Onasander

I am reading 'The Stoic Concept of the City' and the second part opens up with a discussion of Dio visiting formerly Greek Cities on his way to Sythia conquered occasionally by the Gatae. Greek survivors would flee, barbarians break everything Protestant Style, then a generation or two later the Greek survivors would retake the ruins, poorly fix the fortifications, and only partially reoccupy the city. They tended to regress apparently in Greek Customs, but were very self conscious of it. Some could still quote Plato, but very little else. They had beards and long hair like the greeks, but wore barbarian clothes. Only thing that kept them turning greek was the incentive for sea trade along the greek Black Sea, and a urge to fit in. Now..... western empire collapse, all trade is by barbarians.... you travel for months and months and everyone is barbarian, for several generations, how long is this going to hold out pragmatically. I suspect Plato and Aristotle was quoted to utter corruption, literacy .... already bad, went to hell, useless architecture went byebye, but the idea of Rome and Romaness likely stuck around, likely became ironically more acceptable as a sort of golden age to people whose ancestors were dead set against Rome originally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassus_Herculanus Okay.... the guy seems a duty bound Christian Stoic willing to be cuckolded due to unknown reasons..... that goes beyond the sense of duty. I'm guessing he had either a mistress, other kids proceeding the marriage, or like the much later Narses, was a eunuch adopted into the purple fold precisely because he couldn't compete. Don't think they were intentionally making Eunics yet.... so he lost the ability to reproduce at some point. This made him appealing as he was a tool that could work for a dynasty but not threaten that said dynasty. Any thoughts on what happened to the poor guys nuts? I doubt any Senator could remain a Senator having willingly lost such a body part. Any naturally born children or non royal relatives of the guy prior to marriage to Honoria might of been elevated or flushed with gold and station and class, but not real contenders for the throne.

Cause it was.... Most awesome rebuttal since 'Mondo Has Electrolites, that's what plants need' circular argument in the movie Idiocracy. Are you aware of any later? The Latins invaded after that. I'm trying to establish the upper end points to major Roman Categories, in both dates, political offices, philosophical movements, known use of technology (harness or latin writing), or territory held. Think it's obvious as a approach to the basics of history, filling in the gaps from there. If you know of the Roman Senate meeting up after that, do tell. I want to know.

It can have a Greek name as well, being Christian. This is stumping me, I'm used to thinking of nature within Christianity from a monastic outlook, like Mt Argo, or a place of physical trial like Jesus 40 days in the wilderness, or Moses stuck in the Sinai. Monastic likely isn't the direction you want, but just adopting a pagan alternative isn't good either in a era Christians were trying to separate from topological superstitions of the pagans. I don't know much about this senator..... did he ever travel to a foreign land, or hold post/office out of Italy? A place he saw that transfixed his memories long after leaving? Or a philosophical principle from the Pre-Socratics he held as a universal principle substituted as nature? If he went to Antioch, for example, simply calling it Cappadocia would stir memories of weeks in the saddle in rough terrain, rainbows, plants in rocks on cliffs, pretty girls in headscarfs, eagles flying overhead..... in a major spiritual exploration of the self in the greater world. Joshua (under Moses) would travel out into the desert when faced with hard decisions. I always think of Joshua Moon, very cryptic, when out hiking at night under the moon, thinking...... in the isolation of nature.

In late antiquity, if Christian, Gethsemane. If Pagan, pick the religion.... and we can narrow it down a tad. The Romans deities inhabited the earliest era of its natural world, nature as we know it, except when barren or out of contrast with a activity such as agriculture or city life, wasn't a secular idea. You pick a religion, or a region this family comes from, and it will be easier. You gotta realize, the Romans were the ones building exotic enclaves of mystical far away lands for their mystery cults in temples, on villa walls, and below ground. A concept is a loaded idea.

Thanks

The site is a bit unwieldy..... you have three archeology sections, a few 'other than Roman' sections, two subsections for religion (I don't think anyone cares if Isis and Jesus threads rub shoulders), etc. I have no intention of doing the mass posting I did before to spur and attract activity again.... it's time consuming and boring on my end..... you have like, a user per day posting and nine hundred subsections. Please start merging stuff together..... it's silly I gotta search this long to find stuff given the actual amount of activity here. Not asking for threads to be merged or deleted, just subsections and whole sections combined.

