Divi Filius

Im looking for a good book that discusses Roman cults throughout its history. Their practices, demographic etc.

Supposedly it has had

EBAY, Where else?

I really wished the TW series focused more on campaign detail. I would have loved to have setup bagage trains, or needed to worry about the weather or season as factors. Realistic detail would have been awesome, like going too far away from the coast, in the african desert area without proper provisions can make you lose significant amount of mean. Also having to properly organize for a campaign of a certain length. Anyway, Constantinopolis all the way.

Yes. Indeed I have to admit the book is dull, and his page by page account of the organization of the churches and social and military institutions of the Crusade almost put me to sleep at some point, but nevertheless they are very well detailed and documented. This includes the info on the Hospitallers.

Its sad that the era inwhich the Roman Empire peaked in power, culture and territory has to also be the era that is so vaguely documented.

I personally would recommend, for general Crusade history, the Crusades by Jonathan-Ryle. He gives a pretty good history of the hospitallers, greatly into context and how they eventually militarized. The book however does not go much into the military aspects of it. It tends to focus much more on the social aspects of the church at the time, organization of the military(numbers) etc.

I know what you mean P.Clodius. I myself got the whole collection of Plutarch's lives, but for my uncle who was concentrating on the civil wars I got the 6 Roman Lives of the fall of the Republic. Which ofcourse lacks the books objective, the comparisons. But Polybius wrote for the exact opposite reason as this. He mentions extensively on how he is writing to show the evnts of the entire world and how they eventually mingled and mixed to bring about the eventual rise of Rome. But the east is completely and utterly ignored. In that aspect, the book was butchered. Antiochus campaigns are never mentioned and he himself appears only in name through the accounts of Demetruis escape and that of Hannibal. The man who made the version left in the mention of the Seleucids being defeated by the Romans. But takes away every mention of how they began to feud with Rome(which concerned the Seleucian claims of Greece). Oh yes I also forgot to add that the Third Punic War is skipped entirely. And from the accounts left behind we are to assume really that Rome destroyed Carthage, through no explanation whatsoever. Penguin Classics obviously was more concerned with concentrating the histories in one book then in actually providing a cheap printing of this most significant historian. I found this online for free but I have to try and find a way to sneak its print out slowly from my school comps since I wont dare bring the files home and print it through my comp(over 400 pages). But thanks for the recomendation. On Amazon, they have these two selections. With a massive price range. One is .99 cents and is called Polybius on Roman Imperialism: The Histories of Polybius and the other Histories of Polybius which is $49

I must say, after going through the version of Polybius Histories provided by Penguin Classics, I was horrified. Completely and utterly horrified. What we have of his original writings already we have lost enough, but if Penguin Classics was left to provide the world with the book we would find our knowledge of the events even smaller. The book focuses almost entirely on the varius campaigns of the Second Punic War. Nothing is mentioned on any of the big eastern events(Battle of Magnesia, Seleucian/Ptolemic relations and events, Antiochus crossing Asia), nothing of Carthage's mercenary wars, nothing on any of the Macedonian wars, rather just their resolution. The Spanish campaign of Scipio's end right after the Battle of Baecula, ignored what many consider as Scipio's greatest military achievement(Ilipa) and his later pacifying of the Spanish tribes. We do not even get a footnote on these events. And on his other selections, Polybius clearly mentions the preceeding Roman and Macedonian battles, yet no mention of them are made. How am I to understand Polybius comparison of the Phalanx and Legion comparison without any knowledge of the battles which the two fought? I myself did, but now imagine the average reader? It is a terrible edition to this book and I myself feel like chucking it out of the window now that I finished it. Unfortunately, I myself as a college student can hardly afford the more expensive versions of the histories which run at 20 bucks per a few books and can run well over 100 for the entire history.

Hello, and yes the original was indeed writen in Greek. And I would assume it was probably better since there is always something lost in translation. But I dont know Greek so this will have to do.

Im currently looking for some historians that would follow Suentonius Lives of Caesars books that end with Domitian. Anyone have any recomendations for future historian of emperors? Im currently looking for some historians that would follow Suentonius Lives of Caesars books that end with Domitian. Anyone have any recomendations for future historian of emperors?

hmm, i was kind of annoyed with the whole "catholic" and "orthodox' thing. I mean, werent they terms that originated much later?

He he, I wonder if anyone remembered my suggested political system.

Well, I may have to retract my once claim that Zoroastrianism. On a discussion in it with my history professor, he stated that while Zoroastrians indeed look to one deity, Ahura Mazda, it never denies the existance of other gods in the religion. I recently met one at my college and he stated he was a parsi speaker and a follower of the zoroastrian faith who came from India. Last census states that 69,000 live in India currently while 5 thousand live in Pakistan. One of the interesting things about Zoroastrianism is that they do not believe in either burring the dead nor cremating it. The religion can be quite taxing financially to a follower abroad as the religion has a special place where the body is disposed of. In India there is a giant "bird cage" called the Tower of Silence inwhich is filled with vultures which feat on the body. There is no venerating the dead bodies since followers believe it is nothing more then a shell that carries the soul. However due to cultural infusion and oppression from the bigger religions also financial restraint on the part of the follower, especially when they become diaspora, this practice is dying out and replaced with cremation or burial.

thanks ursus, Ill look that up.

This doesnt just go for Romans, but for ancient Greeks, Medittereneans played by nordics, or Persian, played by African-Americans mixed with Spanish. What kind of historical movie would you have if the historical figures, whom at one point spoke latin, persian, hittite, greek, sumerian etc. didnt have sophisticated british accents? Personally, I feel this is more of a legacy left from Shakespeare. The need to "britify"(cant say anglicanize as that applies to Americans also) everything to make it seem "classical".

I Don't know if everyone has ever heard of him, but there was a famous Greek poet by the name of Constantine Kavafis who wrote a famous poem "waiting for the barbarians" which involved Rome. Trully a great one IMO. Waiting for the Barbarians What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The barbarians are due here today. Why isn't anything happening in the senate? Why do the senators sit there without legislating? Because the barbarians are coming today. What laws can the senators make now? Once the barbarians are here, they'll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting at the city's main gate on his throne, in state, wearing the crown? Because the barbarians are coming today and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader. He has even prepared a scroll to give him, replete with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canes beautifully worked in silver and gold? Because the barbarians are coming today and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don't our distinguished orators come forward as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say? Because the barbarians are coming today and they're bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion? (How serious people's faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home so lost in thought? Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come. And some who have just returned from the border say there are no barbarians any longer. And now, what's going to happen to us without barbarians? They were, those people, a kind of solution.

I would love to pick it up, but my tests are killing me. next week I definitely want to try it but I also havnt fully experienced the new RTR besides an Illyrian campaign(meh, their okay).

Yea, but I would rather start fresh and from the looks of it the old reputation system is gone(though awesome remodeling) so it doesnt really matter. Plus even if I kept my old status, it woulnt matter much considering all the different people here now.

Hello, Its me Scanderbeg. I grew tired of my old persona so I chose to bring in a new name, entirely Roman, to the table.