Ursus

Even had Antony won, methinks he would still have been overshadowed by his association to an exotic and wily foreign queen. Anyway, very interesting news. Hawass is nothing if not ambitious.

Does anyone know hot to unlock Egypt?

That's one way of looking at it. But another way is that, while party labels usually mean something in Europe and the Commonwealth, in America they can be essentially meaningless. To capture the presidency you need the broadest coalitions possible, which means in practice a two party system, one vaguely center-right and one vaguely center-left. But within those two respective camps there is so much variation as to be laughable at times. Just in the Republican party alone you get eveything from hardcore theocrats to pseudo-libertarians. The only thing Republicans can usually agree on (in theory) is tax cuts, and the only thing Democrats can usually agree on (in theory) are vague anti-establishment grumblings. I'd much prefer a multi-party democracy where the party chairman does whip people in line in conformacy with a specific party agenda. At least there is truth in advertising.

Let them abolish the income tax and replace it with various "health taxes." I'd rather people be punished for eating junk food than for the simple fact of having a high income. I'd also be in favor of discouraging narcotics through heavy taxation rather than outright criminalization. It would save billions of dollars.

Alas, we've lost a few good people over the years. I particularly miss Virgil. On the other hand, there are a few I don't miss at all. So I guess it evens out.

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/working-nine-to-five.php

If it weren't for Aurelian, Rome would have been doomed to rule Italy and Africa, and not much else, years before Diocletian. It's obvious from the Crisis of the Third Century that many people in the northwest and southeast sectors of the empire considered Rome a distant and irrelevant imperial capitol. In the West the faultline was along the Germanic border. In the East, which was richer than the West, Rome was too distant to fend off Persia. I think it just took a few generations for the idea to finally become all too painfully obvious to the emperors. That's the problem with an empire than expands its borders well beyond the means to defend them. If the Roman Empire had stopped with the expansion of Augustus, if not before, it might have been a more manageable Empire still ruled from Rome proper.

Eye candy, nothing more. I can certainly think of more intellectual actresses. The movie will probably be as historically accurate as "Gladiator." Although if for every million person who sees the movie, one of them actually picks up a book on the subject, I suppose the movie will have served some higher purpose.

"But I ask you, my lords, how can anyone live without an occasional snack?" - Emperor Claudius "Money doesn't smell." - Emperor Vespasian "Does it really matter where a man sticks his prick?" - Marc Antony Who needs Greek philosophy with such wisdom?

http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/ All in Latin, for better or for worse.

Tea in the morning, water in the afternoon, beer in the evening. Guinness is quintessential, though I increasingly like Sam Adams.

Except ironically in America itself where they increasingly hablan espanol.

Emperor Claudius, whom I was channeling, would be pleased with this discussion.

I learn something from the Ancients every day. But if criticizing the Chinese government is bashing, so be it. The only thing that worries me more than the Beijing government are jihadist Islamic groups (whom I also bash frequently).

Control of the Egyptian grain supply was also a consideration.

I think there should be a new sporting event in honor of the Beijing Olympics - dodging tanks as they try to run over you.

I severely doubt it. Look at the failure of the Greek city-states to unite politically, not to mention the internal divisions in the various "barbarian" civilizations such as the Celts. The Carthaginians might have established economic hegemony over the Mediterannean, but I doubt this would have lead to a unifed culture per se. As as aside, what of Roman law? Rome adopted many things from its neighbors, but Roman law and the Justinian code forms the basis for the legal codes of many modern European states.

http://www.unrv.com/book-review/mediterranean-anarchy.php

I ask you, my lords, how can anyone live without an occasonal snack? From now on anyone found not snacking will be placed on moderated status. That is all.

Antony and Cleopatra by Southern looks interesting.

Female descendants of Augustus lived until the time of Vespasian, but since females couldn't be heads of states ... The male line ended when Nero killed Britannicus and then Nero himself was killed. The Julio-Claudian imperial family exterminated itself. The failure of the Principate was precisely that it did not operate as a typical monarchy - it couldn't proclaim itself as a monarchy. It was supported in the final event by the army and the army's willingness to adhere to a legacy of Augustus. When the last male member of the imperial familyties to the Augustan legacy died, the army had to find other candidates (several of them, as it turned out).

Great - you must tell me what you think of it. I thought it was a good summary of the state of the Empire during the Golden Age. I just finished reading it. I mostly enjoyed it. I felt it dragged on a little bit at the end with the rise of Christianity, the Jewish rebellion, and the breakdown of the empire. But it was a very readable survey on Roman culture and daily life of the time period involved.

Angelina Jolie stars in "Theodora." Prostitute turned Empress turned Christian Saint. Described as both sexually voracious and as having superior intelligence, she was a cross between Hillay Clinton and Madonna. A movie for our times. Women will flock to it to get their female empowerment inspiration. Men will flock to it to see steamy sex scenes with Angelina Jolie. It will be an international blockbuster success.

I'm not sure really. I have the History Channel but there rarely seems to be anything interesting on when I am home from work (there was this 'fascinating' documentary on the use of trucks in World War II ...) . Then there is PBS which tries to be educational, but again rarely has anything I'd watch.

There are a few threads on them, including a great article from WotWotius. But there does not appear to be enough interest to justify a separate subfolder of their own.