Ludovicus

"They were unable, consequently, to warn you yesterday about the punishment of your friends." What is the source of this quote?

Easy. Too easy, so I'll just start you off with the kernel. Get it? Non poterant monere te de ....

"Later in ignorance they forgot what they knew, in pride mocked who they were, and in consequence disappeared." Sounds like an apt comparison to the US today. With empire comes the loss of democracy. Resources (material & intellectual) that once sustained the republic are wasted on propping up the empire. Good quote.

Wait! Wait! I'm not 100% of the correctness of my translations. We need other opinions.

1 Non necesse est quod me laudes. It's not necessary that you praise me. 2 Non bonum est quod me laudes. It's not good that you praise me. 3 Tibi oportet non me laudare. It behooves you not to praise me. 4 Non debes me laudare. You ought not praise me. It's been a very long time since my last Latin class. Let's see what other members can provide.

I agree completely, Stella.

Ergastolo in Italian is the term for life imprisonment.

Listen to ancient Babylonian spoken over the Internet. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/mobile/news/2010/09/100930_babylonian_nh_sl.shtml

Sorry to say, but the " Daily Kos" is in error. The US is fighting four wars at the same time: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and a new covert one in Yemen.

Lovely, informative photo gallery. Thank you.

Thanks for this new title. No, I haven't read it but I look forward to doing so. Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Dark Ages by Richard E. Rubenstein is also a good read on medieval intellectual life. This book introduced me to the lively student debates, especially those in Paris, of the 12th and 13th centuries. Repression was certainly rampant. However, new learning and new angles on the old resulted from the reintroduction of Aristotle to the West. The Middle Ages is too nuanced to be categorized as simply plagued by dogmatism. History seldom conforms to our stereotypes.

I'm not allowed to watch TV programmes on Late Rome anymore. Whatever value there is in watching the experts give their views - and I must admit I agree with some but not all - the large number of mistakes that are made result in my shouting at the television. Needless to say, my other half and my son do not appreciate this, so I'm banned. ______________________________________________ PS. Just watched a clip of the programme from the internet: Utube I'm off to bang my head against a wall ... Thanks for the link to the clip. I think I'll go bang my head against the wall now, too.

The more I learn about the History International's cable programing the more I don't want to view any of the shows. For example, this afternoon's offerings include a show on how Satan has been tricking mankind throughout history.

Thanks, G of C! Yes. Some of the podcasts are available outside iTunes. That gives people who don't have the iTunes browser an alternate access point.

Podcasts are free audio or video files available on the Internet for you to listen to and/or watch on your computer or on your iPod, iPad, or other hand held device. A podcast can also refer to a series of these audio or video files (similar to how a TV or radio "show" can be a series of shows or just one show). When using the word "podcast", most people refer to the entire series and not just one audio or video file. Lately, universities have begun offering their courses via podcasts. Here's an entire semester of lectures from UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles) on Roman entertainment: These lectures require the RealOne player from RealNetworks or a podcast client like iTunes. http://www.oid.ucla.edu/webcasts/courses/2007-2008/2008winter/classics164-1

Podcasts are free audio or video files available on the Internet for you to listen to and/or watch on your computer or on your iPod, iPad, or other hand held device. A podcast can also refer to a series of these audio or video files (similar to how a TV or radio "show" can be a series of shows or just one show). When using the word "podcast", most people refer to the entire series and not just one audio or video file. Lately, universities have begun offering their courses via podcasts. One of the best sources for high quality podcasts on Rome is iTunes University, available free through the iTunes Store. You need to download the free iTunes browser before ordering any of the podcast lectures. For more on iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes/what-is/ Here's a series from Santa Clara University in California, History 110, The Roman Republic: http://www.cordinc.com/blog/2010/01/history-110-roman-republic.html Professor Isabelle Pafford from The Ancient Mediterranean World podcasts returns for another series of Ancient History podcasts. This time a course on the Roman Republic given during Fall 2008 at Santa Clara University. There are 19 podcasts - 1 is a slide show video, but the others are audio only. Each podcast is around 50 minutes in length and around 50MB. In the audio podcasts there are often references to slides that are not available online. The course starts with the stories of Rome's foundation along with details of the surrounding area and people, which presumably influenced early Rome. The Roman Kingdom is quickly passed over (perhaps due to a lack of information on the era) for the Roman Republic. Most attention is focussed on the Late Republic, with over half the lectures on the period from the Gracchi to Caesar - around 133BC to 49BC. These lectures are full of engrossing details. There is a bit of historical timeline talk (on this date this happened and on that date that happened), but the series is more about the life and times of ancient Rome. For instance, there is often discussion of the Cursus Honorum (a series of military and administrative positions that provided a semi-formal structure to a political career) and how it affected the way people sought or achieved power. There was also a strong patron-client system, where a person's power could, in part, be measured by the number of clients/followers they had. Thus, manumission was common as freed slaves were typically clients of their previous owner. There is also some interesting consideration of which events are definitely known to have occurred, the fixed-points of history, and those parts of the primary sources that may be apocryphal. Professor Pafford can be an engaging speaker, and it is clear this is an area she knows well. Indeed the extra colour provided as cracks began to appear in the republic had me hooked. It was a classic fight between two political parties, the Optimates and Populares - modern analogies are too easy to make. Although the ability to raise private armies and the tendency of losers to be executed adds an epic scale to proceedings. The final result may be well-known, with Caesar the unlikely Populares triumphing...

PBS, our public television, usually does a much better job with its history programing than the History Channel. Even the Nation Geographic Channel leaves much to be desired. 5th century Romans wearing 1st century styles! That's a major error.

Very good point.

http://www.uc.edu/pompeii/ The Project The Pompeii Archaeological Research Project: Porta Stabia (PARP:PS) is bringing to light a largely forgotten corner of ancient Pompeii that has great potential for enlightening Pompeian and Roman history. Through the full range of archaeological inquiry

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/08/dugally-somma/ Project Somma 2010 was inspired by a visit to Naples, Italy, where Dugally hiked to the rim of Mount Vesuvius and the lost city of Pompeii. Vesuvius has a distinctive double hump and a caldera formed by the collapse of an older peak called Somma. Dugally says much of his work as an artist is inspired by decay.

For sure, this is an unabashed advertisement for Apple Computer's new iPad portable computer. Still, it amazes me all the places interest in Rome can be found--and used to make money. http://www.apple.com/ipad/pompeii/

Yes, they did. They invaded Byzantine Italy in the 560s. Eventually, they founded a powerful Italian Kingdom, or two. Nowadays we associate the Lombards with the northwest of Italy, but in the early middle ages they also ruled in the south of the Italian boot. My grandfather's town of Capracotta was founded by these cultured barbarians.

Ravenna took my breath away. This is late antiquity in all it's splendor.

As glaciers melt a new type of investigation, ice patch archaeology, is providing clues to ancient cultures: Climate change is exposing reindeer hunting gear used by the Vikings' ancestors faster than archaeologists can collect it from ice thawing in northern Europe's highest mountains. "It's like a time machine...the ice has not been this small for many, many centuries," said Lars Piloe, a Danish scientist heading a team of "snow patch archaeologists" on newly bare ground 1,850 meters (6,070 ft) above sea level in mid-Norway. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100914/lf_nm_life/us_climate_vikings_1

Beautiful ceremonial face mask! I don't understand why it's going to auction, perhaps to disappear from public eyes forever. This piece should be in a museum in the UK.