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Nephele

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Posts posted by Nephele

  1. Posted · Report reply

    I guess she was too popular to kill off.

     

    I mean, it's not like a sword through her pregnant belly would actually kill her, right? T'was but a scratch.

     

    Damn... If only ONE of Capua's Favorite Married Couple were to survive, I would've preferred it to have been John Hannah's character.

     

    -- Nephele

  3. Posted · Report reply

    I'm currently watching this 2004 television miniseries on DVD. There was one scene in particular in this miniseries that I absolutely don't remember reading in the original Howard Fast novel, and I also don't remember reading about in any Roman history accounts.

     

    So I thought I'd ask for the expertise of my Roman history friends here to either verify or debunk this. (UNRV is the Snopes.com of Roman history, if you ask me. :) )

     

    The scene in question involves a point where the Roman Senate feels it is necessary to "send a message" to the slave army that's running rampant in the countryside. And what they do is this: They pick 200 slaves at random from households in the city of Rome, and then burn them alive in what I presume was the city's forum.

     

    Did the Romans actually resort to this extreme and (by Roman thinking, I should imagine) wastefully expensive measure in an attempt to frighten Spartacus & Co. into capitulating?

     

    Note: I dug up this old topic, because I see that Decimus Caesar here made a comment about the mass immolation scene, and the overall consensus seems to be that this series was pretty lame. So can we dismiss this mass immolation scene as something that historically "never happened"? Or, was never likely to have happened?

     

    -- Nephele

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Sounds like the sort of lurid and apocryphal tales that continually circulate on the Web. Wikipedia's Discussion page had this to say on that quote:

     

    Masters nonsense

    I would be interested to know who this "Masters" is (his first name is not given), and what his sources were. Our article on chimpanzees reports that they were only known to Europeans starting in the 16th or 17th century. "Chimps as well as other apes had also been purported to have been known to Western writers in ancient times, but mainly as myths and legends on the edge of European and Arab societal consciousness, mainly through fragmented and sketchy accounts of European adventurers." The word "chimpanzee" was only coined in 1738. So it's hard to imagine that chimpanzees, along with various other species from sub-Saharan Africa, were imported to the Roman Empire and trained to perform sexual acts. It sounds like modern fiction to me, perhaps inspired by ancient myths. -- Tim Starling (talk) 00:01, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

    Source.

     

    -- Nephele

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Skywatcher, you are a member of the Paterclii, a Roman family whose sole claim to fame may be that a certain Paterclius was mentioned in an epigram of the poet Martialis (Book XII, Epigram LXXVII) as being the owner of some public latrines.

     

    Your cognomen of "Tyrrhenus" was bestowed upon you because of your family's ancient Etruscan connections (Tyrrhenus in Etruscan legend having been one of the founders of the Etruscan Federation of Twelve Cities). Your praenomen is "Gaius," traditionally abbreviated with the letter "C." Your full Roman name is:

     

    C. Paterclius Tyrrhenus

    = PrptcyhHnecaErkeltir (swapping the letters ehkp for usus)

     

    **********************************************

     

    Wicked Tiff and Noricum, I was bit rusty the other night while doing your names, and didn't do a straight swap of letters (as in a proper blanagram). So I'm doing your names again.

     

    WickedTiff, you are a member of the Strabonii, a modest Roman family that includes in its ancestry a physician of some note. You originally came to this family as a slave, and they named you "Elethyia" (after the goddess of childbirth, because you were especially helpful to the mistress of the house when she gave birth to the master's heir). Because of your loyal service, you were granted your freedom. As was customary, you retained your slave name as your cognomen, and adopted the family name as your own. Your Roman name is:

     

    Strabonia Elethyia

    = Tafahlerntysbhfei (swapping the letters bfh for aio)

     

    ******************************************

     

    Noricum, you are a member of the Staberii, your father being Lucius Staberius, a known friend of Pompey who was put in charge of the Greek city of Apollonia. Your parents named you "Regiola," because of your imperious nature even as an infant. You are the family's "little queen." Your full Roman name is:

     

    Staberia Regiola

    = Goaarrbtilberes (swapping the letters br for ia)

     

    -- Nephele

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Sorry I got behind on these!

     

    WickedTiff, you are a member of the Trebii, a Roman family that included one of Caesar's officers in Gaul (M. Trebius Gallus), as well as a consul under the emperor Hadrianus (Trebius Sergianus). Your parents named you "Festina" because you were a quick child, always scurrying about. Your full Roman name is:

     

    Trebia Festina

    = Tafahlerntysbhfei (changing the y to an i, and removing the letters f,h,h,l)

     

    ******************************************

     

    Noricum, you are a member of the Sertorii, a Roman family which included the military leader Quintus Sertorius. Your parents gave you the additional name of "Belgia" because your father (also a military leader), was an admirer of the ancient leader of the Gaulish army, Belgius, who defeated the Macedonians (in 280 BCE). Your full Roman name is:

     

    Sertoria Belgia

    = Goaarrbtilberes (adding an i, and removing the letters b,r)

     

    -- Nephele

  15. Posted · Report reply

    R. Walsh, you are a member of the Orchii, a plebeian gens which traces its lineage from that notable Gaius Orchius who not only distinguished himself as a tribune of the plebs in the third year after the consulship of Cato in 181 BCE, but who was also infamous for authoring a law which limited the number of guests to be present at entertainments. Macrobius tells us in his work, Saturnalia, that, when attempts were made to repeal this unpopular law, Cato defended it.

