Fulvia

Canada University of Toronto: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/classics/index.php Memorial University of Newfoundland: http://www.mun.ca/classics/home/ I graduated from here! *moment of departmental pride* University of New Brunswick: http://www.unbf.ca/arts/CLAS/

The Greeks used to bind the left arms of their male babies to ensure the development of right-handedness and so their ability to join the ranks of the phalanx. Is there any evidence of this type of behaviour in Rome?

I had never know this but I am quite fascinated. Does you know if Josephus makes mention of this fact? My copy of his work is buried in the depths of moving boxes... But since we are on the topic of Romans mentioned in the Bible, I read in a book many years ago and so have no reference to it, that Pontius Pilate may have been a descent of Marc Antony though the line of his daughter Cleopatra Selene (then removed once or twice more). Has anyone else come across this?

This is all quite fascinating. Thanks for sharing!

That is some of the funniest stuff I have read all week! Thanks for sharing!

I would love to give an article a shot. No guarantees how it will turn out but I'll research one out. Just let me know what you are thinking for it and I'll see what I can do. Crispina, I believe there actually does exist such documents but in fragments only. I have a few friends who are music majors and, if I'm not mistaken, there are fragments of songs found. The problem comes with properly interpretation the symbols and getting the tuning right because they tuned their instruments on a different scale than we do today. Unfortunately I have no way to confirm this to myself or you but if you are interested there might be enough of a lead to start something.

Would you be willing to explain the difference? I was just always under the impression that the Oracles were in the Books.

You're welcome. I actually just came across another article that outlines a few other ancient instruments "recreated". No .mp3's though. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/s...icle5870992.ece

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/...90305080734.htm

Wow, thanks everyone. Thank you for destroying one of those foundational bits of information every young Classics student learns. I can no longer trust anything I have ever learnt about Caesar, and therefore, all of Roman history. My life is meaningless: I shall now honourably throw myself off the Tarpeian Rock. Seriously though, I had no idea. Very interesting. Though is there not reference (maybe Plutarch, I really can't remember) that Caesar was indeed 6 years younger than Cicero who was consequently born in 106? If Caesar was born in 102 does that push back Cicero's birth year to 108? Humm... perhaps we need to shift all of history back by 2 years.....

What is this now? This is news to me, please elaborate.

That it does! I'm from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Now it is my understanding, and from what I know a rather uncontested fact- though please feel free to correct me should I be wrong, that perhaps one of the most the average, common uses of the sponge was in the after action of reliving oneself in the bathroom. In the Biblical text of John (19:21) the author tells of how the Roman soldiers offered Jesus some wine vinegar from a soaked sponge ("...so they soaked a sponge in it [the wine], put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips.), and I wonder, how many sponges did the common legionary carry with him, especially when out on crucifixion duty? Could this not be the same sponge that the legionary had for such....other....uses? Any other insights??

They would really have to pull their socks if they were going to pursue a movie and get serious about the story they set out to tell and not the 13 that they thought would be more popular. And maybe I'm the only one but some more story line and less extended shots of naked bodies would be nice. I want to watch the story Rome, which they did exceedingly well, not a prono-combo film. But it is time that Hollywood was shown how to make a good ancient history film again. They have insanely short memories.

I'm looking to buy a good and detailed biography on Pompey Magnus. I have found two and would appreciate any comments on either or if you have one to recommend. Pompey the Great- Pat Southern Pompey the Great: A Political Biography- Robin Seager

That would be the one. Thanks so much!

I'm doing a small....very small, presentation on Augustus for one of my classes and I'm trying to remember a particular poem by an ancient Roman I remember reading a few years ago. It was a poem about the returning of a golden age and how well everything will go with the birth of a boy. I know that some people like to think of it as a Messianic poem and some are privy to entertain the notion that it was a prophetic poem about Augustus. Does anyone know of this poem? I'm sorry I can't give any more details than this. My mind inclines me to Horace but I couldn't say for sure.

