Kosmo

Happy Birthday!

This poem made me laugh with tears. You're good. "Ambrosia isn't kosher!"

Sure, wool was traded extensivly during the empire. After starting this topic I found some sources about it. It seems that during Constantine british textiles were well thought off. Still I found nothing on cotton. There are some vague clues to cotton cloth, but nothing certain on trade and nothing at all on cultivation. The online sources don't mention the spread of this plant in Med areas. They say it was used by pharaonic egyptians and that's all. Turkey still is a major producer and Egypt, Syria and Macedonia produced a lot in the XIX C. Maybe it was known but not used much and that would be even more strange that not been known at all.

After years of listening to some of them on Orff's music (I even watched a ballet on this music) now I'm reading the poems in a bilingual edition (latin/german originals - romanian translation) They are really amazing given that they were written between 1150-1250 AD. Most mentions on christianity and chivalry are highly critical of the way thay are practiced. Instead the knowledge of roman mytholgy was very good. The explicit erotic content of a few poems was a surprise given the period. Also the invokations of ancient gods and offers of sacrifice are surprising. The frequency of the use of roman mythological characters it's very high. This guys learned a lot about it besides their latin studies. The rime and the rithm of the poems look great but the fact that I don't know latin makes my opinion worthless. What do you think of this poems? Are they good compared to their models, Virgilius and Naso?

This also is my point. I try to recycle, don't leave the lights or water running and I don't have cars that use much oil. But I dislike to be chated and manipulated by people who try to scare me so I can play as they sing. If this makes an Exxon mercenary I have no problem with it. Marxists did and do call people who oppose them fascists. I'm a fascist mercenary fighting for Exxon to bring doom to human kind by asking for evidence.

Yes, why worry about something that it's out of your power to change Early humans with stone age tehnology were succesfull in making extinct dozens (if not hundreds) of species of large animals.The begining of agriculture and animal herding changed the landescape in most areas of the Earth. Pollution from Roman mining in Spain left marks on Groenland's ice shelf. Most Europe was a forest 3.000 years ago. Humans tranfered animals and plants from one corner to the other expanding the areals of some destroying that of others. Like it or not we left our mark on Earth since day one. And the Earth was changing even without us. I'm not saying that climate it's not changing (it will be unlikely to stay the same). All I say it's this CO2 thing it's turning into a scare based on flimsy evidence. In the meantime, other ecological problems go unsolved. I'm more interested in the quality of the air that I breathe then if it will be 2 degrees warmer. Lots of money go in this CO2 thing and I don't believe that they are wisely spent. The solutions are a laugh. Human population it's rapidly increasing and trying to develop. Everyday are more people and each uses more resources. How can you stop this pressure on all resources? Co2 emission reduction in Europe was more the compensated by the growth of asian economies. When you put pressure on european industry they just move it somewhere else where are less restrictions and then the loss of jobs it's mourned. Greenpeace fights global warming and nuclear powerplants. What's left? Solar panels for the huge cities of the North? In the meantime Naples cant handle his garbage. Ethanol it's better then gas but the explosion of ethanol production will maybe replace tropical forests with sugarcane plantations. Putting money and brains to good use would be the first step to take even before action (that is something today politicians will be surprised to hear). But now the ball is rolling and even proven wrong it will be very hard to stop. Being a sceptic on climate change will not make a climate scientist popular while anybody knows that studying a fashionable object will bring grants, scholarships, jobs etc.

The Opium Wars were important for East Asia. Chinese defeat and Perry expedition prompted japonese Meiji reforms. China failed to reform and fell in internal conflicts that lasted 100 years. Chinese should have now better then to provoke Britain by disrupting trade. Britain used force to gain advantages because it was in her benefit. This is not great for our moral standards but it was the way things were then and to some extent the way things will always be. Now politicians use more justifications. The strong take advantage of the weak and China never had problems in using this. At least Britain later defended China thru her Open Doors policy that prevented the division of the country in colonies.

This requiers improvement of my computer skills.

The opinion of a "specialist" who knows who is to blame. Note this line "last week's discovery that the Antarctic Ocean can no longer absorb CO

I have a reproduction of a comercial poster from 1930's with drugs for flu. Besides Aspirin was Heroin Unlike 2007 Britain knew why it was fighting in places like Crimeea, India and China. 1857 was a year from a great period for Britain and most places in the world.

A good deceit it's mentioned by Procopius. The persian king faked an attack against Mesopotamia, leting information leak to roman spies. Belizarius rushed to defend, but the king struck much more to the north in Lazica. Another example was the way Crassus was misled by his arabian guide in service of the Parthians on the way to Carrhae. Arminius performed similar tasks against Octavian's legions leading them to a trap. Propaganda and coups were used in many instances against greek cities. Pyrhus and Antigonas Gonatas fought to influence the politics of the cities of Pelopones. Antigonos got the upper hand in Argos but Pyrhus party open the gates for his last attack. Various action that we consider espionage and influence were used but I don't know of any institution created for this purpose.

I have the coolest name. All I needed now it's flowers in my hair.

Sadly, most mosaics and other christian decorations are gone. They indeed recovered some of them from under the plaster layer but probably all wall surfaces were decorated while now most are not. Is still very much worth seeing. For it's oldness, place in history, model for countless church and mosques and it's countinous use I consider it the most important building still standing.

Maybe the phoenicians themselves, who knew a thing or two about the Assyrian warfare, could pass informations and goods. The role of phoenicians in Arhaic Greece it's often neglected.

