Nephele

Is this the portrait? I found where you'd posted this on another forum, with the description: "This is one of the few remaining extant portraits of Caligula. This photo is quite hard to find. Note the physiognomy of Caligula." -- Nephele

Me, too! What an enriching experience! -- Nephele

Welcome, C.D.E.! GREAT story about how you came to be a Romanophile! And, yes, I quite agree: Romans are the coolest badasses in religious crucifixion pageants! -- Nephele

So true. I remember reading somewhere (and I'll have to hunt it out again) that some unscrupulous Roman bakers were in the habit of putting inedible substances into their bread dough in order to bulk it up for the consumer. It wasn't beyond them to use chalk and alum, too, as whitening agents for the bread. And how could the consumer tell, if the product nevertheless tasted gooood? (I'm sure those crafty ancient Roman bread entrepreneurs had tricks for enhancing the taste of their product, as well.) In our modern society we're accustomed to knowing the food we eat has at least passed minimum health department standards -- but the free-wheeling Roman marketplace didn't have such governmental constraints. The hardcore libertarian in me wants to say: "Go, Romans!" On the other hand, I think I'll remain in favor of at least a limited government that still oversees the quality of our food and water. -- Nephele

Hahahahaha! Methinks Caldrail, a.k.a. M. Laronius Ralla, is truly a dark Roman, and thus requires an additional, dark identity... Through the magic of the Ars Magna, Nephele cracks her whip and transforms M. Laronius Ralla into... A. Romanus Darkus (AKLNLADMRAAOLR -alll +usus) Nephele steps back and admires her handiwork. Ah, the reptilian eye goes well with the new look! -- Nephele

C.D.E., you are a descendant of that famous Salonius who served as a faithful scribe to Cato the Elder, and who eventually became Cato's father-in-law. Your praenomen is Spurius, abbreviated as "S." and your cognomen is "Veter", meaning "ancient; of long standing," emphasizing your family's veteran status as Roman citizens. Your full Roman name is: S. Salonius Veter nsaoJ rSeylvste -jy +iu And, because you have such a cool screen name, here's another Roman identity for you, blanagrammed from "Carthago Delenda Est!": C. Atheneus Gladiator Carthago Delendo Est -de +iu Welcome to UNRV! -- Nephele

Smart arse! Yup! That's me! -- Nephele

A few additional facts, if these help... It wasn't merely the Ides of March that was ill-omened for Caesar, but rather the entire 30-day period preceding and merely culminating on the Ides of March. As recorded by Valerius Maximus (8.11.2), the haruspex Spurinna "had forewarned Julius Caesar that he should be wary of the next thirty days as being fraught with peril to his life, a period that was to end with the Ides of March." (Translated by John T. Ramsey.) So the Ides of March became associated with misfortune due to Caesar's assassination on that day, despite the fact that it was really the entire, preceding 30-day period that was predicted to have been a dangerous and unlucky time for Caesar, and Caesar alone. Apparently, Caesar had managed to escape the evils that might have befallen him on any one of those preceding days, only to have met his fate on the last day -- the 15th -- when his luck ran out. Other than Caesar's personal misfortune with that date, the Ides of March seems to have been an auspicious date, as Ovid in his Fasti writes more about the day being the celebration of "the jovial feast of Anna Perenna," in which "the common folk come, and scattered here and there over the green grass they drink, every lad reclining beside his lass." (Translated by James George Frazer.), than about the day commemorating the death of Julius Caesar. -- Nephele

I've had similar problems on other forums, so if I'm planning some lengthy posting I always write it in Microsoft Word first, and then copy and paste it into the forum box for posting. I do that everywhere as a rule of thumb, not just here. I've noticed that if you have more than one window open on this site, you're likely to get the error message upon attempting to post. Eh, I'm not really bothered by it. And, now that I know, I don't open up more than one window anymore. Sorry you lost your blog entry, G.O. -- Nephele

D'uh! And there it is -- right in front of my inquisitive, slightly-sunburnt-from-a-lunchbreak-spent-at-the-beach nose! Ah well, I'm signed up now! -- Nephele

Whoooops! Hahahahahaha!

