WotWotius

To be honest, I do not think we were ever on the topic!

So was that what we call a Freudian slip?

Close your eyes and imagine Sophia Loren. Or Penelope Cruz...def. a Western Mediterranean face. How about Isabella Rossellini... ...or is just me who can see it?

Wasn't Tanit also a popular deity amongst Carthaginians? If so, do you have any information on her?

Do I see a date emerging?

18/30, I supose I could put some blame on dylexia... Anyway, the test gave me a headache.

It is not exactly a tourist place; Algeria is quite a dangerous country.

Ok, I may have exaggerated to emphasise my point, but you cannot say that if you took away the Praetorians, the annona ration and ludi days Rome under the principate would have functioned with little unrest. It is true that since Republican times Rome's law courts were unsurpassed by any other nation, but you said yourself that the urban poor of Rome faced great social injustice, and in my view a fully functioning judicial system was not enough to quell the discontent caused it. As mentioned earlier emperors had to resort to 'bread and circuses'in order to pull the wool over the eyes of the poor. It wasn't just in Ancient Rome that alternate methods were used to distract people from 'social injustice'. I mean look at Britain during the 1930s depression: though the country had a near fully developed legal system unemployment had skyrocketed, the majority working class poor were actually living below the poverty line and according to George Orwell's The Road to Wiggin Pier it seemed to be a time for social 'revolution, not patching'. Yet despite this, Britain never really experienced social unrest on a large scale. What I would put down to is the fact that various industries were developing during this period, and as a result of this cinema tickets, basic food (e.g. fish and chips) and (due to the opening of Marks and Spencer's chain stores etc.) basic cloths were all affordable. So it could be argued that during this period, the 'bread and circuses' approach was more effective way of keeping the urban poor contented than the concept of 'justice'. I know it is wrong to draw parallels with 1930s Britain and Rome under the principate--the cultures are nearly 2000 years apart--but what I was illustrating was the fact that distraction from social injustice occurred in modern, judicially developed societies, so why shouldn't it have occurred in Ancient Rome? Sorry about that, all the dates on the original essay were from memory. I also noticed that I said Titus' reign started in 78 AD not 79 AD. However, the dates regarding the annona ration from 58 BC to the time of the principate are few and far between: it seems that it wasn't until 22 BC, when Augustus provided corn as a means of famine relief, that the annona ration became a set right for ever male freeborn Roman.

This is not exactly archaeological news, but this seems the best to post this question. Has anybody been to Timgad, and if so what was it like? It has always been a place that I have wanted to go to; the buildings are almost as well preserved as Pompeii, but unlike Pompeii, it is an example of just how spectacular one of Rome's pre-planned colonia can be.

No, the incription was actually a list of casualty figures; I would be able to give you more information if I still had my sourcebook. But thank you for your help. This site is probably the most useful site on the internet regarding Roman Britain. It really helped me (aas did this site) with the various essays and exams I had to do for college.

Yes, when I wrote the orginal essay I was only refering to the years 27 BC - 117 AD. If you look at Rome during this time span (27 BC - 117 AD) you will probably find very few examples--with the exception of Trajan, and to a lesser extent Augustus--of justice within her governance. Additionally, though 'good' emperors such as Trajan never really had a need for the Praetorians as such, the fact that they were still an institution of the emperor's government may well have be enough to deter urban plebs from actively complaining about the 'social injustice' that they had come to live in. In other words, the shadow of the emperor's guard was always there.

I remember reading about a Roman Inscription in Britain (RIB) that gives a list of how many dead and how many wounded a Roman cohort experienced during a skirmish. If memory serves me correctly, I think it was from the time of Hadrian. Does anybody know of such an inscription?

Though Vespasian's use of the Pratorians was not as notorius as Tiberius', he still used them to the full extent. When Vespasian arrived in Rome in 70AD, the treachery of the Praetorians towards Galba was no doubt still on his mind. To avoid trouble from the guard in future, Vespasian appointed his trusted son, Titus, as their commander. However, it seems that Titus used this position to carry out his father's 'dirty work': he removed political opponents in a less than legal manner; had incriminating letter forged to cement arrests; and engaged in various other underhand activities. Suetonius mentions that '...in this office conducted himself in a somewhat arrogant and tyrannical fashion'. He then goes on to describe one of Titus' later antics as Commander of the Praetorians: 'Among these was Aulus Caecina, an ex-consul, whom he invited to dinner and then ordered to be stabbed almost before he left the dining-room; but in this case he was led by a pressing danger, having got possession of an autograph copy of an harangue which Caecina had prepared to deliver to the soldiers. Although by such conduct he provided for his safety in the future, he incurred such odium at the time that hardly anyone ever came to the throne with so evil a reputation or so much against the desires of all.' As stated earlier Vespasian distributed mediocre amounts of largesse and paid for few games. He did however secure public support by launching a very ambitious building campaign. Most notable products of which were the Forum of Peace (containing the spoils from his Judean campaign), and the Flavian Amphitheatre--though not finished under Vespasian, the prospect of future games may have kept the urban plebs in line.

Baths and arcades corrupt and soften both the mind and the soul...

...you gotta love the general public!

Don't forget that during the late Severan period Roman politics were dominated by three women: Julia Maesa and her two daughters Julia Soaemias (mother of the Emperor Elagabalus) and Julia Mamaea (Mother of the Emperor Alexander Severus). Each one of these women seemed have taken advantage of their offspring's youth--and in the case of Julia Soaemias her son's love of decadence--and were able to treat them as a ciper to their commands. During the reign of Alexander Severus, Julia Mamaea even went as far as governing the Empire with a group of advisors and subordinates; one may even refer to her as Rome's first Empress.

So are you suggesting that if the Second Punic War resulted in a Carthaginian triumph, we would have seen many Punic-Macedonian wars? My gut feeling is that this would not have happened; Macedon and various Greek city states had been long term allies of Carthage

According to Tacitus (which in this case should be taken with a pinch of salt), the Hibernians originated from Iberia. He also places the origins of the Brythonic people of Wales in Iberia.

Why is Kissinger on the list?

That's fine, don't worry.

That fresco of Neptune is brilliant.

Maybe I should just stick to Paracetamol...but thanks anyway. Ouch! Just looking at that has put me into a further state of pain!

Don't you mean Semitic sect? As mentioned earlier, Judaism was polytheistic.

Rome's populace rioted only many occasions, but the Praetorian Guard were always able to keep control. For instance, during a particularly bad famine in 22BC, the city's urban plebs were in a state of near revolt, and if it wasn't for Augustus swift deployment of Praetorians, the situation could have gotten much worse. ...though having said this, the situation was not completely quelled until Augustus provided relief grain taken from his own pocket, so maybe we are both right.

Pertinax, what Roman treatment would recommend for a tooth abscess? I am due to have one removed tomorrow, and I was wondering what a Roman may have taken to take away the pain.