Ursus

Secularism in and of itself is not a problem for the West if it is a secularism that is founded on something other than mindless consumerism (as may be the case in America) or on intellectual postcolonial guilt (as may be the case for Europe). Do these people study history? Democracy was invented by pagan Greece long before Christianity.

And now you outrank him. The wheel turns.

90% of the time I find it cheapest on Amazon. A new book typically costs 10-25% cheaper than in retail stores, and its free shipping over $25. The marketplace is indeed hard to beat for cheap, used books in reasonable condition.

I'm here as a Patrician. Good to see you back, Pan. If we get Pertinax back too maybe it will seem more like old times.

To Nephele. She has passed out of the terrible twos and is now 3 years old!

Cool ...

I can't speak about the book as I never read it. But if you want to read a serious study on Roman sexuality, I recommend Roman Sex By John R. Clarke. The study is based on the visual remains of Roman society, which is thankfully a bit broader than the court gossip of Seutonius.

UNRV member Jasminia is a now a published author with an entry in an anthology to Isis, entitled Waters of Life. Yours truly also has articles in said publication, and I also served as co-editor. So yay for us!

It's quite correct that posts on the afterhours baths don't count for post count. And anyway, post count really doesn't mean anything, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. As far as the private message problem, an admin will have to answer that one.

But for those of us who are neither True Believers nor Militant Skeptics, Sanders' study of historicity is both interesting and relevant.

Indeed, in Alaric Watson's Aurelian biography he shows how Sol Invictus was simply the last divine patron in what had been a long series of them for the solder-emperor.

The only thing Aurelian did was to take a deity to whom he felt a personal liking and give it a favored state cult, without ignoring the other deities in existence. Augustus had done something similar with Apollo about 300 years earlier. If Aurelian did want the god to become a focal point of empire wide worship, it's still a far cry from saying it was the only god allowed by the state. Same thing with Mithraism. Mithraists undoubtedly felt that Mithras was the most important god for them (their savior), but they never denied the existence of the other gods. They participated in the other cults of the empire, including other savior cults. If you want the first stirrings of monotheism I think the philosophies of the time practiced by some of the higher classes might be a good place to start. Look at this pantheistic hymn to Zeus: http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/rea...nthes_hymn.html Reads like a church sermon to me. ;-) This is, give or take, 15 or so Emperors before Constantine. My question is, were there any more instances of trying to introduce a single God after Aurelian, and was Rome inevitably on the path to a Monotheistic religion, whether that be Mithraism or Christianity. Thanks for your time as always guys. GJC

Not only that, but usually you can find books you do want cheaper online, especially if you are willing to buy them used.

Perhaps a commentary on our age?

I only ever had one hangover ... in college. Laid me low all day. It was enough to convince me to never again drink in excess.

Buffy: Tales of the Slayers. Great stuff.

They really should be researching the vampire menace, clearly a more sophisticated threat.

Diocletian and Constantine were trying to find ways of stabilizing an empire that had been in the toilet for half a century thanks to constant civil wars. Disbanding the praetorians and reorganizing the provincial military were instrumental as they were the main forces of insurrection. It seems the results were mixed. If you read Goldworthy's latest book, he lays the blame for the collapse of the empire at these various reforms and trends that changed the empire from the Augustan model. He makes some valid points ... but the Eastern empire managed to survive, ne? I agree with Northern Neil that I don't really care for his religious policies, but that is a separate issue from the military reforms.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=112124572

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8206280.stm

Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi by Donald Spoto A book that looks at St. Francis within the context of the Medieval times and the zeitgeist of the Catholic Church. The author is a confirmed Christian and doesn't apologize for it. But he is not above criticizing the Catholic Church and the Medieval World. Indeed, he sees Francis as a heroic reformer of a sometimes corrupt Church. The author can be long winded at times. Francis started out in life as a spoiled merchant's son and playboy. After spending some time as prisoner of war in a local dispute, he eventually has a religious conversion while sitting in an abandoned church. Eschewing both the hierarchy and social institutions of the church, as well as the sterile environment of learning Scripture without practicing it, Francis dedicates himself to a life of poverty and quietly caring for the poor and sick. Francis is sometimes little more than a garden gnome in popular treatment. He did see beauty in nature, and treated animals with kindness. However, such things are probably overblown. Francis' primary mission was always serving the god of his understanding by administering to the poor and disaffected. Artistic renderings of Francis with birds and animals should be understood symbolically; in Medieval times, birds were symbols of human souls, ever ready to fly to heaven above the constraining feudalist society. Overall, a decent read, and I can see why Francis is one of Catholicism's best loved saints.

... I don't think I get this comic. No superheroes for one thing.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/200908...trolledbyfungus

The only museum in my home town is dedicated to our local history, and it's about as interesting as watching paint dry. Anyway, the Athens museum itself is a work of art. An ultra modern construction of marble and glass - I love it!

http://www.archaeology.org/0909/abstracts/acropolis.html