Nephele

Augusta, not surprisingly, your love of history is inherited from a famous ancestor who was a controversial historian. Your cognomen is a feminine diminutive of Gessius, indicating your royal descent from a Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty. Your full Roman name is

Augustus - I have heard Newcastle Brown referred to in Manchester as 'Nookie Brown' - of course, we wouldn't dare say it in front of Geordies! I know Nephele won't mind me saying that an American cousin, unused to proper beer as they are (a bit like Londoners), would be well and truly 'nuked' after just two pints! Yep, that's it -- "Nookie Brown". My man's folks are in Nottingham, and that's what they call the Newcastle Brown there. Although, for getting nuked, I don't think many things beat the Scrumpy I had down in Taunton. Off now to work on your new hidden Roman name, Augusta. Wheee! -- Nephele

Edvinsen, I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to get to your name! Usually I'm quicker than this, but I must have missed seeing your posting a few days back when I was having computer troubles. Okay, here you go! Your innate love of history is revealed not only by your presence on this Roman history message board, but also by your ancestry, for you are a descendant of the historian Vennonius, whom Cicero placed immediately after Fannius in his enumeration of historians. Your cognomen of "Ruber" indicates that your ancestors may have been noted for their ruddy complexion. If you don't share in that physical attribute, then perhaps the color red simply becomes you. Your praenomen is "Aulus", abbreviated as "A." Your full Roman name is

It

Nephele arrives with her usual troupe of dancing slave girls as an addition to the party. They bear goblets of a strange -- yet ambrosial -- refreshment called "Nookie". (If this New Yorker is recalling correctly the local ales encountered in her pub-crawling days in the north of England.) The slave girls are already somewhat nuked on the Nookie from Newcastle. Another round for all! Birthday hails you, Augustus Caesar! May you have a cool day! -- Nephele

Well, a telephone call to the Corbis folk didn't yield any information, either. Although I was told that the photo is part of the Otto Bettmann collection. But Bettmann collected zillions of images over his lifetime, so there's no telling which museum was the source of that particular image of Augustus. Although perhaps a search of German museums might prove fruitful, as I'm guessing that image may have been one that Bettmann acquired before he left Germany to escape the Nazis. -- Nephele

Yep, you did! Glad that link was of help, Gladius. I would nevertheless check any information in Wikipedia against an additional source (unless you know the article was written by a Wiki contributor who knows his beans, like Andrew Dalby). Are you planning to include the native Italian tribes on your list as well? As (I figure you already know) many of the Italian regions (Umbria, Liguria, etc.) were named for the indigenous tribes that occupied them. Am looking forward to seeing your expanded list! -- Nephele

You may find this Wikipedia link helpful. It lists various tribes and their corresponding major settlements -- many of these places having received their modern-day names from these tribes. -- Nephele

Welcome back, Viggen! Sorry you've had such a crummy start to the year. Surgery, yet. Yikes. Well, here's something goofy to cheer you -- inspired by the "Quo usque tandem?" in your topic heading... LAY OF ANCIENT ROME by Thomas Ybarra Oh, the Roman was a rogue, He erat was, you bettum; He ran his automobilis And smoked his cigarettum; He wore a diamond studibus And elegant cravattum, A maxima cum laude shirt, And a stylish hattum! He loved the luscious hic-haec-hoc, And bet on games and equi; At times he won, at others, though, He got it in the necqui; He winked (quo usque tandem?) At puellas on the Forum, And sometimes even made Those goo-goo oculorum! He frequently was seen At combats gladiatorial, And ate enough to feed Ten boarders at Memorial; He often went on sprees And said, on starting homus, "Hic labor --- opus est, Oh, where's my hic--hic--domus?" Although he lived in Rome -- Of all the arts the middle -- He was (excuse the phrase) A horrid individ'l; Ah! what a diff'rent thing Was the homo (dative, hominy) Of far-away B.C. From us of Anno Domini. (Okay, so it's not exactly a Hallmark get-well-card, but it sure beats Hallmark's treacly platitudes.) -- Nephele