Zabalovici Anton Cosmin. Let's see what name I had in my previous life! This one I started later when heavy metal ruled, chains, spikes and darkness not tree huging. Augusta you looked lovely. And Perti...sorry... Jorren Moonchanter was ... disturbing?

The greek colony Histria, that was then located in gulf at the southern most mouth of Danube, based her prosperity on exports of dried fish, caught (fresh) in the Danube Delta. The most important markets were the Bosporan kingdom and the greek colonies on the north coast of the Black Sea. An inscription shows several confirmations given to the city fishing rights in the delta by roman governors of Moesia Inferior the last beeing Labienus Maximus. The export of dried fish was an important revenue for the city and they protected their fishing rights even with petition to the emperors. Unfortunetly, the inscription does not tell if it was salted or smoked and gives no recipe about the cooking of the dry fish

In what war fought the young Caesar?

A composite bow can be as powerfull as a long bow, but it is more expansive and more fragile. What type of bows the romans used?

No... the Capitoline Triad makes sense Poseidon was the second most important god of Athens. He lost the mythical competition but was still highly celebrated, strangely it was less important his connection with the the sea but that with the horses that mattered. That's why he was the favorite of the aristocracy (hippias - cavalrymen) Also the Eleusine mysteries that celebrated Demeter and Persephone were held in Athens hinterland. I guess that all cities paid respects to all gods to various degrees. It was not wise to focus to much on a god and to ignore another one because it will became gelous and punish the city. Dionysos was important and highly celebrated in the areas of Black Sea and Thrace. He was, obviously, the patron god of Dionysopolis. Also there were several cities named Apollonia where Apollo was especially worshipped.

Romans were xenophobic, but in practical things they tended to forget about this stereotypes. For example they despised greeks but used them as teachers, doctors etc. Even more they were always allied with some greek city in conflicts, borrowed heavily from their religion, art and philosophy etc. They deliberatly displaced greek culture from some places but never tried to wipe it out and replace it with the "superior" roman culture. If they despised iberians they still changed their weaponry after their style. They also adopted syrian and egyptian gods and made use of gaul and german mercenaries. Emperors were drown from most corners of the empire and while some were descendants of roman colonists like Trajan others were descendants of natives of provinces like Septimius Sever of punic origins. Roman xenophobia had no practical effect in their attitudes toward groups and individuals. After all they, from an early time, opened their cities and political system to their subjects. Romans embraced those who were willing to came to their way, but had little sympathy for those who clinged to particular views. This is logic for a diverse empire. Maybe this xenophobia was a way to insure that people that refused to be romanized are penalized thru exclusion. Who wants to be called a piss drinking spaniard when he can opt to be a honorable roman?

I liked most the comments because that is what I was thinking while reading. They will find the insurgents and eat all their clothes. Unless there it's a bulb light somewhere near. And the opponents will use anti moth tactics like starving them by wearing nylon and using large amounts of "Raid" moth killers.

I was expecting a cross between Rome Total War and Medieval II The result makes sense as the best medieval units (cavalry, longbowman) made a serious impact while roman heavy infantry cold take a lot of punishment and still drive away weak enemy infantry. The superiority of medieval cavalry meant that they could outmanouver the romans and hold the initiative. In antiquity there was nothing similar to the massed, rapid volleys of the english longbows. Archers were disregarded and probably uneffective as Procopius points. A roman general will have had a nasty surprise despite the armour of his troops when trying to rush the longbowman line with his slow infantry. Of course, if the romans are 80.000 like at Cannae and the english 7-10.000 like at Agincourt it does not matter.

Pantaghatus - Your scholalry attention it's focused in an interesting direction. The transition between the Dark Age and Classical Age it's an imensly important period. I hope to see more about this. To connect the origins of hoplite equipament with Italy it's really surprising, but I have not heard even about the assyrian connection despite the resamblance of assyrian heavy infantry with hoplite phalanx.

Romans took measures to stop the gold defict from trade. Laws prohibiting some expansive merchandises and interdictions to export bullion were in place since the early principate. This was not brilliantly efficient but for sure they tried. This deficit to the East was a problem for Europe since before romans and until the Industrial Revolution and beyond. In mid XIX the british had to sell opium, and to fight wars to keep the trade open, to the chinese to ease the deficit that they still had with them. Before that most of the gold the european empires get from Africa and America was spent in Asia. The pacific tradeline beetween Spanish America and China was a major trade route and sometimes more silver ended in Manila for the China and India trade then in Spain. This happened despite european control of the trade routes and acces to markets. The only periods before when Europe had lees deficit were when the trade routes broke down and when they were penyless. What were roman suppose to do? They tried to improve their political position in regard to the eastern neighbours and to diversify trade routes to avoid one setting a monopoly. Romans spend loads of money on monuments and such, but also on roads, ports, bridges, on trade security, mines, irrigation facilities, etc. This were productive investments. Romans did not only exploit, but invested and developed.

No prevention measure could work after the epidemic started. Those who escape the first spread would be affected by the next ones until olny those with immunity (either natural or survivors) were around. This is the theory developed for the Great Plague and the repeted ones that wiped out american natives after the Columbus Exchange. In theory romans were less exposed to plagues because of good food supply (weakness because of stravation it's considered an adding factor) and extensive hygene network but the intense travel and the use of centralised water sources meant that they actually had little protection. It will be interesting to know if the epidemics affecting the romans had spreaded in Europe, outside the Empire.