Sodomy in the Circus, drinking wine while dogs tear apart a bear for entertainment.
― andy, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 18:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 19:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 22:24 (nineteen years ago) link
i prefer the 'tecs. i like the tearing hearts/snake god thing myself, more exotic.
plus the aztecs had predators as gods!
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 22:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― Girolamo Savonarola, Tuesday, 7 September 2004 22:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 22:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 22:45 (nineteen years ago) link
Vs.
http://www.dandi.me.uk/IMAGES/Gallery/mythology/Quetzalcoatl.jpg
Obviously Queztacoatl's the hardest.
― Wooden (Wooden), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 22:58 (nineteen years ago) link
The Roman version of male virility was "if you can penetrate it, it's manly," with no particular male/female taboos except "don't always be the guy penetrated." I wish this had survived into modern times, so instead of Republican homophobia we'd have big burly conservatives telling us all about how they love to fuck people up the ass. Now that's firm leadership.
The Aztecs? I hate to be blatantly biased toward the West but...they were equally (if not more so) as bloodthirsty as the Romans, they wiped out whole nations just as the Romans (and later the Spanish) did, and they had the misfortune to lose more to diseases than Cortez' steel. Sucks to be them.
― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 23:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 23:03 (nineteen years ago) link
He fought for Rome. He fought for wine. He fought for manly penetration of small boys. Screw the snakes.
― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Tuesday, 7 September 2004 23:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Lt. Kingfish Del Pickles (Kingfish), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 00:20 (nineteen years ago) link
http://planetavp.com/images/avpmovie/avpmovieart15.jpg
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:14 (nineteen years ago) link
YOU"VE DISCOVERED THE SECRETS OF THE MATRIX. COMMENCE KUNG FU BATTLE!
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― ryan (ryan), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:19 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:24 (nineteen years ago) link
We have cannons too.
― Slim Pickens (Slim Pickens), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 01:45 (nineteen years ago) link
QUETZALCOATL The Feathered Serpent. The Precious Twin who lifts the sun out of darkness, god of the winds and the breath of life, First Lord of the Toltecs. Lawgiver, civilizer, creator of the calender. Demons tempted Quetzalcoatl constantly to commit murder and human sacrifice, but his love was too great for him to succumb. To atone for great sins, Quetzcoatl threw himself on a funeral pyre, where his ashes rose to the heavens as a flock of birds carrying his heart to the star Venus. A frieze in the palace at Teotihuacan shows his first entry into the world in the shape of a chrysalis, from which he struggles to emerge as a butterfly, the symbol of perfection. Quetzalcoatl is by far the most compassionate of the Aztec gods -- he only demands one human sacrifice a year.
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 02:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 07:46 (nineteen years ago) link
versus
http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/ulysses312.jpg
― Madchen (Madchen), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 09:27 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/857_9425.jpg
― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 09:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― ALEC, Wednesday, 8 September 2004 09:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 09:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 09:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 09:54 (nineteen years ago) link
http://empire-state-building.visit-new-york-city.com/Empire-State-Building-4.jpg
And maybe Mercury Rev.
― Super-Masonic Black Hole (kate), Wednesday, 8 September 2004 10:16 (nineteen years ago) link
so what's the deal - the roman empire included england but not ireland or scotland? why?
― Mordy, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 21:52 (seven years ago) link
because the Irish and the Scots were fucking nails :p
― calzino, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 21:53 (seven years ago) link
obv Gibbon would have a more comprehensive answer.
― calzino, Wednesday, 31 August 2016 21:55 (seven years ago) link
the roman empire did extend into present-day Scotland - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonine_Wall - but they were never able to fully conquer the Picts
― ælərdaɪs (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 31 August 2016 21:56 (seven years ago) link
uh aztecs didn't chew coca compadre
that was the incas
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Wednesday, 31 August 2016 22:08 (seven years ago) link
The Romans may not have harvested human sacrifices from among their conquered neighbors, but they did practice mass crucifixion when the mood struck them. About a push, I'd say.
― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Wednesday, 31 August 2016 22:32 (seven years ago) link
I'm sad all the pictures in this thread are gone
― Anacostia Aerodrome (El Tomboto), Thursday, 1 September 2016 00:07 (seven years ago) link
^^^
― mookieproof, Thursday, 1 September 2016 00:12 (seven years ago) link
nobody in the early part of this thread seemed to know much about the Aztecs huh
― marcos, Thursday, 1 September 2016 00:14 (seven years ago) link
someone on ilx recently recommended this book series and it's like lots of maps and maybe one of them was maps of the roman empire? does anyone have any idea what i'm talking about?
― Mordy, Thursday, 1 September 2016 00:16 (seven years ago) link
it was a caek thing but i can't find it; maybe ask on caek's corner?
― mookieproof, Thursday, 1 September 2016 01:20 (seven years ago) link
Penguin atlases by Colin McEvedy.
― chinavision!, Thursday, 1 September 2016 05:19 (seven years ago) link
https://www.amazon.com/New-Penguin-Atlas-Ancient-History/dp/0140513485
― chinavision!, Thursday, 1 September 2016 05:20 (seven years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/04/why-roman-concrete-still-stands-strong-while-modern-version-decaysSo it turns of sea-water is the secret missing ingredient to Roman concrete.
Roman concrete combined volcanic ash, lime, volcanic rock and seawater. That final ingredient, it turns out, is key. The unusual combination of ingredients actually gets stronger as new minerals form over millennia.
― calzino, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 12:38 (six years ago) link
miss the romans, don't get the aztecs. mayans seem more agreeable.
