Spurius
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Posts posted by Spurius
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"The unfortunate individual whose tumble down a museum staircase left three hugely valuable Chinese vases in pieces has attributed the accident to a "Norman Wisdom moment"."
See the article here.
I've had days like that (when I was a drinker), but fortunantly not nearly as expensive as this.
Over a hundred thousand.... :bag:
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Well, since I won't be in attendance (you know what I mean) I could be ground up into pig feed for all I care.
But funerary rites are for the living loved ones, I happen to know that the missus will fry me. Good.
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Her name is Mariann Elizabeth.
You can read more about her in my blog.
Merry New Year to you all.
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Barry Allen - The Flash
Hal Jorden - Green Lantern
and the big blue boyscout:
Superman
Heh, come to think of it...all three have died at one point or another. Kind of morbid.
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In the 80's, the total sum of income of a common worker to that of the CEO of a company was about 8 to 30 times. Today it is 300 times. I don't suppose the centralization of money has anything to do with the fall of the middle class? Perhaps our real problem is we do not have a Gracchus.
Ted Kennedy?
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Thanks for the names so far, and there are a few that do hit a chord.
Congrats Spurius...How about a place name? Do you have lineage to Europe that you can trace. Perhaps name her for your ancestral home or a nearby landmark (river, mountain, city, etc.)?
Well my Dad was from Northern Ohio, and his family can trace its roots back through Missouri, Pennsylvania and New York...and, not kidding here, were of less than desirable status during most of that time (lots of jail time and running from law family legends). So I guess, American mutt.
My Mom was from Pategorsk, near the Black Sea. Her family had several generation roots there...all Russian descent. She didn't go home after being taken as slave labor by the Nazis and met my Dad in Germany. So, that side is Russian from the Black Sea area. (Her name was Vera)
I'll be bouncing the first of these off my wife tonight.
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Ave!
Let me announce my future daughter to you all. She is due in May and I'm here to officially ask for your help.
While my dear wife has many names to bounce off of me, I am drawing what could best be described as a blank. You, my friends, will help me...I hope.
Could you please rattle a few favorite Roman names off my head? Keeping with the nature of this site, you can suggest non-Roman or provincial names but first suggest at least one related to Rome.
I will let you know if we use one of your suggestions, and I will even gift a book or other item in gratitude to the person who first suggests a name we choose.
(Oh, and Livia is right out...sorry!)
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I understood the Persians to be a distinctly different animal than the Parthian empire hence they weren't included, but I'm no expert on them.
You're right, I was using too much short hand.
(Mental note: edit,edit,edit
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It generally looks like whichever's empire star was waxing, was the one who won battles. Ultimately it was the dissolution of the Parthians that decided the issue.
A quick review of some major battles and seiges:
1) Carrhae (or Harran) - We all know about Crassus and his debacle and Antony's losses. His final failure though left Augutus the task of stabilizing the frontier. Using the diplomatic work Antony had laid out, Augustus succeeded. It wasn't until Severus captured Harran by conquering the Kingdom of Osrhoene that Rome fortified and stayed.
2) Hatra - Trajan seiged the city and lost in 117, Severus gained the city as part of the concessions he won in 198, Rome lost it in 238 and finally the Parthians razed the city in 241 during a conflict.
3) Edessa - Again, a well discussed Roman defeat resulting in the capture of emperor Valerian in 260.
4) Ezerum - In 297 King Narseh is defeated after initial success in the east. His family is captured as hostage, and emperor Galerius gets good terms: Five client states plus recognition of Roman control of Armenia.
So, it did seem to be about economies and who was on their game as to which empire would defeat the other in battle.
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Nothing wrong with a discussion of atlases and compendiums in a geography based thread. It's always good to find out about other source material I've never seen or used.
I hope to use the information on city status in a larger post following the political career of a famous roman. By getting it, and other posts I'm working on, in here I hope to show all of you what I do in my spare time to aid teachers and lecturerers with their students.
(all within this site of course, no hot linking to here or elsewhere Viggen
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At the start of the empire, and despite efforts toward uniformity of administration, most provincial cities could be divided into one of three types:
1) Those that paid a tribute to Rome (stipendium ) and were subject to the legal control of the provincial governor over all of their legal affairs. The majority of cities fell into this category.
2) Autonomous cities who ruled their affairs and judiciary apart from the control of the province and the provincial governor. This was usually a case of Rome granting this status to them
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There is a tradition of using foreign guards in many eastern or asian influenced areas. By having guards from far lands, the ruler helps ensure their loyalty because without him the guards have no support. There's no family/clan structure for the guards in the area, save the ruler and his household. Their loyalties to the ruler then become as loyalty to family. Eunuchs are a more radical displacement since you take away their potential to have a family so they adopt the rulers' household.
The Varangians are an extention of this idea. Large rewards drew them into service, as well as the lure of the city. Most stayed, fewer went home with their money at mustering out. Those who did go back served as recruiting examples to keep a steady stream of volunteers coming in. But there are always limits, and mercenaries do become a liability after awhile, see "The Prince."
On a side note: The could be viewed as a secondary cause in the long standing fight of the Rus and Russia to gain the straits. There's been dead Rus there for how long?
