Ursus

Found two more I may read whenever I get some free time: The Early Germans http://www.amazon.com/Early-Germans-Peoples-Europe/dp/1405117141/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283687188&sr=1-3 The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarian http://www.amazon.com/Invasion-Europe-Barbarians-J-Bury/dp/0393003884/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283687188&sr=1-4

Ex Deo - 'Romulus'

Conan is the best!!

I just read The Prose Edda and The Poetic Edda of Norse Mythology. I am moving on now to the sagas of Iceland.

Oh. Well, the Walter's Art Museum in Baltimore, MD has an excellent antiquities selection. And it's free admission.

I am interested in this book. But I think I will wait till it hits the bargain bin. Thanks for the recommendation!

Unless you count Moscow as "The Third Rome" according to Tsarist propoganda, where I spent a few weeks as a student, I've never been to Europe. And The Roman never came to Pennsylvania, sadly.

"The Big Bang Theory" is about the only thing I watch on TV these days. I like the Geeks .... I do rewatch my Buffy the Vampire Slayer DVDs from time to time. Last movie I saw was a while ago ... "The A team." It didn't suck as much as I thought it would.

NPR's review: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129400942

Fascinating!

Apparently it is coming November 2nd in DVD to American markets: Link If I wait a year or two I imagine it will be half price ....

The blogs are up. Organized very differently than what they had been.

Still can't access blogs. Has anyone tried instant messaging?

That does sound interesting. Thanks for the scoop!

I just plain don't like the look. It's not visually appealing to me. (edit: and apparently my Britney Spears gladiator avatar has been lost)

Bits and pieces .... Mussolini called it unreadeable driven, and he was right. It's available online, no reason to spend money on it.

A lot of the architecture from Egypt surviving today is in fact Ptolemaic reconstructions. The Ptolemies were keen on positioning themselves as Egyptian style rulers to keep the good graces of their subjects.

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/aurelian-a...ird-century.php

Is there enough interest in the series to warrant it's own subfolder, a la HBO:Rome? Once the DVDs hit in September I'll be willing to seriously discuss it!

I tried watching the first episode on Fancast, but couldn't get into it. Maybe the book is better.

Centurion: "Divine Emperor, your party is ready. We have the ice cream cones over there, the comely young girls over there, and in the back are bikes for you to ride ahead of the parade." Nero: "But where is the motion lotion? Damn you, man, I must have the motion lotion!!" Centurion: "I'm on it. .... Valerius? Marcus here. Have the slaves bring in the vats of motion lotion. Sit them next to the gawking females over here."

I tried to read The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples by Herwig Wolfram. It's so dry, however, I couldn't actually read it. I merely skimmed it for sections that I found useful. Sorry to say I won't be submitting a review of it.

All I can say is that myth of divine twins is fairly widespread throughout Indo-European societies. Somewhat less widespread, but still present, is the idea of a primordial murder/sacrifice responsible for creation/foundation. I think it is more plausible to say that existing myths, half remembered by the Italians after they broke off from the Indo-Europeans, were molded to fit whatever historical reality transpired (rather than new myths being created wholesale in the historical period, as per Wiseman). As to whatever historically happened, I guess we'll never know entirely. I do like Maty's idea of colonization from a mother city .... but then who is the mother city? Alba Longa?

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/remus.php One author's spin on the origin mystery is presented above. However, as my review indicates, I was left unconvinced.

I''m still where I was 6 years ago, though in a slightly better neighborhood.