― ogmor, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 12:47 (six years ago) link
Roman concrete sounds amazing.The dark ages really were terrible huh
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 14:21 (six years ago) link
The day I went to B+Q and said: I don't want any of this modern shit, I want some Roman concrete mix and I'll take a few drums of seawater.
― calzino, Tuesday, 4 July 2017 17:18 (six years ago) link
for the base of your Tzompantli.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/07/archaeologists-uncover-tenochtitlans-legendary-tower-of-skulls/
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 21:23 (six years ago) link
Good topic of conversation at the BBQ: "Well this tower of skulls was a nightmare to put together, but I haven't been burgled since I put it up and pretty much all the thugs in the neighbourhood daren't even look at me askance these days"
― calzino, Wednesday, 5 July 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link
happy 570th to the fall of the eastern roman empire
― mookieproof, Monday, 29 May 2023 20:00 (ten months ago) link
Is that according to the Julian calendar or the Gregorian?
― more difficult than I look (Aimless), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 02:58 (ten months ago) link
sorry for the eastern roman empire but i'm built different
― Toploader on the road, unite and take over (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 30 May 2023 09:53 (ten months ago) link
I listened to an interview with Charles Mann on 1491 15 years on last night. He talked about a few books as he went along including one on the Triple Alliance from Nahuatl sources or maybe more the fall of the Triple Alliance. Part of the point being Aztec was an externally imposed name which its population wouldn't have used.I haven't had a chance to find the section of the podcast I was listening to. I was mobile at the time walking back from somewhere which is why I didn't make a note at the time.But am interested in finding out what the book was. I think Mann was also talking about slavery in pre contact South Americabut think it was a different author.
― Stevo, Tuesday, 30 May 2023 13:42 (ten months ago) link
FRom what I'm seeing the book may be Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest Matthew Restallit was definitely him that wrote it. I found the section of the podcast again though McCann doesn't mention a book I think.He also mentions a couple of other books The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in Americaby Andrés Reséndez and one by a female author which I need to find again also looking at slavery. Managed to note the names down as I was walking around town this time.
― Stevo, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 19:27 (ten months ago) link
I just transformed Charles C Mann into he name McCann for some reason. Argh, drained after a hot day out
― Stevo, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 20:26 (ten months ago) link
looking at comment earlier in the thread, apparently Rome did consider invading Ireland but thought it was a step to far for their budget. They did se up trade with the population though, a talk I attended just before the pandemic mentioned a semi permanent Roman representative set up within a port in Ireland that people were trading from. Also the amount of what would be Irish people who joined the Roman army also that the beginning of the adoption of the Latin alphabet may date back to that instead of it being centuries later as I'd imagined.
also I'm just listening to an interview with Matthew Restall https://open.spotify.com/episode/1818zjhD9wEV4u1iqcwBYV?si=75eee58ff7624090
― Stevo, Thursday, 1 June 2023 08:10 (ten months ago) link
Tacitus, and subsequently historians like Gibbon, claimed that the only reason Agricola didn't try to conquer Ireland was that the emperor Domitian didn't want him getting any more kudos
― two grills one tap (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 1 June 2023 08:18 (ten months ago) link
Is there an equivalent history of the Aztecs as there is for the Roman Empire (Gibbon)?
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 1 June 2023 09:01 (ten months ago) link
now there's a thread idea
― two grills one tap (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 1 June 2023 09:17 (ten months ago) link
xp Probably several since it was a thing of prestige for the Spanish. THere are certainly accounts from supporting players of the era. But as with a lot of things those who wrote the history didn't have the most objective perspective. So writers like Restall and Mann and others are having to reexamine sources. Restall is looking at Nahuatl sources which seems interesting. I saw a couple of webinars a couple of years ago where people were looking at new technology that could search written texts from the era so better collate statistics etc. & that was with a heavy focus on mesoamerican texts from this era and slightly later. Would have more universal usage, not heard about it in a while so assuming its still developing.
Spanish accounts of the time are likely to be pretty racist . Counterting initial astonishment at how advanced the societies they encountered were. Also trying to make themselves more central to action, while i've just heard Restall talking about there being about 500 Spanish and thousands of native troops who already had there own agendas. Also could change from ally to non ally dependent on their own agendas. I just read teh book On Savage Shores talking about native americans visiting the old world which was at least partially at their own will as ambassadors etc and people trying to curry favour with the Spanish
― Stevo, Thursday, 1 June 2023 09:28 (ten months ago) link
I think the Aztec or Mexica empire or the triple alliance was not likely to be held in as much prestige as Rome was in its aftermath. Population were like brown which doesn't make Europeans flock to memorialise it. At least not in the early modern age, I assume taht is improving now since there are a number of books looking at the history of how the situation came about, I think they are less interested in valorising it in a similar way. Trying to be more objective than trying to make it look so much like a beacon of civilisation, historians are having to deal with ideas like human sacrifice and widespread slavery etc as part of teh picture. But it is being written and reexamined etc.
I also think the Spanish burned a load of the texts taht had been written since they must be devil driven since they represented the wrong religion. Shame, would be good to get more of their own perspective. Can't have burnt everything if people like Restall and Andrés Reséndez are able to go back and use papers as resources. THink I do need to look more into what has survived.
― Stevo, Thursday, 1 June 2023 10:20 (ten months ago) link
It is a crazy fact to me that the descendants of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, emperor of the Aztecs at the time of Cortes, still exist as a noble family with the hereditary title of "duke of Moctezuma de Tultengo"... in Spain, not Mexico... since the latter abolished its aristocracy. pic.twitter.com/bCk7qC3DIG— Tristan S. Rapp (@Hieraaetus) June 4, 2023
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 4 June 2023 20:30 (ten months ago) link