the “thinking about the roman empire” meme pushed me to relisten to the history of rome podcast and it’s still great
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Mike Duncan is a king among men.
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Would have to say probably weekly, but my Roman history kick of the last few years has abated over the last few months (currently into Napoleon and his aftermath, ie, 19th-century in Europe).
I don’t have much occasion to think about Roman history because my thoughts about it are fairly settled. A militaristic republic that became a militaristic dictatorship with a few good emperors that spent much of its efforts fighting civil wars of succession because it never really had a stable system of government (well, succession) after Augustus. Say what you want about monarchy (it sucks), but pretty much the whole thing is about handling issues of succession (and alliances via marriages/kinship), and even that is regularly out of whack.
The Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire is wild and wacky stuff, and it’s noteworthy that Russia has long considered itself the Third Rome thanks to its history in the general area and adoption of orthodox Christianity from Byzantium.
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I have very little interest in history and wonder if others feel the same.
I’ve always found history interesting but was oriented more toward US history. Then I got into early history some, say, 10k-1k BC, then a bit into Rome, then some into Byzantine, now, since the start of the Ukraine war, more into Russian and European history. For someone who isn’t much into fiction and no longer inclined to read much science or philosophy for pleasure, history is a great area with some depth but also general interest.
Listened to almost all of Duncan’s Revolutions (and read his Lafayette book) but am not as enthralled by his History of Rome, though I may go back to it. Probably the best histories I’ve read the past couple of years are Fukuyama’s Origins of Political Order; The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 by Ritchie Robertson; and I’m currently enjoying The Pursuit of Power: Europe: 1815-1914, Richard J. Evans.
I’m surprised by that. I think my interest in politics and interest in history go hand in hand, and would have assumed folks on this board are much more interested in history than the general population.
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I’m probably not tje average UPer as I also don’t care much for politics either. I agree w your assessment.
I’m not even thinking of it now, smooth brain.
I’m into medieval history these days, so the only Roman empire I’m really thinking about is the Eastern bit.
I have a little interest but compared to people here I’m on your level I think. Like everyone here plays these crusader kings/EU games, reads history books and listens to podcasts. I don’t do any of that beyond listening to the occasional Hardcore History pod.
Btw. If anyone hasn’t read.
The master of Rome series by Colleen McCullough is really fucking good. Fictionalized but consistent with the historical record.
Sulla, Marius, the Gracchi, Ceasar. All very cool.
Also. the HBO series Rome is very cool. I think two seasons.
Does thinking about Gladiator (2000) count?
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Not gonna lie. First thought that came to mind.
Given how history and politics are tied at the hip, it’s hard to be into one without the other even if it’s just interpreting history to suit your view of politics.
I had to share this absolutely electric and insane take on my town’s Facebook page. This is in New Hampshire - no income or sales tax, but higher property taxes:
I would buy a 2nd and 3rd home, one on a lake up north and one in the mountains by a ski area, if it wasn’t for the taxes. The purchase price isn’t even the problem, it’s the taxes.
Taxes are important to pay for sending kids to school and all that, but why should I incur this 3 times for 3 homes? It doesn’t make any sense to have to completely repay all of your bills just because you bought another home.
We should update these laws: you pay the most expensive of your home property taxes, not the sum of all of them. That’s how states do it when you work and live in various states that have income taxes.
Edit - my wife informs me he is a troll, but she thinks he’s sincere here.
I see no unintended consequences here!
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The Venn diagram of people that bitch about property taxes and people that want to hang city councillors if their garbage isn’t picked up on time is a circle.
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I, Claudius is the shit.
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Is this about the deleted posts? I was trying to change some settings to bring back embedded tweets (twixts?), and was testing to see if it worked. It didn’t.
On that topic, the discourse installation is really out of date:
Anyone object to me just clicking that “Click here to upgrade” link and seeing what happens? YOLO and whatnot.
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I thought you were making an I Claudius joke about stuttering.
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