No, it didn't give the Greeks a morale boost. A bunch of dead Spartans, however pleasant sounding to the Athenian ears, doesnt fill you with encouragement when they were all that kept the Persians off your back. The DEFEAT at Thermopylae, the razing at Athens would infuriate and incite, and unite..... but it took time. Thats not a morale boost. Now, how we have always approached it since. has been one awesome piece of propaganda, boosting morale in the easily swayed. It undoubtedly has given holding.forces.in bottlenecks more.staying power ever since. But no, a massive, embarrassing defeat that leads to a major defeat cant be honestly described as a moral boost.

Reason why is two-fold.... 1) Everyone knows what the Spartans did, and know better now. 2) Most people aren't in a massive rush to get into Greece..... It's important to note the battle was a defeat for the Greeks.... most of the Persian army laid about during the standoff, never seeing the Greeks. It got a lot more hype than the average Persain would of warranted. I personally would of thought little of it had I been a Persian.

I only took pictures a inch from its nose, then stopped. http://www.flickr.com/photos/23739794@N06/ Three pics, summer in alaska. Im going to be dropping out of the Roman history for a while again.... people dont seem that interested in digging deep, and dont want to waste any more time reading about how stylish the Roman Army Skirts are. Ill check back in here in a few more years. If things dont turn out for you in a job search, I would find a slab city. Every country has some. They are unlisted communities that fall off the government radar. Hopefully you wont get that far. Just dont grow angry if you find the years pass and the funding runs out, its the nature of socialism, but not yours, not who you are. The greeks and romans developed philosophies for these aspects of life, but for better or worst, you are always you, circumstances be damned. Best of luck, and stay away from dumpster diving.

Hmm.... I was attacked by a bear once, have pictures if you want them.

Darkest Wiltshire

I cant recall off-hand a single saint martyred by a gladitorial fight. I used to think, as per my post on the forum, christians were executed by Nero in the colesseum, but all I found when checking was he tortured and crucified a bunch in the streets. The gladiator fights are over rated, reminds me of the gladiator fights in the show The Walking Dead..... its a broken piece of pagan religion, and as a former soldier I find it disgusting and demeaning to do to people. The Romans got what they deserved in Sparticus, wish he could of killed more of them.

http://www.unrv.com/ds-rss.php/?feed=rss I dunno how or why this popped up, or how to use it.....

http://jenniferlilla.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/the-philosophical-tree-as-taken-from-alexander-roobs-alchemy-and-mysticism-the-hermetic-museum.jpg Yeah..... exactly as the title says...... medieval drawing of a man dying, with an arrow in his chest, his massive tree erection, and God pointing out how freaking weird this pervert is. Im sure there is a deeper symbolism, something profound, but I choose to disregard that approach and take this pic at its absurd face value. Anyone up for a game of pictionary?

