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Emperor Goblinus

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Posts posted by Emperor Goblinus

  2. Question About Constantinople

    in Postilla Historia Romanorum

    Posted

    I think that the emperor appointed the consuls. I think that the Byzantine consulships were either filled by the emperor and a member of his family, like his son, two prominent senators, or a prominent military commander, as in the case of Belisarius.

     

    (This topic is good, but it needs to be moved to the post-Roman section)

  3. Byzantine Imperial Women

    in Postilla Historia Romanorum

    Posted

    Excellent question. I'm not so sure if it was the culture itself which allowed a few women to become really powerful, but the woman themselves and the circumstances they were in. Women like Theodora and Irene were extremely powerful personalities and when they wanted something, they got it. With Irene, she was extremely brutal in keeping her power. Many people resented her power, and the pope refused to recoqnize her imperial influence in the West, and may have been one of the reasons behind the crowning of Charlemagne as the western emperor. She was eventually overthrown and replaced by Constantine V(?). As for Theodora, her personality, tenacity, and influence over Justinian allowed her to become influential, if not ruler in her own right. Another famous Byzantine imperial woman that comes to mind in Zoe, who I think did rule the empire for some time, but I know little about her.

    So I think it was more the women themselves, rather than the culture which generally stressed female subservience, that allowed people like Theodora, Irene, and Zoe to become so powerful. Also, you must realize that all of these women were royalty, if not born royalty in the case Theodora who had humble beginnings, but being part of the royal family automatically bestowed a great deal of power upon them, and there have been many royal women throughout history beyond Byzantium that have become very influential in their own kingdoms and empires. The case of the Byzantine empresses is not necessarily unique when it comes to royal women in general. For the everyday, humble Byzantine woman, they were strictly subservient to their husbands, like probably almost all medieval women, and could only operate within their own small, limited sphere of life designated to them by society. The famous Byzantine women were powerful nobles and royalty, and were either born with or married with, the empire at their fingertips.

  4. Severus Alexander

    in Imperium Romanorum

    Posted

    From what I've read, he was a crappy emperor that filled important posts with actors and charioteers, insulted Roman religious traditions all around, ignored the problems of foreign affairs, wasted huge amounts of money on pointless extravagances (something many emperors were guilty of), and was hopelessly under the control of his mother. Did he contribute anything positive to the Roman state?

  9. Byzantine Republicanism

    in Postilla Historia Romanorum

    Posted

    Interesting. I did not about the Constantinopolitan Senate, but I didn't know that it had emperor-making powers that late.

    What I'm really trying to get at is if at any point in Byzantine records, coins, or anywhere else were there references to the "Senate and the People of Rome," or other such nostalgic republican propaganda, despite the rigid monarchy?

  12. Book List Recommendation

    in Libri

    Posted · Edited by Viggen

    Some of my favorites are:

    Diocletian and the Roman Recovery by S. Williams. An excellent book giving the background of Diocletian's time, his life, his reign, and what happened afterward.

    1453 by Roger Crowley. A rather new book about the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, and the preceding history leading up to it. Very well written and lively.

    The Year of the Four Emperors by K. Wellesley. Good book about the civil war in A.D. 69. Fast paced and quite dramatic at times.

    Justinian: The Last Roman Emperor by G.P. Baker. As you might have guessed, it's about the reign of Justinian. Again, quite lively and factual.

    The Last Pagan by Adrian Murdoch. A rather new book about the emperor Julian. Very engaging.

    The History of the Roman Empire by Herodian. The translated text of Herodian, going from Marcus Aurelius to the ascension of Gordian III. There are some factual inaccuracies, but all in all, a very good and gripping read.

  16. Byzantine Republicanism

    in Postilla Historia Romanorum

    Posted

    To it's dying days, the empire in the West continually made nostalgic references to the republic, about how victorious emperors were "restoring the republic" and "honoring the Senate," even though by then it was basically a complete autocracy. In the Byzantine period, despite the fact that it was an absolute monarchy, did the Byzantines still give any reference to the republic, or was that kind of thinking, even just for nostalgic or propaganda purposes, completely gone?

  19. Invitation To A Forum

    in Hora Postilla Thermae

    Posted

    What is the forum about?

     

    In name, it's a local forum for Spokane, Washington. But anyone can join. We have a member from Idaho, I'm from Virginia, and at its sister forum, there is a member from Britain and another from Japan.

     

    ...but largely one-sided (very conservative). I've seen that there is alot of diversity of opinion here, across the field.

     

    Ya' think? Here an excerpt from one couch-commando (in the military forum):

     

    "Why the friends of the left blow themsleves up near schools and children is beyond me, I suppose the left and terrorists have a common thread - they like to exterminate babies and children."

     

    Close enough to Northern Idaho that I'm not suprised. I'm originally from Eastern Oregon Globlinus--Arlington/Boardman/Hermiston/Heppner area so it's actually an interesting forum to me.

     

    Do you go to Gonzaga by any chance?

     

    The only Gonzaga I'm familiar with is the Jesuit hight school in Washington, D.C. I never attended, but a few of my friends have.

    I'm not too familiar with the politics or ideologies of that region of the US, although I do know that the western/Seattle region of Washington tends to lean more left, and the east, more right. I don't agree with alot of what is said there, but I still enjoy debating there. No controversy, no fun. :lol:

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