All Questions
Tagged with ancient-rome ancient-greece
50
questions
3
votes
1
answer
149
views
Why is syncretism mostly described through an "interpretatio graeca", rather than any other polytheism? [closed]
Ancient Greeks such as Herodotus thought other culture's gods (e.g. Egyptian) are actually same deities as theirs, just having different names.
For example, Plutarch said
Not different gods for ...
- 41
2
votes
1
answer
191
views
Did the polytheist Greeks or Romans call their priests “father”?
I assume not, but perhaps it has just escaped me, because I am so used to this form of address from the Greek Orthodox Church. There might be texts showing that some of them did, or texts commenting ...
- 2,660
7
votes
1
answer
158
views
What was this king/ warrior's exact name (AGATHOFLIS)
I'm reading some books (in Arabic) about north African history, and exactly the Igilgili (modern day Jijel ) region and I found a story about a warrior / king who tried to conquer the region (4th ...
- 241
5
votes
1
answer
321
views
Did Rome annex Byzantium, the Greek city state, around 47AD?
This well-received YouTube video claims that Rome annexed Thrace in 45AD and then the Greek City State of Byzantium in 47 AD. Byzantium is also the last surviving Greek City State after the Rome ...
- 189
2
votes
1
answer
244
views
Where were there fractal structures in ancient Rome?
I am looking for some examples of fractal or fractal-like structures and patterns in ancient Rome. I did some research but did not find much. On this topic I only found this article Scipedia.com where ...
- 145
16
votes
1
answer
963
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Why did Pausanias travel to Greece?
Pausanias wrote his Description of Greece in the first century AD, which remains a priceless resource for classicists and archaeologists to this day.
I've made a quick perusal of the text itself, as ...
- 2,009
-3
votes
1
answer
285
views
What did the Greeks call their gods while under Roman rule? [closed]
I read this question and it made me think. The Romans "inherited" the Greek gods, they just gave them new names, but what happened in actual Greece after the Roman conquest of Greece? Did ...
- 1,776
14
votes
1
answer
562
views
When was the first time Rome was mentioned in outside records (and specifically, in Greek ones)?
Most information that we have on the history of ancient Rome came from Roman records themselves. However, I'm curious about the first extant document where the city was unequivocally mentioned by ...
- 143
-3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Did Hellenic-Romans have Ancient Greek heritage?
I had the results of my "true ancestry" back. You upload DNA data and they compare it to DNA obtained from ancient burial sites.
Interestingly, I had a strong match to "Hellenic-Roman", but nothing ...
- 9
12
votes
2
answers
4k
views
How alcoholic were ancient Greek and Roman wines, before and after dilution?
My understanding is that people in ancient Greece and Rome used to dilute their wine before drinking it. Do we know the ABV values for diluted and undiluted wines?
EDIT: I realize there is a similar ...
- 309
11
votes
1
answer
436
views
What actually happened in Greek and Roman temples of healing?
Greeks first had temples of healing under Apollo, and when Apollo as the god of healing was displaced by Asclepius, these temples ended up as asclepeion. The Romans adopted this idea of temples for ...
- 628
10
votes
1
answer
406
views
Are there any exemplars of the 'trope of the exiled poet' prior to CE 8?
For a class of mine I'm writing a paper on Ovid's Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, where I argue that underneath Ovid's lamentation of his exile and praise for Augustus, he immortalizes himself as the ...
- 203
35
votes
4
answers
11k
views
What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
What is the difference between the Ancient Greek religion and the Ancient Roman religion?
My question is about, not cultural differences, but conceptual differences." Wikipedia doesn't compare them. ...
- 491
39
votes
6
answers
8k
views
How serious was Fermat's statement about the ancients?
I am extremely interested in the idea that there was a period in time when, at least in the west, people looked upon the ancients (Romans/Greeks) as possessors of wisdom that had been lost. Fermat ...
- 1,748
7
votes
1
answer
440
views
What is the earliest depiction of a crane?
Various sources on the internet - such as Crane (machine), A History Of The Crane and The sky is the limit: human powered cranes and lifting devices - state that the Ancient Greeks were the inventors ...
- 107k
11
votes
1
answer
582
views
What happened to the coins in ancient Greece and Rome when monarchs changed?
Were there any instances in the ancient periods of Greece and Rome, where the succeeding monarchs/state leaders refused to acknowledge the coins issued by the preceding monarch, i.e., decreed the ...
