Your favorite Ancient Roman

[brentspeak]

Yesterday, I posted a poll asking for favorite ancient Greeks. Today, I want to find out about your favorite decadent, toga-wearing ancient imperialists.

Julius Caesar:


Augustus Caesar:


Nero:


Caligula:


Cicero:


Cleopatra:


Pompey:


Maximus:


Spartacus:

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. Marcus Aurelius.

[brentspeak]

9. He was a famous philospher

in addition to being an emperor.

[MN ChimpH8R]

26. Good choice

"First principles, Clarice. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing, ask: What is it in itself? What is its nature?"

[Hugin]

2. Brutus...

He was pretty easy going. Good with the flatware too.

[brentspeak]

8. Brutus was the name my Latin professor gave me

Closest thing to "Brent".

[northzax]

3. Pliny the elder nee Gaius Plinius Secundus,

no doubt.

[Hugin]

4. Good suggestion...

Invented the Traveling Encyclopedia Salesperson.

[northzax]

5. and he gave his life for science

and to try and help the people of Pompei.

[Hugin]

11. Definitely contributed to modern western civilzation...

Huge contributions.

[northzax]

12. but were they HUGH!!!! contributions?

that's all that really matters.

it is tough though, the Elder did great for science, but perhaps the Younger did more for men. And he's got a great inscription on his tomb...




isn't that really all we can ask for? to have an inscription that impresses people two thousand years later?

[Hugin]

14. I believe I've seen frescoes of Pliny exclaiming, "This is HUGH!!1!"...

With an erupting Pompeii in the background. (Posthumous of course)

So, there you have it... Yet another of his many contributions.

;)

[brentspeak]

15. This might be a good time for me to ask the question,

What are the origins of "This is HUGH!!1!" and "This is SERIES!!"?

[northzax]

16. freeperville

they seem to have a large number (not the majority, of course) of people who are, well, spelling challenged. And since there is no edit posts function, they are stuck with all their mistakes made in haste. and they always seem to be in all caps and followed by exclamation points as nausea.

so there you go, the entymology of homonyms that aren't really homonyms.

[Hugin]

19. The modern reader will probably recognize what Pliny said was...

"IGITVR HVGH!!I!"

"This is SERIES!!" originally appeared nearly concurrently in both
Prehistoric French Cave Paintings and Ancient Australian Aboriginal
Rock Art. Making the origin of the phrase a hotly contested debate in
certain Anthropological circles.

(Ha! And you expect a reasonable answer! :7 )

[Greyhound]

61. OMFG

[Crankie Avalon]

6. Tacitus, because his writing about tyranny is sarcastic and funny.

[brentspeak]

7. I was just about to add Tacitus

But I really wanted to put Maximus in there. :-)

[trackfan]

23. He might have been the first to recognize "newspeak"

"auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium atque ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant"

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they call by the false name of "empire"; and where they make a desert, they call it "peace"

[blindpig]

10. Julian The Apostate

Last pagan emperor of Rome. Tried to return the Empire to old time religion.

[Gildor Inglorion]

85. Yes! I loved the Gore Vidal novel about him, too!

n/t

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Codi Brownias, the gladiator who constantly shit himself

and screamed at the liberal Roman citizenry with his fingers stained with ancient Cheesius Doodlii.

[Coventina]

17. LOL!

:D

:thumbsup:

[bleedingheart]

32. I can't stop laughing at this post....

[khashka]

18. I got a few....

Julius - every man's woman and every woman's man, my kinda slut.

Caligula - Little Boots was so misunderstood! And I have a thing for psychotics.

Hadrian - He built a wall, you know!

Khash.

[AVulgarianHue]

69. I have a tendency to say..

"tear down that wall." Your mention of Hadrian has me laughing..sooo funny.

[Rowdyboy]

20. Ovid....author of some excellent erotic love poetry

[GumboYaYa]

21. Ipsa Scientia potestas est. n/t

[Rowdyboy]

24. Sir Francis Bacon n/t

[GumboYaYa]

28. Okay, so it was over twenty years ago that I studied Latin

and I was remebering that as Ovid not Bacon.

Gutta cavat lapidem. I aghree, he is my favorite too.

[Rowdyboy]

37. It was thirty years for me (not that I learned shit in 2 years of college)

I have NO idea if Ovid said it first-probably so. Hell, without Google I couldn't have even translated it! Mea culpa.... :shrug:

[GumboYaYa]

39. Do you remeber this one....

Gallia est divisa in tres partes.....

My Latin teacher told me I would rember it the rest of my life and os far he is correct.

I have now exhausted all my Latin....

[Rowdyboy]

52. "Gaul is divided into three parts" or something close....I also remember

"Vini, vidi, vici"
"Sic semper tyrannus"

And a few scattered phrases and words. The similarily to Spanish is very noticable, though, and even English incorporates a lot of Latin.

My Latin prof was in her late 70's and all I remember her saying was "A man who isn't a liberal at 20, doesn't have a heart. A man who isn't a conservative at 40, doesn't have a brain."

