Why are you interested in Rome?

[Medusa]

I voted for a bit of everything because I'm mainly interested in Gladiators, the Roman Army and Culture and Daily Life in that order. I'm the least interested in politics or even Roman law although that's the basis of most modern laws.

[Aurelia]

Culture and daily life have always fascinated me above everything else although initially I became interested in ancient Greece and Rome through mythology.

[Ursus]

I'm afraid my own interest in Rome isn't the all consuming passion it used to be. Though I still go with "culture and daily life" when I bother.

[Centurion-Macro]

I suppose it was the Navy and the Legions that first got me interested in the Roman civilization. But now It is a bit of everything, because I like the politics of Rome now and their culture and Gods.

[markc]

I have a lot of reasons for liking , nae loving roman history, the people, the politics, the battles, the reasons that are given for invasions and attrocities that were committed. I am intregued by charactors like ceasar and sulla. men would on one hand brutaly kill someone and then do something like reform the republic or feed the poor, or instigate laws that protected certain 'moral' standards. the politics were amazing, on the one hand politicians like crassus would take unprecedented steps to protect his massive income by teaming up with his greatest rival, pompey, while at the same time bankrolling Ceasars dream of being the most powerful man in the fats growing empire.

Then there was the man himself who on one hand would ethnically cleanse entire cities one day and 'pardon' whole cities the next for pretty much the same transgressions. And he wasnt the only one, i love reading about how the both the state and individuals were so contrary in there everyday lives, the way they treated the vanquished could be so different from one day to the next depending on what they wanted from them.

 

On the one hand they differ so much from modern society with there morals and values, and on the other they morror modern politics and reasons for war it's scary.

[Centurion-Macro]

I have a lot of reasons for liking , nae loving roman history, the people, the politics, the battles, the reasons that are given for invasions and attrocities that were committed. I am intregued by charactors like ceasar and sulla. men would on one hand brutaly kill someone and then do something like reform the republic or feed the poor, or instigate laws that protected certain 'moral' standards. the politics were amazing, on the one hand politicians like crassus would take unprecedented steps to protect his massive income by teaming up with his greatest rival, pompey, while at the same time bankrolling Ceasars dream of being the most powerful man in the fats growing empire.

Then there was the man himself who on one hand would ethnically cleanse entire cities one day and 'pardon' whole cities the next for pretty much the same transgressions. And he wasnt the only one, i love reading about how the both the state and individuals were so contrary in there everyday lives, the way they treated the vanquished could be so different from one day to the next depending on what they wanted from them.

 

On the one hand they differ so much from modern society with there morals and values, and on the other they morror modern politics and reasons for war it's scary.

Very true. There were so many murders back then and so many different rules. It was even alright for Roman commanders to kill every 10th man in the legion if the legion failed to do its job (Decimation). I think the Roman senators seem to act the way our politicians would like to act sometimes.

[markc]

yeah they would love to get rid of a few oponmants i think, and in some countries they still do. I've read about decimation, it sounds crazy, they were to be beaten to death by their mates.

[marcus silanus]

yeah they would love to get rid of a few oponmants i think, and in some countries they still do. I've read about decimation, it sounds crazy, they were to be beaten to death by their mates.

 

Hi markc and good to see you here. The Roman system of discipline was certainly harsh and 'decimatio' was the most extreme manifistation. A cowardly or incompetent unit was split into ten groups and each of those groups drew lotts. The 'shortest straw' was beaten to death by his comrades and they would be relegated to rations of barley outside the confines of the camp.

 

It was, however, rarely used especially from the mid-republic onwards and when Crassus famously revived this punishment in the Third Servile War, he does refer to its rarity and place in antiquity. He selected the first 500 to have run and therefore 50 suffered this fate.

 

Caesar threatened this punishment during the civil wars on Legio IX who mutinied in a "pay dispute" having not received 500 Denarii each promised at Brundisium for their services above requirement. He relented and 'only' had the twelve ringleaders killed!

