I WANT TO BE A ROMAN

[Woadwarrior]

or a greek
i am obsessed so brace your selves this may be one of the stupidest posts you have ever read

I think i am the person in the world that desires most to go back in time and spen the rest of my life as an ancient roman. Sure it is tough hard working life with no modern conviences, but I would give up this world for that anyday, anyway to the piont, that obviously isnt going to happen
so how can I be as much as a roman as I can in this world
help me out
reenacotrs are good, but I just wouldnt feel roman, you guys arent actually fighting, adn have modernt hings all around you and are talkigna bout currnet events.

here is what I have so far to help me on my quest:
be a reenactor
litter my home my ancinet roman rpleicas, and artifacts
sign up, and take part of any roman movie event coming up
going to musumes
living in rome
visiting ruins
watching movies


these are by far not enoght for me
do you guys have any advice?
Is there gong to be a huge reconstruction project, to build what a roman froum ,(or anyhting else for that matter) looked liek back then?

is there going to be a reenacting of a bttle with thousand and thousand of npeople dressed up as romans, and clashing in too each other?
please tell me there is
anything else to help me out?

[Graham Sumner]

Well Woadwarrior you could move to the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The lifestyle there in a remote village is not too far removed from living in the Roman Empire, they even dress the same with tunics and hooded cloaks. No television, no movies, no Internet and certainly no cars and as you have already guessed little in the way of modern conveniences. As an American citizen the locals might even regard you as an Imperialist oppressor so you are practically there! Remember many Roman soldiers probably went through their entire service without seeing a fight and for some their task was manning a lonely outpost on the edge of empire.

Graham.

[Jona Lendering]

I am terribly afraid that you would not be alive anymore if you were a Roman. The average life expectancy at birth was less than twenty years. About a third of the Roman babies died before they could finish their first year. Of the remainder, 50% died before they were ten. So that leaves a chance of about 33% that you would have reached the age of 10. After that, a Roman had a fair chance of survival and life expectancy at the age of ten was about forty years.

The Atlas mountains may indeed closely approach ancient circumstances, but as far as life expectancy is concerned, I am afraid that Sierra Leone comes closest to ancient reality.

Also consider this: lack of vitamins C causes scurvy, lack of vitamin E causes rachitis, and lack of carotene causes near blindness.

[stevesarak]

You want to be a Roman, I’m assuming a soldier based on your posts. It has to be a frame of mind. If you really want to experience what it was like, and since you can’t go back in time, at least we haven’t figured it out it, your only chance to experience being a Roman solider is by becoming a mercenary, by putting yourself in a life or death situation were the other guy couldn’t care less about you and all he want to do is kill, maim or just make you suffer.
When you go out on assignment, imagine yourself as a roman solider, either your gun is your sword or you could try sneaking up on someone with your knife. Remember, you get paid for this and Caesar has informed you that your going out on a mission to kill any of the enemy that dared to defy Rome

Forget about the real world, if you get yourself in the right frame of mind, you will become the legionary. See your opponent as a Gaul or some other enemy. Remember since you can’t go back in time, you can only experience it in you mind. So you’re now in the legions of Caesar and you are advancing towards your enemy, who want nothing else but to kill you. So go forth and fulfill the desires of your generals

Now remember, in real life when your dropped in the backwoods of some third country you have to envision yourself a legionary, of course, don’t tell anyone or they might just gut you for daring to risk their life.

When you are about to achieve your mission, taking someone’s life because of money, remember to imagine yourself back then, fighting for the Republic (Hail Caesar).

Now just as you are about to take his life, you, being you, and not a psychopathic killing machine, hesitate, which is all he needs. He grabs you by the throat, looks into your eyes and see that your not, deep down a killer, which makes him even madder, since you thought to come out here and take his life only so you could experience the thrill of Rome and what its like, he takes his knife and slowly pushes it through your throat, up into your brain. But don’t despair little legionary, because if you don’t wet yourself or squeal like a twelve year old little girl, in your last thought before you brain loose oxygen or shuts down from traumatic shock you can die in the knowledge that you faced death and died with the glory of Rome and died like a true Roman soldier.

I have to ask you something. Are you crazy, what are you talking about. Fallowing the exploits of Roman soldiers is one thing, but becoming a stone cold, brutal killing machine with no regard to life is another. It not only something that you don’t want to be, it something you don’t ever want to see.

