caesar novus

Thanks all. The focus on sedentary peoples suggests non-foreign diseases were also at play. He spent some time as a trader between tribes going hundreds of miles inland, because only a neutral party could make contact across certain tribal borders. Therefore some sedentary tribes apparently weren't getting exposed to even nearby diseases. They defended their borders with effective bows and arrows that could even pierce spanish armor. The expedition was laid low in early stages by what scholars guessed was malaria and dysentery, which I read as local. No mention of syphilis but I think that is of new world origin. His first long term stay killed half of his indian hosts due to disease, but that was a year into the expedition and may have not been a european contagion still active. He didn't say if it looked like smallpox or whatever - just the regrettable fact that mourning rituals keep the survivors from needed food gathering work which killed a lot of them too.

I was recently startled to find my self immersed in a memoir by Cabeza de Vaca who was one of the 1% that survived a traverse of the rim of Gulf of Mexico starting 1527. <edit: can't seem to get below map img to display in browsers other than safari> There are short versions on the web, but I am reading the long version (with some confusing notes by scholars on how his short versions contradict various details). The fact that it was so extremely ill fated leads to all kinds of interesting glimpses, such as literally years spent going from one indian tribe to another begging them to take him up as a slave since he can't support himself. He has been called one of the first anthropologists based on resulting observations - some tribes he lived with seem almost pathologically generous vs. others killing their children based on dream interpretations etc. Contrast this to accounts of the "winners" like Columbus or Cortez and you don't learn much from their quick successes. I think Columbus was a genius in navigating and captaining ships (although a bad leader on land) and Cortez had luck and I forget if a lot of skill also. Cabeza had a nutcase boss and bad luck with health. I do think he was lucky with weather because a freak cold spell apparently kept alligators in hibernation while they spent early summer wading thru Florida swamps. Are there other such accounts? I also like the memoir "With Santa Ana in Texas" with is by another intelligent and skeptical observer under a doomed leader. The second half of it is controversial and possibly a fake, but not the first half leading up to the battles which gives great observations of Texas under contrasting ways of life by the sparse settlers. (This comes to mind because Cabeza was stranded for years in Texas which was hard scrabble and no paradise for hunter/gatherer types).

Such small, nasty, devices are known from the ancient world but I believe that they were, in general, quite sharp and not so decorated! We use these in northern forested areas where the trails are narrow, and the spikey kinds would be walked away by the first barbarian in the group. These act more like ball bearings and the same ones will repeatedly work on the entire train coming thru. The knobs are needed to temporarily dig in and promote rolling; otherwise it could be walked upon like rocks. Knobs work particularly well on frozen ground, but it all sometimes melts/refreezes, and the holes permit sticking a shaft in to break it free from ice and reset. Also this makes it harder for the barbarians to hurl them back at us with their slings, because like a whiffle ball the drag is raised and the mass is low. The size of the ball is in proportion to the roughness of the ground - bigger ones roll over larger irregularities.

What my army uses them for is similar to police spike strips. Throw a bunch of them onto an oxcart or chariot path, and especially if on a hilly portion the hoofs will slip and slide. The balls dig in the hoof and ground just enough to promote a rolling action and the beasts slip and slide. Then our troops emerge from the trees and start hacking. Caput mundi!

The history channel is good for seeing visual artifacts and sites, although their dramatizations and narratives are fluffed up to attract eyeballs for advertisers. They can pose interesting questions though, that you can easily pursue in google for some pretty good summaries. Wikipedia is normally good, but for potentially ideological issues you have to take a grain of salt. I know of physicists and chemists who find there is a 24/7 monitoring of certain environmental articles in order to throw out corrections to false "green facts" (the new age religion). Anyway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I#Religious_policy outlines Constantine somewhat weak devotion to Christianity until late, although "led an army of Christians against the Donatist Christians" before Nicaea. If I were to make a History Channel type documentary, it it might sensationalize that the Roman switch to Christianity was due to Constantine being a classic "momma's boy" (I actually heard a female Rome scholar claim this was generally the case in ancient Rome). The facts are fuzzy, but one might claim the mother Helena was originally a floozey trophy wife of a previous emperor, who then divorced her for a more politically acceptable one. Her susceptibility to unconventional new age religion brought her to Christianity which was the main way it slowly seeped into Constantine. He also fell under the spell of his wives, and killed his son by his first wife based on questionable accusations of second wife who wanted to get her own sons in better position to take over. Then Constantine killed the second wife under the rightious spell of his mother. Let's see, wasn't one of his wives a devoted Christian as well? I think he dealt with Christianity as an administrative tool, but didn't feel personally devoted to it until near end of life - seemed to passively let his womenfolk push him to it?

