Welcome and Introduce Yourself Here

[Pater Filarum]

Hi all.  Is this site still active?  I have a little background in Latin from years ago in high school...and an interest in Roman history.

[Valka D'Ur]

Welcome! It's not as active as it used to be, but there are still some of us around.

[Monk]

Hi every one, i'm a newbie!

I'm 65, and have interests in archaeoastronomy which covers the Roman period however to learn the myths and legents of the stars i attended astrology classes, however i don't believe in astrology.   The ancients used to use astrology all the time.

There is a thing called electional astrology, that you choose the day to go to war etc, and wait for favourable stars at location, and a good astronomer can spot when this happens regarding the beliefs in ancient times.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electional_astrology

I will show the interesting results in time, i'm disabled, using a wheel chair because of a broken spine, but i'm a happy soul having an active social life, and when i have time i write on forums!

Best wishes to all members.

[guy]

On 9/30/2021 at 2:57 AM, Monk said:

I'm 65, and have interests in archaeoastronomy which covers the Roman period however to learn the myths and legents of the stars i attended astrology classes, however i don't believe in astrology.   The ancients used to use astrology all the time.

Please post some of your research and insights. Sounds interesting. I know very little on the subject.

Here’s the small bit I know about astrology and Roman history:

Augustus Denarius. Spanish mint, ca 17 BC. CAESAR AVGVSTVS, head left in oak wreath / DIVVS – IVLIVS across field, comet with eight rays & tail. RSC 97.
(Photo and attribution from Wildwinds.com)

This is the famous Augustus comet coin. The background information about this comet coin was discussed on cointalk.com. Great link:

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancients-caesars-comet.254853/

Edited October 1, 2021 by guy

[Monk]

Hi Guy,

Thank you for your links and information, please remember that i'm not saying astrology works, but those that believed in astrology in ancient times used to wait for auspicious day's before changing history, i follow the oldest of all astrological practices called Paranatellona or parans for short, link below:-

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10705808

The day starts are used, and in ancient times this would be either Roman Sunrise at location or ancient Greek day marker, being previous sunset. There are four other directions to ponder, being Due East, being the eastern horizon, Due West being the western horizon, Due South being the culminating angle, and Due North being the Nadir, so if the Sun was setting within one degree of the star Sirius culminating, an astrologer would pick that day for action.

In fact the permutations are that this can happen eight day's in 365 day's in any one location in ancient times.  The Romans thought of Sirius as "The door keeper of Hell, explained below as The Dog Day's of Summer."

https://www.stephenmorrisauthor.com/dog-days-summer/

Another Culture, the ancient Egyptians thought of Sirius as the Isis Star.

On 15th March 0044 BC an event happened in Rome that appears to have been marked in the heavens by human hand, being the Assassination of Julius Caesar, that was marked in the sky by ancient Greek style being previous sunset to date being 14th March, this could mean that the reason Caesar was killed was because of a Greek person, Cleopatra came from the Greek Ptolemaic Dynasty, so not an Egyptian Pharaoh, but she was fiercely patriotic and thought of herself as Isis on earth symbolized by Sirius.

The Senate hated Cleopatra who had Caesar's son Caesarion, they thought that Caesar was influenced by her, and thought he was going to declare himself a god, banish the Senate become an emperor and have Caesarion follow him onto the throne.

The message in the sky over Rome for 15 March 0044 BC was set at ancient Greek daymarker being sunset on 14 March as Sirius was culminating  "Nothing personal, just business, you were a great leader but had to be assassinated because of your association with Cleopatra.

I have no idea who the astrologer was who chose the day for his senate masters, but what he wrote will stay in the heavens for that era, some would believe it become part of the Akashic Records, Ha Ha!

Hopefully i'll be able to show an image of this below:-

 

 

Edited October 3, 2021 by Monk
spelling written in haste

[Monk]

Hi Guy,

I apologize to moderators having forgotten that i had joined in 2008, but not continued, i will now continue as Monk.

The old thread had a lot of information which i have included, and due to your PM,  i have included the assassination of Julius Caeser there,  where to start my name was Sosigenes, hope you enjoy the further information.

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Monk
adding link.

[Nottaplecostomus]

I joined this thread because somebody posted the poem about “Julia to the barber went…“ Which she said she had found and remembered from her high school Latin class… Me too, the lines had stuck in my head for 60 years?! I kind of wanted to tell her thank you. If she’s still around   And I also want to find it again on this site and copy and paste it for future reference just because it made me laugh

 

I’m not very good as a historian nor as a Latin student  Frankly I just wanted to tell that poster, thank you, because when I googled it,  her post came up.  (I had that happen on another extremely obscure piece of poetry 15 years ago)

[calliaume]

I'm Curt, from suburban Illinois. Thank you for accepting me to the forum.

