mediterra*

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• • anatolia (turkey)*
    The Turks are largely responsible for our government, sciences, et cetera. Let Eyvisl know if you would like to do the write-up for this fascinating culture!

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  • Reply To: Turkey Discussions*

    Beric

• • hellas (greece)
    The Democratic Greek Civilization :

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    Greece, called Achaea in very ancient times, was always a story of city-states dotted about the mainland and the various islands across the Aegean Sea. The first phrase of Greek civilisation is called 'The Minoan Period', after Minos, the mythical king of the Island of Crete, who lived at Knossos.
    The Minoan civilisation started around 3,000BCE and lasted until 1,400BCE, when a natural disaster seriously damaged the port and settlement. Meanwhile Greece itself, had constructed famous strongholds of Mycenae & Tiryns.
    On the North-West coast of modern day Turkey where Ilium or Troy had been constructed, somewhere around this time-line the Minoan civilization had totally collapsed, the famous and well recorded Trojan War was taking place, but no-one really knows how much the Trojan War was a myth or reality.
    All Greek historians really know is Homer's poems of 800BCE, 'The Iliad' & 'The Odyssey', had already been composed. They set the pace of Greek literature, while the uniqueness of Greek art was being developed at this time also.
    During this time period , the Greek city-states of Athens & Sparta were being developed into stronghold fortresses. By the fifth century BCE, Athens had reached its climax with the development of a sophisticated democracy and a fresh political theory in the Age of Pericles.
    Greek colonies were now dotted around the Mediterranean, including Southern Italy & the Island of Sicily, but the Greek city-states were forever in-fighting, Athens & Sparta brought each other to a virtual ruin in The Peloponesian War.
    Thus a weakened Greece was easy prey, first for Philip II, of Macedonia, 357-338BCE, and then for the Romans in 146BCE. But Greek art, culture, literature and sport remained immensely popular in the days of the Roman Empire. Today the Greeks are still heralded as the fathers of modern democracy and civilisation.
    Reference used : Athildas Coel & Guy de la Bedoyere

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  • Reply To: Greece Discussions

    Eyvisl Yngling

• • rome
    Omnium Rerum Principia Parva Sunt.
    (transl. "The Beginnings Of All Things Are Small.")

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    The history of Rome is long and complex, a village that became the Eternal City, is quite an ancient accomplishment, and planting the seed of her Western civilization, a monarchy becoming a Republic reflected through the hist of Europe.
    Italy had to be conquered first, before Rome turns its attention to greater Europe, parts of Africa, and then the Near & Middle East, spreading its culture & Literacy over the Mediterranean, also commerce with minted coinage.
    All these countries incorporated into a Empire that had around a quarter of the world's population under its governance, packed with immigrating young men, the Romans needed female inhabitants to rectify the imbalance, kidnapping the Sabine womenfolk that sparked off a war that ended with a truce as both Roman & Sabine joined forces.
    Right from the start Rome had an organised military, regiments of 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry were called legions and their foundation was ascribed to Romulus himself.
    Almost the only source on this period of Roman history is Titus Livius or Livy (59BCE-17AD). Some 200 years after the conquest of Italy, Livy had composed 142 books on Rome's early history, but only 54 survive to this day.
    The last, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed in 509BCE in a revolt lead by Lucius Junius Brutus, the founder of the Roman Republic. Elected Consuls would now rule Rome.
    Reference Used : Historia Romanorum.

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    Mirum Est Quanta Sit Roma!
    (transl: "It is amazing how big Rome is!")

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    My apologies if this sounds like a child's guide to Rome, but I am the son of simple rustic folk and I have never been in a settlement constructed of stone that is so vast ! Rome is located near to the west coast of Italy, the village that grew into the first city and then into an Empire, and the center of power for 1,000 years.
    Many major roads led into the City of Rome, the Latin name for a road was Via, as in the Via Appia, the Via Aurelia, the Via Cassia & the Via Salaria, I was amazed to see inside the City the streets were paved, clean and free of dust.
    I marveled at the ingenuity of the water aqueducts, bringing fresh water into the City, and some citizens seem to have running water in their houses, and there's public fountains and baths dotted around the City. I am use to soap and bathing in the river !
    There's a statue of a wolf suckling two boys, a citizen told me it depicts Romulus & Remus, must be their gods, it certainly not flat like my native Ychen, I counted seven hills, the Aventine, the Caelian, the Capitoline, the Esquiline, the Palatine, the Quirinal and lastly the Viminal Hill, a citizen told me at the statue of the mother wolf that one of the boys founded the City of Rome on the Palatine Hill, but she didn't say which one.
    At the center of their public life is the Roman Forum, this rectangular plaza is surrounded by public buildings, temples to their gods and basilicas where trade & commerce take place.
    Many important buildings were around the Roman Forum :
    The Regia : Where the Roman kings lived, now the offices of the Roman spiritual men.
    The Comitium : The center of politics & judicial activities.
    The Temple of Caesar : Honoring Julius after his death.
    The Temple of Saturn : The God of Agriculture.
    The Tabularium : The Place of Records
    The Orator's Rostra :
    Senate Curia : Where The Elected Senators Meet
    The Arch of Septimius Severus : Rome's Triumphal Arch.
    Reference used : Historia Romanorum.

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    @beric_debenkah

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  • Reply To: Roman Themes & Legends.

    Denarius

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• • Mediterranean Discussions

    Started by: Eyvisl Yngling

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  • MeryetNit

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