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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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26 Jun 2014, 8:45 am

pawelk1986 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Rome wasn't what we thought it was. Everything wasn't pure and white (Roman statues were painted and looked silly when they were new), they did not have massive orgies (they were, in fact, extremely prudish), and they were extremely egalitarian in terms of race.



Strange I heard something else that they indulged in orgies and drinking of liquor in excess.


Actually the Romans frowned on intoxication. It was okay to drink wine, just not get drunk.



GoonSquad
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26 Jun 2014, 9:05 am

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:

I like Suetonius's Twelve Caesars.


Suetonius was a scandal monger. You shouldn't mind such trash. :P

I mean, the things that Cicero says about Clodia Metelli should be scandalous enough for anybody!


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Last edited by GoonSquad on 26 Jun 2014, 9:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

Sigbold
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26 Jun 2014, 9:10 am

pawelk1986 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Rome wasn't what we thought it was. Everything wasn't pure and white (Roman statues were painted and looked silly when they were new), they did not have massive orgies (they were, in fact, extremely prudish), and they were extremely egalitarian in terms of race.



Strange I heard something else that they indulged in orgies and drinking of liquor in excess.


You are probably thinking of the cult of Bacchus, who was suppressed because of the public disturbance they caused.



GoonSquad
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26 Jun 2014, 9:16 am

Sigbold wrote:
pawelk1986 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Rome wasn't what we thought it was. Everything wasn't pure and white (Roman statues were painted and looked silly when they were new), they did not have massive orgies (they were, in fact, extremely prudish), and they were extremely egalitarian in terms of race.



Strange I heard something else that they indulged in orgies and drinking of liquor in excess.


You are probably thinking of the cult of Bacchus, who was suppressed because of the public disturbance they caused.


Also, sexual and general scandal mongering was a thriving industry among Roman writers. Most of that stuff probably wasn't true--Like all the sleazy things Suetonius and others wrote about Tiberius when he retired to Capri.
http://www.livius.org/su-sz/suetonius/tiberius.html


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26 Jun 2014, 9:38 am

I read so where that they liked to dilute their wine with water,the forerunner of the wine cooler :D Not sure where I read this,but that the geese in a city warned them of a barbarian attack,geese are better that dogs for letting you know something is around.


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Sigbold
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26 Jun 2014, 9:41 am

Misslizard wrote:
I read so where that they liked to dilute their wine with water,the forerunner of the wine cooler :D


From what I have read the Romans had a person at the party whose duty was to add water to the wine if those partying where starting to get intoxicated. This is also where the saying of adding water to the wine comes from.



pawelk1986
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26 Jun 2014, 10:41 am

Sigbold wrote:
Misslizard wrote:
I read so where that they liked to dilute their wine with water,the forerunner of the wine cooler :D


From what I have read the Romans had a person at the party whose duty was to add water to the wine if those partying where starting to get intoxicated. This is also where the saying of adding water to the wine comes from.


I heard about this but it's probably invented by the ancient Greeks, not Romans.

It was during Greek symposium when Greek noble mans meet to talk while drinking wine.

The slave who was in charge of distribution of whine, when symposium participant get to much drunk :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symposium



GoonSquad
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26 Jun 2014, 12:47 pm

They also mixed wine with their water as a means to treat/purify it and improve the taste.

Think about all the poor people who lived down stream from a huge city like Rome. The Cloaca Maxima did empty into the Tiber.


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26 Jun 2014, 12:49 pm

Common sewer,same as a chicken's butt :D


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26 Jun 2014, 2:31 pm

pawelk1986 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Rome wasn't what we thought it was. Everything wasn't pure and white (Roman statues were painted and looked silly when they were new), they did not have massive orgies (they were, in fact, extremely prudish), and they were extremely egalitarian in terms of race.



Strange I heard something else that they indulged in orgies and drinking of liquor in excess.


Well, there were always exceptions, such as degenerates like Caligula who took delight in humiliating senators by sexually assaulting their wives when inviting them to dinner.


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26 Jun 2014, 2:49 pm

"Little Boots" was a jerk.


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26 Jun 2014, 2:52 pm

Misslizard wrote:
"Little Boots" was a jerk.


At the very least he had an anti-personality disorder. At worst, he was legitimately mentally ill.


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Kurgan
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26 Jun 2014, 3:08 pm

pawelk1986 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Rome wasn't what we thought it was. Everything wasn't pure and white (Roman statues were painted and looked silly when they were new), they did not have massive orgies (they were, in fact, extremely prudish), and they were extremely egalitarian in terms of race.



Strange I heard something else that they indulged in orgies and drinking of liquor in excess.


That's a myth created by Hollywood. A Rome with pure, white statues, muscular gladiators, and massive orgies is much more marketable than a Rome where statues are goofy looking, anything sexual is frowned upon, and gladiators are fat.


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26 Jun 2014, 3:44 pm

The Romans conqured the older civilizations to the east (Greece, Egypt, Judea, Mesopotamia). But they also conqured huge areas of Western Europe which was much like darkest Africa was in the Nineteen Centurey- inhabited by a bunch of wild barbarian tribes. The first cities in western europe beyond the Alps were all built by the Romans (London, Paris, Bath, Winchester, to name a few). So thats one reason why the French, and British, imperialists who carved up Africa compared themselves to Rome -they were bringing civilization to barbarians- just like their own ancestors had been made civilized by the Romans.

One city in what is now Spain was even named after Rome's arch rival: the port city of Carthagonova (New Carthage). The original Latin name of the new city gradually morphed into the modern name of "Cartagena"( pronounced "Karta Henya").

When the Spanish conquistadors conquered their own empire in the new world they named a city they themselves founded in Columbia "Cartagena" after the Cartegena in Spain. So the city in the South America is named after an older city in Europe that was itsself named after a still older city in North Africa.



pawelk1986
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26 Jun 2014, 4:12 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
pawelk1986 wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Rome wasn't what we thought it was. Everything wasn't pure and white (Roman statues were painted and looked silly when they were new), they did not have massive orgies (they were, in fact, extremely prudish), and they were extremely egalitarian in terms of race.



Strange I heard something else that they indulged in orgies and drinking of liquor in excess.


Well, there were always exceptions, such as degenerates like Caligula who took delight in humiliating senators by sexually assaulting their wives when inviting them to dinner.


He made his own race horse as senator to humiliate senate, and made his own uncle Claudius, (who was disabled and probably aspie) a Consul to show senators who is in charge.

Such ancient version of Kim Jong-un :D



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26 Jun 2014, 4:17 pm

Despite the Roman Empire's brutality and faults it was a pretty progressive institution for its time.

It revolutionised road building, sewerage, democracy and science. Also it was sexually liberal and much more meritocratic than say, the christian slavers of industrial age Europe. It didnt favour or penalise on the basis of race and people could prove their worth through their warrior mettle.


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