Primus Pilus

An interesting question. I am inclined to think that any such notion would have been contemptible for a Roman like Antony, even in his state of oriental influence. It would've been possible I should think... Egypt is a big place, but I'm afraid I'm largely unfamiliar with the habitability beyond the Nile region in ancient times. Nubia resisted a few Augustan era attempts so if arrangements could've been made, who knows. But then again, why would the Nubians have cared about helping a defeated Roman general and the queen of their northern rivals.

Strands of hair from the head of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II came home to Egypt on Monday after the son of a French laboratory worker tried to sell them on the Internet, the state news agency MENA said. An Egyptian archaeological mission had flown to Paris to bring home the strands, apparently taken from the mummy of Ramses when it went to France for treatment in the 1970s... IOL

Hasdrubal "the Fair" Hannibal's brother-in-law. Pre dated Hannibal's command in Hispania and died before the outbreak of the second Punic War. Hasdrubal Barca was the younger brother of Hannibal and was active in the Iberian campaign as well as Italy. Hasdrubal Gisco was a general unrelated to the Barcid family. He followed Hasdrubal Barca as a general in Hispania (arriving around 214 BC) and fought against the entire line of Scipiones until he retreated to North Africa after Ilipa in 204. Appian doesn't mention the Hasdrubal at Cannae at all while neither Polybius nor Livy provide any detail on the Hasdrubal they say commanded Hannibal's left wing at Cannae. While we can't be sure exactly who he was, he isn't one of the three above. It seems to have been a rather popular name.

Zeke, your attempt to relate the religious sentiment of ancient people may be partly a logical assumption, but at least on the surface you seem to be ignoring the myriad of social, economic and political elements and non Roman cultural influences that affected one's pattern of thought, or belief system. While it may be true that the christian god was more appealing to formerly pagan Romans on an individual basis, I think an important issue to determine is why these people were looking for something new, or why they were willing to alter their belief systems. It wasn't simply that this new god was nicer to them or more beneficial, but that social conditions were ripe for change. Yes, urban residents were more open to this new religion than their rural counterparts, but large population centers are always more susceptible to rapidly changing conditions than smaller communities. Actually been the easiest thing for me to accept. It was "belief" that I found to be difficult and tormented me as a youth. I understand that the general observation of people may be that they prefer to believe, but it's less about avoiding a difficult decision process and more about a social environment.

I suppose that would fall under the Humanitas forum as a bit of an all-encompassing "cultural" topic. As demand grows, we do add subfora for specific topic groups.

French architect said on Friday he had cracked a 4,500-year-old mystery surrounding Egypt's Great Pyramid, saying it was built from the inside out. Previous theories have suggested Pharaoh Khufu's tomb, the last surviving example of the seven great wonders of antiquity, was built using either a vast frontal ramp or a ramp in a corkscrew shape around the exterior to haul up the stonework... Yahoo News

Pupils on a historical dig unearthed the ancient mysteries of Roman life in the area this week. Pupils from Cromwell Community College and Arthur Mellows Village College worked with a team of experts, led by Carenza Lewis from Channel 4

While I believe that invading Britain was both financially exploratory and a political propaganda move, meaning that there was little necessity for it as suggested, Caesar's impatience is not a valid excuse for his logistic failings. The invasion of Britain had been in planning for some time and while he may have arrived well supplied he had trouble securing additional supplies once they landed and faced the enemy. Impatience and/or a desire to remain highly mobile may be one reason for his logistical problems, but it still stands that Caesar had trouble with these issues throughout his campaigns. Saying that he could have rectified if he had wanted to may or may not be correct, but since Caesar was generally not concerned with defending and maintaining adequate lines of supply, clearly the historical fact is that he had problems with logistics. Understand that I think Caesar was a brilliant general, but he did have problems keeping his army fed.

Excellent point... it's something that I almost took for granted and haven't bothered to point out myself. In fact, the dialogue was so well written (ie the last night discussion of battles such as Gergovia between Vorenus and Antony) that the basics were understandable even without much knowledge of history at all.

There is a good deal of veiled "worker entitlement" that I'm reading here It's this sort of ethic (along with poor executive leadership in the auto industry and state government) that is punishing the region where I live. I don't blame the UAW for getting every dollar they can for their members, but keep in mind that when it hits the fan, most people outside the region aren't going to cry in their soup for those who have contributed to the demise of their own industry. Entitlement is not what the founding members of the UAW (and other unions) originally fought for. Somewhere along the line, the notion of protecting good hard working people was corrupted and lost. When American industry stopped manufacturing consumer electronics, did anyone notice other than the people who worked in those factories? Nope. Few will notice when the same thing happens to the auto industry (except for those of us in Detroit). Mind you, I don't believe the American auto industry is dying, but going through a painful and necessary evolution.

How many times did his men mutiny? At least twice. In both known cases, 49 and 47 BC, he was not present. When he arrived the mutiny was quelled. Regardless, I am not suggesting that his men were sheep who blindly followed, but only that many who had served him for (in some cases) over a decade from one end of the continent to the other, maintained loyalty despite the above incidents.

