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The horrors of Pompeii

aeon.co

61–70 of 118 posts

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#61
post #45
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can anyone explain this? Slave names were sometimes numbers. Naming conventions in Roman culture were apparently also fairly formal.[0] I would guess there's sufficient evidence here that a ratio of free to slave could be estimated. In general, it seems like being a slave was not a great experience.[1] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Rome#Treatm... [1]: among other stories, the one concerning…

> Slave names were sometimes numbers. Senators' and emperors' names were quite often numbers. That is definitely not the distinction you're looking for.

"Janus the fifth" and "KD6-3.7"

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#62
These show something very basic and timeless that we have in common with ancient Pompeiians – sex

Given the low birthrates in many countries around the world, I'm not so sure this is true anymore.

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#63
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> life expectancy was usually lower than today Life expectancy at birth was lower than today. However those who survived to adulthood had a life expectancy considerably closer to modern ones than most people think. It turns out the massive infant and childhood mortality rates greatly dragged down the average overall life expectancy.

No they really didn't. This is what the age pyramid looks like for a first world nation: https://www.populationpyramid.net/finland/2022/ It's a column until you reach 70 then people start dying. This is what the age pyramid looks like for a society stuck in the Malthusian trap: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XfdbjKDGvT0/Ti49-5r5EyI/AAAAAAAAB... Notice how people have a half life, the chance of dying when you reach 20 yea…

Finland though. Try Africa:

https://www.populationpyramid.net/africa/2022/

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#64
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> life expectancy was usually lower than today Life expectancy at birth was lower than today. However those who survived to adulthood had a life expectancy considerably closer to modern ones than most people think. It turns out the massive infant and childhood mortality rates greatly dragged down the average overall life expectancy.

"However those who survived to adulthood had a life expectancy considerably closer to modern ones than most people think." Nope. I see this consistently repeated all over HN or Reddit, but it just isn't true. Only the high clergy routinely reached their late 60s, and trying to analyze general mortality from the relatively sparse ancient records that mostly concerned the richest and most important people introduces en…

How is this different to today in countries not living the good life because they have exported slavery to other countries? Africa for example seem worse off than what you wrote. Around 1% at 60:

https://www.populationpyramid.net/africa/2022/

To compare to a time when slaves were near, surely we must add our poor regions, where people work in mines and factories for us, to our life expectancy. Otherwise we are as much comparing Modern Capitalism to feudalism, etc.

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#65
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they really didn't. This is what the age pyramid looks like for a first world nation: https://www.populationpyramid.net/finland/2022/ It's a column until you reach 70 then people start dying. This is what the age pyramid looks like for a society stuck in the Malthusian trap: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XfdbjKDGvT0/Ti49-5r5EyI/AAAAAAAAB... Notice how people have a half life, the chance of dying when you reach 20 yea…

Finland though. Try Africa: https://www.populationpyramid.net/africa/2022/

try the world(google), it's actually closer to finland

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#66
post #62

These show something very basic and timeless that we have in common with ancient Pompeiians – sex Given the low birthrates in many countries around the world, I'm not so sure this is true anymore.

Dont know if you are serious, but contraception.

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#67

Graffiti is one of the most exciting kinds of evidence preserved for us by the destruction of Pompeii, because it comes not from the literature of the elite, or the inscriptions of the powerful, but from a wider cross-section of society. The article is mostly about slavery and prostitution, colored by modern views of the world. For much of human history, people were simply trying to survive and life expectancy was us…

Yeah, I think they should be comparing the worst of the past with the worst of today.

Too many people have not watched "cannibal warlords of Liberia" so they assume that the worst society today is one sexism and racism.

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#68

> Petronius was writing comedy, but there is no reason to dispute the incidental details, which can bring the Lupanar to life. His description suggests brothels would be located in more out-of-the-way parts of town and were not necessarily identifiable from the outside; the prostitutes and punters were screened from the outside world by a curtain. It also reveals that people could be enticed or tricked into visiting…

I didn't even think about that. You're right, it's really a joke about two dudes who bumped into each other in a brothel and each invented a story how they totally by some strange accident got there )))

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were also severely restricted in what technology they could bring. But they still had fish hooks, survival clothing, advanced bow and arrows, an advanced saw or hatchet, fish line, and fire starter. Only one was able to make fire without a fire starter. After watching Alone, I bought myself a fire starter, to carry when hiking. I remember one father/son team. The son had some sort of fisheries degree, and consid…

> What's kinda sad is how bad most were at building shelters. What's funny is how good that one first season guy was at doing everything, especially shelter, and then after only a couple days to have an indefinite setup, just missed his wife and immediately left. "Everything looks good, just don't have Barbara!"

Edit: Was season 2, Mike Lowe, 21 days, and apparently more so planned to leave by 3 weeks because he wasn't allowed to hunt big game for health, but ultimately "I'm okay with the storyline they told. I was happy to go home to my lovely wife." Still a very interesting mastery of the wilderness to watch. Guy was doing arts n crafts and making random gizmos.

Re: The horrors of Pompeii

#70

> Petronius was writing comedy, but there is no reason to dispute the incidental details, which can bring the Lupanar to life. His description suggests brothels would be located in more out-of-the-way parts of town and were not necessarily identifiable from the outside; the prostitutes and punters were screened from the outside world by a curtain. It also reveals that people could be enticed or tricked into visiting…

> I obviously don’t know either, but I just wish historical articles wouldn’t act so certain about things they offer no proof of! I watched a documentary one or two years ago about the coliseum in Rome, and it made me realize that what we claim to know about those ancient times must be 80% bullshit. It was all assumptions built on top of assumptions, themselves built on top of suppositions without any proof. When I w…

I wouldn't be so harsh. they are trying to find an explanation for things with little to go on. Besides, they probably don't even fare that much worse than other social sciences in that regard, at least there isn't a ton of motivation for bias for things from 2000 years ago.
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