But that's just not true. The consular fasti don't tell us whether the gens had died out, only whether they continued to gain consular imperium. If the old patrician families died out, we should hear no more of the Valerii (e.g.) from any of our sources-- letters, coins, histories, etc. That's a good point, MPC, that the consular fasti shouldn't be the only source on which to rely when taking a census of patricians. But... although the Valeria gens didn't die out, isn't it also true that not every branch of the Valerii was patrician? I think it's interesting that Harvard classics scholar, Mason Hammond (who recently passed away), based his similar conclusion (that the patricians were dying out) on the composition of the Roman Senate throughout the years of the Empire. Hammond cited the "traditional view" (held by historians from Tacitus to Gibbon) that the patrician families had been decimated under imperial persecution, but Hammond's own assertion was that the patrician families had been dying out anyway, simply due to the fact that they weren't perpetuating themselves. In fact, Hammond stated that even senatorial families of plebian status experienced a population decline for the same reason. In his article titled "Composition of the Senate, A.D. 68-235" (The Journal of Roman Studies, 1957), Hammond illustrated the decline of patricians of Republican ancestry in the Roman Senate by providing statistical averages under the various emperors, starting with 16 percent under Augustus and declining to 4.5 percent under Nero. He further stated that the same decline was also seen among those families that had been elevated to patrician status under Augustus and Claudius. Of those 26 families, only 16 were still represented under Nero's rule, 9 under Vespasian, and a mere 6 under Trajan. Perhaps Hammond was making the same error as those who might rely on the consular fasti as an indication that the patricians were dying out -- and that the Senate alone might not be the best indicator of the population status of a social class. But (and this is my own conclusion, perhaps wrong but what the heck I'll throw it out there anyway) considering that membership in the Senate was viewed as a birthright by patricians, perhaps it might logically follow that the representation of patricians in the Senate at any particular time might therefore be a fairly likely indication of the prevalence of patricians in the general population. Side note to P. Nonius Severus: What a great link you provided for a listing of the Roman gentes! Many thanks -- I've bookmarked that one. And, while on the subject of great links, I'll mention another great one since it applies to the question of the etymology of the word "patrician", and confirms what MPC wrote earlier in this thread (that the word is derived from the Latin word for "father"): Etymology Online Authoritative sources used for Etymology Online are cited here. -- Nephele

"Welcome to Rome, city of the Caesars! This informative and entertaining guide provides everything that any tourist needs for a journey back in time to ancient Rome in AD 200. All you need is your imagination and a toothbrush

Birthday hails to you, Viggen! I'd send you some dancing slave girls if I thought that could make up for the crummy past year you've had. You've been missed. Looking forward to better times ahead! -- Nephele

You guessed it -- "Noheli" is actually a feminine Hispanic name derived from "Noel". "Zahrah" is Arabic meaning "flower" -- perfect name for a Flower Child. -- Calleann Phree (a.k.a. Nephele)

Oh yeah...Ms. Joplin has been heard wailing away the blues in many parts around here...esp. my car This definitely calls for your hippification, Doc. Luckily I have your name scramble already handy. With a wave of my magical anagram wand, I transform you into a hippie chick named... Zahrah Noheli Starbeam = zabrrmsahnehaoealith Rock on out. -- Nephele

For those who didn't know it (I'm sure Docoflove knows it, living in San Francisco as she does), this year marks the 40th Anniversary of the Summer of Love. For any aging hippies or new generation hippies around here who care to celebrate, I'm doing my 'gramming thing by offering hippy names to anyone who wants them. As before, just give me a scramble of your name (for privacy, if you like) and, through the magic of anagramming, I'll happily hippify you with a suitable hippy name that you can wear with your tie-dyed, paisley-patterned, bell-bottoms and shades. Peace, baby. -- "Calleann Phree" (a.k.a. Nephele)

Very good guess but unfortunately incorrect sir. Doesn't a good guess earn a clue? -- Nephele

OMG. Elaine turned into Rosie O'Donnell. I'm gonna cry... Nah. Very funny stuff! -- Nephele

Gratias tibi ago! -- Nephele

Perhaps because the Regal and Republican era Romans were made of such stern stuff, they chose not to take the easy way out of their economic difficulties by disposing of superfluous children? Yes, that would be in keeping with the apparent consensus of opinion among classicists that it is after the period of the Republic that evidence can be found of the practice of child exposure. -- Nephele

Indeed that is correct. It was a fairly easy one

A.D., the link to Gastronomica in your Wikipedia article doesn't appear to be working. -- Nephele

Ancona, Italy -- The Arch of Trajan. -- Nephele

Shoes made of meat... How deliciously surreal, muses Nephele, as she observes Primus Pilus now carrying on an animated conversation with the statue of Athena. Nephele decides to introduce Primus to Caesar. "No, Primus -- not THAT Caesar. Meet one of my favorite surrealist artists, Ray Caesar." Hope no one minds if I bring a fiend friend to the party. -- Nephele

Interestingly, H. Bennett of Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pennsylvania, maintained in a 1923 article for The Classical Journal (