Ursus

One thing I'll give Castro - I like his sense of humor. When Reagan promised free asylum to any Cuban citizen who fled the country, and Castro opened the prisons and mental wards and sent them across the ocean - yeah, that was beautiful.

I think I joined the same Myspace community. I participated in a thread or two, managed to plug this site, and haven't been back since.

Yeah, as the myth goes the Atlantians were at war with the Athenians. Since the Minoans probably exacted some sort of tribute over the mainland Greeks, the Atlanteans probably refer to the Minoans in their heyday. What gets me is that the New Age crowd seems to think Atlantis has something to do with the Celts and King Arthur. How do you get that out of a Greco-Egyptian myth??

The Hebrew tribes evolved around other Semitic tribes, who were all polytheistic. There is piling evidence to indicate the Hebrews were originally polytheistic like their neighbors. The deity known as YHWH was the most important god and the most powerful, but not the only god. There were other gods, and a goddess of war and fertility that has cognates with other Near Eastern goddesses seems to have been popular too. Abraham seems to have been the driving force for Monotheism. His patron god YWHW was to be the only god worshipped by the Hebrew tribes. This idea gained force among the Hebrews especially it seems after the Babylonian exile. You know the Mosaic commandment: "thou shalt have no other gods before me"? This is is interesting because it seems to acknowledge that other deities exist, only that the Hebrews are to ignore them and worship the patron god of the tribe (YHWH). The term for a belief in many gods but the worship of only one is called Henotheism.

Edit: the discussion on Semitic paganism has been moved elsewhere in the Polytheism folder.

"He was a learned man, dear child, a learned man who loved his country." --- Augustus. But one on the wrong side of history. Nonetheless, so dignified was he, I'm sure the Rostra was immeasurably ennobled by his severed head hanging as ornament.

I am a Walrus. Goo-goo-gachoo!

I think he was supposed to be praying to his Lares, as has been stated. Though the actual ritual seems more like Hollywood invention than anything resembling known history. Regardless, he was a pagan of some stripe.

Almsgiving to the urban poor in the troubles of the later empire should not be underestimated as a conversion incentive. Julian the Apostate attempted to have Paganism do the same thing because it was presumably the only way to compete with Christianity.

Two similar threads on Christianity and the Fall of Rome have been merged (yes, I'm bored).

Didn't one of the new comers have an interest in the cult of Isis? Maybe they can add to this. *bump*

A discussion on Mithraism has been pinned to the top of the forum. Mithraism seems to have had doctrinal and procedural variances in different times and places. The 7 tiered initiatory grade seems to have been pretty widespread, though.

Two similar threads on Mithraism have been merged .... and I think this deserves to be pinned at top since it's the most compelling (if not exactly the most widespread) of the mystery cults of Late Antiquity.

Ah, yes. Yuengling. That's what this Pennsylvanian drinks when he can't find real beer (i.e., Guinness).

Oh ..... you and I could have some interesting discussions.

The moral climate of the empire was a somewhat different place than the early Republic. Whether you find this a degeneration or not depends on your criteria. Women, at least those with some financial resources, had more social freedoms and mobility in the empire than they did in the early Republic, for instance. Not inherently a bad thing from my perspective. Had I been an equestrian living under the early Empire, I think I gladly would have sought a life of wealth and status after a token tour of duty in the provincial civil service. Why not? The fruits of empire should be enjoyed.

No offense intended to most of the people above, but the discussion of ethnicity that resulted from the "Varangian Guard" thread was screaming to be sent to the Arena.

Gibbons was enjoyable reading, filled with pithy passages. Some of his central theories regarding the collapse of the Empire are however contested. If you're a devout Christian, you might take offense at aforesaid theories.

[quote name='Julia C

Actually, under Hadrian and beyond I believe senatus consultata carried the formal weight of law. Of course, I doubt any consultata were passed without the consent of the Princeps. See above. Under Hadrian, the Senate's decrees were formally treated as law. Though of course I'm sure the Princeps control of the military actively influenced the law. ;-) But nonetheless, until the Crisis of the Third Century and its Aftermath, individual Senators occupied nearly all the important posts in the empire. The Senate as a body was little more than a social club for the elite, but from it's ranks were drawn the most important people serving under the Princeps. It's importance really only declined when the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine invested power in the imperial court and its horde of Counts.

Mithraism was one of those universal cults where ethnic origin and social status did not automatically preclude someone from joining. However, it's very doubtful that the social rank of the outside world was completely forgotten within the private gatherings of a cult so dedicated to the Roman social order. I surmise that slaves could join, but they could never forget they were slaves. But the slaves most likely to join the cult were no doubt the educated ones connected with the imperial civil service, who had some kind of status in Roman society (at least compared to the lowly sorts who worked the mines and estates).

You too? I remember sitting in 6th grade history class watching one of those token educational films on ancient history. But whereas the rest of the class seemed bored out of their skulls, I was quite enamored with the wooden actors dressed in their costumes as Consuls, displaying suitably somber expressions for Republican magistrates. It was my first taste (such as it was) to Rome's imperial grandeur, and I was hooked. Of course, even before then I was hooked on Greco-Roman mythology....

There is an annotated bibliography within the contents of the post.

I don't know the Latin, but I came across something that translated as "may the gods grant you all that you deserve." Although, if you think about it, it could be a curse rather than a blessing depending on exactly what you deserve ....

The name you give yourself is more important than the name your momma gave you. Cheers.