12-16-2006, 07:19 PM
I have been doing a study on recent gentic developments, it seems that Mendel`s principles are now seriously out dated. Heridtary science has been turned upside down by RNA and protiens on the DNA molecule. Jan.07 Discover mag has some simple expalnations of such. To explain, two id. twins raised separetly have shwon to have a huge height and size difference both brought up in differnet environmemts. However markes have been found to continue o next genrations and switches occur all the time depedent upon envirnmental factors, not gentic. Certain proteins prduce certain switches. Things get even more complicated.
What I am getting to is I feel the original Romans were an ethnic group(maybe they were Latin,maybe not) were just simply a stronger,tougher more athletic than others for unkown reasons. Maybe genetic,maybe that horrible garrum they ate,who knows? However ,DNA alone will not supply this info but other chemicals will and perhaps we will discover something to that efffect soon.
Afterall, how can such a small group of people conquer so much with hand to hand style fighting. Some will say the mighty gladius,some will say military organiztion,some will say their desire for gore,etc. However, the answer could be in science more than any of the above.
I do not feel the Romans had superior miltary technolgy than others as the recent finds are suggesting. I do not believe the gladius is a miracle sword or even the best in its time,in fact I thing it was a negative. I think the Romans just were stuborn to change to a longer sword, even after they adopted Celtic metalurgy skills that allowed for a longer sword to be produced. The gladiius ideal for formation, I doubt it. I would not be comfortable with a shorter sword,period either with stabbing or slashing.
Perhaps the Romans did not need superior weapons in hand to hand. Looking at their defeats they only occured when trapped or eastern bows kept them at bay. We cannot go by Roman historians because we all know they exagerated their opponents prowess for a myriad of reasons.
So , maybe the Romans had something else, a kin to Nenatherthal strength, that is all. Not saying Nenatherthal DNA is here, some say not present in modern humans DNA, others say not so fast..it may, now that we have new technques. Maybe the Romans lost their edge by simply gaining others DNA,RNA and other envirnmental factors(different diet,etc.). Just a theory here.
What I am getting to is I feel the original Romans were an ethnic group(maybe they were Latin,maybe not) were just simply a stronger,tougher more athletic than others for unkown reasons. Maybe genetic,maybe that horrible garrum they ate,who knows? However ,DNA alone will not supply this info but other chemicals will and perhaps we will discover something to that efffect soon.
Afterall, how can such a small group of people conquer so much with hand to hand style fighting. Some will say the mighty gladius,some will say military organiztion,some will say their desire for gore,etc. However, the answer could be in science more than any of the above.
I do not feel the Romans had superior miltary technolgy than others as the recent finds are suggesting. I do not believe the gladius is a miracle sword or even the best in its time,in fact I thing it was a negative. I think the Romans just were stuborn to change to a longer sword, even after they adopted Celtic metalurgy skills that allowed for a longer sword to be produced. The gladiius ideal for formation, I doubt it. I would not be comfortable with a shorter sword,period either with stabbing or slashing.
Perhaps the Romans did not need superior weapons in hand to hand. Looking at their defeats they only occured when trapped or eastern bows kept them at bay. We cannot go by Roman historians because we all know they exagerated their opponents prowess for a myriad of reasons.
So , maybe the Romans had something else, a kin to Nenatherthal strength, that is all. Not saying Nenatherthal DNA is here, some say not present in modern humans DNA, others say not so fast..it may, now that we have new technques. Maybe the Romans lost their edge by simply gaining others DNA,RNA and other envirnmental factors(different diet,etc.). Just a theory here.
Ralph Varsity