- 213
4
votes
1
answer
130
views
Where did Cicero talk about Plato's Menexenus Funeral Oration?
I'm writing a paper on Aspasia--ancient Greek woman rhetorician--and in Plato's Menexenus he attributes a funeral oration to her. I found references in a couple of places to Cicero saying that the ...
- 43
30
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Did germophobia exist in classical antiquity?
I know nothing of the cleaning habits of the Greeks, but about Rome Mary Beard (2015) says that doctors knew that going to the public baths with an open wound would likely result in gangrene, so it ...
- 1,641
2
votes
1
answer
518
views
What coin/pendant is this and is it worth any money?
This was found a long time ago by my neighbour who has now passed it on to me. It has NAX IOIA on the coin with what I believe to be a kings or gods face on one side and some grapes and vines on the ...
- 21
5
votes
1
answer
2k
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What was the largest ancient theatre?
If I was to be more specific, can anyone name the largest ancient Greco-Roman theater-(excluding the Roman amphitheaters, such as the Coliseum in Rome and Verona, as well as the amphitheater in ...
user26763
2
votes
2
answers
417
views
Ancient Greek or Roman Teenaged Suicide for Glory
I'm trying to track down an anecdote I remember hearing many years ago about a ancient Roman (or Greek) teenager who attempted to immortalize his name by a particularly flashy act of suicide. The ...
- 314
2
votes
1
answer
370
views
Who were some Greek Plebeian Gentes, especially from Magna Graecia?
I'm looking for foreign influences on the Plebeians. Who are some Plebeian Gentes that were Greek, perhaps from Magna Graecia or Sicily? I vaguely recall reading about one from Campania, who came in ...
- 3,270
4
votes
1
answer
305
views
Did the Greeks and Romans use reputational incentives to induce people to pay more tax?
I read the following tidbit in a monologue here. It sounds interesting and plausible but I couldn't verify it:
Let me tell you a little bit about providing people with the
opportunity to ...
- 141
14
votes
3
answers
4k
views
What ships did pirates use in ancient Greece and Rome?
I imagine they did not have the funds to buy or build heavy military ships, so I wonder what did they use.
Did they re-purpose civilian ships?
- 141
-1
votes
1
answer
106
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Which were the most entrepreneurial AND prosperous cities in different eras? [closed]
[For what I mean by "an entrepreneurial and prosperous city," see the bulleted points below.]
We're looking for a name for a research project. We're trying to be creative with the name and one of the ...
- 115
3
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Are there examples in ancient history of honor killing?
Honor killing, most often, the murder of a woman or girl by male family members. The killers justify their actions by claiming that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family name or prestige. ...
- 216
2
votes
1
answer
234
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If archaeology shows that people abandoned the ancient Trojan region around the 6th century BC, why do we have so few written evidences of that?
My professor told us that people lived around the location of ancient Troy up to the beginning of the 6th century BC and moved away mostly because they couldn't deal with prices in Neorion Harbour.
...
5
votes
2
answers
366
views
What was typical agricultural produce in Rome or Greece roundabout 2000-3000ya?
During worldbuilding for a roleplaying campaign, I realized that I have a reasonable idea of what people have been growing (and eating) in northern Europe (rye, cabbage, turnips, beets and other roots,...
- 12.2k
3
votes
2
answers
447
views
What did Flaminius bring to the Greeks?
In Montaigne's essay "Of Cannibals", Montaigne writes:
"I know not," said he, "what kind of
barbarians" (for so the Greeks called all other nations) "these may be; but the disposition
of this ...
- 133
17
votes
4
answers
6k
views
What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?
Most countries define the age of adulthood at 18 years.
Why is this? Was there some historical precedent set in ancient Rome/Greece or something like that? Why 18 years and not some "nicer" number ...
- 17.1k
-3
votes
2
answers
260
views
Is there an instance where Rome adopted a weapon to win a war?
I thought I had read that Roman soldiers had adopted crossbows to defeat the Pythagoreans. However after Google and Wikipedia, I can't find support for this.
Or was there some other example where the ...
- 17
3
votes
2
answers
229
views
The role of science in enabling the survival of civilisations [closed]
The Claim
asapScience has a video about the role of science in the society. In their video, they claim:
When we look to history we see that ignoring science has led to the crumbling of societies. ...
- 231
19
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Is there any evidence of arachnophobia in ancient history?
