Nephele

Thank you, Formosus! -- Nephele

From my article: "Caesar" eventually became an imperial title, but during the time of the Republic it was actually an ancient praenomen first, then later a cognomen of the Julii. -- Nephele

"11:45am-12:30pm Caroline Lawrence - Children and the Classics - Why you shouldnt write for little adults but for Kids" Haha! I have to tell Caroline that she was in your dreams! -- Nephele

I believe nickname cognomina were generally bestowed by one's peers, but I'm sure one can often find an exception to every rule. No doubt there existed some Roman citizens with the presumption to nickname themselves. As I'd said previously, my guess was pure speculation that Lucanus might have self-adopted his cognomen in a desire to perhaps associate himself with an earlier, famous poet. Or, perhaps even the cognomen was bestowed upon him by his peers, for that very same reason. I don't know if "Lucanus" can be counted as a common cognomen, but Iiro Kajanto, in his work The Latin Cognomina, notes a C. Terentius Lucanus, a mint officer of circa 135/4 BCE. Also bearing the cognomen of "Lucanus" are noted 5 senators, 122 citizens, and 4 slave/freedmen. The feminine cognomen of "Lucana" was found for 24 free women and one female slave. Kajanto's work is a compilation of Latin cognomina excerpted from (in the author's words) "all available collections of inscriptions as well as the literary documents of antiquity down to approx. 600 A.D." -- Nephele

These are brilliant, Aurelia! I especially like the way you got some of them without the background. Well done! -- Nephele

Not all Roman cognomina were hereditary, and often Romans would adopt cognomina as nicknames. Although Lucanus was born in Spain, he was brought to Rome at an early age for his education. He may have acquired the cognomen of "Lucanus" due to an association with the region of Lucania in southern Italy. Possibly even (and this is pure speculation), he may have assumed the cognomen of Lucanus for himself out of an affectation -- as Lucanus was a poet and the great Roman poet Horace had been born in a town on the borders of Lucania and Apulia, sometimes referring to himself as "Lucanus an Appulus anceps" on that account. -- Nephele

Lucanus was the son of Mela, and the nephew of Seneca (the Younger). See Tacitus, Annals, 16.17: Mela, son of the same parents as Gallio and Seneca... He had too in his son Annaeus Lucanus a powerful aid in rising to distinction. -- Nephele

Thanks, everyone! Ooo, well done, Aurelia! We must add those to the collection, too! -- Nephele Edit: I just noticed that you have to slightly decrease the size of two of those avatars, Aurelia. The 3rd one in the bottom row, and the 4th one in the bottom row. The avatars can't be bigger than 64 x 64 pixels. Edit again: Never mind. I just re-sized them and edited the re-sized avatars into your posting.

Now there's a side of Spock I have never seen. I am surprised I never saw this video before given the overlap in fandom between Trek and LotR. The only thing I find more grating on my nerves than Hobbits, are Hobbit hippies. No, make that singing Hobbit hippies. Aaaarrrrggggh. -- Nephele

Ooo, Pan looks good on you, Kosmo! -- Nephele

I was expecting them to boil Harry Potter in their cauldron. Or, since they're from Mordor, at least a hobbit... Yes. That video would have been a lot more effective if they had done a drive-by of Hobbits or Elves. Okay, I'd posted this link here awhile back, but then deleted it because it's one of those tunes that's hard to get out of your head and winds up tormenting you all day long. Aurelia the sharp-eyed caught it before I'd deleted it, and PM'ed me. So now that you've mentioned Hobbits, you've asked for it. I give you... It's an evil, evil, EVIL music video. -- Nephele

Haha! Those aren't the new ones that I did for the base gallery. They were already there (part of the message board's original package, I presume), and the reason why I felt moved to provide some Roman-themed and Greek-themed avatars for our members. -- Nephele Ah, I see. I think some Asterix characters should be added as well, in keeping with the Roman theme. What do you think? Well, I've got Caesar from the Asterix comics in the collection. Asterix himself is a bit difficult, because of his rather imposing headdress that sort of takes up the entire box. To fit it all in, I'd have to downsize the picture quite a bit, and then Asterix's face becomes unrecognizable. And cropping out Asterix's headdress just doesn't seem right, it's so much a part of him. If anyone here has any success at creating avatars from the Asterix comics (Northern Neil has a GREAT one as his own avatar), then feel free to post them in this topic. Any avatars you create must be no larger than 64 x 64 pixels. -- Nephele

Haha! Those aren't the new ones that I did for the base gallery. They were already there (part of the message board's original package, I presume), and the reason why I felt moved to provide some Roman-themed and Greek-themed avatars for our members. -- Nephele

The gladiatrix Pink was holding a rather conspicuous Pepsi Cola can. I don't have product placement in my avatars. -- Nephele

For UNRV members who may be searching for just the right avatar to appear under your screen name... I've created 27 new avatars on a classical theme from which you might choose. These new avatars can be found in the Base Gallery when you go into the "Edit Avatar Settings" function of your Personal Profile. Here is the direct link: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=Us...CODE=getgallery Have fun! -- Nephele

