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The last Romans are still around

signoregalilei.com

51–60 of 245 posts

Re: The last Romans are still around

#51
post #50

I'm a bit surprised that the "people from modern Rome" only got an honorable mention. After all, Rome still sees itself as the successor of the Roman Empire. When first visiting it, I was surprised to see the famous SPQR ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR ) acronym all over the place - on trash cans, manhole covers etc. etc.

when you see something histórical in Europe ask chatgpt if its something actually ancient that lasted until today or It was a xix century tourist marketing stunt made by the burgoisie

Re: The last Romans are still around

#52
Besides Romanians, there are several more eastern european romance-language-speaking peoples ("Vlachs") like Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians. I think they might also deserve a mention.

Re: The last Romans are still around

#54
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> forced prison labor I'd rather work than be in a cell.

I'd rather have a civilized prison system with human conditions, instead of an medieval revenge, profiteering, racism and exclusion, a prison-labor complex, and the death penalty - all created, ran, and cheered by bigoted Old Testament-types of human scum. Especially if I get far far worse crime outcomes than countries with much healthier prison systems. But, hey, that's just me.

I'd be content with a prison system that keeps the criminals away from victimizing more people.

Re: The last Romans are still around

#55

[flagged]

> negligible ... impact ... overhyped ... empire There's some other ways they've left a mark on you.

All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Re: The last Romans are still around

#56
post #50

I'm a bit surprised that the "people from modern Rome" only got an honorable mention. After all, Rome still sees itself as the successor of the Roman Empire. When first visiting it, I was surprised to see the famous SPQR ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR ) acronym all over the place - on trash cans, manhole covers etc. etc.

when you see something histórical in Europe ask chatgpt if its something actually ancient that lasted until today or It was a xix century tourist marketing stunt made by the burgoisie

Of course the manhole covers aren't ancient, but they're a sign that Rome still sees itself in the tradition of the Roman Empire.

Re: The last Romans are still around

#57
post #50

I'm a bit surprised that the "people from modern Rome" only got an honorable mention. After all, Rome still sees itself as the successor of the Roman Empire. When first visiting it, I was surprised to see the famous SPQR ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPQR ) acronym all over the place - on trash cans, manhole covers etc. etc.

Senatus Populus ... Que Romani! The senate and people of Rome.

Italy, per se, is a modern construct but the capital is still Rome and I think it fair to draw associations to the old empire.

I love seeing the SPQR logo and I think it is a really useful link to the past.

Re: The last Romans are still around

#58
post #32

Don't glorify Rome too much. It was a slavery based society that progressed sciences, technology and civilization little from what they inherited from the Mesopotamian's/Greeks. Heck written Latin didn't even have punctuation marks, not even spaces. That's because it was only used by slave scribes. The nobility that could write, did so in Greek.

- Go stand in the Hagia Sophia and tell me the Romans did little to improve architecture and engineering. - I won't defend the Roman record on slavery, but I will point out that the Greeks (particularly the Spartans) were slave societies too. - The Greeks were significantly more xenophobic and sexist than the Romans. If you washed up on the shores of ancient Greece, you could never have become a citizen. The Romans w…

Also, our own society right now will be someday considered barbaric by our descendants. I don't know what for, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will happen. We should show the people of the past some grace, the same way we might hope the people of the future will show us some grace.

Re: The last Romans are still around

#59
post #52

Besides Romanians, there are several more eastern european romance-language-speaking peoples ("Vlachs") like Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians. I think they might also deserve a mention.

Romanian is isolated now, but even quite recently there where languages forming a bridge between Romanian and the rest of Romance languages. For example Dalmatian, whose last speaker died in 1898. Now, most people think of Dalmatians as the dogs.

Re: The last Romans are still around

#60
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather have a civilized prison system with human conditions, instead of an medieval revenge, profiteering, racism and exclusion, a prison-labor complex, and the death penalty - all created, ran, and cheered by bigoted Old Testament-types of human scum. Especially if I get far far worse crime outcomes than countries with much healthier prison systems. But, hey, that's just me.

I'd be content with a prison system that keeps the criminals away from victimizing more people.

Humane prisons aren't incompatible with public safety from violent offenders.
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