A geological engineering company said Monday it has agreed to help in an archaeological project to find the island of Ithaca, homeland of Homer's legendary hero Odysseus. It has long been thought that the island of Ithaki in the Ionian Sea was the island Homer used as a setting for the epic poem "The Odyssey," in which the king Odysseus makes a perilous 10-year journey home from the Trojan War. But amateur British archaeologist Robert Bittlestone believes the Ithaca of Homer is no longer a separate island but became attached to the island of Kefallonia through rock displacement caused by earthquakes. The theory could explain inconsistencies between Ithaki and Homer's description of Odysseus' island... Yahoo News

What I find so interesting about Caesar, is that despite his faults and recklessness (as Cato delights in pointing out), his men would seemingly follow him anywhere (including across the Rubicon). I don't mean to over illustrate this point, as disciplined Roman armies followed a great number of excellent generals, but leaders who have the sort of charisma and relationship with their men that Caesar had is relatively rare. Oddly enough, sometimes what makes a great general is not necessarily being great, but of his army simply believing that he is.

I'm not going to write this very same message in several threads, so I hope all those to whom this applies reads it. (And I apologize to AoS for any potential sappiness that may ensue ) I am so terribly impressed by the level of dedication and enthusiasm shown by some of our younger entrants. When I was that age I may have been doing an extensive amount of reading on my own merit, but I was largely focused on figuring out how I could possibly get every young lady I came in contact with to remove her skirt/bra. While I was a good student, I largely coasted my way through school. I clearly had a blossoming love for history but its terribly unlikely I would've taken it upon myself to join and actively challenge my own educational growth in a community such as this. I hope that other student members (along with the lot of us) continue to participate, to learn, to inspire and to be inspired. Surely a prize can be a motivation, but when I consider members in their late teens or early twenties working hard on these independent projects on top of other school responsibilities, I can't help but be impressed and encouraged by their obvious love of history. Thank You!

I very much enjoyed this essay in particular. I have a personal affinity for deliberation on the authenticity, the motives, etc. of the ancient sources and WW provided an excellent overview of Tacitus. For whatever reason, I am just personally drawn to such conjecture. I would have liked for the final paragraph to be stronger in its stance on what Tacitus was attempting to convey (as this would've supported the excellent summary of evidence previously presented). Regardless, for me, this essay was quite close to a prize. I think it's readily apparent that WW can be a very strong and effective writer.

In my opinion, the show (at least season 2) wasn't intended for a historically learned audience. This is supported by the great number of deviations from the historical record and the introduction of soapish elements. Additionally, such large scale scenes are time, cost and labor intensive.

What began as exploratory studies in Kerala, has thrown up enough artefacts and structures of two millennia old Indo-Roman trade era to delight archaeologists, who are looking for the lost port of Muziris. Archaeological teams in Pattanam village, near the port city of Kochi have been working on a site, which has yielded pottery, amphora, beads and other artefacts that are reminiscent of the ancient Romans... Daily India

The wonderful acoustics for which the ancient Greek theatre of Epidaurus is renowned may come from exploiting complex acoustic physics, new research shows. The theatre, discovered under a layer of earth on the Peloponnese peninsula in 1881 and excavated, has the classic semicircular shape of a Greek amphitheatre, with 34 rows of stone seats (to which the Romans added a further 21)... Nature.com

Feel free to post it in public

It seems that I reported some dates that Pliny was involved as a prosecutor for some Bithynian affairs rather than the dates of his actual governorship (which I am going to change). However, the actual dates of Pliny's governorship is quite open to conjecture. Some believe it was as early as 109 - 111 with his death in 112, and others have him Bithynia as late as 115. If I recall correctly, his private correspondence seems to stop around 109 to be replaced with official letters to Trajan in Rome. This would seem to corroborate the notion that he was governing Bithynia at about this time. You might like to reference something like the following: The Letters of Pliny: A Historical and Social Commentary by A. N. Sherwin-White A briefer version available through JSTOR... Pliny, the Man and his Letters

The battle was implied. The show opened with Antony, Vorenus and a few survivors escaping in a row boat from the burning ships in the distant background. Disappointing, but Purefoy is just such a damned fine actor that I didn't really care.

The death of Antony was a fine bit of drama. The 'last night' interaction between he and Vorenus was among my favorite scenes. It was irritating that Caesarion and Atia managed to outlive their historical counterparts, but in the end it was a satisfying 2 year run. It truly is a shame that Bruno Heller only wrote two of this season's episodes or there might have been a greater ground swell of support.

Entry by Wotwotius In_what_ways_are_barbarians_so_important_to_Tacitus.doc In_what_ways_are_barbarians_so_important_to_Tacitus.pdf

Entry by Skarr Skarr___Collegia.doc Skarr___Collegia.pdf

Entry by Rameses the Great Rameses_The_Government_of_the_Roman_Republic.doc