ASCLEPIADES

In general.

Salve, Ch Why did the Romans free so many slaves during the late Republic? For example, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix; here comes Appianus of Alexandria, Bellum Civile, Liber I, cp. C: "To the plebeians he added more than 10,000 slaves of proscribed persons, choosing the youngest and strongest, to whom he gave freedom and Roman citizenship, and he called them Cornelii after himself". Gratiam habeo in advance.

I didn't manage to find anything about this Cato who was consul of 36 AD, from his name it's safe to assume that he was a descendant of Cato Maior. Sadly the Smith and the Oxford dictionaries has no entry about this person so I was hoping someone here could give out more details

Better lateeer than never... (I hope) Felicem natalem dies, Lady A!

Salve, K Gratiam habeo for such X-cellent link, bro! IOU another one.

Salve, PP Just for the record.

Salve, A III The battle list is an impressive resource; congratulations to the admins. AIII spotted a minor typo; dating the battle of Telamon is easy, because it was led on the Roman side by the consuls Gaius Atilius Regulus (KIA) and Lucius Aemilius Papus, being indeed their consular year DXXIX AUC / 225 BC, as we can easily check on the consular list of the 3rd century BC here at UNRV.

This is hilarious to the nth degree; From the Trail within the Washington Post: "Palin Continues to Question Human Role in Global Warming By Juliet Eilperin In an interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric Tuesday night, GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin continued to question humans' contribution to global warming. Palin's repeated suggestion that humans may not be responsible for recent climate change ranks as one of her clearest policy differences with GOP presidential nominee John McCain, and contradicts the view of most scientists. While she emphasized her shared commitment to addressing global warming impacts in her interview with Couric, Palin emphasized the cyclical nature of the world's climate rather than the role greenhouse gas emissions play in driving climate change. "What's your position on global warming?" Couric asked. "Do you believe it's man-made or not?" "Well, we're the only Arctic state, of course, Alaska," the governor replied. "So we feel the impacts more than any other state, up there with the changes in climates. And certainly, it is apparent. We have erosion issues. And we have melting sea ice, of course. So, what I've done up there is form a sub-cabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real. And..." Couric pressed the point. "Is it man-made, though in your view?" But Palin framed her reply in terms of global warming's impacts, rather than its root causes. "You know there are -- there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, these impacts," she said. "I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it's real; we need to do something about it"." Now, the real pearls can be found in the comments section (from both sides, BTW); for example: "...If in Palin's mind, Global Climate Change is not man-made (but in fact God-made), then how can man interfere with God. When Palin talked about the cyclical nature of the world, Couric should have asked her how long does she think this cyclical nature existed (in years)? Then she would have saw Palin talk about the earth being 10,000 years old! That would have been classic!" "...Don't try to con everyone into believing your hoax because the other guy might be religious. Your environmental religion is no different than what you accuse Palin of. If you weren't so busy hugging your science professors book.....you would know he was lying to you". "1) If Gov. Palin believes that man is not responsible for global warming, then why does she belief that man can do anything about it? And/or: 2) If Gov. Palin believes that, according to her religion, that the Earth is only 5,000 years old, what cyclical patterns is she talking about? Not the last Ice Age, which ended 10,000 years ago. Not the climate changes (both warming and cooling) that occurred hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago".

Wednesday, October 1, 2008 - 9:18 AM EDT Poll: Obama has 15-point lead over McCain in Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Business Times "A new Quinnipiac University poll finds Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has opened up a 15-point lead in Pennsylvania over Republican nominee John McCain. The poll was conducted after the first debate between the two candidates Sept. 26. Prior to the debate, Obama was ahead of McCain 49 percent to 43 percent. But the post debate numbers show Obama ahead 54 percent to 39 percent.

Salve, VTC How to build your own hypocaust

Regarding the historical rise of the common law in England.

Even if the Roman concrete was an impressive improvement over the bonding substances used by previous cultures, it hardly made any technological contribution to later European civilization, as such technique was lost at least from the V century AD; our modern concrete was an independent British development from the XVIII century.

