Ursus

I used to spend a fair amount of time on the internet on various ancient cultures and religious forums. Not so much now. This is probably my last major online hang-out. I might check out the link Valens gave.

This American drinks irish beer. :-) The beers of the world and their fans might deserve its own thread. I'll take the pro-Guinness faction.

My college degree is in political science and liberal arts. My current occupation is customer service drone to a highly incompetent if refreshingly laid-back company. History is nothing but a lifelong hobby, with some connection to personal and religious concerns. It keeps me sane and grounded. Although I probably have nothing on some of the hardcore SCA types I have met

Don't have time for a formal review for this book by Adrian Goldworthy. But I'm halfway through and highly recommend it. A look at the personalities, politics and tactics of Rome's most famous generals. Sure to please most of the people on this site. In the Name of Rome

I'm not sure how Greek like they were. There were Greek colonies in the south of Italy who always asserted some kind of influence on their Latin neighbors via trade. But most of the Italic peoples shared in some kind of distant heritage - aside from the Etruscans, whose origins are disputed. The Etruscans were Hellenized to some degree but they did have a culture all their own as well. National Geographic had an article on Pre-Roman Italy a few months ago that might interest you.

Hope you don't plan on going camping up in Michigan, PP. I work for the company that does the reservations and the "staff" they hired this summer are idiots. They'll screw up your reservations. Otherwise, have fun. :-)

"To the Celts warfare was a matter of honor which could begin and end in a personal single combat. It was often a matter of individual courage. Generally, the Celts were not interested in central authority and discipline. They thought as individuals ... The problem was, in battle against the Romans, the cultural differences resulted in different endings. If a Celt was beaten in single combat, often the Celtic army would accept that the matter had been resolved and fade away. If a Celt won the combat then the Roman forces did not go away and merely fell on the Celts in a fury to exact revenge. ... For the Romans war was a cold-blooded profession and the legion had been trained to fight as units. Unquestioning obedience to the commands of their officers was essential and they relied on their fellows to act as a cohesive force. Roman generals wrote and studied military treatises, and planning and method became important. That planning, that ruthlessness, finally gave Rome the military advantage. Indeed, a certain lack of humanity, a devotion to discipline, and a severity of punishment to any who lacked a complete commitment to the will of a central power, appear necessary for the growth of an imperial regime. The Roman legionary had to be more frightened of his superiors than he was of the enemy. The same principle has often been applied in modern armies ... " Peter Ellis. _The Celts, A History_

Excellent topic, Zeke. From what I've read the various Indo-European societies, having a common origin, had similar values they prized. Among them were courage, duty, obedience to one

I'm not much for tattoes, but I admit your's looks kind of cool. A double headed eagle, that's more eastern Rome than Western Rome, right? Have you used Google's image search? I found some nice icons of things, like the "SPQR", as well as a few other eagle designs.

Welcome, Trajen. Drink all the vodka you want, I can't get familiar with the stuff. Jack Daniels is more my speed. ;-)

I found something that might be relevant.

The problem with self-described pagans from Greece is that their religion may serve as a cover for a virulent ethnic and nationalist agenda. Many don't really believe in the literal existence of the gods, they see them as symbols of a national or ethnic power. To them the main religion is Being Greek - however they ultimately define Greekness. When people insinuate they are nothing but a bunch of bigoted right-wing ethnic activists hiding behind Ancient Greece's faded glory, these ethnic activists scream that they are being oppressed by the Church in order to disguise their true intentions and elicit sympathy. I'm not suggesting every Greek pagan is like this, but many are. Ran into a lot of them though my sojourns through pagandom. This is a problem not just in Greece but throughout a lot of European revivals of paganism. There are Germanic polytheists for whom the religion is a mask for white/aryan power. There are Celtic pagans who use the religion as vehicle for modern notions of Celtic nationalism. There are Slavic pagans who are the slavic answer to neo-nazi groups. Etc. Of course there are people like this in America too, but it seems the ethnic-conscious-disguised-as-ancient-religion-movement is more prevalent in Europe. So be forewarned - not every pagan group out there that claims to be some innocent, misunderstood group of decent people actually is.

