Zeke

I agree with Ursus, and Viggen.....the system that we have now is perfect for my needs and many others. Since I can only come on about three days of the week as with the majority of the members here, I say that we continue to have the current system. Though it would be cool to make laws and be "Senators" and such I have a busy scedual and sometimes I just am TOO tired to post or contribute. Hence I like the fact that I am a Equestrian. I am one of the oldest members here, but I am also one of the last original members to post. The original members being from 2003 to early 2004. Hence lets just keep the system simple so people like me can come on occasionally and post. See yeah for now, Zeke P.S I think it would be cool if you made me Pontifex Maximus (Since I am the most Pagan of you all! HAHAHAHA just kidding.

I am furious right now, you know what I really don't like? When people don't appreciate history and they yell at you for liking it and call you a dork for liking it. It pisses me off alot! I am so tired of people not apperciating my love, has this ever happened to you? I am a high schooler in Hawaii and am currently 15, I am in a World History but everyone in the class is retarded...we have one of the lowest standards in the United States for education, but why do people have to insult history and not care to learn about it? I don't like math but I give it a try, the people in my stupid class don't try at all and make fun of me because I enjoy it so much. I am so angry, well I am done letting out my feelings, Zeke

Over the past months I have been thinking of adopoting a Patron simply because I want to feel closer to my religion through one god. I have reached out to many gods but one particullar god has found me, and wants to form some sort of friendship with me: Hermes has been the god that has answeared most of my prayers and seems to be closest to me when ever I need him. I think this has to deal with the fact that I am a teenage youth, I do altheltics and I plan on getting into market oriented business, all which Hermes rules over. Very soon I will be adopitng him as my own personal savior if he so wishes that of me. Do any Pagans know a formal way to adopt a god? Zeke

I feel rather guilty for no posting in the Blog section for a long time.

Well, I would like to say this is a wonderful site even though I only come on occasionally. My posts are in the high 300s at the moment. Zeke

Roman Arcitetueture and enginnering was a great thing given to the modern world.

The reason that 1,000 years of teconological advances were forgotten durning the Middle Ages was because of the Fuedal Kings and the Christian Bishops kept the normal people illerterate. The Middle Ages was a time period where everyone thought that the second comming of Jesus was very near, and science and technology was useless to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Middle Age people were bent on appeasing god and making the Earth ready for his comming. Earthly things were usless...the Kings of the Middle Ages used this to their advantage to keep the people in virtual slavery. Sorry about spelling, Zeke

Vitellius I heard was a preety horid ruler, basically a fat slob who just wasted his life away on selfish plreasures. Zeke

oh by the way...December 26th 2012 is the end of the Mayan Calenders that could be the end of the world.......... Zeke

Dudes......do you know whats really stupid? The fact that we have millions of acers of corn and 98% of it gets wasted each year because we already have enough food. But that 98% could be made into Ethol to be used in cars and run generators and factory machines....thus the stupidity of the Amercian Govemrnet, our unwilliningness to adapt and the oil corporations keeping the Ethol idea secret. Also we could run the whole Western half of our country on wind and solar farms...another thing that is being kept secret by the oil corporations. And finnally the paper issue.....I don't advocate drugs in anyway but do you know that 4 acers of trees is equivilant to 1 acer of hemp in temrs of 500 sheets of paper!!?!? Marjuana plants grow faster then regular trees as well. Thus is so stupid to keep cutting down whole forests and having to use more of them to make a matiral we cam make much more efficiantly with hemp or how about papyrus! The Egypitians used papyrus how come we can't?? sorry about spelling Zeke

It looks like a low budget show though...they don't even show the big battles.

but you know I think something really bad needs to happen....thats just the trend in history. The Roman Empire......good, then it fell and the Dark ages came about for 500 years......bad. Then the Revolution of Democracy.......good, then Imperlism........bad, were still in the bad phase. Were going to go out of the bad phase with a bang and then a new age of light that happened durning Rome will happen again. Sorry if that is a biased opinion Zeke