You can become a reanactor, I’ve hear that some of them go on six hour marches, with full pack, only to expierence the reality of it. If that’s not linking you to the past I don’t know what it.

Also I’ve fenced (Sword) a bit in my life. Sometime, just for fun, if you get into the right mental frame of mind, you can pretend its real. Now when your fencing, you’d be surprised how fast the mind can take in information and form thought in a split second. as someone gets past your sword and moves in, you can run through in your mind what would happen if this was real, how the blade is about to slice your skin and it penetrates deeper and deeper inside. at the end of some good fencing, there’s nothing like reliveing (Major point) reliving the expierence and having to feeling of what it would have really been like.

Here’s a short game, pretend we’re really doing it. You’re the Roman solder, I’m the barbarian, We both pick up our wooded swords, and put on our protective helmets and padding. Now we begin. I parry back and forth a bit just so you have some fun, then I smack your arm hard. You say “Hey that hurts, not so hardâ€

[Gaius Philippus]

Woadwarrior.
Maybe I am misinterpreting you however you seem to have a distinct lack of respect for us re enactors. I urge you to go out and try it, to discuss with others why they do it and the passion they have for their chosen period(s) To sit around the campfire with a group of like minded individuals is one of the more pleasing aspects of our chosen hobby. Sure we discuss current events , that is the world that we live in and that we can relate to each other, that does not mean that we do not discuss our chosen era , new books, new equipment that another member may have or anything in relation to the period.
I would not under any circumstances want to go back and live as they did for the same reasons as posted above.
As for not really fighting, I am glad that we do not and through re enacting I have a far greater appreciation and understanding of what these individuals may have gone through. It does not mean that I fully understand what a legionary was thinking at Cannae or an old guardsman marching into Placenoit or one of my relatives at Gallipoli, but it does mean that I can now add another dimension to my reading, study and understanding of human nature in what must be the ultimate test . It means that I respect them and if I can somehow get that across to one individual I meet while I am re enacting then I have achieved something.
Before you knock it give it a try, you may be pleasantly surprised.

[Martin Moser]

I would suggest a step-by-step approach, working your way back in history chronologically. E.g. step 1: stop using the internet ;-) )

(sorry, couldn't resist :-) ) )

[Martin Wallgren]

Woady my boy!

Oh how many ours of this didn´t I have during my adolesent years! Stareing out the window at a grey sky wishing I was in another time. Even my mom said she wondered if I wasn´t born in the wrong time. But... the great thing about the 20:th century in combination with the free parts of the world is the opportunity to choose. I have choosen to live in a house with my partner, to have a ordinary job so I can treat her to lots of things and still have some bucks over for my crazy hobbies. One of my sisters fell in love with the scandinavian mountains and the native people of scandinavia - the sami - found one to live with up in a cabbin, hearding raindeer and forge knifes and such. The freedom of choise.

You can choose to be only the exiting parts of a roman, skip all the drow slave dutys or simple workman chores of most people of thet time.

You can choose to fight almost full deadly bloodsport fights, become a UFC fighter or just join a streetgang. You can choose to join the army and go do stuff that is very simillar to a lefinarys life, polising stufff, march, train and once or twice in your servis go to war and see action.

I have a great admiration for what reenactors do. But I also see where you come from in the fighting issue. So my advice to you is do the reenactment thing with longterm collecting of kit. Besides this you should check out a Historical Martial Arts organisation to learn the real deal as close as we can get in modern times without acctually injure someone.

please check out links like
www.thearma.org
www.aemma.com
www.hemac.com

But above all be very greatful you ar born a free person in a free society with the freedom to control your own life...

Think about it...

[Arthes]