Well, Ms Coulet, I guess that means I'm brainless! :shrug:

[GumboYaYa]

59. LOL

Ms Coulet and my grandfather would have gotten along well together.

[Rowdyboy]

62. She actually lost our mid-terms exams and asked us what we thought we

had made. Then she accepted the grade we suggested.

Her given name was Magnolia and she was married to an Algerian named Armand! At 20, I thought that was very cosmopolitan.

[1monster]

78. "Vini, vidi, vici"

When asked for a sound bite at the Great Roman Emporium Mall, Ceasar simply stated: "Veni, vidi, visa!" (I came, I saw, I shopped!)

[NNadir]

22. I would have to go with Shakespeare and nominate Brutus.

The Romans were basically highly successful barbarians.

If the speech that Shakespeare put in Brutus's mouth are in any way historical, there is something to recommend him:

"Romains, concitoyens, amis ! <...> Jugez-moi dans votre sagesse, et réveillez vos sens pour être meilleurs juges. Que s'il est dans cette assemblée quelque ami de César, je lui dis : Brutus n'aimait pas moins que vous César. Que si cet ami me demande pourquoi Brutus se leva contre César, voici ma réponse : j'aimais César autant, mais j'aimais Rome davantage. Préféreriez-vous César vivant, qui vous ferait tous mourir esclaves, à César mort, qui vous fait tous vivre libres ? "

Quoth Antony: "This was the noblest Roman of them all."

He seems to have acted mostly by way of conscience, something for which I think the rest of these guys in the poll are not notable.

Nero is notable for having been re-incarnated, and having stumbled drunkenly into the White House, where he continues to act with a mixture of indifference, imperiousness, and incompetence.

[Rabbit of Caerbannog]

25. "Bigus Dickus"

Sorry. I had to say it.

Monty Python - Life of Brian

[tjwash]

30. Does that make you laugh when I say that?

Bigus. Dickus.

[flowomo]

42. oops, sorry, I duped it because I didn't see yours

maybe it wasn't big enough. :)

[Hardrada]

27. Fabius Cunctator

The Roman general who won a war by not fighting battles and wearing out the Carthginians who were trying to finish off Rome!

Good old Roman quotes:

Quo fiunt Metelli semper consules? (Why are the Metelli always consuls?)
-Naevius Poeta

Dabunt malum Metelli Naevio poetae! (The Metelli will do something bad to Naevius the poet!)
-The Metelli (who were the Sopranos of their time)

[Rich Hunt]

89. what a name n/t

[bridgit]

29. other ~ petronius arbiter...

http://www.southwestern.edu/~carlg/Latin_Web/satyriconnotes.html"When he had finished his poetry, he slobbered a most evil-smelling kiss upon me, and then, climbing upon my couch, he proceeded with all his might and main to pull all of my clothing off. I resisted to the limit of my strength. He manipulated my member for a long time, but all in vain. Gummy streams poured down his sweating forehead, and there was so much chalk in the wrinkles of his cheeks that you might have mistaken his face for a roofless wall, from which the plaster was crumbling in a rain."

[darkstar]

Gets my vote too

:thumbsup:

[bleedingheart]

31. Livia

by the way Cleopatra was not a Roman.

[Richardo]

33. Pseudolus

[GoddessOfGuinness]

45. Gee...He looked just like Zero Mostel!

What a funny thing... ;-)

[swag]

34. Catullus

Of course I voted for Sappho in the Greek thread, for similar reasons.

[swag]

35. Yesterday I heard a speaker referred to Virgil as "a Greek philosopher,"

at a meeting of business leaders, proving yet again that, in the world of business success, dumbness counts.

[Lethe]

36. Tiberius Gracchus...champion of the working man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_Gracchus

[DBoon]

64. Yes, the FDR of the Roman Empire

nt

[StellaBlue]

38. Marcus Aurelius

Why is he not on the list?!

[VaYallaDawg]

40. Claudius. n/t

[flowomo]

41. Biggus Dickus

of course!

[Err]

43. Vulcan

The Roman god of fire and volcanoes.

I'm a geologist. Can't you tell? ;)

[Horus45]

44. Cleopatra was Greek

I voted for Maximus, because Galen was not on the list.
Since I worked in Medical Research, I've always been a fan of Galen.

[hickman1937]

50. Cleopatra was actually Macedonian.

Descended from Ptolemy, Alexander's general. That family had a habit of only marrying family, and not intermarrying with the Egyptians. They revered the Greeks and Greek civilization, but were eastern european.

[AngryAmish]

68. duh

[MrSlayer]

46. I have to go with Caligula.

Anyone who makes his horse a senator is cool with me. Great movie as well.

[Balbus]

47. Other: Gaius Marius

Though he did kind of go nuts towards the end there...

[GreenPartyVoter]

49. Yes, that was rather unfortunate.

[Zomby Woof]

48. Seneca

The stoic philosopher from present-day Cordoba, Spain.

[PassingFair]

76. I didn't realize I WAS a stoic

...until I found Seneca!

