guy

I guess Scotland is voting later this year for independence. What a silly vote. Scotland is almost a second world nation that would sink back into poverty if they achieved their complete independence. (I blame the loss of Scotland's intellectual drive and innovation, as well as their lack of motivation for economic growth, on Scotland's allowing itself to be seduced by the baubles and trinkets from London...but that's another story.) Long past are the intellectual giants of the Scottish enlightenment such as Adam Smith (economics), David Hume (philosphy), James Hutton (founder of modern geology), Adam Ferguson (founder of sociology), James Watt (Mr. steam engine), etc. The greatness of the medical school in Edinburgh (where the American signer of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Rush went for medical education) is long forgotten, only to be replaced by physicians who now try to blow up an airport. I would vote "yes" on Britain, but "no" on the monarchy. Of course, this opinion has made me the target of a lot of hate on a couple web sites. Here's a video from the WSJ from someone promoting Scottish independence. Good grief. http://live.wsj.com/video/opinion-alan-cumming-free-the-scots/29527D4C-72B1-42FD-8647-E5031A3CFA04.html#!29527D4C-72B1-42FD-8647-E5031A3CFA04 (Click on the link "Alan Cumming: Free the Scots" to see the video) Sorry for my insane rant, but there's a reason why my relatives left Scotland more than 200 years ago. guy also known as gaius

I appreciate the work people are doing. That said, the gallery section of our individual profile doesn't seem to be working. This is the message I get when trying to click on an image on my own gallery: "Sorry, but that does not appear to be a valid image. If you arrived at this screen by following a link on this site, please notify a system administrator" Thank you in advance, guy also known as gaius

I do a lot of my research in Las Vegas for just that reason: I hope to make new ancient discoveries: guy also known as gaius

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/05/newser-ancient-romans-giraffe/4327395/ http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/01/how-did-people-in-ancient-pompeii-end-up-eating-giraffes/282795/

This video and others in the series have been very helpful for me: guy also known as gaius

I, too, have been struggling with basic Latin. It's hard for me to grasp that Latin, unlike English, is a highly inflected language. What's that? Word endings change as they relate to other words in the sentence. And what the heck does that mean? Two basic concepts: Conjugation of verbs (putting endings onto verbs) and a similar declension of nouns and adjectives. English is easy. I run, you run, he or she runs, we run, they run etc. Spanish (a language many of us know at least a little) has a harder verb conjugation for the verb run "correr". Yo corro... In English, the word run requires a subject. Is it I run, you run, we run, they run, or what? In Spanish the verb conjugation let's us known the subject, so the subject is not necessary. What makes Latin so hard is similar changes occur for nouns and adjectives, known as declension. Thus, we conjugate verbs and we decline nouns and adjectives. By their endings (which have to agree), we know whether a noun and its adjective are the subject(s), indirect object(s), direct object(s), possesive form(s), etc So, in English we must have a sentence order to know whether Caesar hates the solder or the soldier hates Caesar. In Latin, we can say : Casear soldier hates or Soldier Casear hates or any order and know the subject by the conjugation of the verb and the declensions of the nouns. A Latin speaker immediately understands Caesar militem odit or Militem Caesar odit (both Caesar hates the soldier and not the soldier hates Caesar) by looking at the verb and its associated noun and not the word order. The soldier hates Caesar(I think) would be Miles Caeserem odit or Caeserem miles odit or Miles odit Caesarem, etc. Latin word order seems to prefer the verb at the end of the sentence, thus, we look at the end of the sentence for the subject. And I'll be spending the next year trying to grasp this stuff in my feeble brain. I haven't bailed on Latin, yet, but...there's only so much memory space in this ossified brain. I hope any Latin expert can correct or clarify further what I just wrote. guy also known as gaius

Here's an interesting item coming up for auction soon:

Is anyone else having problems posting a new topic? I've been unable to create new posts for two reasons: I can't copy and paste links or copy and paste quotes into a new topic post. I can't insert uploaded pictures into the post. I've tried two different computers at two different sites and I still have problems. Anyone else? guy also known as gaius

I don't know. This global warming thing is working out for me. We are having beautiful weather here in Southern California this Christmas day. Happy Holidays for everyone: guy also known as giaus

In years past, I

Honestly, I don't think most Americans remember Lafayette, either: http://www.pbs.org/program/lafayette/ The French, at least, have ideological reasons for forgetting Lafayette: We Americans have no excuse, however, except for intellectual laziness. guy also known as gaius

Unfortunately for him, Lafayette was a rational and thoughtful moderate in Revolutionary France. He quickly become an enemy of the revolutionary state and was forced to flee France. At least he didn't lose his head. guy also known as guy

A new course that looks interesting. (Remember, only buy these courses when they are on sell, which is quite frequent.) http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=1132 guy also known as gaius

Here's an excellent cheat sheet and summary about the Roman economy recently brought to my attention: http://www.tulane.edu/~august/handouts/601cprin.htm It's a well researched summary from Tulane University. It includes information about a wide range of topics. Even those of us who don't collect coins will find some of this information useful. ROMAN CURRENCY OF THE PRINCIPATE AUGUSTAN CURRENCY SYSTEM FINENESS OF DENARIUS, 64-192 DEBASEMENT OF THE DENARIUS, 193-241 DEBASEMENT OF ANTONINIANUS, 238-274 MEASURES IN THE ROMAN WORLD WAGES AND PRICES IN THE ROMAN WORLD (c. 50 B.C.-235 A.D.) Make a copy of this sheet before the link is lost. It's a good basic primer for anyone interested in the Ancient Roman economy, with information even for the expert. Any opinions or criticisms would be appreciated. guy also known as gaius (I want to that the Ancient numismatist Doug Smith for bringing this link to our attention at another site.)