Greetings,
I understand how you feel, as I also have those urges to kick off modern life and experience the past at times and know there are plenty of others out there who feel the same.
But I recently made a post in a forum regarding a certain film, this basically said that to authentically recreate that timeperiod, would not be possible or acceptable in cinema without causing a lot of offence and probably demonstrations.
We are looking back with modern viewpoints and unless we go through sessions of brainwashing to convince us we are indeed living 2000 years ago (which would have to be part of a controlled archaeological experiment or something) we cannot hope to understand how the real ancient Romans or Greeks thought or felt or accepted the times they lived in.
Living in a reconstructed Roman or Greek town recreating the past, rather like the AmericanJamestown settlement would be something most of us would enjoy. But living in Saddam Husseins' Iraq...or another country run by a dictator who would have you tortured and killed for saying one word against him??? That is what the ancient world could be like however much we try to romanticise it.
At Jamestown, (maybe you have been there) I believe the characters are based on real people who keep in character throughout, at least while the public are around. They will laugh at you if you talk about 'flying to America' or mention something else that a 17th century person would not understand, but in real terms, say as a time traveller, they would have you classed as 'moonstruck' and/or run out of town at musket point...at worse, hauled you off to be tried as a spy or witch.
I think Steve's post over brutalises the persepective of the warrior, some of those guys had hearts of gold, loved their wives, girlfriends/boyfriends, children, families and friends, laughed and cried with the rest, however, those who were not known to them were considered the enemy until proved otherwise.
But read his comment about the enemy looking into your eyes and you hesitating, that is why a warrior had to be trained to block out thoughts of compassion when in battle - at the wrong time and place, hesitation could mean the death of yourself and your comrades and I am sure it did happen, as did regrets of killing somebody you would not have normally.
ie Achilles and Penthesilea
In the modern world, unless you are rich or are being paid for taking part in an archaeological project, you will find it difficult to totally recreate the surroundings of the past, but would you really want to create the bad parts along with the good......?
regards
Arthes

[Chuck Russell]

join the marines. it will prob be as period as possible. they train, they fight, they learn they sit, repeat. just like in the roman army

[Ebusitanus]

I want to be an Etruscan

[tlclark]

Once on these boards, someone said that they wanted to be so authentic that if a time vortex opened up and they got sucked back to Roman times they could defend themselves with sword and spear.

I replied that if I thought for a moment that was a real possibility I would carry a machine gun, kevlar vest and 50 pounds of antibiotics with me at all times.

IMO this is the golden age of man, - at least in the advanced societies of the west - no doubt about it. I get all the advantages of modern life and I can pretend on the weekends.

All that and dental care too!

Travis[/list]

[Robert Vermaat]

I replied that if I thought for a moment that was a real possibility I would carry a machine gun, kevlar vest and 50 pounds of antibiotics with me at all times.

Don't forget your ammo!

IMO this is the golden age of man, - at least in the advanced societies of the west - no doubt about it. I get all the advantages of modern life and I can pretend on the weekends.

I agree! Absolutely! Why do so few realise they have it so good when compared to the past or different parts of this globe today... [/quote]

[taira1180]

I replied that if I thought for a moment that was a real possibility I would carry a machine gun, kevlar vest and 50 pounds of antibiotics with me at all times.

Don't forget your ammo!


I would take also a good biography of the imperor so i could sell my service to the imperor as a mage who could predict the future.

[Caius Fabius]

so how can I be as much as a roman as I can in this world
help me out

be a reenactor
litter my home my ancinet roman rpleicas, and artifacts
sign up, and take part of any roman movie event coming up
going to musumes
living in rome
visiting ruins
watching movies

Interesting list, mine is a bit different.
1. READ BOOKS (not everything is on the internet or in movies)
2. Get involved in Sports, track and Field, fencing, swimming, or even modern sports.
3. Go to museums, always a great idea!
4. Collect a few tasteful artifacts that you enjoy. Maybe put a poster of a Roman building on your bedroom wall.
5. Visit Roman sites all over Europe.
6. Plan on a few years of military service, as an INFANTRYMAN, (Army or Marine) followed by several years in university, and then a career as a lawyer and politician. (Or become a teacher or researcher.) It's better to plan on a high end job that allows you lots of free time, so you can afford your hobby, and still have time to have a hobby.
7. If you have time and money, join a re-enactment group that is not just about public display. The main part of 'time-slipping' and 'feeling Roman' is when you are with a bunch of other people, who are all doing the same hobby, and in a place where it just feels 'right'.

What can you do today to feel more like an ancient Roman?
1. Stop using electricity.
2. Walk everywhere.
3. Stop eating meat! Allow meat in your diet only a few times a month.
4. Stop drinking soft drinks, sodas, coffee and sports drinks.
5. Stop using butter, and no bleached white bread!
6. Stop using soap, cover your body with olive oil and scrape it off, then rinse in the pool or tub.
7. Get up before sunrise, go to bed when the sun sets.
8. Throw away your watch, mobile telephone and Ipod.
9. Exercise more every day.

[Martin Moser]

since nobody seems to have said it yet: learn to _speak_ Latin!