harmonicus

RE: Summer of Love: I have been trying to think of music of the era (ca.60's/70's) that specifically relates to, or mentions Ancient Rome. There's "the End" by the Doors with "lost in a Roman wilderness of pain" (Morrison had been reading Sir James Frazer) and "When the Earth Moves Again" by Jefferson Airplane (references Hannibal, but seems inspired by the film "Spartacus") but seems as if there should be more. Maybe not, I dunno.

I wholeheartedly agree. It's just made with people who have an agenda and nothing better to do in an attempt to change our lifestyle. I'm worried about the environment and the rate we are destroying it but to say that global warming will kill us all is just stupidity. Shifts in the temperature of the Earth is nothing new it's a natural process. No matter what we do the Earth will warm and cool according to its time. They're just like the guys who come up with daylights savings time, they have nothing better to do so they enforce it upon the people. On the other hand, I don't think it's necessary to let polluters/exploiters off the hook, since the overall effects of environmental destruction are decidedly bad. Problem is, the worst ones, I mean one (China) isn't receptive to the pleas of environmental activists.

Thank you, this is exactly what I was looking for! Harmonicus

I know this will seem extremely simple-minded, but is there a practical guide with simplified phonetic pronounciation of Ancient Roman Latin? Many textbooks I've consulted overlook certain vowel combinations, such as "ii": is this sounded as a long "i" ("ee") or a double vowel (as "ee-ee")? I know this sounds utterly ridiculous, but I'm genuinely confused, and I'd like to have some reliable guide without embarking on a project of learning to speak Latin (as worthwhile as it might be). Don't know if this is the correct forum for this.

Yah, that's me, the brunette chick in the background of that poster, with the blonde chick trying to hold me back. "SEE...! The man in the iron mask! The rescue of a love slave! The infamous leopard-men! An Emperor's evil orgies!" Oh mama. Bring on the popcorn! -- Nephele Thanks! Gotta say, old Kirk wouldn't last long in the arena against Steve! Douglas did say "Hollywood is a bitch goddess" and I'm thinking maybe he meant that in a Roman Pagan sense. Harmonicus

Ahem. now even I have to say this thesis isn't accurate. In my area are some ancient sites known to have been over-run by saxons. Wayland Smithy, a neothilic burial site, was regarded as a sacred site by the impressed saxon invaders marching down the Ridgeway, and the hill-fort at Barbury is so named because it was taken over by Bera, a saxon warlord. Further, just down the hill from that fort is a level plateau where a dark age battle took place between saxon invaders and romano-celtic defenders, who lost. The remains of this relatively minor set-to have been found. If you look at the map of wiltshire, there are plenty of saxon names given to sites, and we know the saxons were keen farmers as much as hated warriors. Well I would suggest Mr Pryor comes down to north wiltshire armed with an ordnance survey and read up on saxon place-names. He might see things differently. I was attempting to encapsulate Pryor's thesis, and didn't intend to be overly lengthy. Personally, I think he's gone a little bit too far, maybe way too far. I don't think the displacement of language, and place-names can easily be explained by a gradual absorption of incoming Saxons. Here in the USA there are alot of Native American place-names and loan words in a stiuation where the entire aboriginal population was displaced. I think there is a need somewhere to believe that the post-roman invasions were amiable. Hey, I think Wayland Smithy might be a Saxon name! (Just kidding, but that a cool name!)

Does anyone know of an Italian -language sequel to "Spartacus"? Wasn't exactly on the production level of the original, belonged to the Hercules genre. Just how many of those strongman movies had specifically Roman Empire content? Most of the ones I've seen are set in a kind of Greek Mythological never-never land.

Hey, let's not forget Jim Morrison, an avid reader of the Golden Bough, hence, "lost in a Roman wilderness of pain", specifically Aricia. I believe the summer of love was roman pagan in character, whereas the Reagan era was really the dark ages. Come and dig my earth! Harmonicus

I have almost finished Britain AD, haven't read BC yet. Pryor's hypothesis seems to be that the so-called Anglo-Saxon invasion was more of a gradual migration, and had no observable disruptive effects on the existing Romano-British population. He traces the large-scale abandonment of urban centers to the late-Roman period. His major theme is the endurance of an agricultural society with origins in the Neolithic period. Pryor is a farmer, as well as a scholar, and I think his obvious love of farming contributes largely to his attitudes. He is somewhat dismissive of historical sources (well, more like source, i.e. Gildas) and there's a definite prehistorian vs. classicist subtext to the work. All that said, I really dug the book.

Excuse this somewhat belated reply: I'm a novus homo (my Latin is really provincial!). Excavations of Scythian tumuli have revealed that devices for inhalation of smoke were in use ca.400 CE. Bronze tripods held burning substances, probably cannabis, and users would enclose themselves in tents to inhale the smoke. There is also evidence for the use of hand-held pottery burners dating from the late-neolithic period in Europe, and again, the substance in use was probably cannabis. The gap between burning incense, and smoking isn't all that vast.