My primary purpose for being here is to make people aware of our work in developing research on deciphering Etruscan. But I'm an amateur historian who's always interested in learning more about the past.

[Elisa]

Hello everyone,
First of all: Io, Saturnalia! ☺️
My name's Elisa and I am actually from Rome. I am a linguist but having been born and raised in Rome I developed an interest for Roman history very early on.
I am eager to learn more about ancient Rome from all of you!

[Pseudo123]

Hi.

I am somebody interested in roman history because this is where we come from all.

And we can learn many lessons about politics, morals, humanity in general by studying this huge and well documented history.

[caesar novus]

I think I failed to intro myself here and instead did it on a now defunct forum that arose when this one was having maintenance problems. This probably will be a life assessment exercise which will indulge only me.

My enduring interests are 1) creative food prep (influenced from Italy, Thailand, India), 2) sailing small boats, and 3) Roman (mostly) architecture and sculpture. I might be still chasing the false allure of aviation if not for my discovery of a small sunken boat. My father noted it appeared to have once had a mast, and with naive refurbishment according to library books it became a lively yet comfy dream machine. It never occurred to young me that there must be a distressed ex-owner somewhere, or that for wood structure to sunk it must be waterlogged and fragile.

Anyway not all of us can simply waltz thru clouds of self indulgent interests, and that is where occupational tension comes in. After all, it was only recently I was able to early retire on a daylight-savings disability, getting taxpayer handouts for me and my 24hr massage team to retreat to a region that doesn't harsh my burned out mellow by adjusting clocks twice a year . At some point I actually had to make myself plausibly educated and useful to others...

My early career was in potatoes. Our schools had long breaks for us to pick in freezing dust or mud. There were a few migrant workers from Canada that were insanely productive, and I wonder why I didn't emulate their style of picking 5-6 potatoes at each machine gun grab of both hands and reap the payout. We kids just endured with one tater per hand and altruistically skipped the rotten ones. Well our low incomes paid off later in life where we held back spending hard won $ except for things that truly counted.

Later I was introduced to the sleepwalking corporate world in the form of a potato processing plant. For instance I hosed off a slurry of peels and acid overflow from machines above in rubber boots constantly filling up with stinging acid. They insisted that for safety I couldn't wear fabric shoes despite ease of repeatedly hosing them clean in a second. Back at school I switched from anthropology to computer science. I had little idea that anthro could lead to archeo could lead to Roman stuff, so decided to get in to electronic design.

Fat chance of funding many visits to Roman sites; it was a pressure cooker working thru evenings and holidays for no extra pay. It seemed glamorous to optimize elegant designs, but they went obsolete fast enough to end in a landfill every 18 months. Also I still didn't escape corporate dumbth; there was a coworker who cultivated a dazzling appearance but radiated a no-trespassing vibe with a huge engagement ring. At some point the ring vanished and meddling idle spouses of my co-workers decided we belonged together. But I always avoided pitfalls of office romance, not wanting to revert to a potato career. I didn't notice the vanished ring, but even management decided the only explanation for my restraint must be racism. Quite later they tried to undo damage to my career, but the lesson was to not just do your job but manage idiot perceptions.

Edited March 13, 2022 by caesar novus

[Steve Adams]

Hi, 

I am currently in my first year of study of Ancient Worlds at La Sapienza in Rome.

[guy]

15 hours ago, Steve Adams said:

Hi, 

I am currently in my first year of study of Ancient Worlds at La Sapienza in Rome.

Welcome to UNRV. Very interesting. Are the classes in Italian? If so, are you a fluent Italian speaker?

Please post any of your work. 

[The_Ultimate_Fakr]

Hello, I'm a highschool student working on a research paper based on Roman and Greek medicine. Are there any good sources or pieces of information you could direct me to?

I'm also just a huge fan of Roman history in general, enough so that I am now taking an Italian class in hopes of someday visiting the country.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

[guy]

6 hours ago, The_Ultimate_Fakr said:

Hello, I'm a highschool student working on a research paper based on Roman and Greek medicine. Are there any good sources or pieces of information you could direct me to?

Welcome to UNRV. We need younger scholars in ancient history to invigorate the field.

Obviously, you can look under the subforum at UNRV "Salutem et Sanitas." And the search function on this site is rich in resources. 

Four books that I would recommend:

"Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire" by Ralph Jackson: This is an older book that is very readable and enjoyable. You might be able to find this book on Abesbooks.com

"Ancient Medicine" by Vivian Nutton: A wonderfully rich book by a brilliant author

"Roman Medicine" by Audrey Cruse: Considered the classic book on Roman medicine

"The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire" by Kyle Harper: A young professor who brings new insights to disease in ancient Rome.

Fortunately, there are many other resources now online, including several good videos:

 

 

Good luck in your endeavors.

Edited March 31, 2022 by guy