Hails to you, and welcome to the Legati, Neil! -- Nephele

I like that term -- "Romanogram"! Perhaps I should use it, as these blanagrams aren't strict blanagrams. An acutal blanagram consistes of the substitution of a single letter. But necessity (in creating likely Roman names out of people's name scrambles) often requires more than one letter to be substituted. -- Nephele

Caldrail, this is not an example of "marriage customs in Roman society," as the participants were not members of Roman society at the time (in the formal sense), but instead were slaves residing within the same household and joined in what was called contubernium -- not legal matrimonium -- regardless of what they chose to call it themselves. Author Jo-Ann Shelton does not go into much depth in that book of yours. In fact, the author is downright misleading in her presentation of her example. If anything, her book serves as an illustration of the phrase "a little learning is a dangerous thing." For more than a little learning, I refer you to A Companion to the Roman Republic, edited by Nathan Rosenstein and Robert Morstein-Marx (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006). The authors not only supply (courtesy of the British Museum) an illustration of this 1st century BCE funerary stele of Aurelia Phlematium/Philematio, but also provide an in-depth translation and explanation. I quote the following (pages 335-337): No doubt there were many such unions among slaves within Roman households, as there could be little that masters might be able to do to prevent it, human nature being what human nature is. Perhaps such unions might even have been encouraged by Roman masters, as slaves encumbered by spouses and resulting children might be less inclined to run off. Also note that the relationship between Hermia and Philematium, when Philematium was only seven years old, appears to have been more of a guardian/child sort of relationship. It is likely that the contubernium was not consumated until Philematium may have at least attained puberty. As I'd stated in a previous thread, Roman betrothal could take place when a girl was as young as (but no younger than) seven years of age. Even slaves might imitate such custom, in their own way. But Roman law was what Roman law was and, in the 1st century BCE (the time in which the epitaph in question was written), marriage, and all it entailed, between an adult Roman citizen and a prepubescent child was by no means a legally recognized "marriage." -- Nephele

Not necessarily. The thing about blanagramming is to make the least amount of letter substitutions in order to produce the most likely Roman name. Which means that useless letters such as "j" and "y" must be swapped for absolutely essential letters, such as "u" and "s." So, here you go... You are a member of the Novellii, a gens which gave birth to Novellius Torquatus -- famous for his prodigious capacity for the consumption of wine. Your own branch of the Novellii, however, tended more towards being tea-totalers, preferring instead to boast of a shared ancestry with the Emperor Otho. To promote this connection, your family adopted the cognomen of "Otho," a name of princely Etruscan origin which possibly means "horse" or "horseman" or "cavalier." (Isaac Taylor, Etruscan Researches, London: Macmillan & Co., 1874.) Your praenomen is "Servius," customarily abbreviated as "Ser." Your full Roman name is: Ser. Novellius Otho = oooieerthnvjloly -joy +uss Welcome to UNRV! -- Nephele

'I have also sculpted and painted 4,000 figures, measuring just half an inch and all wearing their correct costumes. Each one takes about three hours to make and there are 32 versions of Jesus, although no one can ever spot him no matter how religious they are.' Ooo, it's like a Jesus version of Where's Wally? Northern Neil needs to see this. -- Nephele

But... but... I'm only 2 years old! Thank you! Haha! Now, if you have another name for me to blanagram, I shall be happy to oblige. -- Nephele

Ruppy - short for Ruby Puppy - was one of five cloned puppies genetically engineered to produce a fluorescent protein by scientists... They were created by a team led by Byeong-Chun Lee of Seoul National University in South Korea... Thanks to modern science, Koreans now enjoy the novelty of glow-in-the-dark dinner. -- Nephele

Romans were considered adults at 15. Women as young as 7 years of age have been recorded as married (though 12 or 13 was more likely). In the Roman world, you grew up a lot faster. You expect to be a grandfather by the age of 35. Under Roman law, those under the age of puberty (called impuberes) were not considered capable of entering into marriage. While no definite age for puberty was fixed in Rome's earliest days, puberty was then generally decided by physical appearance. Later on a fixed age of puberty was established for both boys and girls. For boys, the age of puberty was set at the age of 14 years; for girls it was set at the age of 12 years. Additionally, a girl no younger than 7 years of age might be entered into a betrothal contract, but she could not be considered a legitimate wife until she was at least 12 years of age. And, the ages of 15 and 16 were more likely the age at which Roman maidens were married. While a Roman male donned the toga praetexta at the age of 14, signifying his entry into manhood, it was not until he was generally between the ages of 16 and 18 that he would don the toga virilis, signifying his entry into adult citizenship. It is likely that, after this point, he might have been considered to be at the prime age for military recruitment. -- Nephele

Heh, you slipped an extra "o" into your angram there. But her name is a tough one. I'll give Ginger a gothic anagram alias, using her original first name: Ginevria Rigors = Virginia Rogers That was a great pic you found of her! Very dark! -- Nephele

Oooo, very good! Here are a couple for you: Merranda Manic = Carmen Miranda Tyrah O'Wraith = Rita Hayworth -- Nephele