Nephele

Thanks for posting all those links, Pantagathus! (And, thanks, Augusta, for privately PM'ing me the link to the original posting). Now all we need is some sort of comparative Consumer's Report on all of these various DNA services, to find out which one gives the biggest bang for our bucks. We were tested by Oxford Ancestors though -- are they affliated in some way with Nat'l Geo? Or are they in competition? It was the mitochondrial DNA test that we both took. I'm not certain if the lettering system for the haplogroups that Oxford Ancestors uses is the same as that used by Nat'l Geo. Do you know if they are? -- Nephele

Historically, or selected from this forum? I can picture Marcus Antonius as an enthusiastic participant in a Lupercalia celebration, as described by Shakespeare in Act I, Scene 2 of his Tragedy of Julius Caesar: CAESAR: Calpurnia! CALPURNIA: Here, my lord. CAESAR: Stand you directly in Antonius' way When he doth run his course. Antonius! ANTONY: Caesar, my lord? CAESAR: Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calpurnia, for our elders say The barren, touch

Pantagathus, you used to be a wild, dingo-type dog, but nowadays people have tamed your breed and, if handled properly, you can be socialized as a pet. You are a New Guinea Singing Dog, named "Ashe": sena gnhisgi = "Ashe" Singing *************************************************** Gaius Octavius, a.k.a. Captain Blackadder, I wouldn't dream of transmogrifying you into a chihuahua (how humiliating). You are an elegant Deutsch Bracke ("German Hound", also known as the German Foxhound). Despite being deutsch, you at least have a patriotic British name: "Ladd Edmund": ndduem kdalabcred = "Ladd Edmund" Bracke **************************************************** DecimusCaesar, do you have a middle name you can add to your scramble? **************************************************** Can't close without adding our DocOfLove to the kennel, as she didn't have time to post her scramble last night and asked me in PM for her breed. You dawgs are going to fall in love with her -- she's an adorable Rashon named "Marah". Woof! -- Nephele

:wub: Basil Fawlty is behind everything! Some say he's even behind the following 14 "Rules" for the American people (although the truth is that it's only Internet rumor that John Cleese was the original author of the following): John Cleese's Letter to the USA To the citizens of the United States of America, in light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective today. Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II resumes monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories. Except Utah, which she does not fancy. Your new prime minister (The Right Honourable Tony Blair, MP for the 97.8% of you who have, until now, been unaware there's a world outside your borders) will appoint a Minister for America. Congress and the Senate are disbanded. A questionnaire circulated next year will determine whether any of you noticed. To aid your transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect: 1. Look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Check "aluminium" in the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you pronounce it. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'. Likewise you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters. Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up "vocabulary." Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. Look up "interspersed." There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you should not have chat shows. 2. There is no such thing as "U.S. English." We'll let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u'. 3. You should learn to distinguish English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier). Scottish dramas such as 'Taggart' will no longer be broadcast with subtitles.You must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon." If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire Floridashire, Louisianashire. 4. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. 5. You should stop playing American "football." There's only one kind of football. What you call American "football" is not a very good game. The 2.1% of you aware there is a world outside your borders may have noticed no one else plays "American" football. You should instead play proper football. Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies). You should stop playing baseball. It's not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of America. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders," which is baseball without fancy team stripe, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs. 6. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns, or anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because you are not sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you need a permit to carry a vegetable peeler. 7. July 4th is no longer a public holiday. November 2nd will be a new national holiday. It will be called "Indecisive Day." 8. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean. All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left. At the same time, you will go metric without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour. 9. Learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips. Fries aren't French, they're Belgian though 97.8% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat. 10. The cold tasteless stuff you call beer is actually lager. Only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer." Substances once known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," except for the product of the American Budweiser company which will be called "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine." This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in Pilsen, Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion. 11. The UK will harmonise petrol prices (or "Gasoline," as you will be permitted to keep calling it) for those of the former USA, adopting UK petrol prices (roughly $6/US gallon, get used to it). 12. Learn to resolve personal issues without guns, lawyers or therapists. That you need many lawyers and therapists shows you're not adult enough to be independent. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, you're not grown up enough to handle a gun. 13. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy. 14. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776). Thank you for your co-operation. * John Cleese [basil Fawlty, Fawlty Towers, Torquay, Devon, England]