Italy seems to err way to much on the side of forecast believers: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=italian-seismologists-manslaughter-trial-bad-quake-prediction

More support of my favorite issue - Roman sculpture as not derivative from the Greek. I have only gotten polite skepticism on this point here, and I have only recently heard it supported from a set of lectures that I posted about earlier. They said that Roman sculpture derived from death mask practices, and this realism was followed regardless if a Greek was actually doing the sculpture for them. I think Roman sculpture is the hook to adoring Roman culture. Their engineering is impressive to ones intellect, but their reflective, nonchalant, non theatrical, non egoistic sculpture has soul and gravitas. All history's sculpture before and after seems to be false posing in comparison. Engineering and sculpture is all we concretely (!) know of the Romans - their writings may contain more or less fiction I think.

All the more reason for the British Museum not to return marbles to the new Parthenon Museum created for that. And for antiquities to stay distributed around the world instead of being repatriated. Hopefully the Piraeus museum has reopened, giving some crumbs for tourists to chase. Hopefully the museum island of Delos remains fully open. However B.M. also closes rooms due to guard shortages - especially on their Thursday night hours. There is one greco-roman room I don't think I have seen in a dozen visits - just peeked over a rope. Hard to complain due to no admission charge, but everyone has actually paid thru high hotel taxes and the like.

A year or so I spoke to the head of research and restoring ancient glass of the Corning Glass Museum ("world's foremost authority") http://www.cmog.org/dynamic.aspx?id=11887 about Roman glass. I was skeptical that the Roman glass we see today was unchanged thru time - surely some of what we see now was not up to their standards but has degraded over time. He said yes as to the color and pearlescent quality. I unfortunately forget most of the details, but the tan pearly color I sometimes see is in fact the process of aging. He gave some clues about how to extrapolate backwards and guess what it originally looked like, which like an idiot I forget. I'm not saying this stuff was originally clear, just different. However as to the shape of the glass he said distortions are absolutely not caused by a slow flow in response to gravity like is so often stated. Ancient windows that are thicker on the bottom were installed that way because it is structurally stronger (not that they meant to make it uneven). I forget if he also ruled out whether pressure of a burial over 2000 years could distort the shape (darn it). Anyway I hope that people digging up ancient glass are aware of what time does and doesn't do to glass.

That's an interesting perspective. So in the late republic the political side was spinning out of control due to unresolved imbalances, but military side was gelling together. JC was kind of politically insensitive, and tried to pull everything together from the strong militaristic side (his forte). Augustus observed the downside of being too obviously forceful and riling the public, so became the master politician hiding a steel fist in a velvet glove. This dialectical resolution of JC/Augustus created an imperial institution strong in both force and popular support, which could last thru centuries of even inept or crazed rulers.

Western caretakers of artifacts continue their appeasement of every half baked claim for returning artifacts, in this case Yale to Peru. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12438695 (not just the borrowed stuff) Nothing will please them more than to give away every speck of research or museum material that originates from more than a stones throw away. Not concerned to diversify risks for natural or political disasters - just pull everything back to it's own place of origin. Not concerned whether the peoples of the world can see samples of artifacts from other cultures without a globetrotting journey - just let empty shelves be a proud badge of political correctness. This is an ever increasing trend, even leading to artifacts vanishing forever. For example US Indian legal claims have increased on old skeletons, regardless of whether they appear to be of non-Indian origin. So they are snatched away from scientific review, to be reburied by people who also may be substantially non-indian (exaggerating percentage of genetic links for reasons of fashion or access to casino profits). I think this collapse of western scientific responsibility should be punished. Any college president, professor, or staff that gives into this should have their own titles of ownership scrutinized. If they own land, homes, or objects that doesn't have 5000 years of exactingly clear title transfer history, it should be confiscated. If this excessively self deprecating attitude isn't challenged, it will be the end of both local and overseas museum trips. The same "we are unworthy to tread" attitude threatens to kill air travel with brutal green taxes.

How about including response to an imaginary toddler that keeps asking "why"? Currently I can't answer that in respect to the cost and inconvenience of my former addiction to travel, but: - Thai food (why) Punchy fresh flavors in dialog with mellow elements. - Italian food (why) Simple healthy elements turned yummy and elegant when authentic. - Ocean sports / swimming (why) Nature buzz (why not air sports) Flying proved expensive, or risky for footlaunch (why not hiking) Only following the contour - huff, puff. - History (why) Fiction rings so false and contrived to me. - Classical archeology (why) Local club started giving such lectures with free champagne and snacks (why classical) Ran away from that on a multicultural kick, then appreciated the important void needing filling. - Stock trading (why) Used to be easy to beat the culturally incurious investor clan by applying knowledge from travel to emerging world. (why "used to") Emerging markets stopped their doubling year after year (hobby sounds dead) Became a utilitarian thing requiring the steely guts of Julius Caesar for irrational commodities like cotton, which doubles every 5 months but should implode any time now... - 50 year old music (why) Wasn't played to death during my lifetime (like what) R&B, bossa nova, swing, Indian classical, and "cool jazz" in the 1950's parlance of chilled rather than stylish.

