Tobias

I'd appreciate that very much sir, thank you Out of interest; do they exhibit anything in the way of Byzantine artifacts at these things?

Yeah perhaps - it was a lapse in detail; i was half asleep when i typed that It is certainly true that Theodora should be considered as the Byzantine's Nero - especially if half the stories about her sexual acrobatics are true, as well as her treatment of the Empire's best General, Belisarius

Hmm, i don't wholly belong to any of those categories; i'm probably more of an eagle scout than any of the others (although i may not be viewed that way by my colleagues ) Hmm, i don't wholly belong to any of those categories; i'm probably more of an eagle scout than any of the others (although i may not be viewed that way by my colleagues ) "Eagle Scout is a positive, constructive Warrior who endeavors to submit original articles which contain useful content and relevant information with supporting citations and links, thus initiating meaningful discussion threads. Eagle Scout regards the internet as an uplifting, egalitarian, worldwide arena for the exchange of ideas among intelligent, thinking individuals. He does not openly attack, but will (ever tactfully) chastise disruptive comments, gratuitous insults and cretinous insipidity." Unfortunately, i believe i may have a touch of Jekyl and Hyde about me as well

Yeah, i've changed mine as well; i got sick of Banjo Patterson and looked through my little book entitled "Treasury of Quotations", and found this current one by Rudyard Kipling; i feel it's a pretty good quote And for my new Avatar, i've gone back three Doctors to the third doctor, acted by Jon Pertwee.

Let us not quibble over details old fellow

G'day everyone A question struck me today when i was reading various topics on the site; roughly how many people in today's world can speak or write in latin fluently? I mean, the language has kind of died out - it's been relegated to higher education. But do any peoples still speak it natively or are taught it from birth? Or is just restricted to those of higher education? I'd appreciate some opinions on the subject

It's funny how many things are written in latin in the modern world isn't it I've seen the latin version of a Harry Potter book, a latin version of Encyclopaedia Britannica and now a latin Google? It's very interesting.

I would advance the name Alexius IV Angelus. Perhaps he was not as bad as Nero, but he was obviously a devious double-dealer, and rather stupid into the bargain. He promised the Fourth Crusade a huge sum of money to install him on the Byzantine throne; when he reached Constantinople, he and his co Emperor, Isaac II, could barely raise half of this sum. He then told the Crusaders he would do no more, and he was eventually killed, thus establishing the Latin Empire. He was motivated by greed and lust for power, and was towards the end rather unstable; a mere usurper. There is no denying the terrible damage he inflicted on the empire; perhaps the second fatal blow was administered thanks to him.

I believe that the plot to assasinate Caesar would rank high as an ill-conceived plot. They killed an essentially effective administrator who was about to go and add further territory to the Republic. They had no long-term plan for the Republic. Thus, they were defeated by Antonius and Octavian. If these two hadn't been there, i shudder to think what course Rome would have taken (most likely total collapse or anarchy, in which case another like or worse than Caesar would have risen anyway). Sometimes i wonder what would have happened if Caesar had survived, went to campaign against the Parthians, and left Octavian to carry out his reforms? An interesting thought eh, although perhaps slightly irrelevant I was trying to find some failed plots of famous or influential Emperors in later Eastern Roman history, but i didn't get too far; the plots either succeeded or were detected and not written about in detail.

It's obvious that for countries such as America, that are set up according to Imperial measurements, it would simply not be practical to just change the country's official system of measurement to metric. So what is the solution? Does America (And i refer to the United States of America) remain Imperial for the rest of it's existence? Or does it slowly, over time, become metric?

I haven't received mine yet - but i'm not surprised; once i bought something over Ebay from America that took about 3 months to arrive, so i'll remain patient

Hmm, well, once i had a person (whom i knew had very little proper knowledge on the subject) proceed to lecture me in great detail exactly how Julius Caesar conquered Asterix and the Gauls

Hmm, that looks very interesting. If it should ever reach Australian shores, i'll be sure to give it a try

Don't worry about that mate - it's alright I'd love to go to this, but as i said above....ah well

Again, the land on that side of the Black Sea was not necessarily safe (or charted), and another fact is that for much of the time, the Byzantines actually controlled quite a large amount of the Eastern Black Sea coast (Either directly or through client states). The best course to take was through the Byzantine's land - via the Silk Road. If you took precious goods through uncharted and potentially hostile lands, where you weren't necessarily likely to meet protective authorities such as the Byzantine Army, that would seem to me to put the goods at a bit of unnecessary risk. I hope i'm answering your question properly Favonius, and not just making it worse for you

Certainly much of the Roman army of the time was composed of Germans. It is hardly surprising considering the amount of migrations of the time, and (as has been above mentioned) the slight apathetic phase that the Roman citizens seemed to be going through. The Germans were of considerable use to the Romans as allies - and of course terrible as foes - and this is demonstrated at the Battle of Chalons. Aetius (amazingly) managed to ally both the Goths and the Alans to his cause (defeating Attila). I think that gives a bit of insight into whether the empire may have lasted longer or fought better if the Germans had not been ill treated.

I believe you'd pretty much be able to join the legions at a very young age i.e. 17-20, if you were physically fit enough. Caesar had a system with which he placed his youngest recruits ("green" recruits) altogether in the highest numbered of his Legion. This legion would march, fight and be seasoned, and as he lost soldiers in his other legions, he would take the seasoned young men from this legion to plump out the numbers of his other legions. A good system; Unless the legion containing the youngest soldiers suffered heavily (i.e. Sabinus and Cotta in Gaul).

Yeah, it's the same here. I've been brought up in the metric system, so to me using centimetres, metres, kilometres, litres, kilograms etc is just second nature. But my parents, grandparents etc all are still in Imperial. One of my relatives has hardly spent any money since 1966 (When decimal currency was introduced in Australia) because she doesn't understand the Dollar as opposed to the Pound. It's all relative - the old world refuses to die Although i live in a predominately Metric (officially) country, i hardly think that the Romans can be beaten up for keeping America to feet, yards etc.

Exactly. The Romans had such profound influence on the world as we know it that it's difficult to avoid finding something that wasn't influenced by the Romans. They were a leading race of people - they broke ground in their own time, they beat enemies larger in power and expanded throughout all of known Europe. They produced men who wrote the military handbooks, and men who advanced technologies and medicine. I guess (for me at least) it's the sense of looking into such a great institution - of perhaps reliving it's greatness, that makes people enraptured in Rome.

There is certainly a bit of hypocrisy in the argument - but then there's always hypocrisy in every argument

I've been thinking of putting together an article for UNRV one day on this topic; briefly outlining the dominions that would come to replace the Roman Empire. It's an area i take keen interest in - especially researching the Roman influences on these successor states.

Ah dear, i wish they'd hold one of these things in Australia! I suppose it's how much interest is expressed in an area that determines where they're held. I'd thoroughly enjoy going to that, but it isn't exactly easy for me to get there at the moment I'll just stick to this site - it's the best thing so far i've found for Byzantine discussion, and i don't have to fly to London to participate Thank you for supplying this information palimpset, although perhaps these would be more appropriate in upcoming events forums.

Some of those are quite useful palimpsest. Thank you very much for supplying those; i'm certain the Byzantine enthusiasts on this site (myself very much included) will find these links very interesting.

Precisely what i've been trying to say; sometimes i just can't get the right words out

Well, so they should, we are a cool site