The simple fact of the matter is the only reason Christianity dominated was because it offered more of a dogmatic message then the ipsy-dispy belief of the Roman State Cults. People just want to hear a message, there not content with just sacrificing a cow they want to hear of what happens if we do this and where do we go if we do that. Zeke

Ok here is my opinion, I dare someone to fight this! First off in the imediate future either next month or 30 years from now a very gigantic plauge is going to hit the world and its going to be the most devestating thing ever seen by humanity. Come to think of it I accually hope Avian Flu is that plauge, I mean I don't like when people die, and I DON'T WANT TO DIE, but a plauge is needed to take down the population and restart the world. Basically it would clean out all the filth and corruption and the overpopulation that our world has. So here is the senerio if a great avian flu plague does hit... Since it is comming from South East Asia and China it is going to hit there first and its going to wipe out millions in a matter of months. The Chinese goverment will be so unprepared for it that people will just drop like flys..and since there are so many people in Asia the virus will be able to spread faster from person to person. Its going to spread to Europe rabildly and hundreds of thousands will die there. It will be in the United State within the week if there is a major outbreak and since there is no vaccination it will hit the US hard. Since we are the driving point for most of the world when our econmy crashes everything else will just go to the sewers. The great plague will be over in about 6 months to a year. The world will be a tottally different place.... Africa will basically be like a desoulute world. When the virus hit the population of all the little quarling sates will die out instasntly because half of them have aids. People with A.I.Ds will die no matter what. Society will be broken down into Tribes once more and war will stop there for about 15 years before the Africans pick up their wheapons to fight more and kill each other. Hence Africa will never become a world power or gain any sagnifigant influence anywhere because it goes through cycles of famine, war and dieses. South America won't be much better, their fragile economies will be gone with the outbreak of the flu and they will lose 10% of there people. The world will see a sudden shortage of tropical fruits and coffee. Australia.....well I don't know the Aussies have yet to surprise me. Mexico will have a nervous break down of sorts and all there people will run for the U.S border yet that will be America's doom because they will be carrying Avian Flu with them. The big cities of the U.S, New York, L.A. Chicago, Philidelphia, and others will all be hit hard and since so many people live in one place the flu will bounce from each person. The stock market will crash and martial law will be imposed, the U.S dollar will hyper-inflate and everything will be so expensive that there will be starvation in certain parts of the country. Since the U.S has such a low education and has no set evacuation plan more people will die here then in Europe. When the U.S econmy is shattered the American Giant will be dead unless it goes off to fight another war which it will not be capable to do because of the shortage of man power. The U.S won't have as many old people either and alot of the younger generation.....like myself will be whipped out. So you will have a bunch of middle aged people who survive. Your going to have a bunch of religious fanatics running around screaming about the end of the world and religion will suddenly find new hope in the thousands of homless, jobless people who managed to survive the flu. Meanwhile though Europe got hit real bad, it will be the least shattered because of its high education, it united econmy, and Germany will probably be the first nation to get a vaccination for the Flu. Not being racist against Germans but the Germans always come up with the best inventions and medicnes. Russia with its already dwindled population will cease to have a goverment and the nation will be divided by Orthodox Christians claiming the end of the world, Communists wanting to rebuild the soviet union, liberals trying to build a Democracy and a group of Russian Mafia agents controlling the major cities. So the U.S, China, and India will be very hard hit and there control of the world market will perish, replaced by the European Union. Since there will only be about 3 billion people on the Earth insteand of the 6 billion before the plague's outbreak there won't be over population, the enviromental problems that we have will begin to stop and nature will rebuilt itself with human hands. This time humanity won't mess up the enviroment and they will plant more trees to ease global warrming. The Germans will find more efficiant ways to do stuff and cars will run on bio-deisals. In fact more public transportation will be made avaliable and people will generally like to walk or drive golf carts everywhere. People will be less fat because they saw what happened to the poor Americans when the opened all their big corporations. In Europe corporations will go down to replaced by small bussiness and goverment controlled industries. Most of the goods will be made by craftsman instead of mass produced so not so much money will be produced and there will be like a 0.1% inflation level in Europe. Sadly say however...Europe will be the only one to recover from all this the rest of the world will be messed up for 100 years or so. The senerio if no big virus kills everyone If no big virus hits then the world in 100 years is going to have about 9 billion people. Smog will cover the entire coast of China and India and American Corporations will still exist in the area. America will lose its power though, 20 years earlier the American econmy collapsed because of our 2.7 Trillion dollar deficet and America ceased to be a world power. Without America India and China though both strong will be reduced to a pitiful states manufacturing goods for nobody but themselfs. The European Union in 100 years will be the strongest entity on the plannet, it econmey will very developed but it will be so effective and tecolnoglocially advanced that there will be no problenms with the atmosphere. Global warming will have slowed down but many costal cities will be flooded unless they build walls or something to protect them from the sea. Europe won't need cars anymore because there public transportation will be so advanced that they won't need it anymore. Meg-Lev trains will dominate Europe and people will be able to go from London to Paris in 45 minutes. London to Berlin will take only 2 hours. Berlin, Geneva, and London will be the capitals of the European Union. Europe will be in a digital age and everything will be advanced and effeciant. Europeans will probably live to be about 120. In terms of religion, if no one is using oil then the Muslim nations will become so bakward that there religion will stay the same and the people will remain oppresed under the Islamic Theocracies that will rule there. No one will accept Islam and basically the area around the Middle East will be like North Korea is now. Thousands of Americans will flee to Europe in search of jobs and that will be the main problem faced by the European Union. Alot of the Europeans will embrace New Age beleifs of Atheism, I am hopping that there will be a Polythestic Revolution and people in Europe will see the light......but thats just a fantasy in my mind . In reality most of the world will reject Christianity and become either New age or Athiest. Islam will only be the dominate faith in the Middle East because no one will be able to escape from the recked econmy there. Well that is my predictions for the future........either way be it Flu related or non-flu related the European Union will be the strongest single entiy restoring the natural balance to the Earth. As for Australia in both theories I don't know what is going to happen there! Sorry about spelling and gramatical errors. Zeke