I wonder this, too. Here's a related thread: http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/17381-rome-at-night-questions/ guy also known as gaius

A little harsh...but probably true. I'm surprised by the amount of undiscovered and unexplored Ancient Roman history is to be found in Bulgaria. Recent coin find in Bulgaria: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=151911 Hopefully, the Bulgarian government and people will work to preserve the Ancient Roman history in their midst. guy also known as gaius

Sounds like my kind of woman. guy also known as gaius

Here's a trailer of an upcoming movie that deals with the pivotal Greek naval victory against the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. The movie will be in the same style of the original movie 300.: After the complete destruction of the Spartan forces at Thermopylae (portrayed in the movie 300), the Persians under Xerxes looked to overrun the entire Greek mainland. Salamis was the lopsided naval victory of the Athenian general Themistocles and the Greeks against Xerxes of Persia. This defeat crippled the Persian navy and stunned the Persians. Salamis was soon followed by another military defeat of the Persians at Platea, ending Xerxes' campaign against Greece : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Salamis The movie seems to have a focus on the female commander Artemesia who fought for Xerxes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemisia_I_of_Caria An interesting anecdote from the battle: guy also known as gaius

It comes from Plato's Timaeus. Onasander: Thank you for the clarification. Unfortunately for the doltish me, much of philosophy is sheer jibberish. My point was, however, that Plato created this artificial tripartite construct to attempt to describe simply some very complicated concepts. I'm not sure where the concept of the tripartite soul originated, whether it was Plato's Republic or Timeus or elsewhere. I am certain, however, that my simple mind will never grasp these concepts. It seems to me, however, that Galen forced this tripartite construct on his attempt to describe the complicated workings of the human body. This erroneous construct then became unchallenged dogma, impeding the pursuit of medical knowledge for more than a millenium. https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/11636/illinoisclassica11976TRACY.pdf guy also known as gaius

Interesting point. I had never thought of the Trinity being a result of the much earlier Greek concept of the tripartite division for explanation of natural phenomena and philosphical concepts. This Aristotelian tripartite division of the soul influenced Western thinking for thousands of years. I had written previously that this tripartite division probably later influenced the Greco-Roman physician Galen's notion of the human body systems: Galen proposed three body systems: 1.Brain and nerves for sensation and thought 2.Heart and arteries for life energy 3.Liver and veins for nutrition and growth These three body systems needed to be in balance with four humours. guy also known as gaius

As an interesting aside, someone presented this video and asked about the accuracy: http://www.openculture.com/2012/03/rome_reborn_-_a_digital_model_of_ancient_rome.html My reply was as follows: Portrayal of Rome from the HBO series "Rome:" guy also known as gaius

This post dealt with recoloring of Caligula from residual paint particles: http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/16060-caligula-statue-how-accurate/ guy also known as gaius

I see that the Great courses company has released a new course entitled "Latin 101: Learning a Classical Language" by Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller. http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=2201&ai=91175&cm_mmc=email-_-DecNCAncAct20131115-_-body-_-bottom1373&cm_mmca1=91175&cmp=email Looks interesting. Two suggestions, however: 1. I usually wait till the reviews come in. Fortunately, I have been rarely disappointed by the courses offered by this company. 2. Always wait till the course goes on sale (which occurs several times a year). Looks very interesting. guy also known as gaius

As someone who doesn't collect coins, I have frequently admired the ability of experts in Ancient numismatists to decipher the sometimes scant evidence to better understand Ancient Roman culture and history. I've been studying this coin of Eugenius (ruled AD 392-394): (click on image to see enlaged) DN.EVGENIVS.P.F.AVG. Laureate head right. R/: VIRTVS.ROMANVRVM. Roma seated left, holding Victory on globe and long sceptre.TRPS in ex. RIC 106d. Eugenius was elevated to the purple by the Frankish general Arbogast during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius. The traditional story was that Eugenius was very sympathetic to the Pagans and he really was only a nominal Christian. He certainly had the support of the predominately Pagan Roman Senate (despite possibly strangely not being confirmed by that pro-Pagan Senate). According to popular history, Eugenius promoted some of the Pagan policies and supported Pagan temples, both of which had fallen out of favor because of recent intolerant Christian emperors. He and his general Arbogast, however, lost the pivotal and bloody battle of Frigidus against the militantly Christian Emperor Theodosius. Both the usurper and his general soon lost their lives: Eugenius was captured and killed, while Arbogast committed suicide. Eugenius was the last emperor to support polytheism. Many historians cling to the idea that this was the last stand of the noble and enlightened Pagans against the intolerant and culturally ignorant Christians. Numismatists have supported this rendition of history, too. They point out that Eugenius wears a beard on his coin (rare among Christian emperors). This, they contend, is indicative of Eugenius' being a philosopher and, thus, more tolerant of Pagans. But wait. This widely accepted story might be incorrect. Alan Cameron in his book The Last Pagans of Rome reminds us that Eugenics was a teacher of rhetoric, not philosophy. Cameron mentions incidentally that Christ, the apostles, and the saints are also shown in the style of philosophers with a beard. Cameron writes : After plowing through this dense and scholarly tome by Alan Cameron, I may have now changed my opinion about the relationship among the fourth century Christian and Pagan communities. Cameron may have successfully dismantled the romantic mythology of Pagans being the last bastion of enlightened ancient culture fending classical civilization against the darkness and ignorance of Christianity. Here are two good reviews of the book: http://www.unrv.com/book-review/last-pagans-rome.php http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/417316.article Eugenius' power grab might need to be assessed with this alternative (and thoroughly researched and convincingly argued) background in mind. Eugenius might not have been the last great "hero of the Pagans" once imagined by Pagan romantics and apologists. This is one case where the numismatists may have drawn the incorrect conclusions from the evidence. guy also known as gaius