I've been doing more and more research or this paper/book for a professor friend of mine..... got upgraded from 'Research Assistant' to 'Co-Author' fairly quick once I broke her out of her deadlock..... in the past I just went completely uncredited..... so whatever. The issue is, I'm now writting for her agenda. I was tossed three research topics, and went with the very first one, thinking I, Mr. Philosophy can handle with a little investigation any topic or issue. Yes, I am a very, very rare breed of Philosopher, a Cynic Philosopher, but the little formal training I got from philosophy groups was a nearly unbiased Pan-Philosophy approach. In San Francisco, you come across a handful of deeply spiteful Anti-Semetic and Anti-Catholic Philosophers..... guys who can quickly change any debate on any subject to classical Anti-Popism. For me, tolerance was grinding my teeth in silence, seeing where the rants would go..... yes, it's hate, but will it stumble by accident upon a useful point or position? Usually not.... can't recall it ever be that case, but I would put up with it till the hate became a successful democracies, causing people to react positively to it and its obvious falsehoods. Only then would I crack the whip.... San Franciso claims to be highly tolerant, but it's about as intolerant as any place I ever visited. They pick and choose their heroes and martyrs, causes and tragedies, like any other. I suppose the trick in life is to find your roots in life, and learn over time to be honest about your prejudices and doubts. We all share a very similar brain biologically, chances are, if some are of quality X thinking style, we all possess it..... just some emphasize it, others hide it. This isn't a pure praexology, I reserve room for the unconscious/conscious, nature/nurture, and personality divides, but we all got something going on nasty if your a healthy individual.... hate isn't a epidemic triggered by hate speech, it's innate and simmers. Pops up in all sorts of unusual ways..... you can't blame it on hate speech alone, if anything, it can get around it. Case in point, this paper. It touches both on Theological Issues..... which was certainly my point, and Cognitive Issues, involving theory of mind issues..... It's highly complex, but very simple.... but I don't want to navigate either here, just the aspect of hate and xenophobia inherent in its investigations. I'm a Catholic..... and a Philosopher...... therefor the title of 'Catholic Philosopher' immediately gets slapped on me, which I am very, very cautious about. I don't like it. Make it feel like I need to rush and debate Richard Dawkings on behalf of the Vatican and explain Catechism and Dogmas in-depth....... he'll, I Dunno about half the stuff..... I'm a Cynic with interest in Law and Ethics and History. I can't make sense of some of the logic of the Ecumenical Councils for example..... they appear to be debating physics and God's psychological makeup..... stuff God since the old testament said not to do. Then they started excommunication of various, legitimate chapters of the church that claim very legitimate Apostolic Descent because their understanding of physics didn't match up with the other factions. Jesus didn't excommunicate anyone, not even Judas. He didn't set up a observatory on the Hollywood he preached, only time I can recall him getting kissed was when he wrecked the merchants in the temple. He took note of the legitimacy of the Pharisees to rule on Kosher matters, while denying they were Kosher themselves, and there for not to be held as examples of righteous conduct. He was close to the Samaritans, but denied the legitimacy of their religious methods..... despite being more orthodox in their adherence to Kosher beliefs, they lacked the understanding of what they were doing. That's all I know of him in his biases and outbursts. He seemed rather outgoing and friendly, willing to cross the divide like a Martin Luther King. That would be a lovely snapshot of Christianity, if it weren't for history. Christianity undid itself at some point. Churches excommunicated one another on the silliest of circumstances. Take the papal primacy issue for example.... if there is a recognition that at one time there was indeed a state of existence of one church father being first among equals in one era, and everyone is gripping about it now, there is a very obvious solution..... rotate the geographical locations of the pope and other patriarchs..... have the Pope spend a year in Moscow, the Greek Patriarch in the Vatican, etc..... keep the mix random. Fine.... Rome can be first among equals no problem there. They can't even think it though, because of pride, nationality, and xenophobia. They have their squabbles, most of them quite silly, and its impossible to give in. Our church fathers have become the modern day Pharisees..... they have the apostolic prerogative to preach the word, but don't you dare emulate them in your communities..... holding on to ridiculous lifelong prideful squabbles and hatred and mistrust of the other due to your sense of self and History. It's not a Christian Belief, it's the putrid taint of Roman Paganism and its administrative functions that married into Christianity during and ever since Constantine. Major grips of the last month, I was asked to 'Convert' by a Greek Orthodox nun to 'Orthodoxy'. Just how is it possible for a Christian to Convert from Christianity to Christianity? If I was to become a monk, I can grasp this need to convert to new rules and orders.... but the Pope isn't any more broke in terms of Apostolic Descent than the Greek Patriarch.... if anything, he is a tad bit more secure given he doesn't need approval from the Turkish Parliment to become Pope like the Greek Patriarch does. However, this doesn't stop either positions from holding to legitimate positions on ethics, or the nature of Christianity. Jesus choose the apostolic system, so divergency in views and emphasis are to be expected given the subjective view of every individual. Just keep the needless contradictions to the minimum, and remember brotherly love. Simple does it best, if you get confused about the physics of God, or the wording of creed, or lost a feel for the holy ghost, stick to Ethics, and keep to a sense of simplicity and humility in the face of conflict. We don't need it, we don't have to be glorious and top of the world in all things, we made it just fine all that time in the catacombs. The other grip.... I agreed to in this paper to tackle the philosophy at heart of her theological issue..... I instantly saw the solution in St. Anslem and St. Thomas. My Greek Orthodox spiritual mother is getting deeply offensive now, like the universe is ending, crying about the east-west divide. I'm not worrying on theology persay, but their cognitive ideas at root.... and am resurrecting their concepts. They didn't invent it, the terminology dates back centuries prior to any schism. I'm taking very technical, scientific approach mapping the Professors Theory of Mind questions to the Cytoarchitecture of the mind, then going along with her investigations, noting oddities and where ideas branch into unknown. It's quite sterile, yet approachable and can be proven and disproved by a third party on the anatomical data I provide. But for y spiritual mother, every time I mention it, she makes a mountain out of a molehill.... it's east and west conflicts..... always a Catholic only and 'we don't teach that', even though ironically the Greek church produced plenty of fathers who have. Why am I getting nailed? Because I am Catholic, merely touching theology (with a nine foot pole) and Catholic Theologians are dangerous. I must be inherently be trying some sort of trickery, and therefor emotional crying and tantrums are necessary, though at root nothing is there. If anything, I have been exceptionally pan-Christian...... much of the work we are doing doesn't even focus on Christianity..... it goes to Assyria, India, China..... geese..... I blame the stupid Romans for this headache. I can care less about the grips resulting from the administrative makeup of the churches. I'm not a part of that, nor from what I read in the New Testament, neither was Jesus..... he overlooked the issues that caused dissension and weakness of familiarity between each Apostle, to one another as well as to himself, and stuck with the bigger picture. We can really use guys like that today. Instead, I get asked to Convert and am treated like I'm playing with WMD for investigating well thought out works from Christian Fathers, finding ways to apply them today. I only push it with the authority of myself and the conviction that it can work, as a Philosopher, not a theologian. Nothing really new in it..... just rarely discussed anymore. This is enough gripping. Later...