Don't take the following as facts, just amateur observations from half remembered presentations. I think treatment varied thru time... republic vs empire, and whether they had a horde of captives from warfare. I will attempt some examples that might scare up some debate and shed light: It was not racially based and didn't have to be a lifetime sentence, so didn't have the finality as more modern slavery. I think their children were born free? Slaves could buy their freedom and often got paid enough to do so after about 7 years if they saved it all. Not that unlike indentured servants of 200+ years ago. I seem to recall that mining slaves and a few others got worked to death quickly though. There may have been sexual abuse, but I think this applied to freeborn male apprentices and so on too. Some citizens voluntarily became slaves for a while, to escape severe punishment for debt or the like! A few slaves became very rich due to being skilled artists or merchants, and after buying freedom became equivilent of billionaires. Gladiator slaves weren't casually sacrificed, but often groomed for low risk success over the years. Now I forgot my last purported fact, but keep in mind this is a controversial area where a professor may either be biased towards demonizing or seeing the nuances.

In the last few years I believe the Brazil interior has been suggested to have once supported large populations with elaborate stoneworks for diverting water visible by remote sensing of some kind. Not sure of the prehistoric timeframe, but I believe it was characterized as such intense activity to bring the ecosystem near point of collapse along with the populations. I don't see a trace of this on the web now - maybe the theory was shot down?

Thanks, I had tried this but only now am getting the knack of navigation. It's great since some of these museums have been hard to fit into my schedule. I hope they can cover some Roman archeology sites! I only wish the temple you highlight was more pannable like the rest of that museum. I could re-envision the encounter I had with Andy Warhol and his ridiculous platinum wig when it was empty like that. He first locked eyes to ensure I would clear out so his photographer could snap him there. Then he saw I recognized him, and weirdly seemed to enjoy that more than I did.

http://www.gardainforma.com/en/village/index.html will give you a quick impression of the lake town you click on. There are other similar web sites. Peschiera is just a way to get to train station faster from east side ferry stops. Garda is my favorite lake, but maybe redundant if you are visiting others like Maggiore, Como, Lugano or Iseo. Those can be more like rivers due to narrowness, but the lower half of Garda is wide like a sea. Only the north half has dramatic mountains and looks just like a fjord - Malcesine is the gem, with a cablecar too. There is an express ferry to there that would give incredible scenic views if you can get perched in it's limited outside space. Midway towns like Salo, Gardone R. have some historical attractions and hills, and Garda is supposed to be cute although I have twice arrived when the town is so gridlocked by Tues. market that I couldn't even walk there. Like I said, I found the quick walk south to Bardolino and Lazise a delight although the towns themselves sort of tourist traps. I maybe most enjoyed my first day on Garda with a whole-lake ferry pass, where I contrived to see almost every stop although only getting off at highlights. All east side towns are nice, but not the west side except what I mentioned and Limone. Of course Sirmione is rewarding. There are some days (warm weekends?) when every place and ferry is packed by German speaking campers - do not assume the late afternoon ferrys will keep to schedule on those days.

Oh, so if the shoveling looters were implicitly approved of, I guess there is little hope of prosecuting them. Meanwhile the police have cataloged the prime activists in the square for a surprise homecoming when they stand down - maybe never to be seen again. And the repatriation of artifacts to questionable caretakers goes on http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/02/07/us/AP-US-Artifacts-Battle.html?_r=1&ref=us . A stream of artifacts go back to Alaska, home of one of the most tsunami prone regions due to being on the earthquake rim of fire.

Gosh, I have stayed in Desenzano and didn't even know about the villa. But otherwise it is quite dull, and I might even try Peschiera as one train stop. Not that it is better, but maybe works with the ferry schedule better to include one of the great lakeshore walks between Garda, Bardolino, and Lazise. You can get a lower lake ferry day pass, and online schedule to see if this is doable with Sirmione. Probably would need warm weather due to infrequent ferries in the cold. P.S. I think it was you that nudged me into visiting Palermo - what a great experience of mosaics, parks, and alleyways.

