Ludovicus

The last two articles in Disunion show that significant numbers of Southerners did not want to secede especially in the Upper South and the mountains of Georgia. Most rabid seccesionist was South Carolina but even there one can ask about how legitimate was the decision of the majority of voters when the black majority was not allowed to vote. The Deep South and the UK had close economic ties but the UK started and promoted abolitionism and would have been displeased by the Confederate plans of Caribbean expansion. After all they could get their cotton from elsewhere, preferably from within their huge colonial empire. France had imperial dreams but was on path to a rude awakening from Bismarck. Secession would have been a very complicated process and Lincoln was not conciliating towards the South (and he was a moderate Republican) so the war was very likely. Just what "Southerners" presumably wanted to do before the onset of the Civil War should always take into account the fact that slaves, poor whites, and freed blacks did not enjoy the right to vote. On the subject on the anti-secessionist feeling in the South there's an interesting book, The State of Jones. From the Amazon.com review: Make room in your understanding of the Civil War for Jones County, Mississippi, where a maverick small farmer named Newton Knight made a local legend of himself by leading a civil war of his own against the Confederate authorities. Anti-planter, anti-slavery, and anti-conscription, Knight and thousands of fellow poor whites, army deserters, and runaway slaves waged a guerrilla insurrection against the secession that at its peak could claim the lower third of Mississippi as pro-Union territory. Knight, who survived well beyond the war (and fathered more than a dozen children by two mothers who lived alongside each other, one white and one black), has long been a notorious, half-forgotten figure, and in The State of Jones journalist Sally Jenkins and Harvard historian John Stauffer combine to tell his story with grace and passion. Using court transcripts, family memories, and other sources--and filling the remaining gaps with stylish evocations of crucial moments in the wider war--Jenkins and Stauffer connect Knight's unruly crusade to a South that, at its moment of crisis, was anything but solid. --Tom Nissley http://www.amazon.co...95887785&sr=1-1

Had the secessionist states been successful in leaving the Union they not only would have continued the practice of slavery, they would have fought to extend slave holding into the western territories and beyond. The defense of slavery was key to the secessionist fever.

Decades of population decline left Detroit with an estimated 40 square miles

After hundreds of years of decay and abandonment parts of the Roman Forum became a cow pasture and remained so until the 18th Century, Campo Vaccino. In Detroit, areas formerly of dense urban occupancy are becoming agricultural again as a result of deliberate planning.

Have any lost Greek or Roman works been found among the burnt parchments?

The Curia itself (Roman Senate House located in the Roman Forum) was converted into the St. Hadrian's Church, Sant Adriano (in Italian). http://www.romeguidedtour.com/home/Monument.asp?ids=289&artist=CURIA%20JULIA CURIA JULIA The big stone construction of Curia Julia was brought to the light in 1930's, after the 7th century church of St. Adriano, erected over it, was destroyed. Caesar built it to substitute the Curia Hostilia which was destroyed by a fire. Curia Julia was completed by Augustus in 29 B.C. and reconstructed in 94 A.D by Domitian. The interior 27m long, 18m wide and 21m high was discovered and restored in 1930-1934 by Alfonso Bartoli; the pavement of the hall still preserves the original marbles. The three broad marble-faced steps on the two long sides provided seats for some 300 senators. The existing doors are copies of the original ones removed by Alexander VII to the Basilica of St John Lateran. Two big marble relieves exposed here represent the scenes from the epoch of Trajan. In front of the Curia there are numerous bases of honor statues erected here in the imperial epoch. Lapis Niger: close to the Curia, under the tract of the 6th century B.C. pavement of black stones, in 1899 was discovered a complex archaic monument, with an ancient inscription on a square stele on all four sides (providing the most ancient example of the Latin language), a warning against profaning a holy place. Here the tomb of Romulus or of some other deified founder of the city was identified.

The Medieval Roman Senate was not a continuation of the former body that ruled the City and the Empire. From allexperts.com: the Roman Senate continued to exist after the end of the Empire in 476: even though it lost much of its importance after the capital was moved to Constantinople, the Senate was never abolished, and continued its work well after christianity became the official religion of the state. It regained some importance when Justinian conquered Italy during the Ghotic Wars (535-554), and the last known record of Senate activities was an embassy sent to the emperor in Constantinople in year 580. It's not very clearly what happened afterward, but we know an homily by Pope Gregory the Great around the year 590, lamenting the disappearance of such an ancient institution. However, during the 12th century the people of Rome struggled against the Papal authority to re-create a Republic, and in 1144 a new Senate was created, as a consultory body for the civic government; the Pope regained full control of Rome in 1155, abolishing the Commune, but the Senate continued to exist, and has existed since then, becoming finally the city council of Rome, housed in the so-called Palazzo Senatorio (Senatorial Palace) on the Capitol Hill. When Constantinople was chosen as the new capital of the Empire, a Senate was created there, and it continued to exist till the 12th century. After the Fourth Crusade (1204) Constantinople became the seat of the Latin Empire of the East, without a Senate, and when the Byzantines reconquered the city in 1261, they didn't re-establish a Senate. http://en.allexperts...oman-senate.htm

Wasn't the control of this acronym the prerogative of the Roman Senate? If so, the last official use, in the West, would have ended with the demise of that body sometime in the sixth century CE.

What an interesting piece of news about this British find. The report link is well worth the effort to download the detailed photos and descriptions of the helmet(s). Thanks, Melvadius.

