Ursus

So at some point can I expect someone to make a movie on Caesar's conquest of Gaul, with Caesar's imperial space legions using rayguns to subdue four-armed, green skinned, flesh eating Celtic monsters? Or maybe Constantine is converted to a better path by the Black Monolith from "2001" and has his troops paint black monoliths on their shields before they storm Rome.

This is on Showtime tonight. Can't wait - it looks good. Obviously intended as Showtime's response to HBO's "Rome." The previews suggest politics and sex against nice background sets. And if there are any historical innacuracies, I'm too poorly schooled in this era of history to know or care.

What was life in Western Europe (outside Italy) like before the Romans imposed civilization? Celts and Germans and other assorted barbarians who scratched a meager living in the fields. Most people, unless there were mass migrations, were tied to the immediate lands and lorded over by some petty chieftain sitting in a nearby hillfort. Wealth was not so much created as it was stolen from one's immediate neighbors; the petty chieftains chief occupations were to wage war on each other and plunder each other's meager wealth. Where literacy existed, it was usually confined to a few religious specialists, and those religious specialists exercised undue control over society at large. Seems to me the Romans brought 4 or 5 centuries of civilization to the West; when central Roman power collapsed those societies simply reverted to more or less what they had been before the Pax Romana. Of course, some things had changed forever, outside of Britain at least. Latin or some version of it replaced the local languages. Roman Catholicism replaced (or rather absorbed) local religion. There was still some memory of Roman law. All these things would endure through the Dark Ages and make Western Europe what it is today. In any event, only the Western portion of Europe was dark. The East was still quite cultured and wealthy, though sadly it poured its energies into ridiculous religious disputes. When the East fell, its scholars fled to Italy, helping give birth to the Renaissance.

It is a holiday. Glad you seemingly enjoyed yourself. The Principate can wait.

Well that's tragic, Flavius, and I am sorry. But the fact is 99% of Americans had never heard of your country before Americans started coming home in body bags from it. Its geopolitical significance was no where near the industrial centers of West Europe and Asia, and consequently a lot of armchchair students of geopolitics feel the American government should never have committed itself to its defense in the first place. I don't apologize for thinking in terms, not when my father could have easily been sent there to die. Cheers.

There is no exact criteria. After a few weeks of quality participation, wherein you demonstrate you are a serious member and not a complete idiot and jerk, either one of the Triumviri promotes you or one of the Legati recommends your promotion to the Triumviri. Contributing thoughtful reviews and articles may expedite the time frame. Look here for more: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4365

Does it really matter, anyway? Whoever bumped into the Western Hemisphere before Columbus either didn't have the ability or inclination to capitalize on their success. If the Vikings had made good on their effort, I'd be speaking a form of Danish now and living in the United States of "Vinland."

Thanks for the links, PP. Vcoins has several affordable coins with the deities I want. This could be the start of a new hobby for me. M. Caelius: Stick around on the forum long enough and you'll be promoted to Equestrian, giving you access to both the galleries and blogs.

Eat. Drink. Repeat as necessary.

I hope you guys like the new organization of the fora. Among other things, it was designed to separate the non-Roman aspects of the site from the Roman, as evidenced by the new "world cultures, history and archaeology" section. If there are any other concerns or suggestions, please let us know.

Most of the coins seem to come after Christian conversion. If I wanted to find a coin with the image of a specific deity (e.g., Mercury), where would I look and how much would I be paying?

Easter is usually a joyous springtime affair here in the hills of Pennsylvania, but now there is at least two inches of snow on the ground. Feh.

Registering more than one account in an attempt to evade the mod's detection is itself a bannable offense. If you leave the forum with your tail between your legs, don't try coming back under a new name. In fact, don't come back at all. Also, to the senior members, if someone is obviously intent on derailing a thread with trollish behavior, don't feed into it. Alert a mod and we'll surgically remove the offender as soon as possible. That is all.

While being indifferent to the religious aspects of the holiday, it's always been a cultural event for me, topped with family and feasting. It's also usually a time when Spring is in full bloom, although this year the winter snows have sullied the climate.

I think the original intent of the forum peregrini was to have a place to discuss how certain cultures directly effected the Roman Empire (and when I mean "Roman" I mean primarily the original Western empire, not the Byzantine extension). That way people could discuss Ancient Greece, the Celts and other related cultures. What you're proposing might take us well beyond those narrow boundaries. I'm not necessarily against the idea, but I think it would mean a shifting of the fora. There would be no clear dividing line between the forum peregrini, the post Roman history folder, and the universal history folder.

Nope. Under the old forum, when a legati deleted a post, it was moved to Tartarus rather than being expunged. You Triumviri were the only ones that had the power to completely erase a post. Until now, I guess. I suppose I'll just have to be careful to move things to Tartarus rather than deleting posts.

I just deleted a few posts from a new member and they were completely erased rather than being moved to Tartarus.

The Augusta has stated she will be part of the focus group as well ... as I had hoped and expected. I suppose this will be our group, then. Looking forward to the articles and reviews.

I have sadly never actually read it from cover to cover; but other authors quote Syme so extensively it's hard not to be familiar with the general ideas. The last book I read that was a direct response to Syme (and who took a contrary approach) was from Karl Galinsky. He prefers to see Augustus as the front man of a cultural evolution rather than as the strong man of a political revolution. I am not sure I understand the question.... The Principate was a curious blend of tradition and innovation - innovation masked by tradition. What exactly are you asking?

I actually preferred Kennan's original containment thesis - keep Communism out of the industrial centers of Europe and Asia, but don't worry about eradicating it from every corner of the globe. When we strayed from that original thesis, we got bogged down in idiot third world countries.

Happy 46.

I can't log in from work at all. I've tried clearing cache and cookies, but to no avail. But since I shouldn't be logging in from work anyway, I'm not going to complain. However, even at home I encounter a few problems. The private messenger function in particular is strange. It says I have a new pm when I don't. It says I don't have a new pm when I do. I can't read the pms when they pop up. *shrugs*

My son is an honors student at Lentilus Baetaetus Gladiator School. Think Imperial, Act Local Caesar is coming. Look Busy. The gods may love you, but everyone else thinks you're a jerk. My other ride is your slave girl.

Forum members who act stupid and then send me a pm whining because they have been placed on moderated status.

I live in Pennsilvania, some 90 minutes south of Pittsburgum, not far from the border with Terra Maraie (where I actually work). I live not too far from where flight 93 crashed on 9-11.