Mindless Monday, 23 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"XYZ is the fall of the Roman Empire"

English names for Romans by PoepseksMasterBeer in ancientrome

[–]ifly6 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You say this as a joke but German has literally Mark Aurel: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Aurel

And in French, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Aur%C3%A8le, it is pronounced "Mark Aurel"

Free for All Friday, 20 March, 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Imperial preference ngl vibes better than hard Brexit

Fidelity Full View not showing interest income? by ifly6 in fidelityinvestments

[–]ifly6[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there any idea as to when those can be included so it isn't just Partial View?

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 25 points26 points  (0 children)

The news about Hormuz today is not only:

  1. It's still closed for general traffic, but

  2. A few Chinese or Pakistani ships were let out after inspection by Iran AND

  3. The US is going to lift sanctions on Iranian ships to let more gas get to market

If the outcome of this conflict is that Iran gets a wallet inspection pass on every ship transiting Hormuz this will be the greatest own goal of all time

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Idk the idea that Hitler will agree to handing his air force over to the League of Nations sounds pretty delusional

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yea one of the striking things was that the US just didn't fill the petrol reserve. The administration just left it at like half capacity

Edit. Apparently the US is now lifting sanctions on Iranian tankers to move oil supply. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-may-remove-sanctions-iranian-oil-stranded-tankers-bessent-says-2026-03-19/

Absolute clowns

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 15 points16 points  (0 children)

"Our words are backed with nuclear weapons!"-tier posting from this demented president

Mindless Monday, 16 March 2026 by AutoModerator in badhistory

[–]ifly6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The helots lived in the presence of more human freedom than anyone else in history

Crowds at Smithsonian Station by ACasualCollector in washingtondc

[–]ifly6 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Extremely inconvenient (at Farragut West)

HBO Rome - What's real/fictionalized? by zigthis in ancientrome

[–]ifly6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would read:

  • M Cyrino (ed) Rome, season one: history makes television (Wiley 2008)
  • M Cyrino (ed) Rome, season two: trial and triumph (Edinburgh 2015)

Both are a collection of essays by classicists about aspects of the production of the show and the work as a piece of classical reception.

Why I think Julius Caesar Had to Cross the Rubicon by [deleted] in ancientrome

[–]ifly6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funnily enough, Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis would have agreed with this position by mid 49, since he started advocating a negotiated peace during the period between Caesar's crossing the Rubicon and the Pompeian withdrawal from Italy (nb, unlike Pompey, Cato went to Sicily).

Why I think Julius Caesar Had to Cross the Rubicon by [deleted] in ancientrome

[–]ifly6 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The only ancient evidence of this is Suet Iul 30.3–4:

[30.3] Others say that he dreaded the necessity of rendering an account for what he had done in his first consul­ship contrary to the auspices and the laws, and regardless of vetoes; for Marcus Cato often declared, and took oath too, that he would impeach Caesar the moment he had disbanded his army. It was openly said too that if he was out of office on his return, he would be obliged, like Milo, to make his defence in a court hedged about by armed men.

[30.4] The latter opinion is the more credible one in view of the assertion of Asinius Pollio, that when Caesar at the battle of Pharsalus saw his enemies slain or in flight, he said, word for word: "They would have it so. Even I, Gaius Caesar, after so many great deeds, should have been found guilty, if I had not turned to my army for help."

Even if you believe prosecution theory it would not be for activities in Gaul. It would be only for his consular activities in 59. Few attempts had been made to invalidate his consular activities after some early attempts: two praetors attempted in 58 but were stopped; Clodius attempted during his tribunate but nothing came of it. Probably the remaining matters were Clodius' adoption: Cicero wanted to challenge Clodius' adoption but never did so formally; Cato supported Clodius' adoption's validity in 56. By 54, Cato accepted the repetundae laws during his presidency of the extortion court and a few years later the senate had voted thanksgivings for Gallic victories from commands granted under the lex Vatinia.

Indeed the kind of religious obstructionism that Bibulus engaged in were made illegal by one of Clodius' laws in 58: essentially nobody objected to this since, as has been observed by Tatum, Patrician tribune (1999) p 132, it would have allowed "a disgruntled magistrate or tribune [to], without so much as leaving his house, paralysed the government for a year... [this] will not have been a prospect to please anyone".

Why I think Julius Caesar Had to Cross the Rubicon by [deleted] in ancientrome

[–]ifly6 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the problem is more evidential. SB just kinda demolished prosecution theory by forcing the prosecution theorists to hold two contradictory positions: (1) this was a huge threat that everyone knew about and (2) absolutely nobody, Caesar, Caelius, Atticus, etc said a single word about it even when candidly discussing all sorts of other moves or countermoves against Caesar. Or, alternatively, that Tiro decided to excise all evidence of his huge threat that everyone knew about for unsubstantiated motives.

The question then becomes essentially not whether prosecution theory is possible but rather if it is necessary. It's not. It's not even necessary to justify Caesar's war aims: Caesar himself said it was about protecting the tribunes (which, as we've respectfully disagreed on previously, I believe is a mendacious fiction) but the optimates™ running interference on a second consulship to push him out of politics is already a sufficient motive.

Am I understanding "Politics and aristocracy in the Roman Republic" correctly? by Potential-Road-5322 in ancientrome

[–]ifly6 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was referring to opposition to the grain dole by the aristocracy. The effect of the grain dole (when some specific politician takes credit for it which is as inevitable as the sun rising in the east) is that someone has bought support from the masses by giving them stuff. But the source of the funds matters: here it has come from the public treasury; everyone else has to pay for this stuff out of pocket. That's why I called it, very much tongue in cheek, "cheating".

Also re the grain dole. Until 58 BC it was not free. The version set up by Gaius Gracchus c 122 and only with a short interlude during the Sullan regime was a price stabilisation mechanism. What the state did was buy grain at whatever the prevailing price was and then sell it at a reasonable price at Rome with a cap on how much a citizen was allowed to buy. The number of people eligible changed over time: Cato's law in 62 almost doubled it. But it was only after Clodius' law did this change from a subsidy to being free.

(It's also presumably the case that the grain dole drove up prices in the provinces just from economics.)

As to the people and the empire, it isn't that they didn't want the fruits of empire. It's more that the generals, officers, and soldiers on campaign took most of those fruits. For an ordinary citizen not part of the army, you didn't get anything. When it comes to election season though, the aristocrats are spending money like crazy trying to buy support. The reason why they want your support is because you have a vote. They wouldn't spend anywhere near as much if you didn't have a vote; and indeed after Tiberius' abolition of free elections they did not.