 

The last references to this practice are to Marcus Antonius at Media when he personally administered the punishment, an incident under Augustus in 17 BCE (Seutonius) and the defeat of Legio III at Tacfarinas provoking Lucius Apronius to such extremes in 20 CE according to Tacitus.

 

In all of this we should not forget that as harsh as this seems, the penalties within the military for cowardice and desertion have always been drastic. Rightly or wrongly, the image of the nine legionnaries extinguishing the life of their tenth comrade is very little different to the firing squads of WW1 and WW2 making examples of those that lost their nerve! We are not so far removed from antiquity as we might believe.

[Northern Neil]

Rightly or wrongly, the image of the nine legionnaries extinguishing the life of their tenth comrade is very little different to the firing squads of WW1 and WW2 making examples of those that lost their nerve! We are not so far removed from antiquity as we might believe.

I believe this punishment was known as 'Fustuarium' and the punishment of the guilty legionary by the other men in his contuburnium was also intended to have a lasting effect on the other seven men who - probably reluctantly - had to beat their mate to death.

[Centurion-Macro]

yeah they would love to get rid of a few oponmants i think, and in some countries they still do. I've read about decimation, it sounds crazy, they were to be beaten to death by their mates.

 

 

 

In all of this we should not forget that as harsh as this seems, the penalties within the military for cowardice and desertion have always been drastic. Rightly or wrongly, the image of the nine legionnaries extinguishing the life of their tenth comrade is very little different to the firing squads of WW1 and WW2 making examples of those that lost their nerve! We are not so far removed from antiquity as we might believe.

Yeah but it is slightly different, as the firing squads now do not personally know the victims. Unlike decimation where they are killing their friends.

[Gaius Julius Camillus]

My story is a bit odd, but it chronicles my movement from roman catholic to pagan, and lover of Rome. I was in confession, with a father, and I told him I had lied to my parents. I was maybe 11 at best. He told me in no uncertain terms that I was going to burn in hell. Now with hindsight, I know he was trying to frighten the hell out of me, but I was not like most children. I told him that he was not God. He could not know such things.

 

He said he was a part of the Roman Catholic religion, the one and only true world religion the world has ever known. And that if I continued to be disrepectful, my soul was in danger.

 

I stood up and left, never going to church again, vowing to look into his claim about the church's history. Well the road led to Rome.

[Centurion-Macro]

My story is a bit odd, but it chronicles my movement from roman catholic to pagan, and lover of Rome. I was in confession, with a father, and I told him I had lied to my parents. I was maybe 11 at best. He told me in no uncertain terms that I was going to burn in hell. Now with hindsight, I know he was trying to frighten the hell out of me, but I was not like most children. I told him that he was not God. He could not know such things.

 

He said he was a part of the Roman Catholic religion, the one and only true world religion the world has ever known. And that if I continued to be disrepectful, my soul was in danger.

 

I stood up and left, never going to church again, vowing to look into his claim about the church's history. Well the road led to Rome.

Interesting. I always found the time when Rome went Christian very interesting indeed.

[Legate]

When i was young, i'd get out the encyclopaedia and read about ancient Greece and Rome. My interest grew because i was fascinated by the armed forces. The way they fought, they marched built fortifications.

 

These guys were real men! Everything they did, they did with their own hands. And most importantly, the fighting was hand to hand combat as well. No hiding behind trees and firing a gun. I have utmost respect for these ancient people. Especially Rome.

[sylla]

(The) surest and indeed the only method of learning how to bear bravely the vicissitudes of fortune, is to recall the calamities of others.

 

Polybius 1,1,2.

[Artimi]

(The) surest and indeed the only method of learning how to bear bravely the vicissitudes of fortune, is to recall the calamities of others.

 

Polybius 1,1,2.

 

 

Or to ignore current vicissitudes which don't seem to have changed in kind or tenor but only quantity, ferocity but at the same time creating distance between actual contact.