I WANT TO BE A ROMAN

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He could join the Frech Foreign Legion. Then he'd really be a legionaire, he'd be killing at the behest of a ruler, and he'd be in a legion.

[Caius Fabius]

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First line of my sig, anyone?

[Jona Lendering]

I want to be an Etruscan

Which reminds me of a comedy that was once broadcasted on the Dutch TV in 1996: a peasant from rural Drenthe (a Dutch province) was being treated by a psychatrist because he was in fact a Maroon born in the wrong body.

The show, called "Thirty Minutes", was shown on an international festival, and several journalists wrote that this illustrated the excesses of the Dutch, permissive society. It won several prizes, nevertheless. :wink:

[tlclark]

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!

Thanks for the reminder!!

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...

Could not agree more!! I have a lot of American pioneer heritage, just reading their journals is terrifying. My maternal great grandfather was just 14 when he came to America from Sweden. He had 11 kids, half of which died before reaching adulthood. And this was by no means uncommon. In fact it was my grandmother's generation before the majority of people could expect that most of their kids would live.

If you want an antidote to nostalgia for the past times just read Juvenal and the silver age poets. Fires, corruption, crime, egad. It makes downtown Detroit look like paradise.

One citation (can't find the reference now) during a roman dinner party a dog comes in from the street with a human hand in its mouth!

Life was brutal. Give me twinkies and strip malls and ketchup dispensed by the liter through a spigot anyday.

[Kate Gilliver]

I first realised I wanted to become a historian when I saw the movie of HG Wells' The Time Machine when I was about 12. Apart from being seriously scared of the Morlocks, my main thought was why on earth did he go forwards in time when anyone in their right mind would have gone backwards.

But only to observe.

As a woman, I am extremely grateful that I belong in the period that I do.

[Caius Valens]

Greets Caius here, So Woad warrior I think the closets you will ever be a Roman in the 21st Century is by becoming a Reenactor. While miltary service is honarable carrier, (you at leat will get the feeling of being a solider under orders)by joining a group, you will get a feel for what it is like to be a legionary. Also taking a history course at Univesty(if you are American you can go under the GI Bill of rights,once you miltary service is over.) and becoming an Archolgists, digging up artifacts that Romans used in every day life, as well as learning Latin will help you get closer to the Romans and their mindset. That is the only way, for me I love the Roman Army so I collect books and reproduction of helms and kit. Any thing else is just chasing ghosts. Cheers Caius/Thomas R

[Felix Agrippa]

Woad Warrior,

I understand were you come from with wanting to live in the past, I have had my friends and families all say the same thing that I should have been born in a different time period. Even still today if I had the opportunity to go back to Ancient Rome, 18th, 19th century America, the 20th century (WW1, WW2, 1960's) for a day or week I would go back in a second. But even then you would still be a modern person with modern thoughts and views; even at reenactments for example I still have modern dreams. I think the best way to go about this would be first of all to learn Latin and also Greek, and then read as many ancient sources in that language you can get a hold of because, the translations might say something different then the actual sources. Go to museums, travel to as many roman sights as you can learn about the different tribes of the empire. Listen to the music of the era. Yes, it is true we can not go back in time, how ever the more you learn about the period, the easier it is to get into the psyche of the Romans so you can have a real feeling of how they live what they thought and how the culture was like.

Just my two cents.

[Felix Agrippa]

Plus if you did go back in time you could change the course of history, and you might bring back modern diseases that the Romans would not be immune to.

[Caius Valens]

Greet Caius here Woad Warrior wink: Anyhow take care of yourself cheers Caius Thom R

[Matt Lukes]

Plus if you did go back in time you could change the course of history, and you might bring back modern diseases that the Romans would not be immune to.

Or more likely catch one once you get there that they're all immune to and will kill you in a matter of days- remember what happened to the natives in the Americas when the Europeans came...

[Jona Lendering]

I suddenly get an idea!

Of course you can also be a modern Roman. That's a lot easier! No deadly diseases, no need to learn Latin, no need to exercise.

Imagine! Your football team is magical A.S. Roma (although tonight, they don't deserve it), your idol is Sabrina Ferilli, you join the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club (or the Club of Rome, if you prefer), you read Moravia, Roma c'è, and La Repubblica, you learn to prrrronounce a rrrrrolling R, your favorite dish is fried artichokes, you learn to eat mozzarella, you tell jokes about Francesco Totti, and your world finishes at the Grande Raccordo Annulare.

[size=150:1rq2vq1d]FORZA ROMA[/size]

[TITVS SABATINVS AQVILIVS]

Wow Jona! You know the meaning of the word "synthesis"

Anyway you forgot that you can also sky at one hour of driving (mount Terminillo) and swimming at twenty minuts of car (Fregene or Ostia) but the sea water is polluted and the snow is rare due to the global overheating...

But that's Golden Age stuff.

As a modern (better contemporary) Roman you can see the Urbs devasted by loads of abusive/horribiles buildings; you can hear bunch of teen agers talking hours about Britney Spears and Fifty Cents without knowing anything about Iulius Caesar, Octauianus, Seneca or Iulianus.

But that's Golden Age stuff.

You can see the people forced to see everyday the infamous Richard Meyer shelter for the Ara Pacis that looks like a giant texan gas station. You can see the Roman Army memory ridicoulized everyday by the clown "centurions" around the Colosseum.

But that's Golden Age stuff.

You can see the hopeless "finis" of the classical/traditional culture and the full glory of the "hip hop" culture. You can see the fine and natural religion (or better, vision of the nature/universe) of the ancient Gentiles, the Polytheism and the Solarism, criminally associated and mistaken to the satanism :? (almost a sinonymous).

But that's Golden Age stuff.

Yes, I know all generic, no time, no space enough to talk deeply, just nostalgic notes, but dear Woad I understand your feeling, (most of that is valid everywhere) be Roman inside your spirit: that's called "spiritual resistance to the modern (contemporary) world". Read Plato, Seneca, Macrobio, Virgilius, Iulianus of the ancients and I reccomend to you Julius Evola, the last of traditional occidental masters among the moderns and you'll know what being real Roman (and classical man) really means. Inside Woad, inside! But always updated to the contemporary streams...

P.S. I spent ten days in the very little isle of Giannutri (tuscan islands) a wild natural park with a beautiful roman villa

[url:1eg2c4gz]http://www.parks.it/indice/galleria/foto-paesaggi/PNarciptosc-giannutri.jpeg[/url]

[url:1eg2c4gz]http://www.tourinmaremma.com/public/Giannutri-Lo-Spalmatoio.jpg[/url]

No TV, no Internet, no shops, just a little village, fantastic sea... Wow! I'll live there forever, dreaming about the fine life of that roman gentleman who enjoied of his thermae in front of that fantastic sea...
Just a thing, you can see underwater a lot of colored tropical fishes, unknown in the Mediterranean. And at the roman villa, since few years ago, the north-european tourists usually stole the dolphins mosaic tesserae... That mosaic is now disappeared...

But no sadness, we are in the Golden Age.

Optime ualete

[Virilis]

Oooh, Sabrina Ferilli...

What an swordsmith she could have been! She can turn a gladius into a spatha in five seconds :wink: !

[JRSCline]

:twisted: LOL...