     

    Your cognoman is "Adrianus," as your family came from the town of Hadria in Picenum. Your praenomen is "Lucius," customarily abbreviated as "L." Your full Roman name is:

     

    L. Orchius Adrianus

    = ridashowanjrlchh -hhjw +iuus

     

    ***************************************************************

     

    Waterdragon, you are a member of the Salonii, a family of humble origins yet nevertheless proud of the fact that they are descended from Marcus Salonius, who was the father of the second wife of Cato the Censor.

     

    You happen to be the younger of two daughters in your family, and so your parents call you "Secunda," as is customary. (Your elder sister is called "Prima.") Your full Roman name is:

     

    Salonia Secunda

    = scoalusjneanmd -jm +ia

     

    -- Nephele

  16. Posted · Report reply

    athene, you are a member of the Taurentii, a gens whose name is believed by some to have been derived from the Latin word taurus (indicating the strength of a bull), and by others as having been derived from the gens name of the plebeian Terentii.

     

    You entered the family as a Greek slave, and eventually was granted your freedom. As was customary, you took the gens name for your own, and your Greek name of "Chrysonoe" (meaning "golden mind"). Your full Roman freedwoman name is:

     

    Taurentia Chrysonoe

    = reoctuny ohnraemmst -mm +ia

     

    -- Nephele

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Geek Amicus, you are a member of the Cominia gens, a plebeian gens that distinguished itself through members who served as tribune of the plebs and military tribune, as well as two brothers (Publius and Lucius) who were described by Cicero as having been men of character and eloquence.

     

    You were not born into this family, however, having entered it first as a Greek slave who was eventually granted her freedom. As was customary, upon obtaining your freedom you also took on the name of the family (Cominia). Your original Greek name of "Moera" (meaning "portion," as in the portion of life allotted to us all by the Fates) thereby became your cognomen. Your full Roman freedwoman name now is:

     

    Cominia Moera

    = mameonrciiok -k +a

     

    -- Nephele

  18. Posted · Report reply

    Salve Nephele,

     

    Thank you for taking the time to mix some characters.

    That is quite interesting!

     

    I never heard of "Marinius", but it sounds nice and very fitting for someone who does a lot of water sports :).

    Should Interemnia not be Interamnia? As that is an area in Italy

     

    Optime Vale,

    Macerinus

    or,

    Servius Marinius Interemnia :)

     

    "Marinius" is a gens name based on the cognomen "Marinus." If any Marinii existed at all, they probably would have been a rare family. "Interemnia" is an actual cognomen attested to by Iiro Kajanto in his work The Latin Cognomina. It indicated a person associated in some way with the town of Interemnia in Picenum. There was also the cognomen "Interamna," which was associated with the towns of Interamna in Latium and Umbria.

     

    Glad you enjoyed! :)

     

    -- Nephele

  19. Posted · Report reply

    Macerinus, you are a member of the Marinii, a family that took their nomen from the cognomen of "Marinus" (meaning "of the sea"), as generations of sons distinguished themselves in the Roman navy.

     

    Your cognomen of "Interemnia" was taken from the name of the town in Picenum, as your particular branch of the Marinii hailed from that area.

     

    Your praenomen is "Servius," traditionally abbreviated as "Ser." Your full Roman name is:

     

    Ser. Marinius Interemnia

    = mersjninareriwseimtan -jw +iu

     

    -- Nephele

  24. Posted · Report reply

    I watched the first half of this last night. Hated it. They don't have a story anymore so they load up with gore and sex, looked like the ads I see for teenage video games.

     

    Crispina, my fellow Falco admirer, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you. I really didn't see much more gore and sex than the original series had, although I will admit that the pacing of this first episode was perhaps a bit too fast. But I think that was probably due to the writer trying to establish the storyline quickly. I can see potential for a better fleshing out (pun unintended) of the storyline in subsequent episodes.

     

    I was pleased to see just about all of the regulars from the original series back again.

    Surprisingly, Batiatus and Solonius are good friends in this prequel! Which makes me eager to see what caused their friendship to go sour, with them becoming such vicious rivals. Also, I was disappointed to see that Varro wasn't back, but I'm wondering whether he'll make his appearance in subsequent episodes with more of his background story revealed (wife Aurelia, why he sold himself into slavery, etc.)

     

     

    All in all, I think this new series got off to a good start!

     

    -- Nephele

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