"Tibi bene" is better grammar. "Te" is the objective (accusative) case. You want the indirect (dative). Sounds like a short version of: from: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bene Adverb bene (comparative melius, superlative optimē) well Tibi bene ex animo volo. I wish you well with all my heart

I'm fairly sure that it's a coin from the Republic. What do others think?

We've had a Roman coin, coin shop purchased, in our family for over 50 years. The original coin holder with the accompanying information was lost a very long time ago. See images of obverse and reverse with ROMA. Any help in identifying and dating the would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading my post. The site mentioned is probably the best for reference. One needs to know the number of the tablet of interest, however. My post is based on tablet 154 and one must enter 154 to bring up the tablet in question. (Or, one can click on the "View all tablets" option and go through each tablet, one at a time.) http://vindolanda.cs.../TVII-2-1.shtml guy also known as gaius These letters are fascinating. A list of clothing that includes underwear, an invitation to a birthday party, an apparent doodle. I don't think it's possible to get any closer to Romans than these missives, incomplete and fragmentary though they maybe. I remember the site you mention (and posted link to). I spent hours there one time, it was the wee hours of the morning before I realized it. Very interesting.

What a great post. With the discovery about a thousand of the ink filled tablets it will take some time before all the messages are deciphered, translated, and published. What more new discoveries will be made? Already the Vindolanda trove has uncovered the first example of a woman's writing (and in her own hand!) in Latin. Is there a website that has all the up-to-date info on these letters?

Here's an interesting blog article on the issue of Caesarion's paternity, reputed offspring of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar: 'Son of the avenging god, Chosen by Ptah, Dispenser of the justice of Ra, Living power of Amun' proclaims the translation of Caesarion's Egyptian name, Iwapanetjerentynehem Setepenptah Irmaatenra Sekhemankhamun. Sadly, Caesarion, Ptolemy XV, known by his Greek subjects as Ptolemy Caesar, did not live to dispense justice or avenge the death of his father. He was executed by his father's adopted son, Octavian, who would become the Roman emperor Augustus. Of course, with literally the control of the Roman World at stake, Caesarion's actual paternity, needless to say, was much disputed by some ancient Romans, probably fueled by Octavian's robust propaganda machine. for more: http://romanpresentations.blogspot.com/p/roman-times.html

Thanks for this BBC link on the archaeology crisis in Italy. I gives background on the Issue.

The article lists many major roman sites abandoned and/or closed! Yes, many are filled with trash and fetid water.

The article lists many major roman sites abandoned and/or closed! How terrible. What a loss.

The Stadium of Antoninus Pius, in Pozzuoli, has apparently been abandoned--contacts in the Italian cultural scene tell me. This site was reopened in 2008, with major improvements to the ancient stadium. A lot of fanfare was made about developing the Stadium into a a major tourist destination. You can view the three minute grand reopening here, in Italian. The first minute or two shows the impressive galleries and environs. Next, government officials speechify about all they will do to support the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwFcXyeY5fs Two years later, the massive, lonely arches of the amphitheater are left unguarded. Here's coverage of the scandal by one of Italy's major newspapers: http://napoli.repubb...legrei-5692473/ And coverage in English on the cheery 2008 opening of the site, restored with funds from the European Union: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/3185732/Roman-rebirth-2000-year-old-stadium-buried-in-volcanic-eruption-reopens.html

In my experience, those Italians I know who work at the sites run by the Cultural Ministry and many others are deeply concerned by the decay of support for the country's archaeological legacy, really a patrimony of humankind. This is their bread and butter and a source of national pride. One may ask, "What's happening with the Cultural Ministry?" A better question would be "What's happening to Italy?" As the Berlusconian Era winds down, the country has gone into a spiral of crisis after crisis: political, economic, environmental, cultural, and archaeological. The national park around Vesuvius is now a dumping ground for Campania's trash. In 2007, the government sank 30 garbage leaden ships of the coast of Calabria!

In the Naples area there is at least one group organizing to move the government to take action to save Pompeii from further neglect. If you're in the area and want to get in contact with them send me a message via UNRV mail. These loses to humankind's legacy in Italy must be addressed!

The best to you and many happy returns!

Here we go again, sadly: ROME (AP) - A stretch of garden wall ringing an ancient house in Pompeii gave way Tuesday after days of torrential rain, the latest structure to collapse at the popular archaeological site. (Scroll down for photos) Pompeii officials said an inspection found that a 40-foot (12-meter)-long section of wall forming part of the perimeter of a garden area near the House of the Moralist gave way in several points. They said the extreme sogginess of the soil brought down the wall in an area that hasn't been excavated near the house. Italy is struggling to preserve its immense archaeological wealth for future generations. A few weeks ago, Italy was embarrassed when a frescoed house, the Schola Armaturarum, where gladiators prepared for combat, was reduced to a pile of stones and dust in seconds. Less than a year ago, another building, the House of the Chaste Lovers, collapsed in Pompeii. For photos and article: http://www.huffingto...14.html#s194749

I'm sorry to say that our "agora," the intelligent discussion of issues in the public forum, is diminishing here in the US. Here's one indication: PRINCETON, NJ -- On the eve of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, a new Gallup Poll shows that only 39% of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36% don't have an opinion either way. These attitudes are strongly related to education and, to an even greater degree, religiosity. http://www.gallup.com/poll/114544/darwin-birthday-believe-evolution.aspx

That's great! Remove's the period right out of the ivory tower.