Salve, NN 90% or more of the Latin alphabet predates Rome and even the Latin language itself; the Latins almost assuredly adopted the Cumae variant of the Greek alphabet (circa VII century BC?); READ MORE. Even if the alphabet as a standardized phonetic writing system may be the most significant isolated human contribution ever, it was presumably invented just once, as it seems to have been the case for the wheel too. Available archaeological evidence traces back the "once" to the Phoenician or pre-Phoenician ("proto-canaanite") area and culture circa 2000 BC, in the overlap of the Egyptian hieroglyphic and the Sumerian cuneiform systems. Arguably all subsequent alphabets (and most definitively the Latin) were and are its descendants.

Salve, EG I ought to agree with K; Asia Minor was hardly "ignored" by the Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates (the Abbasids were mostly on the defensive side) : -638: Khalid ibn Walid occupied Tarsus and Marash in SE Anatolia. - 649-55: Muawiyah (governor of Syria) captured Cyprus and Rhodes; raid in Lycia. - 668: Yazid captured Chalcedon (opposite to Constantinople) - 674-8: First siege of Constantinople by Muawiyah I (now caliph) - 694-5: muslim conquest of Armenia - 709-11: Cilicia and Capadoccia were raided - 717-718: Second siege of Constantinople by Maslama - 739: Sulayman was defeated in Akroinon (Phrygia) If Anatolia was not definitively conquered by the Islam, it was mainly due to the constant religious and dynastic conflicts of the muslims and the radical military and administrative reforms done by the Roman Empire (especially under the Isaurian dynasty).

Grazie mille, L! Un'eccellente biografia di fatto.

Good point. Here comes Caius Plinius Secundus Maior Naturalis Historia Liber VIII cp. XXXIV, on the origin of the story of the versipellis: Homines in lupos verti rursusque restitui sibi falsum esse confidenter existimare debemus aut credere omnia quae fabulosa tot saeculis conperimus. unde tamen ista vulgo infixa sit fama in tantum, ut in maledictis versipelles habeat, indicabitur. euanthes, inter auctores graeciae non spretus, scribit arcadas tradere ex gente anthi cuiusdam sorte familiae lectum ad stagnum quoddam regionis eius duci vestituque in quercu suspenso tranare atque abire in deserta transfigurarique in lupum et cum ceteris eiusdem generis congregari per annos viiii. quo in tempore si homine se abstinuerit, reverti ad idem stagnum et, cum tranaverit, effigiem recipere, ad pristinum habitum addito novem annorum senio. id quoque adicit, eandem recipere vestem. mirum est quo procedat graeca credulitas! nullum tam inpudens mendacium est, ut teste careat. Item apollas, qui olympionicas scripsit, narrat demaenetum parrhasium in sacrificio, quod arcades iovi lycaeo humana etiamtum hostia faciebant, immolati pueri exta degustasse et in lupum se convertisse, eundem x anno restitutum athleticae se exercuisse in pugilatu victoremque olympia reversum. "That men have been turned into wolves, and again restored to their original form,we must confidently look upon as untrue, unless, indeed, we are ready to believe all the tales, which, for so many ages, have been found to be fabulous. But, as the belief of it has become so firmly fixed in the minds of the common people, as to have caused the term "Versipellis" to be used as a common form of imprecation, I will here point out its origin. Euanthes, a Grecian author of no mean reputation, informs us that the Arcadians assert that a member of the family of one Anthus is chosen by lot, and then taken to a certain lake in that district, where, after suspending his clothes on an oak, he swims across the water and goes away into the desert, where he is changed into a wolf and associates with other animals of the same species for a space of nine years. If he has kept himself from beholding a man during the whole of that time, he returns to the same lake, and, after swimming across it, resumes his original form, only with the addition of nine years in age to his former appearance. To this Fabius adds, that he takes his former clothes as well. It is really wonderful to what a length the credulity of the Greeks will go! There is no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which some of them cannot be found to bear testimony. So too, Agriopas, who wrote the Olympionics, informs us that Dem

