guidoLaMoto

Was Caesar driven by altruism or ambition & greed?....and don't forget that he was suspiciously supportive of Cataline in the Senate deliberations in 63.

https://www.digitalaugustanrome.org/records/porticus-forum-holitorium. You may also find this site useful for details of the layout of Rome and it's structures, with details often annotated by quotes & descriptions from the ancients themselves.

Studying Latin in school-- the myths and legends of the early history. It fascinated me that we were reading the very words written by men who walked the earth more than 2000 yrs ago. Speaking of church, my cigar chomping, truck driver uncle who quit school after the eighth grade was quite irate when Vatican II did away with the Latin Mass-- "That's crazy. We should be hearing the words the way The Lord really said them.' (??)

Keeping in mind that a conservative is one who wants to save/preserve the constitution/traditional ways, while a liberal is one who feels free to stretch or change the constitution/traditional ways, Caesar was a liberal-- having stretched the traditional limits of authority as proconsul of Cisalpine Gaul by invading Translpine Gaul, he wanted to again stretch things to run for consul again in absentia (a) so he could avoid Senatorial prosecution if he returned to Rome with office expired and (b) not return until re-elected to consular office and thus be immune from prosecution (sound familiar to more recent American history?)...and again, he did accept a 10 yrs dictatorship- way more liberal than tradition.....None of that is in keeping with conservatism and trying to return to the Republican constitution.

Maybe not quite what you're looking for about the triumph, but almost.

https://www.deforestareahistory.org/blog/do-you-remember-playing-with-jarts Plumbata? We called them Jarts until the Goode Two-Shoes took 'en away from us.

Yes, thanks.....Amazing what the computer can do to help us visualize historical situations Note how narrow the streets were. Hollywood treatments of ancient Rome make me smile- particularly Liz Taylor's parade float 30 ft wide. It would have knocked down rows of columbs & statues on both sides of the Via Sacra. https://depts.washington.edu/hrome/Authors/daw84/TheManifestGloryofRomeTheRomanTriumph/247/pub_zbpage_view.html The final leg of Caesar's route (the one that turns left/south to exit the forum) would have almost been the triumphal route "in reverse." How ironic.

"Well, I didn't know that."--Dick Martin Isn't that really analogous to tourist attractions now like Williamsburg re-enacting colonial life or lumberjack demonstration shows here in WI? ...and speaking of WI, The Dells (billing itself as " Water Park Capital of the World" has its Mt Olympus theme park with a Trojan Horse and Coliseum - https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g60403-i22013339-Wisconsin_Dells_Wisconsin.html

I left out Octavian because they probably couldn't have anticipated that a 19 y/o kid would have garnered much credibility and be a threat. What leads you to believe Caesar didn't want a permanent dictatorship? He accepted one of 10 yrs, -- 20x longer than the "constitutional" limit. Already in his 50s and in poor health, that was essentially a lifetime appointment.....He had ostentatiously rejected a crown earlier....but a Roman dictator actually had more unchecked power than the trational kings. The kings were supposed to get Senate approval of edicts while the dictator's authority was unrestricted.

Their mistake was being too timid. They should have had a bolder plot to take out Antonius and Lepidus also, and they didn't have the financial resources to buy back the plebs. Too bad they didn't have Daniel Burnham to counsel them- "Make no small plans."

These genetic studies must always be taken with a grain of salt...They are obviously not random samples including large numbers of test subjects gathered over the whole geographical area, but usually small numbers from just one or two burial sites, sites probably being family/clan burial sites for obviously closely related individuals....It's just absurd to claim that 99% of a population was wiped out when you only deal with a sample of a few dozen individuals out of a population with numbers in the thousands. It would more honest to claim that "of our small sample, 99% were of new genotype and 1% were of the old." Throughout history, it's been more common for a vanquished population to be taken in as slaves and genetically melded into the population of the conquerors.... ...and Caesar is quite right-- only Adam & Eve had no one else to push out of the way as they expanded their hunting grounds

A little more searching reveals:....Polybius called it "gladius Hispaniensis" but Livy used the term "gladius hispanus," consistent with Suetonius' passage. ....Either way, to translate "custodias cum gladiis hispanorum" as Spanish guards with swords rather than guards with Spanish swords is a misrepresentation of the original thought.....The real confusion comes from the word "adspicientium"- an adjective in the plural genitive case, therefore modifying hispanorum, when it should be in the plural ablative if it is to modify "gladiis."....A scribe's error perpetuated thru the ages??

https://popular-archaeology.com/article/publishing-ancient-roman-style/. -- an informative piece on the Roman piblishing industry.

Tyrennika- lost book by Claudius written in Greek on the Etruscan history, culture and language https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrrhenika. If found, it would go a long way to clear up many questions & mysteries about the Etruscans from whom the Romans borrowed a great deal.

The Latin in that paragraph is a little ambiguous-- note that Hispania = Spain, Hispani = Spaniards and Hispaniensis = Spanish.... As we said recently in another thread, we today commonly refer to the short, double edged sword usually used by Roman legIonaires as a gladius, but that's really just the general name for sword (cf- gladiator= swordsman). The particular sword of the legIonaires is correctly called gladius Hispaniensis = Spanish sword..... In that quote, Suetonius uses the terms custodias cum gladiis hispanorum....adspiciendium = with swords of the exposing Spaniards.....???......That's usually translated as "Spanish guards with swords exposed"....but if I were asked to translate that English into Latin, it would be "custodias Hispanienses cum gladiis adspectis." In that paragraph, Suetonius is speculating on Caesar's state of mind, that maybe he had become tired of living and his efforts were no longer worth it. "Sunt qui putent..." = There are those who may think.... I don't know what other historians wrote. Livy's actual comments are lost. I'm trying to find Dionysius of Halocanarssus' reference, but I don't do Greek, so would have to rely on translations, which can be questionable as seen above. Edit-- silly me....D of H only covered The Founding thru the Punic Wars.