Are there any sources that would tell us whether (any) ancient Greeks or Romans were afraid of spiders?
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Did Archimedes have any students?
We know that Archimedes learnt a lot from his father, Phidias (who was an astronomer) and most likely studied in Alexandria, alongside other great contemporaries such as Eratosthenes of Cyrene and ...
18
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What were Greek and Roman sails made from?
I have found that Vikings used sails made from wool; can anyone tell me what the sails of ancient Greece and Rome would have been made from?
5
votes
1
answer
286
views
Name of the ancient law that forbade naming/publicising the name of a criminal?
I think it was a Roman law, and it said that when a horrific crime was committed, the criminal could not be named, and anyone who disobeyed would suffer capital punishment. I can't remember the name, ...
12
votes
1
answer
775
views
Why do Strabo, Pliny and Diodorus cite Pytheas in disbelief?
According to the wikipedia page on Germanic tribes, (direct quotation)
The first news about the Germanic world are contained in the lost Pytheas work. It is believed that Pytheas travelled to ...
- 486
7
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Where was the cultural inheritance of the Greco/Roman world/antiquity preserved?
In school and later in media (this is northern Europe) I was/am always told that it was the Arabs/Muslim world that preserved the science, technology, literature, art, culture etc from the Greek and ...
- 1,776
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Visit of Greek philosophers to Rome in 155 BCE
In 155 BCE a delegation of three Greek philosophers arrived in Rome on a political mission (to negotiate the settlement of war fines). During their stay they succeeded in raising Greek philosophy to ...
- 14.3k
9
votes
1
answer
595
views
how did the Cynics of Greece and Rome eat
How did the Ancient Cynics like Diogenes eat during their time? I know they only believed in eating natural foods but don't know how they procured it. If they didn't believe in wealth, they could not ...
- 247
8
votes
2
answers
915
views
How did the Greeks and Romans move between their destinations?
As we know, the Greeks and later also the Romans built street networks to connect their settlements to each other. For me, this fact raised an issue: How did the Greeks and Romans move between their ...
- 3,393
20
votes
1
answer
1k
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Why haven't Etruscan texts survived?
In Wikipedia it's claimed that Etruscan Civilization had a rich literature, but only one Etruscan text has survived.
And AFAIK at the same moment we have many Ancient Greeks texts roughly from the ...
- 511
9
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Were early accounts of ancient child prostitution accurate?
Well I'm doing a research about the history and background of Child Sexual Abuse and due to the few sources related to the topic, I've been stucked ,but recently a I found this book "The Encyclopedia ...
- 91
26
votes
3
answers
31k
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Is there any evidence of STD's in ancient times?
Are there any ancient texts that show or imply that their authors knew that certain diseases were spread through sexual activity? It seems like sexual contagion was recognized in the 16th century ...
- 2,509
13
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Why did the Romans incorporate and rename the Greek pantheon? [closed]
I have read on occasion that they kept the pantheon out of admiration and/or to keep the peace with the newly conquered Greeks, but I have never seen any hard evidence or writings that say this in in ...
- 147
47
votes
7
answers
50k
views
Why did Greeks and Romans dilute their wine?
I’ve gathered that ancient Greeks and Romans watered their wine heavily, up to 90% water. Roman-era Talmudic sources speak of wine not being fit to drink until it had been watered (although mixtures ...
- 822
6
votes
5
answers
942
views
Monotheism/Atheism in Polytheistic societies
I would like to know if there are any documents telling us how common (or if it even existed) among people in polytheistic societies (like ancient Greece, Rome, etc.) it was to believe that there is ...
- 163
9
votes
1
answer
5k
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Did the Romans "copy" their political system from the Greeks?
This is an outgrowth of the discussion here. My sense is that the Romans developed their system autochthonously, probably with some influence from their Etruscan neigbours and one-time-overlords.
...
- 25.2k
10
votes
1
answer
403
views
How widespread was practice of fusion of Graeco-Roman and barbarian names?
There are some instances when barbarian names were romanized in order to be similar to already existing Roman or Greek names. Just some examples that come to mind:
Hebrew Martha -> Marta ("of Mars")
...
- 32.1k
13
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Did war chariots ever actually have blades on the wheel hubs?
Several movies depict Greek and Roman war chariots with sharp, sword like blades protruding from the hub in the centre of the wheels. Was such a design just theatre on the part of the movies or is ...
- 4,819