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Ah, back when I was 35, (*cue music*) "It was a very good year...." (/music: for sanity of others)
I only counted one other person in the post 40 Club...any others?
In really real life: I'm a bureaucrat and bean counter at the Ohio State University (Treasurer's Office). I have a degree in Journalism and another in History (Islamic emphasis, not Rome, alas). I cooperate and contribute to several projects and groups concerned with the teaching of history.
And I have used this site as an example of where several different age groups can contribute with low friction and good standards. Keep up the good work all of you.
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Thanks to you all.
I have been distracted of late
, but I also wish to pass the news why: We're expecting a little girl (May 12 due date). ^_^ A toast and cigars all around.
(Keep this quiet, because my wife'll kill me, but I was going to run a name suggestion thread soon in the forum. I'll be posting soon...
)Happy Christmas to all.
Oh, and Lost_Warrior I hope you can get it delivered. It's a good map. Let her take a good look at this site if she needs convincing to permit it to be delivered to a neutral third address.
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<offtopic>We do not allow hotlinking from other sites, and as a courtesy to the webmaster of those pictures we do not want them to be hotlinked here either, therefor i removed the images and just displayed the links...
regards
viggen
</offtopic>
My bad. I'll get on the flogging....
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Heh, this reminds me of a couple lines from a childs song:
"Look here comes our police force.
"Three men on one horse, I wonder: Who's boss?"
Let the umpah-pah-pahs roll....
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I'm kind of partial to Military's answer: ballista
These cast iron tips are nine to ten centimeters long:
http://www.legionxxiv.org/catapulta/ballistaboltpoints.jpg
and the thrower:
http://www.ihistory101.net/espanol/rome-pi...ge-machines.gif
Ouch.
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This guy's house is about 45 minutes away from where I live. Neat lights and low power radio for the audio (so the neighbors don't get the noise).
Big problem: the street traffic it generated as the story and video broke across the internet, even though it was last years display. Last time I checked there was an injunction against him and he was filing for traffic permits during limited time periods for his new piece.
He's done light displays other years too. He actually posted intructions on how to do it here and another one of his light shows here.
Happy Christmas!
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What do you think about the methods used for the death penalty?are you in favour of the Euphonasia style (injection) or would you prefer they used a rope or a bullet?
Some recent evaluations of recorded data (I'll try to find an on-line source but I'm very distracted right now) suggest that lethal injection is more like a hanging without the possibility of a neck snap. It paralyzes and then sufficates the injected. The "putting them to sleep and then lethally injecting" is false. Brain activity is the same as an "awake" person, they just can't move or cry out effectively. So, it's death by slow strangulation.
If you're going to kill someone, have the guts to do it quick public instead of slow and out of sight. The guillotine perhaps...
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I do not support the death penalty any more. There have been too many instances of systemic abuse uncovered to grant this power to any person or political entity.
What I would do in the rage of revenge is not what the state should do for justice.
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Ah, the old chestnut...
I ask one of them: " Would the other person in the room with you tell me it is safe to go through that door, yes or no?"
If the answer is "Yes," then go through the other door. If the answer is "No," go through the door you asked about.
Logic: If the person you are talking to lies, they will tell you the opposite of what the truthful person would actually say. Thus: Safe as an answer would be translated to unsafe (No), and unsafe translated to safe (Yes). So, go through the "No" door.
And it follows that the truthful person would repeat the same thing since they would be truthfully stating the lie the other person would give. (Liar would say Safe or "Yes" for unsafe, "No" or unsafe for the really safe one.)
This puzzle used to give me fits...
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Or you can put it this way (since all this is, is fun with words):
The men gave the Hotel $30, the Hotel gave the men $3 back. 30-3=27 or nine bucks spent each.
The two bucks in the Manager's pocket is a deceptive amount, since the Hotel owner fired him for skimming money... saving not only his salary and benefits but probably filing suit for any money the accountants find missing.
So in reality, the Hotel owner made out like a bandit.
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To save Constantinople you would have had to first kick the Ottomans out of Europe and back into Asia Minor (Turkey). They had a strangle hold from the straits to the Danube (thanks to the reconquests of Murad II and Muhammad II) and the Byzantines would have withered even if the city was safe. The Ottomans had suffered several set backs earlier, but had proven their tenacity in wanting the southeast of Europe and the city.
That would necessitate a prolonged campaign in an area well known not to like ANYONE not native to the area (and quite a few of their neighbors who were). So the costs would have been high for the crusade. The optimal time to try this would have been when the Ottomans were subjucating the other turks or the one campaign against the Mamluks, but difficult to do since military intelligence was at a minimum (unless you bribed Venice well enough).
Also, since only France really had a standing army and a small one at that, the crusaders would have had to be promised a sacking of the whole area. That would have made Venice really paranoid. Not a good thing.
And that whole Hundred Years War thing only recent ending probably would have meant that the English and French would have to be kept seperate and out of each other's country...
So I don't know what incentive would have been enough.
What Religion Are You?
in Hora Postilla Thermae
Posted
I suppose I am closest to a Muslim right now. "Submission to God"
Though I cannot say that I truely believe in much of anything, which is kind of a sad statement actually. Oh well...