Favonius Cornelius

Report: Israel Tried to Kill Bin Laden http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ISR...EMPLATE=DEFAULT Interesting timing for a statement like this.

Religion need only be a philosophy, that is what it is. The world sure as hell does not need more of the insanity that Religion panders to the gullible. What it needs is more education and sensibility, more humanism and communication. I hope that some day all monotheistic religion will die the death it so richly deserves and a new religion/philosophy embracing the clarity of science and logic prevail.

If I were an admiral facing this thing, I'd take a bireme or something, fill it with rocks to increase its mass, then launch forward with three ships, two of which are attached to the 'ram' ship to give it additional impetus and the center with a skeleton crew of strong backed men. When too close the two cut their lines and the ram ship keeps plunging forward. The ram ship would be fashioned with a metal bolted reinforced front prow area designed to catch the chain in place so that as much force as possible could be centered on it. Put the men in back, for their protection and counterbalance for the heavy front. If it would all work, my prediction would be it breaks at the point of its attachment at either end. Think it would work?

It is true, one does not hear much about this massacre during these revolts in the east. When people read Roman history in schools you hear plenty of the numbers slaughtered by Caesar or the Huns, but never the Jewish revolts. One must dig avidly before hearing much about it; I remember when I first read about it I was surprised and shocked. Anyone care to conjecture as to why it is not more widely known?

When there comes a time when the RV in UNRV becomes less time consuming, I will be adding more. I think though my efforts in this other area in the end support all things Roman.

If you want to get them really fired up, tell them that in Japan and China, Caucasian peoples first discovered these lands.

Thats right. Its a generalization though. For each particular god or groups of gods you have to hunt down their origins and connections. Then there are some fairly consistant god types, such as a supreme god, a god of the oceans, a god of the harvest and so on.

How exactly do you use it? Does it just span the harbor preventing passage of ships? Would seem a simple thing to deal with.

Hey I have an interesting discussion going on at Roma Victor about a soldier's combat training. Is it known exactly what sort of training dummy a soldier might typically use? For instance would it be a stuffed dummy, a pole, a log with arms etc?

Could someone explain the history and use of this chain please?

Could you expound on that one please.

This is one of the most common misconceptions about the Romans, because they teach it like some fanatical mantra in the school system. While it is true that the Romans adopted a number of aspects of the Greek polytheistic culture, you can find a similar spread of god types across a great many cultures in the Mediterranean. The Romans did not simply 'take' Greek gods. They developed them on their own, they borrowed from Etruscans, they borrowed from Phoenicians, the borrowed from Celts, they borrowed from Greeks, and undoubtedly there was a reciprocal borrowing from these cultures from indigenous Italic cultures. The polytheism and god types is a widespread Mediterranean phenomenon and not so simply explained.

Meh. I never use 'preview' anywhere. I preview after I write a thing anyway, its just the occasional time you notice a slightly better way to say a thing, or clumsy grammar etc.

I think that is the biggest problem, finding them. Troy is a very ancient city, the chance of getting genetic material from it slim to none. Rome and her empire has left so much more to dig up. I agree thatit is unlikely that any DNA evidence of the Trojans will be found. But, you never can be certain about these things. And even if you did find one skeleton, who's to say it is a Trojan at all or representitive of the whole population?

At first I thought 'and how does one do that?!' Then realized I don't really want to know anyway.

I think that is the biggest problem, finding them. Troy is a very ancient city, the chance of getting genetic material from it slim to none. Rome and her empire has left so much more to dig up.

The only cudos I will give Sulla is that he was a great general. I am not enthused with his 'reforms,' and his massacre of Roman aristocrats I find unforgivable. I think there is a reason Caesar went to great lengths NOT to do such a thing.

What scares me are the religious fundamentalists trying to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. I'm sure I've live to see an American or European city damaged by a "dirty" bomb or biochemical agent. Plenty of them already have them in my opinion.

I think the point of the edit notification is clear: to let the reader know that something was altered in the content for historical purposes, so that if a discussion is going on they cannot go back and change their opinion in the face of criticism etc. If there is no possibility of adding a timer then I say just leave it.

One time I corrected the 'Gayus Julius Caesar' biography.

Would it be possible to insert a time delay before having the forum post when you edited a post? I ask because I often type quickly and post, only a second later noting a minor typo. I don't want to come off like someone who constantly changes their opinion or anything.

Is there any room for speculation that Thermopylae is more myth than fact?

In the halls of Sacramento, a special commission is rewriting Indian history: debating whether Aryan invaders conquered the subcontinent, whether Brahman priests had more rights than untouchables, and even whether ancient Indians ate beef. http://search.csmonitor.com/search_content...01s03-wosc.html

I must say, I too am gagging to check out these sources Ariovistus - please post them. Deductive reasoning Germanicus! With a side of bias.

You did a great job thanks! I guess I had some serious misconceptions about trade in the old days. Probably those computer games I play.