I think you just click on the administrators name and PM him. I think 50 50 chance it's a money issue, they just opted not to keep the upgraded service going. But that doesn't explain the lack of interaction or warning, or why it's just the forum that's frozen. This site gets pretty good google search engine coverage, It would be a shame for it go sink.

They are not in fact. I only bring that nugget up because a Oxford Graduate wrote a book called 'The Dicegame of Shiva' http://www.amazon.com/The-Dice-Game-Shiva-Consciousness/dp/1577316444 He pretty much takes your stance, but with the attention to further detail on the objective-subjective divide and atomic structure, coming to the conclusion that each atom, when it becomes molecular, is evidence of atomic consciousness. So.... back to my initial questions if you want to get off the non-Dualist slip and slide..... Carefully reconsider..... is weight and mass inherently different? How would relativity work if they were different. Yes, I'm aware of the periodical separation and classifications..... but that evolved out of the ideology central to Alchemy, which is dualistic and not necessarily relativistic. How are the two really separate? Are we merely applying a archaic system of categorization that has long ceased to apply to our larger assumptions. I for one don't like the slippery slope of assuming atomic consciousness that a separation presupposes. I like Heraclius, but not that much.

Oh..... what exactly was Clara saying, especially in the museum..... everything she said was British, not English..... made no sense.

Can you prove all the atoms are still in existence, or are we just assuming? Do objects keep the same mass, or just a relative form? Can a concentration of form attract like particle formations, and can they quantitatively thin over time, similar to how frost expands and contracts? Secondly, how do we know photons move faster than us? Dont we have quite a few in us? In a relativistic universe, we gotta be going somewhere.

What your saying is Ravens have a higher degree of politeness and social awareness than you, right?

Tell everyone to shove it and become a Cynic.

http://www.foxnews.mobi/quickPage.html?page=22995&external=2505615.proteus.fma#quickPage_html_page_22995_content_101545467_pageNum_1

I cut off viewing Gilius' post for a month after all the pointless absurdities he was bombing me with, with no attempt whatsoever at trying to hold to historical methods..... any methods. Well Gilius, the month is up..... feel free to post away now. I'm lifting it. Honestly, start posting........ do it now! Waiting.....

http://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Latin_first_declension I only just discovered this.... apparently Greek loan words in the first declension singular play some tricks, -e remains instead of -a in the nomitive for example. All the more reason for me now to build a time machine so I may travel back and punch a native latin speaker in the face. Ill just appear in their field while plowing, walk up to them in their stare of amazement, punch them in the face, and then walk back to the time machine, without saying a single word