The Latin word I've noticed that is often used is "frumentum" and my understanding (at least in my own Latin class) is that this word is most easily translated as "grain". Is this a literal understanding as we would use grain ie. wheat, barley, corn etc. or would food stuffs in general be a better rendition? The army did live off a very high carbohydrate diet did they not?

I think to say that Christians embellished Jesus' story with Caesar highlights is standing on open water- drowning is inevitable. By the time that Carotta is saying that this embellishment was happening the whole New Testament had been already written and circulated and thus unchangeable- as far as originals go. These early Christians were quite protective of their new religion and careful to keep it pure from the pagan elements. Of coarse to deny that any cross pollination of religion ever happened is denial, but with Jesus the Christ being the defining focal point of Christianity, and Rome being a strong enemy of Christianity, melding Jesus and Caesar is inconceivable. That and I thought his supporting quotes cited in the first post were not near enough by way of forming a stable thesis.

I have one thing to say to all this: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Even if there were no plugs/drains, it's still possible that they knew to circulate the water. An Archimedes screw could be used as a pump for circulating the water out. I believe the bath houses on Hadrians wall had entry and exit culverts for the water. I cannot imagine bath houses in more developed parts of the Empire did not have these too. But even an Achimedes screw would leave an archaeological mark. I find it harder to believe that the Romans wouldn't have circulated water but the lack of archaeological record for this area is frustrating.

I was under the impression that most, if not all, of the baths had problems with stale water. I believe I read that no plugs/drains were found in the baths so that there was no continual flow of water. Undoubtedly this would have furthered the algae problem. There were windows in most of the various rooms which of coarse would seriously help the algae growth. Depending on the quality of the establishment I suppose would determine the level of algae allowed to grow....did the Romans find any practical use for algae? They did for the left over sweat/dirt scrapings...

From my own limited experiences, I've found scraping to feel better than soap anyway. Leaves that pristine clean feel. Maybe a rival of the old ways should happen.... I'm from Canada and can't read Swedish, unfortunately. But I'd be very interested if you were willing to summarize it! I did my own paper on the baths as a Romanizing agent in Judaea at the time of Herod the Great. I am still but an undergrad in many subject areas of Rome and I have to admit that I was quite betaken by the significant exchanges of ideas and technology that passed between the Herodians and the Augustan circle and very significantly in the direct importation of Roman baths. If you're willing to wait a little, I may bet time to translate at least a part of it after June 13th when my semester is over. Unless some other project catch me I can wait a bit longer I suppose. How about the hygienics of the baths. The impression I have been left with is that they were simply nasty gross with all the medical treatments going on, the lack of concern/knowledge about germs and whatnot. However, I have a difficult time imagining many of the rich elite settling themselves to bathe in an atmosphere even ancient Romans must have often found appalling on some level just the same. Yet our sources tell that rich and poor bathed together, especially in the thermae. A consul stepping on a slave's dirty sweat just strikes me as odd particularly where Rome was so obsessed about rank and file.

But these are historical fantasy novels. Like Lion of Macedon by David Gemmell for instance. Historical fantasy is a genre I have not encountered before- I have made my review out of ignorance then. Nevertheless, I am not "getting" the point of re-writing Caesar's entire life, relationships, timeline, the events in history that made Caesar, Caesar. Creativity is one thing, but to market a series of books that chronicles a fantasy version of Caesar's life is quite misleading for casual readers, is it not? Perhaps creating stories for the gaps in Caesar's already fun-filled adventuring life would be more productive in furthering reality? Don't worry, I'm not expecting full answers or explanations from anyone, I'm just scratching my head.

Thank you very much for those links- I'll have lots of fun searching them out. I'm from Canada and can't read Swedish, unfortunately. But I'd be very interested if you were willing to summarize it! I did my own paper on the baths as a Romanizing agent in Judaea at the time of Herod the Great. I am still but an undergrad in many subject areas of Rome and I have to admit that I was quite betaken by the significant exchanges of ideas and technology that passed between the Herodians and the Augustan circle and very significantly in the direct importation of Roman baths.