Thanks for posting....but I suggest you put this topic in the religious section of our forums just make everything so much more convient. Welcome friend Ursus throw this topic in Elysium or move it the Temple Thanks, Zeke

Ursus your reply on this post was wonderful. I think I would call myself a Moderate because I am not a liberal Christian, and I was never Wicca and I basically try to do the same thing your doing. Zeke p.s Lost Warrior: What type of "Polythesit" are you?

Very intresting! I agree with all your points provided Tiberius Sylvestius. I am going to have to look at this author Terry Patchett. You are one of the few people I have I met on the interent that shares a general view like me, though my beliefs are constanstly changing. What does everyone think of anceint spirits inhabbitating places of old? Though Christianity is the dominate faith in the cities of Europe it seems that the places that are deep in the woods are commanded by a peaceful neutral like pressence. Does anyone ever get that fleeing when spending any time in nature out of the space of civlization.....its that deep spirtual fleeing that something is close to you. I think certain rocks, trees and glades that were around before Christianity came along are still inhabbited by the ancient Pagan Spirits of the land. Their power doesn't effect you very much because it is weak but it is there. I don't know if it's me being over zealous or what but I feel something when I am out in the boonies so to speak. Here in Hawaii the Pagan Gods, though destoryed back in the 1820s by the early Christian Misionaries, still have a strong pressence here. There are thousands of stories of ghosts and old warriors comming back to haunt those who disrespect grave yards. I do native Hawaiian canone paddaling and when we chant in Hawaiian you get that fleeing of the old ways in your chest. (Shrugs) Alot of people talk about the "Mana" of the islands. Because Hawaii is a spirtual place even with all its tourist garbage. Sorry about spelling and gramatical errors. Zeke