Salve, LJV Here come Publius Ovidius Naso, Fasti Liber V, ad VII Idus Mai / May 9: Lemuria Hinc ubi protulerit formosa ter Hesperos ora, ter dederint Phoebo sidera victa locum, ritus erit veteris, nocturna Lemuria, sacri: inferias tacitis manibus illa dabunt. annus erat brevior, nec adhuc pia februa norant, nec tu dux mensum, Iane biformis, eras: iam tamen exstincto cineri sua dona ferebant, compositique nepos busta piabat avi. mensis erat Maius, maiorum nomine dictus, qui partem prisci nunc quoque moris habet. nox ubi iam media est somnoque silentia praebet, et canis et variae conticuistis aves, ille memor veteris ritus timidusque deorum surgit (habent gemini vincula nulla pedes), signaque dat digitis medio cum pollice iunctis, occurrat tacito ne levis umbra sibi. cumque manus puras fontana perluit unda, vertitur et nigras accipit ante fabas, aversusque iacit; sed dum iacit, 'haec ego mitto, his' inquit 'redimo meque meosque fabis.' hoc novies dicit nec respicit: umbra putatur colligere et nullo terga vidente sequi. rursus aquam tangit, Temesaeaque concrepat aera, et rogat ut tectis exeat umbra suis. cum dixit novies 'manes exite paterni' respicit, et pure sacra peracta putat. dicta sit unde dies, quae nominis exstet origo me fugit: ex aliquo est invenienda deo. Pliade nate, mone, virga venerande potenti: saepe tibi est Stygii regia visa Iovis. venit adoratus Caducifer. accipe causam nominis: ex ipso est cognita causa deo. When Hesperus, the Evening Star, has shown his lovely face Three times, from that day, and the defeated stars fled Phoebus, It will be the ancient sacred rites of the Lemuria, When we make offerings to the voiceless spirits. The year was once shorter, the pious rites of purification, februa, Were unknown, nor were you, two-faced Janus, leader of the months: Yet they still brought gifts owed to the ashes of the dead, The grandson paid respects to his buried grandfather

Requiescat in pace.

The problem is then how you define a "caste"; even if sociology is not an exact science, that doesn't mean we can use any term at our caprice. if we accept that it is "an endogamous and hereditary social group limited to persons of the same rank, occupation, economic position, etc., and having mores distinguishing it from other such groups", I think it's difficult to find evidence of its existence in most modern societies, US included. "I have no race prejudice. I think I have no color prejudices or caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. Indeed, I know it. I can stand any society. All that I care to know is that a man is a human being -- that is enough for me; he can't be any worse.

Here comes the American Heritage Dictionary: de

Salve, LSG Undoubtedly their legal system; Gaius (aka Gai), Paulus, Ulpianus, Florus, Cassius, Antistius and many other Justinian kids are still non-optional classes in most Universities all over the world. Castes (hereditary social classes) were widespread in the past long before Rome and they are still prevalent in many countries. The actual Roman contribution would be its quite early dilution and dissapearance, to the point that it has almost dissapeared by the time the surviving historical records began. In fact, we still don't have an entirely satisfactory definition for what a patricius was (and by exclusion, a pleb).

"Nationalism is power hunger tempered by self-deception.

I am sorry, but these tactics and logistics of which you speak were made notable by the individual.

Democracy always puzzles us with the contrast between its ideals and its realities, between its possibilities and its achievements.

Salve, NN. When you are editing any post like this one, you can see the edition toolbar over the upper left corner of your text box's frame. If you click on the green "Insert Link" button (sixth from the left) you get a message box that asks you to "Please enter the full URL"; after doing so and clicking again, the next message box asks you to "Please enter the title for this item". You can type it as long or as short as you like; one more click to accept and voil