Aw, that dawg isn't that ugly! But, okay, does a Karelian Bear Dog suit you better? Named "Jersey Jamme"... Jjbeaarmeeermsy = "Jersey Jamme" Bear -- Nephele

With perhaps too much time on my hands, and having been inspired by the Westminster Dog Show that's taking place in NYC right now, I'm on a "What's Your Hidden Breed?" kick. So, if anyone here has the slightest bit of interest in discovering your breed of dog (and your doggie name) through the magic of anagrams, I'll be happy to oblige. Same rules apply as for Your Hidden Roman Name (scramble your name for privacy, etc., etc.) Heheh, two folks have risked getting "dogged out" over in my UNRV blog: Gauis Paulinus Maximus is a Frengle, and Ursus is a Bull Arab. I haven't yet asked either of them if they resemble their canine counterparts. Want to find out what bad dawg are you? -- Nephele

I missed that other thread that mentioned the National Geographic project -- where was that? I'd previously read the news about National Geo's Genographic Project, and I'm thinking of participating. A couple of years ago both my man and I had our DNA tested by Oxford Ancestors to find out which of the "Seven Daughters of Eve" we each were sprung from. My "clan mother" turned out to be Helena (Haplogroup H) and my man's was Jasmine (Haplogroup J). Which made me wonder whether the good folks at Oxford Ancestors might have mixed up our swabs. I would have thought that I would have been the one most likely to have been descended from the first farmers in the Middle East over 8,500 years ago -- not my man, who happens to be of pure British stock. If our swabs weren't mixed up, then I can only guess that there may have been a female captive from the Crusades somewhere in his family tree, brought back to England. The Genographic Project test costs a lot less than the Oxford Ancestors test. I'm definitely inclining towards doing it. -- Nephele

Hahahaha! You tempt me to "gothercize" her by anagramming "Livia Drusilla" into "Vasillia Lurid" ("Queen Lurid"). I will definitely let you know, Augusta, if your eponym takes a turn in that direction. Btw, I greatly enjoyed your review of Anthony Barrett's biography of Livia. I'm surprised the book wasn't already in my public library's collection but, thanks to you, I've corrected that oversight. -- Nephele

[quote name='Julia C

Hey, they're not my commandments, G.O., as I'm not a card-carrying member of the Church of Satan. But I can see merit in a lot of those "Rules", despite the fact that Anton LaVey was undoubtedly a con artist. I'm not aware of his followers ever advocating spousal abuse, however. -- Nephele

Interesting that Satanism has been brought up. I rather like the "Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth" (written by Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan): 1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked. 2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them. 3. When in another's lair, show him respect or else do not go there. 4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy. 5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal. 6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved. 7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained. 8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself. 9. Do not harm little children. 10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food. 11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

Considering the great importance that Romans placed on their public image, one might be surprised that the noble families who bore cognomina didn't make more of an effort to change their cognomina (other than through the act of adoption). In a discussion on Roman names I had on another message board, I had remarked on how many of those cognomina amount to hilariously pejorative nicknames: Brutus ("dimwit"), Calvus ("baldy"), Cicero ("chickpea"), Strabo ("squint-eyed"). Since a "good name" to the ancient Romans obviously was counted more by deeds than by any flattering words constituting that name, perhaps many of those ridiculous cognomina retained by certain Romans might have served as an example of proud (and clever) anti-propaganda. By "anti-propaganda", I mean a flaunting of one's disdain for superficial self-flattery, in retaining such names -- with the effect that others, impressed, might ultimately wind up praising one for such a lack of concern over the name one goes by. -- Nephele

The belly dancer is also a sorceress (see blog). And, yes, by NYC I mean Manhattan, silly. But Brooklyn has its merits, too. :wub: -- Nephele