Thanks I guess Zeke

Let me clarify with everyone that I DON'T THINK the gods are all powerful. In terms of mateiral goods I think they are all powerful but in terms of controlling the universe.....not one god controlls the entire thing. If one god or goddess controlled the universe then that god or goddess probably would have created the perfect world by now. But since the gods are constantly fighting and have human vices there is not a perfect world. That is just my opinion on the matter. Also to add the topic of animal sacrifice....the rich nobility of Rome indulged on meat that probably hand't been on an altar and they came down with all the rich man diseases. (Heart attack, obesicty, stoke, circulatory problems) But the poor who ate only the sacrificial meat in moderation were much more healthy and fit. I believe the lower and middle classes survived longer then the nobility of Rome because they lived healthy lives, wern't involved in the corrupted beaurcracy and from a religious stand point only ate the meat that had been offered to the gods. But noways we value different things, and those things arn't ussually animals unless we are involved in animal husbandry as an occupation. But to me, the gods seem to like organic matieral and things from the Earth. In my mind offering a light bulb or nail isn't pratical they just don't have any signifigant value. Imagine if you gave your aunt a light bulb for Christimas! No, I believe the gods prefear cards, and flowers, and sweet food stuff because that is what we humans enjoy and seeing as how the gods are like humans, they enjoy the gifts we enjoy. But Ipods and Cd players and all the other technological garbage that is on the market isn't appropriate in my opinion. I havn't tried it but I bet they like small wood toys and small ceramic dolls because these things are cute and inocent. (Shrugs) But when the animal sacrifice stopped, the world didn't end hence the gods don't nessisarily need animals to continue to have streangth. I believe the gods are there but are just waiting to be discovered, they control universal affairs as always but now they are hidden from the comman mind of man because of Christianity and the other dominate faiths. I am not saying Christianity and the other faiths are bad of coarse, but with their comming the gods of old went into the shadows to wait for when man would return to them. Hence the story didn't end with the estinqushing or the Fire of Vestal, or the chopping down of Thor's oak, or the destruction of the Temple of Uppsala, or the massive burning of Drudic litteture or any of the bloody attacks that ended Paganism through out Europe. You have many choices in life.....you can be like everyone else and fallow a mainstream religion like Christianity and Islam which is fine these two great religions have brought much to the world. You can be an athiest and not believe in anything which is cool to. You can fallow your own personal life philiosphy and live humbly and honestly, Or you can be Polythestic and try to rebuild the burnt pages of the Pagan Story The last one is what the main disscusion of this topic is about Reconturctionists who wish to peice together the past and make a brighter tommarow for the religions that long ago died out in the face of oppression. I could style myself as a Reconturctionist but as I see it the Faiths of Europe need a new message. The same exact old ways don't work as seen by the evidence that when Christianity came as soon as the populance lost its disturst of the cult switched over to it because it offered a message and was much more covient to them. First off: Its not pratical to kill animals unless you got the money to do it and with the new animal rights laws its hard to do anyway. I am not going to go dress up in a Toga and pretend to be Roman or dress up in Celtic grab just to conduct a ritual. Rituals are important but they shoud be liberalized, and open to everyone so everyone can flock to the temples and have a big barbeque for the gods. If recontructionists really want to attrach anyone to their message they should adjust to the culture that we HAVE NOW, of coarse you can have the marble statues of the gods and have incense filled stone temples but let people just walk in, make a quick prayer, make an offering, listen to a five minute speech by the priest then leave. Simple, quick and clean. Then when there is a special cermony let people go out of their own free will for an hour to stay and listen to the priest make a speech about the glory of the gods. Then the soothslayers could go outside and read the omens that appered before them, make sure the gods were turly pleased then they would do some sort of universal prayer that would welcome the old gods into the abode of the temple. People could have a huge feast, socalize and relax on the couches in the temples all in honor of the gods then leave and continue life as normal,with out the stress and the vigorous demands of a moral religion on their daily lifes. If the people really want extra moral support then the temple will have several philosphers representing the different schools of thought to teach a lesson every Monday of Tuesday Night. (Shrugs) Doesn't that idea sound nice? People can just loungue around, talk to the priest, enjoy themselfs make an offering then leave. It sounds so wonderful and perfect that it could work someday. And best of all the temple can allow homless bums to sleep on its floors so that the gods can bless them and make them un-homless lol. Thats just my idea.....if the "Reconstructionists" really want to get a fallowing they should adapt to our society. Sorry to bamble on like this but I was in the mood. Sorry about spelling to. Zeke