[hickman1937]

51. Cleopatra Selene because she survived the mayhem,

and may even have had descendants into the 4th century. She was Cleopatra's daughter by Marc Anthony.

[mitchum]

53. Marcus Aurelius

[jrandom421]

54. None of the Above

My vote is for Scipio Africanus.

[AngryAmish]

67. a voice a reason

i'm a Cincinatus guy tho

[DanCa]

55. Jupiter - why waste time with anyone else.

[Blue_Tires]

56. Hannibal--he had the right idea from the start

nt

[barb162]

57. Marcus Aurelius

[PassingFair]

58. LOL Maximus!

I cannot resist an Australian in a toga.

But seriously, Augustus Caesar

Though I have taken to calling *
"Little Boots" because he reminds
me of Caligula

[mwooldri]

60. Hadrian. He had this built in his name:

He was considered a "good" emperor of Rome.

[AngryAmish]

70. Hadian was a coward

Gave up expansion for public works in Italy.

[MarianJack]

63. I Had To Go With Caligula

Inspiration for one of the absolutely WORST movies of all time!

[Robeson]

65. Julian the Apostate.

[AngryAmish]

66. This is nonsense - Cincinatus

By any objective standard he was the best Roman.

Except, perhaps Cipio Africanus.

[AngryAmish]

71. This is pissing me off

Has anyone here ever heard of the Punic Wars?

Or the Pellopennesiansan War?

And does anyone know why they are important?

[Hardrada]

88. Yes.

[Hypatia82]

91. The Pelopannisian war...

was Athens and her allies against Athens and her allies. Well before Rome came on the seen. Also the subject of one of the first great histories by Thucydides. The Punic Wars, gave Scipio Africanus and Hannibal. Other than that? Not really that noteworthy. Great theater, but as military campaigning the Romans had better. All that made it important was the foothold in Africa.

[hyphenate]

72. Marcus Aurelius

the general and philosopher.

[William Bloode]

73. Trajan.

Trajan (98-117) was a distinguished soldier who became one of Rome's most beloved monarchs. He was the first emperor born in the provinces and was of Spanish origin. He devoted much of his energy to aggressive wars that extended Roman rule across the Danube River to Dacia (present-day Romania) and into Mesopotamia. Conquering Dacia was important economically, since its rich gold mines accounted for much of Roman wealth in the 2nd century AD. Trajan's other great campaign, an invasion of the east, was less successful. Although he conquered Arabia, Armenia and Parthia (now part of Iran and Afghanistan) on his way to the Persian Gulf, Trajan overextended himself, and the recently conquered Parthians rebelled and forced him to withdraw.

Trajan made other contributions that show his common sense, administrative skill, and genuine human compassion. He initiated an impressive building program throughout the empire. Both public monuments and private documents reflect Trajan's concern for social welfare programs, like the distribution of food to poor children. In letters to his special agent Pliny the Younger, he discussed topics such as local finances and dissident Christians in a fair and open-minded way. Trajan was a man with few personal pretensions who treated senators as equals and earned the title of Optimus Princeps (Best of Emperors).

[afdip]

74. catullus . . . the best of the poets

[raccoon]

75. Marcus Didius Falco! (OK, so he's fictional.) nt

[1monster]

77. Cleopatra was Greek, not Roman, and Queen of Egypt, despite having

married two Romans (Julius Ceasar, who was still married to wife Portia at the time, and Marc Anthony, who divorced his first wife to marry Cleo).

[brentspeak]

81. Good gravy!

Everyone is telling me that Cleopatra isn't Roman -- but I point that out in my poll!

(Sorry - you're the one who has to bear the brunt of my rant ;-) )

[1monster]

84. Sorry. Mea culpa. I guess I didn't look beyond The Cleopatra, considering

The title of your thread. :blush: :hide: :yoiks:

[JanMichael]

79. The Gracci Brothers. Proto-Socialists!

Love them.

[brentspeak]

80. I was trying to remember the names of those brothers

for my poll. They definitely were progressive Romans.

[JVS]

82. Bigvs Dicvs and his wife Incontenentia Bvttocs

[DeaconBlues]

83. Spartacus!

Sticking it to the man over 2000 years ago. Although technically, he wasn't Roman, even if he was a slave of Rome. He was from Thrace, a kingdom which includes modern day Greece.

[Gildor Inglorion]

86. Elagabalus...just a sweet gay teenaged emperor

who didn't want the job and came to a tragic end.
;(

[CrownPrinceBandar]

87. Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus........

Chronicler of Rome and friend of Pliny the Elder.

[Beware the Beast Man]

90. Vindex- the senator who orchestrated a revolt against Nero.

Mainly because his name is pronounced "Windex."

[Hypatia82]

92. Heron of Alexandria...

The father of mechanical engineering. Yes he was probably Greek in origin but he lived in Alexandria when it was a Roman city and was a Roman citizen. Galen, one of the greatest doctors ever, enough said. Hypatia of Alexandria. She was way late historically, but perhaps the smartest woman who ever lived. And a teacher who taught anyone who asked her a question or sought her out. Professors and teachers today could do well to follow her example.