*applause*! -- Nephele

I proposed just that, as none of my fellow Americans were giving me credible alternatives. Actually, I would love to meet you. And I think Nephele lives there, she could be our tour guide. Absolutely! In fact, my man and I are organizing a NYC Subway Art Crawl for sometime this spring or summer. It's sort of like a pub crawl, except we'll be travelling from subway station to station in search of the numerous pieces of public art that one can view for free (along with the $2 cost of a subway ride). Roy Lichtenstein's work , for example, can be found at one of the Times Square stations. You can also view Lichtenstein's art in the Guggenheim Museum for a pricey admission -- but it's more fun to do the free art crawl through the subways. There's lots of fun, CHEAP stuff to do in NYC. If you decide on a meet-up here, I'd be delighted to propose a few suggestions and serve as tour guide! -- Nephele

I loved that the first time I read it in e-mail. The original author left out my New York City though (which I count as a nation unto itself): New Yorkers took a break from arguing over what to build on Ground Zero when it was announced that the city's terror alert level had been elevated from "WTF?" to "Seriously Cranky". Emergency Starbucks have been added as a protective measure against a collapse of the city's infrastructure due to New Yorkers not getting their cups of cawfee. If conditions persist, the alert may even rise to the catastrophic, last resort level of "Make Eye Contact". -- Nephele

I enjoyed this episode's bit of dark humor in Duro's torture scene, from the bit where Atia impatiently declares that Octavia's middle class friend Jocasta is "a bad influence" (after both girls have stumbled upon Timon torturing Duro under Atia's direction and Jocasta is visibly nauseated by the sight), to the bit where Atia explains that Duro had tried to poison her and Octavia replies in exasperation: "What have you been doing to the servants that they want to murder you?" -- Nephele

From the recipes for garum that I've seen, it's nice to know that at least some of it was ritually pure. I would bet that the treyf garum tasted better. -- Nephele

Looking at that picture, I got the impression that Hobbits lived there. -- Nephele

Whee-oh! Nostradamus rides again! :horse: -- Nephele

I recommend the book I'm currently reading (which I've been referencing in the "Jews in Rome" topic over in the Monotheism subforum of the Templum Romae forum): The Jews in the Roman World, by Michael Grant (Dorset Press, 1973). EDIT: I figured it would be helpful if I added a description of this book: Written by classical historian and academician Michael Grant, the scope of this scholarly work covers the history of the Jewish people in the Roman Empire from their beginnings preceding the advent of the Romans through to the 7th century CE. It includes their liberation from the Greeks, divisions in Judaism in Maccabaean times, how they lived in the city of Rome itself, the kingship of Herod the Great, "problems of Pontius Pilate" and the historical Jesus and Paul, the wars against the Romans, and Jewish survival in the first centuries of the Christian era. The book includes some maps (in black and white), notes, extensive bibliography, index, and tables displaying the family trees of the Maccabees, Herod the Great, and Augustus Caesar. Published in 1973, this book is currently out-of-print. Used copies can be purchased through Amazon and AbeBooks. -- Nephele

To all the excellent information that Ursus provided regarding how the Jews of Rome were accepted, I'd like to add that, under the rule of C. Julius Caesar, apparently the Jews in Rome never had it better. The Jews under Caesar were given leave to form their own councils for their synagogues, each council with its own leader (archisynagogus), through which they were granted autonomous administration of their communal property along with other rights. Additionally, "when there were Roman distributions of grain and oil, the Jews were given a double portion on Friday so that they need not attend on the Sabbath; and, since some Jewish authorities prohibited the dietary use of heathen oil, they were authorized (at least by Augustus' time) to demand money instead." (ref. Michael Grant's The Jews in the Roman World.) Caesar's tolerance of Rome's Jews is attributed to his friendship for the Jewish leaders in Judaea. As to the availability of kosher food... The author of the book I cited states that "fairly certain evidence" of such has been found at Pompeii, in the form of vessels inscribed garum castum ("ritually pure" or "kosher" fish sauce) and muria casta ("ritually pure" or "kosher" brine, pickle). Inscriptions in the Jewish catacombs indicate that the Jews of Rome worked as weavers, tent-makers, dyers, butchers, painters, jewelers and doctors -- "not yet the moneylenders and financiers who were characteristic of later communities." (ref. Grant) -- Nephele

Was the granting of citizenship to manumitted slaves or free foreigners not in practice BCE, then? Does anybody here know precisely when this practice began? -- Nephele