Primus Pilus

No worries Olympia, your English is fine... what's your native tongue?

Marcus, I agree with many of your points, as I have no personal gripe against Christianity. (I think the argument could be made that I'm not a big fan of Catholicism though ) One point will always maintain itself as a major point of contention though. That is my point -- it wasn't till Chrsitianity became empowered that they did this and maybe as reprisals for all the killing that had been done ot them. Wrong, but just as wrong as the Romans slaughter of the Chrsitians for religious reasons. Isnt it hard to be the persecutor unless one is empowered in some way? Pagan emperors may have persecuted Christians (Nero notably to save his own hide, not out of some deep seated hatred, not that it made any difference to those who died), but they were in power. The reverse is true when the Christians came to power. Just semantics I suppose, but if its true for one, it must be the same for the other.

I'm a firm believer in 'to the victor goes the spoils'. At least, in a sense that the 'victor' preserves such items and displays them for posterity purposes.

Its impossible to believe... knowing how the ancient Catholics pursued 'Christian' heretics... virtually destroying any non conforming sect of Christianity... that Pagans weren't treated in exactly the same manner. At least in some, if not many cases. We know that Constantine, and his bishops, as well the Christian emperors that followed, destroyed Pagan temples, banned rituals, and essentially forced urban pagans to become Christian. The extent of the Pagan persecution that occurred is virtually unknown, thanks largely to the fact that the victor wrote the history and destroyed untold remnants of divergent evidence. Considering the behavior of men throughout history, including the often vicious church, one might say its naive to think that treatment wasn't brutal at times. Sure the Muslim Arabs violently conquered the mideast, North Africa and parts of Spain. The Christians returned the favor with several centuries of Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. Some conversions were assuredly peaceful, others were not. The Native tribes of the Americas, especially South and Latin America might argue that their 'conversion' came with a hefty price.

Yes legionaries had an excellent salary. From the William Smith Dictionary Prior to Septimius Severus (c. 193 AD) Legionaries were technically not allowed to marry while still in service. This practice was widely ignored and families often (depending on where a soldier was stationed) lived near the Legion's home quarters. However, a family did not share barracks with soldiers the way that they can in the modern world. Even after Severus allowed legionaries to marry legally, living conditions were still essentially the same.

Indeed, its frightening to think how much ancient source material may have been lost due to the simple lack of patience.

War dogs?

It is very difficult to pick the one thing that I most admire. Originally it was the glory of the Legions that pulled me in, but that was just the beginning. If I had to pick that one thing which I most admire, and would like to see replicated today, it would be the Roman sense of honor. Applying this dignitas to modern society would be a social boost that would re-invent how people think, behave and act. Ursus sums up my own thoughts on Rome very well I think.

Calm down AM. I already addressed the issue earlier in the thread. I quote myself... I will not personally tolerate this sort of thing on this forum. I want you to understand that you are very much welcome as a contibutor here. If you feel slighted in some way, there is nothing I can do about that, but I expect any comments regarding spelling, grammar, etc. to stop. Even if someone is a native speaker its not necessary to attack. However, I openly support an aggressive policy towards people who type like d00dz. Or who are only here to act like idiots In the immortal worlds of that great humanitarian, Rodney King , Can't we all just get along?

Hey if you ever need any help with research or writing articles I can give you a hand as I do research for my own knowledge and am continually studying Roman history from various angles and have free time when I get my Latin and history classes done. You can email me at kenneth-meracle@uiowa.edu if you would like some help. Thanks. Pompeius, anything that anyone would like to write and have published on the web is acceptable to us. Even if there already is an article on the subject and someone has a different perspective, we welcome it. Of course we are technically a 'for profit' LLC, but that designation is the simplest way to protect our copyrights and allow us to earn enough cash to pay hosting, etc. So any contributions made may have Google ads added to them... but believe me we aren't raking in cash by the wheelbarrow full.

Hello Marcus and welcome to the forum. I am also a Michigander (possibly the most stupid geographic reference in history) hailing from the northern Macomb county area. You may have noticed that we have a fairly large non or even seemingly anti-Christian population here, but rest assured that I for one at least, welcome all viewpoints on religion. My own rather harsh views may come across a bit on the aggressive side sometimes, but all are encouraged to express themselves openly here. Look forward to debate and discussion with you... and to all for that matter.

Welcome to the forum Olympia! Its certainly hard to argue with any of the 10 gods with planets named after them

Hmm, well that one is there. I wonder if you replied while things were being moved? Otherwise I have no clue why replies would get lost? Unless Viggen sabotaged us

LOL, According to the Catholics... this would be perfectly acceptable. I don't think it matters though, if it turns out in the end that Christianity was the right way to go, I think everyone will end up in 'hell' anyway. I mean does anyone truly follow the teachings of Jesus?

Yes, thanks to our webmaster and site guru Viggen, it was all done well within an hour

Still, what may be old 'news' to some (unfortunately the very few who are deeply interested in history, archaeology and related) is generally considered new 'news' to the media and the general public. I can live with a bit of redundancy in the general press if it increases historical awareness.

Well we didnt bother to wait for more feedback... I hope its agreeable, lol.

I think it might be something I find when I start reorganizing the forum I also agree with you regarding the impact of Christianity on the Empire, but I feel it was one of many contributing factors, and was a symptom of various political and social problems.

If people want to ignore posts that they find difficult to read... or not up to snuff in spelling, grammar and context, that's understandable. However, lets refrain from making attacks, especially if they are trying to contribute to the discussion. Many here are not native English speakers, and I certainly don't want to drive anyone away for being a language cop.

Salve Fatboy (nice name btw, lol) don't worry we all have an inflated opinion of our own knowledge... makes for excellent discussion. It hasn't been too heated yet, but we are working on it

Welcome Isis, I hope we can be an interactive part of eachother's history pursuits

Don't cut yourself short, Pompeius. You just can't translate it because its a proper name

Good question, but we have two threads like that already Best Roman Generals Best Ancient Generals And a few others that are closely related.

Here's a question for all you unrv forum regulars... We aren't quite so busy yet that its hard to find topics that we are interested in, but if we continue with our rate of growth it may be before too long. New folks are popping up all the time and more and more are becoming more than just a single post and gone visitor. I'd like to start thinking of breaking down the 'Roman Empire' part of the forum a little bit for easier use. Perhaps categories like... The Empire (for the general history of Rome) The People (for social discussion) The Legions (for military) The Temple (for religion) Or do you prefer the current way with a single all inclusive category? Any other suggestions?

By that period, the western Roman army was inundated by 'Barbarian' culture. For all intensive purposes it was almost not really Roman anymore. Vegetius is an excellent read. He is sometimes discredited, as he himself never served the Legions, but all in all he's an invaluable resouce.