer than the later immigrants, they were just first and long-established. In fact, those Massachusetts puritans were originally so far from rich that they were stealing and begging food from the natives.

    And the reason people do has nothing to do with the wealth involved with those first settlers but with the bragging rights of being the most American because they were established from the very beginning. Hereditary wealth and power are often a byproduct of successful family groups that stay firmly established over time.

     

    It's a great analogy Cato becuase I imagine that was exactly what made Patricians who they were initially; the claim to being the first families of Rome regardless of initial wealth. But for the ones that maintained tight control over the family assests over the years, wealth and power were inevitable.

  8. Recent Forum Upgrade

    in Renuntiatio et Consilium Comitiorum

    Posted

    For anybody who had a profile picture loaded under the old configuration, it appears that the upgrade borked those files.

     

    So if you'd rather not show up as that lovely dead image file "X" icon in someones friend's list then please reload your pic. It only takes a few moments.

     

    In that light, I'd love to see more people load a profile pic (either real or avatar-like) now that the profile page seems to loom larger after the upgrade.

  11. New Forum.

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    One of you guys gave me a two in terms of rating. LOL :lol:

    If I ever figure out what you are talking about, wait till you see my rating! :lol:

    When viewing somebody's profile, on the left under their picture, you can rate them in a 5 star system.

     

    However, putting my MOD hat on for a second let me take this opportunity to say that it would be most unfortunate if this system were to be abused like it so often is in other forums.

     

    'One Star Wonders' (meaning people who go around giving people low ratings out of spite) won't be tolerated. It'll be a quick road to banville... :ph34r:

     

    /takes MOD hat off

     

    Rameses that does seem like quite an injustice! It should have been a 1 Star! :huh:

  12. Sanitation.

    in Romana Humanitas

    Posted

    Second, if refuse was a problem, it would also be on the sidewalks unless people had a good aim or aimed at all.

    I tend to argee with Gaius in that I think we tend to overly generalize the sanataion conditions across the board in various locals throughout the span of the ancient world.

     

    The evidence seems to indicate that in Rome proper for most of it's history, sanitation was of course a high priority. Not remembering the exact reference but Strabo discusses it in length when talking about Rome.

     

    Rome undoubtably had street cleaners to suppliment it's celebrated sewer system. I don't know the Latin word is but a verb in Greek for cleaning away refuse is anakatharsis. It had to be quite similar to what Appian describes in his treatment of the 3rd Punic War (because Carthage's housing blocks were laid out with spillways for refuse to be cleaned out by a public service):

     

    "The street cleaners, who were removing the rubbish with axes, mattocks, and forks, and making the roads passable..."

     

    But, back to Gaius' original question:

    I was thinking more in terms of throwing an old pot away or wood, leather, marble chips, etc. Stuff like that.

    If you dig into it, you find it quite evident that the Romans used that kind of refuse extrensively to level ground during building/engineering projects. Many archaeology sites have been preserved because the Romans covered old thing over with such rubble!

  15. Rome And Usa.

    in Arena

    Posted

    Am I the only one that is apathetic to American hegemony?

     

    I look at the mindless postmodern culture America is exporting to the world and I feel cold. Numb. Alienated. Bored. Unimpressed. Uninspired. Underwhelmed. If this an empire, then they don't make empires like they used to. The Romans might appreciate our military superiority, but I think they would laugh at our alleged culture.

    This statement provides the perfect opportunity to propose that the USA in its current state has much more in common with Carthage than Rome

  17. How many Hasdrubals were there?

    in Res Publica

    Posted

    Yeah, unfortunately the primary Greco-Roman sources are pretty uninventive in their attempt to translate Punic names into Latinized forms. It seems from Livy and the like that everybody is either a Hannibal, Hasdrubal, Hamilcar or a Mago...

     

    Of course the reality was that Punic names were quite a bit more diverse as evident from epigraphic data in Punic tophets/cemetaries. However, many of these names must have sounded quite odd, cumbersome or even barbaric to a typical Greek or Roman.

     

    With the names used often, here are examples what they probably were closer to in Punic:

     

    Hannibal = Hannobaal

    Bomilcar = Bodmelqart

    Hamilcar = Hadmelqart

     

    One of my favorite Punic names is Esmounhilles...

  23. Catamites.

    in Res Publica

    Posted

    We have no evidence of the reaction of Octavian himself to this - it might well have been a huge sort of ...'whatever'...!

    Kind of like the National Enquirer saying that President Bush & the first lady are getting divorced... :ph34r:

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