I am a little confused about how the Republican Senate opperated....the positions like Magistrate, Tribune, Adile, Praetor were these Senators in themselfs...did they have special positions in the Senate? Or were they not even part of it. And how much power did the Roman Senate accually have in the time of the Republic?

Very few Pagans nowadays practice animal sacrfice. Maybe in the third world nations like in Papua New Gueina where they worship nature spirits but in the Recontructionists in the United States and Europe don't generally do animal sacrfice. First off it's too messy, second off if your a squemish person killing animals isn't you thing. And third off why would you sacrfice animals of the gods are pleased with other types of offerings. I personally offer mostly flowers, coins, incense, and other little assorted trinkets. In my opinion the gods could care less on what your offering them, being that thier immortal and all powerful I don't think they care much for money. They like the fact that your thinking about them and praising them for ruiling the universe justly. That is just how I see it. As it is shown in the Aztec Pagan Religion, the gods did not end the world when blood sacrifice stopped......(Or maybe they did.) Mexico is one of the poorest nations and the water that once held Tenochtiulian the capital of the Aztec Empire is so polluted that no one can drink it. So in the end the gods had their revenge on the counquring Conqueisdors. But I personally don't sponser killing humans or animals to appease the gods. I think it is this misconception about having to do sacrifice to be a Pagan that makes any form of Paganism undesirable. That an all the lies spread about it by other iggnorant religious groups. Zeke

Dear Dr. Bryan Ward-Perkins I apperciate that you come to our humble forums and allow us to ask you questions. My simple question is seeing as how you are from Britian and teach at the Universtiy of OxFord and there is alot of "Celtic" influences in your country, "What type of Culture did the Romans develope with the Celtic Tribes that lived in area, what was their general religion, goverment, how were their homes built, what phrase could you use to sum up Gallic/Roman Culture? Finnally how did Roman/Celtic culture effect the empire as a whole. Thank you very much for comming to our forums. Zeke

Thanks guys, I really appriciate it. How about every section of Roman History I show to you people so you can add you little little insite to it. And at the end of my bibliography I can say something like this: And my special thanks to the folks at UNRV for their continued support and recomendations. Zeke accually........how about.......when I get done with the report I can post in the special area of the Roman Empire secton of the forum. Because it will be treamedously long, all with Lord Primus's premission of coarse Zeke

I will stop at the fall of the west in 476 A.D Zeke

Well, I am a Solfmore and in a world history class and the greatest moment of my teenage years has come: I have to write a report on the ancient Romans and ther empire, outling their rulers, their major historical accomplishments and the extent of their empire. Well I have basically been given absoulte freedom for this report and it can BE ANY LEANGTH! Isn't that amazing? Well I have to cite almost every sentence, so along with my 128 page report that I plan on writing, it will be boosted to something like 140 pages because of all the citations. Well my friends at UNRV this is my biggest moment to shine and smash any doubt that I am Optimas Maximuis in my history class. I get 1 point in marked off from every citation I get wrong so I need to do everything correctly. So I bow before Caeser (Primus Pilus) and ask if I can use matieral from this site in my citations and bibliography. So yeah, everyone please wish me luck, and give me any suggestions you have. Thanks, Zeke