Ursus

There is a rift between more traditional pagans and the more New Age types with a penchant for crystals. Personally, I get offended when they try to pass off their practices as some lost and ancient faith. Most of their stuff comes from WWI era occult sects. Thankfully as the years go on less and less of them buy into the myth of some pristine, lost matriarchy where pacifist, vegetarian eco-witches ruled the world in peace until those naughty Christian males came to ruin paradise. ;-)

Well, I suppose the question of whether of not JC is the son of the Hebrew deity, and King of the Jews, is ultimately what got him killed under Roman law. So it might have something to do with Roman history ... but I suppose moving it to the lounge is probably the best compromise under the circumstances. Consider it done.

Welcome to our little corner of cyberspace, Gregorius. But please don't type in all caps, it's a little overwhelming. :-)

Harsh? I was in no way being harsh. That was, by my standards, a friendly warning to stay on topic.

I'm envious. Please post those pics. :-)

I wasn't exactly thrilled to see the topic because I knew what it might lead to, but I don't consider it off topic and am hoping it might be salvaged. If that proves too optimistic your suggestion will definitely come into play.

I would say Christianity is on topic for Roman history within a forum specifically dedicated to religious matters. It did influence Roman history and was in turn influenced by Roman history, no? I also don't think calling religious people stupid and ignorant is the kind of commentary we want around here. Disagreements are fine. Denigrating attacks are not. If this thread gets too ugly I'll have to shut it down.

- "I see a sun." - "Son of a father, or sun in the sky?" Um ... these two words sound nothing alike in Latin. Ok. I officially give up on this mini-series.

I've always been partial to Alan Greenspan. That guy just cracks me up.

Also, if you ever watch American Public Broadcasting (PBS), sometimes they replay Professor Eugene Weber's history of the western tradition. He did a segment on the Byzantium. If I recall correctly, he said Eastern Europeans were still calling themselves Romans until the beginning of European nationalism and ethnocentrism in the nineteenth century.

I'm not an expert, but I've been recommended by those in the know that John Julius Norwich is the supreme author of all things Byzantine.

There were social taboos associated with its use in context, but it wasn't strictly speaking immoral. It was merely subject to the Roman obsession with the flux of their social structure. For instance, it seems homosexual relations in active duty legions were punished by death. But this wasn't because male-male sex was inherently evil -- it was because some strapping, handsome young grunt of a soldier could catch the eye of one of his superior officers and seduce him, and thereby upset the delicate balance of the chain of command. Kind of like the boss sleeping with his busty secretary --- or the high school teacher sleeping with 16 year old jailbait .... same principle.

The stereotype of the evil Roman Empire that never did anything halfway decent.

I believe I was doing a google search for the Roman Empire for some reason or another, and this site came up.

Mongol General: "What is best in life?" Conan: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women." Conan: "Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you will remember, if we were good men, or bad. Why we fought, or how we died. No, all that matters is, that two stood against many. That's what's important. Valour pleases you Crom, so grant me one request, grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then the hell with you!" Valeria: All my life I've been alone. Many times I've faced death with no one to know. I would look into the huts and the tents of others in the coldest dark and I would see figures holding each other in the night. But I always passed by. The Wizard: Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of. And onto this, Conan, destined to wear the jeweled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure! Thulsa Doom: Infidel Defilers. They shall all drown in lakes of blood. Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night. I just got the Conan DVD today.

It was founded as Byzantium. Constantine later renamed it Nova Roma (New Rome) but the name never caught on. In popular usage it became Constantinople, Greek for the city of Constantine. Diocletion formally divided the empire in a West and a East, so that could be a starting point. But Byzantium as a historical and cultural phenomenon probably didn

I agree with the last two posters. This thread has outlived its usefullness, methinks.

The only thing I really liked about the second episode was the actor who portrayed Cassius. It seemed spot on and you could tell the actor was having fun with the role.

Maybe it was set in an alternate universe. Yeah, it was bad. So when does the BBC production come out?

A day off work with pay. Yippee!

It comes from imperator: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator

http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Ar...040705/wn02.htm

Well, yes, princeps was his official title and he never called himself king or dictator. But he consolidated the powers of so many repubican offices under his authority he was effectively king in all but name. Which is why many us of informally call him and his successors as emperors. I don't really see the problem in it.

My totally contrived answer: Caesar conquers Dacia as one last great military hurrah. But an increasingly old and increasingly weary Caesar soon thereafter settles down to start consolidating a political legacy. He falls increasingly under the shadow of Cleopatra. Caesar begins moving the center of the Empire to the east, possibly even into Alexandria, so he can be closer to Cleopatra. In the Hellenistic east Caesar is surrounded by greater wealth and a more defensible position than Rome. The Hellenistic East also permits Caesar to rule as a god-king on earth, and the Roman Empire rapidly starts to become an Oriental autocracy. Caesar dies eventually, whether of natural causes or a mysterious internal assassination. Octavian, his heir apparent, is also found mysteriously dead shortly thereafter, and Caesar's will naming Octavian as his successor is lost to history. Cleopatra soon becomes the power in the East, either through her son with Caesar or else through the proxy of Antony. Cleopatra reigns as Isis on earth. The conservative element back in Rome starts to grumble and there is civil war. The West is simply starved into submission because Cleopatra and her court control Egypt's vital grain supplies. A weakened West falls prey to Germanic hordes who can smell blood. Rome is sacked, the Western provinces become Germanic feifdoms, and the nascent Greco-Roman urban culture in the West is largely forgotton as everything becomes Germanic. The Alexandrian Empire in the East survives and prospers, though it fights countless border wars with Parthia on its eastern flank and Germanic raids on its Western flank. It also experiences a social revolution when Christianity begins to sweep the world, though this Christianity is somewhat different from the more legalistic branch that developed in the Roman west in the alternative universe. Whether or not Mohammed and the Arabs still rise is anyone's guess.

Very interesting!