The severe patriarchy you refer to is a function of the early republic. By Imperial times women, at least in the upper classes, were considerably liberated. We have this discussion quite often on this site, if you want to read some of the earlier threads in this folder. I'm on record as saying I don't think the Romans were any more vicious than any other imperial power, and in some ways were quite more tolerant than some of the powers before or since.

This is a great list.

Yeah, they say that stuff is unhealthy precisely because of the amount of preservatives.

Existential thinkers: Like to spend time thinking about philosophical issues such as "What is the meaning of life?" Try to see beyond the 'here and now', and understand deeper meanings consider moral and ethical implications of problems as well as practical solutions Like existential thinkers, Leonardo questioned man's role in the universe. Many of his paintings explored the relationship between man and God. Other Existential Thinkers include The Buddha, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates, Martin Luther King Careers which suit Existential Thinkers include Philosopher, Religious leader, Head of state, Artist, Writer .... Head of State, hmm? .....

The subterranean pits were made of dry-stone wall, and had lintel roofing. Supposedly some of the grain was allowed to germinate in storage because it sucked up the oxygen, and thereby prevented the other grain from germninating. This is all I could find. *shrugs* Not an expert on Celts and even less on agriculture. Maybe someone else can help you better. Have you tried the people at IMBAS, the Celtic religion and culture group?

"The Celts were great salt producers and salting was their chosen method of preservation, especially of meats ... "The main method of storage was by use of pits. " he goes on to say that if the pits were sealed, the grains could last several months. Peter Ellis. _The Celts, A History. _ Moving this to forum peregrini since it deals with non-Roman areas.

Some links to the very ancient ancestors of the cultures, languages and religions of Eurasia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-indo-european http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Eu...uropean_society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Eu...ropean_religion

Have to disagree, sorry. Roman paganism had at least two broad levels -- the basic private rites which families practiced at home, and then the public rites which were conducted by the State on behalf of the citizenry. When people started reconstructing ancient Roman religion, it was easy enough to recreate and practice the private, family centered rites in the privacy of their own homes. The public rites, on the other hand, could obviously not be reconstructed as there was no surviving pagan Roman state to administer the state run cults. To get around this, some people had the controversial idea of creating a

Legends regarding divine twins are prevalent throughout Eurasia, and most likely had a common origin in the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) homeland. The word for twin in the reconstructed proto-Indo-European language was *yem- or *yemos

Nova Roma claims to be a "state" in some sense, whose official "state religion" is the religio romana, and whose officials theoretically administer the public rites of the Roman religion on behalf of the state's "citizens." Anyone of any faith (or no faith) can join, but everyone is supposed to understand and accept that Roman paganism is allegedly the heart of Nova Roma. In my experience, however, the vast majority of "citizens" were not pagans, Roman or otherwise, and were not remotely interested in the Religio Romana. Most "citizens" however did buy into the theory of Nova Roma as a state in its own right, and much of the arguments on the main list were how to adapt this "state" to the modern world....

If the recent referendums on the EU are anything to go by, it seems the Western world is not quite in the mood for an encompassing superstate.

What exactly is the difference between Anglo-Saxon and Germanic in this context? I thought "Germanic" was an umbrella term that included a lot of different tribal groups like Angels and Saxons? According to the semi-legendary "histories" the High King Vortigern gave land to several Germanic lands in exchange for fighting against the barbarian groups to the North. But the Germanic hordes decided they would sooner be masters of Britain than its servants. Of course as Hadrian said, legend and archaeology don't always agree.

I don't seem to play well with others pagans. I suppose like Zeke I keep to myself and do my own thing. It's a long story. Don't let me bore you with my problems.