The Roman Equivalent of Afghanistan = Scotland

According to the movie Centurion, it was another "asshole of the world". Take a look a some the screen shots. It all very grim isn't it.

A Good General

I never saw generals so beloved of their men. 

Quintus Dias, Centurion

In training he is our scholar. At a feast he is our father. In the ranks he is our brother. And in battle he is the god pray to save our souls.

Centurion of the 9th Legion

Conversation in Centurion

Neopagans and Ancient Pagans

I came across an essay by a Germanic neopagan, Asatruar and Tattoos. Personally I don't get tattoos. However the article had some good points some explored the blog. There was a link to a group called Occupy Heathens. There a Mikkel was complaining that heathens need to stay away from the Occupy Movement.

Not trying to start a war here but the OWS movement has been making itself look very unsavory as of late, I really think us Heathens and Pagans should separate ourselves from their failing movement. They do not represent what we stand for. Their camps have proven to be filthy, disease infested, crime ridden, and wasteful. They are not self-sufficient individuals as Asatruar and other heathens are supposed to be, they want hand-outs.

In Tacitus's Germania there are numerous passages that describe the ancient Germans in similar manner. The quotes from below are taken from the English translation at Gutenberg.

During the intervals of war, they pass their time less in hunting than in a sluggish repose, divided between sleep and the table.

Their thirst for liquor is not quenched with equal moderation. If their propensity to drunkenness be gratified to the extent of their wishes, intemperance proves as effectual in subduing them as the force of arms.

Then they proceed, armed, to business, and not less frequently to convivial parties, in which it is no disgrace to pass days and nights, without intermission, in drinking. The frequent quarrels that arise amongst them, when intoxicated, seldom terminate in abusive language, but more frequently in blood.

Bellum Stellae

(link from MaskedPickle on
AH.com thread Photos from Alternate Worlds.)

Rome and The US

I was reading Barbara Ehrenreich blog. She is the author of Nickel and Dimed, about an attempt to live on minimum wage. In the comments of one blog entry there is this reference this website, Roman Empire - America Now, devoted to exploring the connection between the past and present.

The New Romans

Here is a comparison between the history of Rome and that the US. After a point it wanders in to some goofy future history, still worth a read. In one the footnotes there is examination about how the Romans liked things legal and constitutionally even when slipping into empire.

The major accomplishment of Augustus was to organize the Roman government in such a way as to make monarchy palatable to such diehard republicans as the Romans. He couldn't just declare himself king. That would be political suicide. Imagine the outcry -- even among capital-R Republicans -- if George W. Bush held a coronation with a crown and purple robe in the Lincoln Memorial.

Roman Discipline

Legionaire Titus Pullo is a hero of the XIII legion, but look at him now. Justice knows everyman's number. He has committed a terrible sacrilege, he will pay for with his life. As will any man here who breaks the law. Brawlers and drunkards will be flogged, thieves will be strangled, deserters will be cruified.

- Senior Centurion Lucius Vorenus laying down the Law

Treachery

No one's a traitor until they are.

-Titus Pullo

Locations of Roman Legions

If you ever wondered if the XII Fulminata was stationed in Egypt, Syria or Judea or in all three provinces consult this chart.

Julius Ceasar, What a Guy

A Welsh historian has come out with a new political biography Julius Caesar, A Life of a Collossus. Good discussion on NPR's Talk of The Nation.

Potted History of the American Empire

 David Horsey is an editorial cartoonists at a Seattle paper. He has wrote a mock history of the US by treating it in roman terms, From Hanging Chad to Baghdad. Which is appropriate for a republic with senators and roman architecture. You find excepts of his book, Empire Rising, at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.