How about some links to brainstorm and prioritize Roman site visits? Mideastern sites came to mind, and I couldn't seem to find the advertised Lebanese photos on Bryaxis Hecatee's Picasa site, so I got interesting results here (and a Syrian one): Have an android phone or tablet? Here are Roman apps (may have to login to gmail to display, then to download must open google market on your phone/tab). I have the search set to free apps only, but you can tweak it. For more touristy info change roman to rome. Note the Appian Way webcams and roman numeral calculators. https://market.android.com/search?q=roman&c=apps&price=1&safe=0&so=1&sort=1

Well, I can help out using a new app called laptop-camera-pirate... just let me focus in closely on your genes. OK, it appears you are haplogroup I1 on wiki Try a click, I'm sure you will concur. One problem is that I believe these only check a single root of your family tree, eg. fathers fathers father or mothers mothers mother, because they just check cloned genes. And the markers are mutations, so if they only find a really old one your group will have since spread all over and differentiated. The above group isn't too old. You could be sneaky about finding these out via subterfuge or gift certificates. If your gift budget allows, you (possibly with siblings chipping in) could have your parents get dna tests, and then the whole family can get the info. Actually a female would have to have a male relative take the test for the y groups, which women don't carry. However males carry both types of genes. I took all tests with additional genes checked for health factors. Darn it, I just noticed my subgroup seems to be a mystery one - just flagged with an asterisk and nothing more on the web. I didn't find my health findings too believable because they don't match historical or present outlooks very well (but they did accurately predict physical characteristics like eye color etc).

I'm sure I will repeat this course, I'm just sorry I only have access to the audio and not video portion. I don't think it's difficult at all - he seems to drill down to the heart of the matter and keeps you saying "Oh, that finally makes sense to me, when you tell it THAT way". The death mask origin of Roman portrait sculpture is kind of creepy, but must explain the typically deadpan (or at least unassuming) expression of the mouth and eyes. Such a contrast to the theatrical or pretentious norm, but I suppose it is just another form of affectation for which I project noble thoughts into.

I think there already is an active archeo-looters infrastructure in Egypt that would be eyeing a chance to immediately leap from the shadows. Some museum employees probably have been approached by them over the years and a few figured now they can get away with what they couldn't before. I have seen reports from Israeli law enforcement tracking down local outlaw rings that hook up with sophisticated antiquity robbing-for-hire groups in Egypt. When I was Egypt long ago, the anti western side was hidden and more apparent was the opposite - sort of a solidarity with tourists as people who were less predatory than similarly wealthy residents. Their were obvious splits in society - flamboyant misbegotten wealth and crass treatment of minorities even in public. Every society has fractures, but what may be hard to relate to is Egypt's long term stagnation of hope for self betterment in terms of money or position. We may have Phd's taking up homeless lifestyles, but more as a slacker choice rather than an insurmountable fate. Folks in western China have hard, poor lives... but they can bear it due to anticipating relief coming as economic blessings move westward over the years.

Thanks, although I had seen wiki I did find scraps of support for the TV claims in other googled up sources. From pbs.org: "Herodotus described the battle as 'the finest victory in all history known to me.' (Herod. Book 9)" but then is skeptical when Herod. claims the Persians outnumbered Greeks 17 to 1. Another source points out it was one of the only open land battles, where Persian archers and cavalry were in their element vs the Spartans not being able to project power. The Spartans were against a deadline since their water supply had been poisoned, so had to win or flee. Several sources say the strategic importance of victory was pretty decisive, but no one source seems to pull the various claims together so maybe they are controversial. Before this I thought the Spartans may have been overrated. So weird the way they were too late to Marathon due to their superstitious fetishes, and the Thermop* thing seemed more like grandstanding where there were ways to eventually bypass them by sea or thru the mountains. EDIT-> I also like how the Spartans used fake retreat in the topic battle - not just macho bashing about, if reports can be believed.

Tv news showed somebody's mathematical model weighing degrees of valid grievances, youthful dissent, etc per country and came up with an ordered list ripe for popular overthrow as something like Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, and then Venezuela. If this is more orchestrated, we should eventually hear about it. I was surprised to see Hitler quoted as admitting in dinner conversation to being a copycat to Mussolini, somewhat like Egypt is to Tunisia. In Martin Bormann's "Hitlers Tabletalk", he quotes him as barely dreaming of success until he saw blackshirts succeed on the streets of Rome. I hope it is ok and interesting to paste a page in here which is a portion of the 1953 translation from the internet. It circles around back to the Roman empire.

I was thinking of more along the lines of montage which was started under the soviets http://filmeditor.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/montage-theory/ but there is some new use that I have heard about but forgotten for TV documentaries. The end result is about 5% of the recording takes half my time because I have to keep freezing the 2 second archeo shots. A little sad to see Pompeii which is visibly falling apart compared to earlier visits. Same for Ostia Antica - the most famous mosaics are a shadow of what you may have seen a few years ago. I think it's strange how they sometimes let you trample fragile mosaics in Italy, but memorable anyway.