Aurelia

Oops, happy belated birthday!

This isn't really related to any of the mentioned questions..but I have a question of my own: WHEN IS THERE GOING TO BE A MOVIE?!??!?!? I feel as though they rushed through the series..they covered a 15 year civil war in a matter of a few hours! They denied the petition to make a third season but have stated that there will be a movie made out of the series...this was in the beginning of '08! Does anyone know additional info. on this matter? And you think a movie is going to be less rushed??

Memoirs of Cleopatra is by Margaret George. Colleen McCullough wrote the Masters of Rome series, including the novel Caesar, which in my opinion is better than the one by Margaret George.

I vote for Antarctica.

Aurelia: Are you from Belgium? Isn't Dutch already mandatory there? Ik hou van Amsterdam. guy also known as gaius I live in Belgium but I was not born here. I'm originally from Brazil so my mother tongue is Portuguese. As BH has already explained Dutch is not always mandatory in French-speaking Belgian schools. I actually learned Dutch after taking an intensive language course shortly after I arrived in the country in 2001.

Some Dacian inscriptions. I stand corrected.

- Akkadian, an ancient semitic language that originated in Mesopotamia, apparently survived until 100 AD (it used the cuneiform writing system). - Dacian, an ancient language from the Balkans, is thought to have survived until around 500 AD (no inscriptions survive though). - Aquitanian, spoken in southwestern Gaul and northern Spain, is thought to be related to Basque (some toponymical evidence has been found in ancient Latin texts). - Galatian, a Celtic language spoken Asia Minor, survived at least until 400 AD (again, mostly toponymical traces in ancient texts have survived).

As if I wasn't masochistic enough learning Dutch, I'm planning to move on to German next year. Most Romance languages are covered already so... As for ancient history, no specific goals, whatever comes my way as usual.

Yeah, I'm leaning towards waiting until it comes out on DVD. My father is likely to buy a pirated copy in Mozambique (where he works) so I might wait to watch it when I go visit my family in December, hehe. As for the 2016 Olympics, I'm only following it because Rio happens to be my hometown. It's no secret it was chosen because the International Olympic Committee wanted a South American city to host it for the first time, but I sometimes wonder if this was such a wise move what with all the problems Rio is currently experiencing. Oh well, only time will tell...

Now that Rio de Janeiro has been chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games (not to mention co-hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014), it is only natural that it should be in the limelight for the next few years. Unfortunately so far it has only generated bad publicity: a police helicopter was shot down by drug traffickers a few weeks ago, and today a big blackout plunged the city into darkness. Although this is the first time I hear of a helicopter being shot down, I cannot say the same for the violence that seems to be slowly choking the city half to death. As for power failures, they do seem to occur rather frequently. All this makes me wonder if the Rio authorities will manage to get their act together in time for the big events of 2014 and 2016. If ever there was a reason or an excuse for them to take concrete action against crime, especially the drug gangs which thrive in Rio's many favelas, clean up the city and improve its infrastructure, this is it. Of course, I'm assuming here that the world will not come to an end in 2012 ...

Roman punishment methods, in particular the combo of scourging and crucifixion were pretty atrocious. A particularly "lovely" example is the mass crucifixion of 6,600 slaves along the via Appia following the 3rd Servile War in 73-71 BC.

Interesting theory but perhaps a little far-fetched...? http://www.hri.org/news/greek/apeen/2009/0...2.apeen.html#03

That's indeed an interesting entry, Aurelia. The episode in itself seems to be exact but the quoted figures (eg, [sIC]"by 1180, it is estimated that up to 60,000 Latins lived in Constantinople") seem to me to be absurdly high; that would have been roughly like half the population of Venice, the entire Genoa or two times Paris by the late XII century. The article quoted no primary sources; all in all, it seems suspiciously apologetic for the forthcoming IV Crusade. In any case, I don't think this is what Ludovicus had in mind; these unfortunate Italians were "Latins" for their Christian rite; they surely spoke some contemporary romance language(s), not any real Latin. Yes, I know Ludovicus meant something else. I was just going along with what Kosmo said above about merchants of Italian origin, crusaders, mercenaries and so on.

I came across this Wikipedia entry a while ago and thought I'd post it here. It does refer to a Latin community in Constantinople but in a much later period (as opposed to middle eastern ethnic groups in ancient Rome). Massacre of the Latins

Thanks Neph and GPM. I missed you guys too. Now I need to go find something clever to post in order to make a decent comeback hehe.

Humm, perhaps I do need a course in electrical awareness, hehe.

Now I feel bad...

Thanks guys

I have been absent from UNRV for a while now - and after having a quick look around, I have realized that I'm not the only one. My life has gone through a few ups and downs in the past few months and many changes have taken place. To be more specific, I have recently changed houses, jobs and even relationships. All of these changes have been rather significant so it's been a lot to take in. Anyway, I'm glad things have started to settle a bit which means I'll hopefully have more time for UNRV as well. I'm currently reading a book which I hope to be able to finish soon and then review. Perhaps then I'll finally get a promotion.

As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall approaches, it's inevitable that books on the subject will (re)appear. The picnic that brought down the Berlin Wall - Los Angeles Times The Year the Iron Curtain unraveled - The Washington Post

I just found it...$14million to producer and top tickets in London going for $190 (U.S. dollars). J Hmm, expensive but, as you mentioned, those are the most expensive tickets...

I've heard that Ben-Hur cost millions of dollars to produce. I wonder how expensive the tickets are...

Wishing you the very best on your birthday, Neph.

LOL http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...ec=Worldupdates

Karl Moore, a business professor at McGill University, and David Lewis, a historian, look at ancient international business in