Seeing as how Nephele has made plans to attend Coney Island's annual Mermaid Parade this Saturday, she will be picking up a few additional transvestites from the parade to bring back to Doc's party. Must get back to work on my fetish/mermaid costume now... P.S. to Pantagathus: Just for you, I shall photographically record the Coney Island polytheistic ritual of appeasing Lord Neptune by tossing fruit into the ocean. -- Nephele

Purrrr-mit me to flick that fly off your ear with my whip, G.O. *ker-RACK!* Heh. Dead fly and, what do you know? G.O. didn't quite lose an ear. My aim's getting better! -- Nephele

I imagine teevee

I imagine teevee

Yes, clearly the word is known... but the average buffoon probably doesn't know where it came from. Then again, the average buffoon is probably not listening to Suetonius. Good point! -- Nephele

Which does he actually use? I'd assume that those who would take the time to listen to an audio book of Suetonius would likely already know that the modern English Cee-Zer is wrong, but it could potentially cause some confusion to use a more proper Latin pronunciation. A minor thing I know, but just curious. Jacobi pronounces it: Cee-Zer. Yes, English ears would be more familiar with that pronunciation -- I was just noting my personal preference. I dislike "Cee-Zer" as much as I dislike "Kwee-ster". But, I don't really think that hearing Caesar pronounced as "Kaisar" would be too confusing, as English ears are also familiar with the word "kaiser". -- Nephele

I'm a whore for the Discovery Channel, too, but I tend to buy their DVDs from their Discovery Store at the mall, or from their on-line store. Ever since I was a little kid, I've had a HUGE fascination for dinosaurs and prehistoric mammals. As a child I had a treasured collection of plastic dinosaur models and knew every name, and every childhood trip to NYC's Museum of Natural History would find me practically glued to the dinosaur exhibits. So the Discovery Channel's dinosaur shows with their amazing CGI animations are the biggest draw for me. -- Nephele

I can't believe I've been here nearly a year and I didn't know about the newsletter! I must've been napping or something! I just now did a search for the link and subscribed myself. Viggen, is there a more conspicuous link to the newsletter somewhere on the site (especially the forum), that I just blindly missed? I ask, because I wonder if new members might miss it as I have done? -- Nephele

Yikes! I'm glad I missed that one. I rather prefer hearing the "ae" pronounced "eye", too. I also prefer "Caesar" as "Kaisar", despite the modern-day Germanic associations with that particular pronunciation. Or, perhaps, even because of it, given Caesar's predilection for world domination. Same with the nomen of "Caecilius" which (to me) sounds silly as "see-sil-i-us". The exception I think is when that "ae" comes at the beginning of a word, as in "Aeneas" which (to me, anyway) sounds odd pronounced "eye-nee-as". Although "ee-nee-as" sounds equally odd, and so I opt for "ih-nee-as". And, yes, the "W" pronunciation for "V" makes me cringe to hear, as it sounds like an affectation, or (worse) conscious baby talk, or (worst of all) a Barbara Walters impression: Wallay, Wictor, Wizzygoths, etc. I hadn't even thought of using the hard V pronunciation to aid students in making connections with our English words of Latin derivation, but that makes good sense. -- Nephele

Steve, be a free spirit and bare your pugio for us. -- Nephele

Hahahahahaha! Pwned! -- Nephele

I heard that "kwee-ster" pronunciation, too, in the sample reading from the link MPC provided, and it made me cringe. I noticed Jacobi also pronounced "praetor" as "pree-ter" in that sampling, and "aedile" as "ee-dail". We had another thread going on the "ae" pronunciation here. As a Latin teacher, FG, your thoughts on this? -- Nephele

Vercingetorix, you are a member of the noble gens Aemilia, of the patrician class. Your praenomen is "Kaeso", abbreviated as "K", and your cognomen proudly proclaims your Roman citizenship. Your full Roman name is: K. Aemilius Romanus orseejmkmankysal -ejky +iiuu Welcome to UNRV! -- Nephele