Tag: Roman Empire

The Roman Forum at night. Photo by Trey Ratcliff (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

790 words

As an American, I can relate better to Rome than to Greece, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. I have written two books on Plato. I love Greek philosophy, literature, and art. But they are not mine. I’ve just appropriated them. Like the Romans did. (more…)

Cornelis Cort-The Battle of Zama. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

1,356 words

In Part 1, I presented a close reading of Critias and Timaeus. I argued that Atlantis did exist and was probably an upper paleolithic settlement in North Africa. In fact, the upper paleolithic was probably busier than commonly thought but is only dimly remembered in myth and legend due to a lack of writing. While fascinating, that’s not the main point. Plato’s discussion of Atlantis is a means to a philosophical end. Plato’s message, moreover, is even more relevant to us today than to the ancient Athenians.

The strongest theme is the cyclical nature of time. Civilization periodically has to restart due to natural disasters and/or human decadence. In Plato’s view these oftentimes go hand in hand, due to the Traditionalist doctrine of as above, so below; as within, so without. (more…)

4,727 words

When I was in the army in the mid-70s, I was posted to Frankfurt, Germany and spent a lot of time catching up on my reading. Some guys in my company devoured books, the vast majority westerns, sci-fi, and the occasional odd jobs like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Repair. (more…)

9,361 words

The Norman strain[…]seems to have been radically different in its mental makeup, and to some extent in its physical detail from the Saxons of England and also from their kindred in Scandinavia. The Normans appear to have been a “fine race,” to use a French idiom, and their descendants are often characterized by a tall, slender figure, much less bulky than the typical Teuton, of proud bearing and with clearly marked features of classic Greek regularity. The type is seldom extremely blond and is often dark. These Latinized Vikings were and are animated by a restless and nomadic energy and by a fierce aggressiveness.

-Madison Grant (more…)

J.M.W. Turner. The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire

1,411 words

The twenty-first century is nearly a quarter done, and things don’t look so good. It may be time to pause and contemplate the remarkable socially and morally transformative effects of three powerful, intermingling forces that have come into ascendancy. They are the pernicious legacy of the left’s “progressive” ideology, one that relentlessly progresses toward ever more explicit manifestations of deviance and degeneracy. (more…)

2,243 words

In the first century AD, during the ascendancy of the Roman Empire, a writer named Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus was born in what would nowadays be Algeria. Known to posterity as Suetonius, he wrote on various, mostly antiquarian subjects, as did all the Roman literary class. (more…)

Candace shoves Roman courtier aside by the booty to tell Caesar Augustus he’d better give up, OR ELSE!

2,303 words

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

Did the Romans chicken out, start a war of conquest and lose, or surrender to Cush?

Often with twisted narratives, or the usual sort of pilpul, it takes considerable explanation to demonstrate that the argument is hollow and disingenuous. (more…)

Propaganda poster found in ancient vault, inscribed “Brown Sugah Candi goan whup crackah booty!”

3,898 words

Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)

Behold! In the days of yore, there arose in Cush a most noble lady, Amanirenas named, and she was a mighty Queen.[1] Two millennia later, renewed buzz is effervescing about the East African potentate. One item was pipelined to my start page feed, thanks to whichever munchkin is entrusted with the Firefox transmission belt. (more…)

Jesus Christ telling the truth about the Jews.

2,243 words

Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

The Gospel of Christ

The Roman Army, led by Pompey, conquered Syria and the Levant in 63 BC. Less than three decades later, Julius Caesar conquered Egypt. The Romans indirectly ruled Judea through a client king, Herod the Great, an Idumean. As in Idumean, he was not racially Jewish and only nominally practiced the Jewish pseudo-religion. (more…)

1,860 words

I enjoyed Fred Reed’s April 24 essay “Ignorance, Its Uses and Nurture,” which refers to universal suffrage in anything larger than a small town as a “crackpot” idea. In a mere thousand words, Reed painted the American public as entirely incapable and unqualified to understand United States foreign policy, let alone vote on it. Therefore, he concludes, the entire democratic system is a sham. Yes, the statistics he presents bolster his point admirably. But maybe not as much as epic burns such as this one: (more…)

Peter was martyred by Nero sometime between 64 and 67. Peter’s martyrdom is not mentioned in Acts, which implies that Acts had already been published and distributed.

3,153 words

Part 3 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here)

The early vs. late Debate

Biblical scholars are divided over when the Synoptic Gospels and the Book of Revelation were written. John’s Gospel is certainly later, and may even have been written after Revelation, but the debate does not address when John was written, since that gospel is so different from the others. (more…)

The repercussions of the fire that burned most of Rome in 64 AD are still felt today.

2,164 words

Part 2 of 3 (Part 1 here, Part 2 here)

The Roman-Jewish War

Nero squeezed the economy of the entire empire to rebuild Rome after the fire. One of his schemes to acquire money was to tax the treasuries of religious institutions. (more…)

The Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD changed the religious order of the Roman Empire.

3,173 words

Part 1 of 3 (Part 2 here)

Theology matters. The ideas arising from how religious thinkers have connected things in scripture drive a great deal of social policy. The outcomes of these policies can be good or bad. Societies that follow a Calvinist interpretation of Christianity, for example, tend to be wealthy. (more…)