Primus Pilus

Love is certainly difficult to identify when dealing with the ancients but all indications are that Trajan was quite close to his wife and other female members of his family. Pompeia Plotina, Trajan

Hmm, I suppose I did leave out a vital piece of information ... Fulvia jabbed Cicero's tongue as revenge for his magnificent ability to make Antony look a fool, after Antony had his head lopped off as part of his and Octavian's proscriptions.

Good old Benny Hill. I had a hard time understanding his heavy accent (or so it seemed to me as a young lad from across the pond) alot of the time but who couldn't resist Benny's sly grins, a few well placed scantily clad women, and the occassional well intentioned slapping of an old man's bald head. Political correctness is truly the downfall of western culture.

Beware the Blood Storms!!! Thanks Onion! You just can't beat good nonsensical satire

Essentially fictional creations of Ridley Scott. Not that there weren't African females ever to show up in the arena, its just that the bulk of the combat scenes were created for effect rather than historical accuracy. And nice story by the way LW... you should continue writing.

The effectiveness and 'elite' nature of the Praetorians depended completely upon the era, the emperor and even the Praefects. A very simple example... While Marcus Aurelius was battling the Germanics on the Danube and was there in person, so were the Praetorians, but while Nero was playing the part of 'singer of songs' and olympic champion, the Praetorians were more likely getting fat and happy as well. Though, do to fear of idleness, the understanding is that the Praetorian training regimen was quite heavy throughout most of its existence. As for the idea that they were hand selected troops... There were certainly men promoted for valor and bravery in combat but the idea of this as a continued practice is limited. Each emperor seemingly had their personal military favorites and the selection of Praetorians was based largely on both this and the need to ensure loyalty. Vitellius had increased the guard roles to 16 cohorts or 16,000 presumably loyal men, but understandably when Vespasian ultimately won the war he reduced the guard to its original 9 cohorts... cohorts which were certainly made up of his own loyal men.

There will be absolutely no dedicated fora to roleplay here. If someone wants to pretend they are Caesar reincarnate I cannot stop them of course, but we sure aren't going to encourage it.

He didn't fair particularly well in the entire ordeal against Clodius. In the end I suppose he had the last laugh over his rival though... well before Antonius' wife Fulvia jabbed his tongue with her hairpins that is.

I am largely indifferent towards capital punishment. I don't think it provides the desired effect of acting like a deterrent because it is so watered down by the length of legal proceedings, but the execution of humans (as punishment for heinous acts) doesn't bother me in the slightest.

They've clearly gone to town on the sets and the costumes, and while some of the lines make me wince I'm more worried about some of the casting. Ciaran Hinds has the dignity, but there's no hint of the personal charm or the pitiless political genius for which Caesar was famous; nothing about him makes me think that an army would follow him to India and back. Pity they couldn't stretch to Christopher Walken. Hello Aquila and welcome... You'll find that your opinion on Ciaran Hinds is pretty much consensus around here. I too think that is portrayal of 'dignitas' is quite well done, but he lacks the energy and charisma that Caesar undoubtedly had. Its scattered throughout the conversation in this thread... HBO Rome and BBC too

We think we have a solution that won't be a nightmare to create. With the holiday season approaching it might take a bit to implement but hopefully it won't be long. Also just bumping this as a reminder that more suggestions are appreciated. DanM, you are conspicuously absent?

An interesting university level professor's hand out sheet regarding late imperial provincial populations Tulane Roman Empire Population My own overview focusing mainly on the city of Rome and overal population, not provincial... Roman Empire Population As DanM said, the population of ancient and 'dark age' Europe truly is a mix of conjecture and deductive guesstimates.

I'm afraid that downloading pirated television programs would be considered illegal and this web site will not support it. Thanks for understanding.

Well technically the wall wasn't built to be defended in that manner. It was essentially just a large deterrent meant to funnel border traffic through specific well guarded points. However, I do agree that it would be a worthy subject for a film.

Essentially, 7 centuries of unstable class related political conflict (plebe vs. patrician) was replaced by 5 centuries of monarchial instability. In either case, the political stability of the time was dependent upon the leading politicians of that era. Without question this occurred among the aristocracy, but would the common man have lived under much different conditions between the two systems? The individual and tribal assembly votes unarguably had less import in the principate, but hadn't it been subjected to all manner of corruption and bribery for centuries anyway.

I thought the exact same thing... must be the force or something.

What good was an extra lictor anyway? Status. Everything in Roman society was about status, at least for the elites. And I suppose if a Legate and a governor ever got into a fistfight, that extra guy with the fasces might come in handy.

Especially considering some of the recent discussions we've had, its very difficult to argue with Caesar's civil war as not being the most significant event and could easily be considered the 'worst' depending on perspective. However, I'd like some clarification on what you are asking. Do you mean worst as in number of casualties, impact on society, impact on politics, or a combined overall effect? Just as a note, I believe you are actually referring to the war after Nero's reign since Claudius assumed power under military influence but not as a result of war.

Yes I do like that Clodius. As we've been manipulating various post titles I've been thinking that the military titles for post count don't really fit anymore. Additionally, this is a thing that Viggen like for some reason, but I don't like that only people who do 'book reviews' can be members of the patrician order. Anyone who contributes something of value (read as quality discussion) should have the opportunity for advanced title. If Viggen wants to reserve the book giveaway for people who have done reviews, thats fine, but I think a shake-up is in order as well. I would also like to somehow turn this into a 'book of the month' thing where other members can receive books as an opportunity to learn rather than just circulating this stuff to the same people over and over. I'll have to investigate some book club ideas (and please do offer suggestions on this as well) Some of this might not happen until after the holidays as things get hectic as we all... but do please keep discussing.

I do like the idea of using titles to give members an incentive to contribute. We've proven that by doing it already with the various forum titles and membership groups. So keep talking about various ideas until we come up with something that is agreeable by all. One thing to note though. I've never wanted UNRV to mimic a recreated Roman society. As long as the titles are in good fun and rewards for contributions to the overall site/community, I'm all for it, but I've never wanted to be Nova Roma. This place is for discussion of ancient Rome, regardless of whether or not anyone wants to 're-enact' Roman society. So just keep that in mind as we throw ideas of the wall.

My avatar is an original painting by historical artist Chris Collingwood. His work is expensive but fabulous... Military-Art.com My sig is rather self explanatory even if its historical context is incorrect. The legions mostly used professional rowers rather than the overwhelming notion that most ships were rowed by galley slaves (thanks Ben Hur), but the general concept of the supremacy of the Caesars comes through quite clearly in the statement.

Indeed HBO's official 'news' site has not changed since September... which announced that there would be a second season.

He does indeed occassionally show up as a narrator on the random 'Nature' show here in the States. Several years back he was the 'host' of the widely distributed Time/Life video series... 'The Trials of Life'. But back to Rome...

As an aside... has there been much talk in the British press regarding the success or failure of the show as far as ratings go?

Why not, we've endured two epic films highlighting the 'beginning of the decline' under Commodus... 'Gladiator' and 'Fall of the Roman Empire', a film showing the debauchery of Nero 'Quo Vadis, one showing Rome as an evil anti human slave master (Spartacus), another similar depiction of Rome as an oppressive master (Ben Hur) a terrible soft *or* on 'Caligula' and countless films both good and bad highlighting the fall of the Republic. I don't mind watching any period, provided its well done.