03-09-2003, 10:55 AM
OK Third time is the Charm they say. I have been a Roman History buff since I was a kid and had to look up my patron saint as part of Catechism class. St Martin was a Roman Soldier who gave a piece of his cloak to an old lady. That is about all I can remember, but I liked the picture of the uniform, that must have been in 1st or 2nd grade.<br>
I am 48 now living in Santa Monica, CA by the beach, otherwise I couldn't stand the heat and the smog here.<br>
I recently reread Gibbon for the 3rd time and still find Julian to be the great Emperor who could have been. Kind of the Kennedy of his day. Severus Alexander is one emperor who deserves further investigation as possibly one of the unacknowledged good guys. I am an amateur historian, political activist and concerned that postmodern america is about to shift from Republic to Empire. I don't think that Bush rates as an Octavian though.<br>
I guess I would be with Spartacus when the slaves revolted. Maybe with Cataline in his debt relief plan, the Gracchi's with their relief for the poor and a supporter of the plebs when it came to where I stood in the republican political scene. Although my personal area of expertise would be the transition from Roman to Byzantine and from Pagan to Christian Empire.<br>
I was all over Gladiator for the way it compressed the history of Commodus from 12 years to what seemed to be a few months in the movie.<br>
I feel that the Roman Army was as good as ever right up to the middle of the 5th century in the west. The problem seemed to be a lack of good leadership, corruption at the top. and ongoing incurrsion of moblie Barbarian forces, but most of all a represive tax and social structure that made the barbarians often seem as liberators than as enemies at the gate. This especially became true in the 6th century when the armies of Justinian and the various germanic tribes fought over Italy and devestated most of the cities in a series of sieges and counter sieges. The population treally dropped and Rome lost all its desire to be part of the Roman empire. But that is history. - Gary Rumor <p></p><i></i>
I am 48 now living in Santa Monica, CA by the beach, otherwise I couldn't stand the heat and the smog here.<br>
I recently reread Gibbon for the 3rd time and still find Julian to be the great Emperor who could have been. Kind of the Kennedy of his day. Severus Alexander is one emperor who deserves further investigation as possibly one of the unacknowledged good guys. I am an amateur historian, political activist and concerned that postmodern america is about to shift from Republic to Empire. I don't think that Bush rates as an Octavian though.<br>
I guess I would be with Spartacus when the slaves revolted. Maybe with Cataline in his debt relief plan, the Gracchi's with their relief for the poor and a supporter of the plebs when it came to where I stood in the republican political scene. Although my personal area of expertise would be the transition from Roman to Byzantine and from Pagan to Christian Empire.<br>
I was all over Gladiator for the way it compressed the history of Commodus from 12 years to what seemed to be a few months in the movie.<br>
I feel that the Roman Army was as good as ever right up to the middle of the 5th century in the west. The problem seemed to be a lack of good leadership, corruption at the top. and ongoing incurrsion of moblie Barbarian forces, but most of all a represive tax and social structure that made the barbarians often seem as liberators than as enemies at the gate. This especially became true in the 6th century when the armies of Justinian and the various germanic tribes fought over Italy and devestated most of the cities in a series of sieges and counter sieges. The population treally dropped and Rome lost all its desire to be part of the Roman empire. But that is history. - Gary Rumor <p></p><i></i>