How often do you think about the Roman Empire?

[Michael569]

Evidently there is a popular TickToc , girls asking their boyfriends this question and getting surprisingly positive answers like "3 times a day", "5 times a day". 

I always though I was weird for being fascinated by this part of human history, visiting roman sites, reading books from 1960s about Punic Wars, invasion of Britania etc... but maybe its not that weird after all?

What are your "Roman Empires" that you think all the time that would weird others out? 

 

 

Edited Friday at 08:21 PM by Michael569

[UnbornTao]

It's either Ancient Greece, or nothing. 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:30 PM by UnbornTao

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Wouldn't take CancerTok too seriously. But that's besides the point. Why would it be weird to be interested or even fascinated by it at times? It was a pretty marvelous state that not only grew into a huge proportions, but also lasted for more than a thousand years (over 2 thousand if we also include history of eastern roman empire). They also pretty much created western civilization as we know it today.

If women only defined what was weird and what was cool (which they do in a way), then probably 60% of all things would be deemed lame and only pure materialism and "fun" would remain

[Oppositionless]

I spend a lot more time thinking about whales and dolphins. And giant Triassic Ichthyosaurs. These are the two largest groups of animals to have ever existed. Blue whales can reach 200 tons, and some upper estimates for giant ichthyosaurs, the ichthyotitians, place them on par with blue whales. In my mind it's a toss up as to which is larger, the whales have the efficiency of filter feeding on their side, but the ichtyotitans have the slower reptitlian metabolism.

Livyatan was a giant sperm whale that competed with megaladon, and Orcas are , in my opinion, the most dominant oceanic predator we know of, past or present.

Edited Friday at 07:42 PM by Oppositionless

[Michael569]

17 hours ago, UnbornTao said:

Nah, Ancient Greece or nothing. 

Ancient Greece and Macedonia are still on my to-read list 

@NewKidOnTheBlock haha, good argument! Agreed

15 hours ago, Oppositionless said:

I spend a lot more time thinking about whales and dolphins. And giant Triassic Ichthyosaurs. These are the two largest groups of animals to have ever existed. Blue whales can reach 200 tons, and some upper estimates for giant ichthyosaurs, the ichthyotitians, place them on par with blue whales. In my mind it's a toss up as to which is larger, the whales have the efficiency of filter feeding on their side, but the ichtyotitans have the slower reptitlian metabolism.

Livyatan was a giant sperm whale that competed with megaladon, and Orcas are , in my opinion, the most dominant oceanic predator we know of, past or present.

That's a pretty fascinating topic to think about. Isn't Ichthyosaurs the one that was discovered in Dorset, UK recently that was also on BBC? There is a museum here called Etches Collection and I think they have quite a few fossilised bodyparts and recently discovered a massive one. Or was that something else?

https://www.theetchescollection.org/

I took this pic in the museum last year 

 

Edited Saturday at 10:49 AM by Michael569

[Sucuk Ekmek]

So you are asking about roman empire...

Empire is a mindset that determines how we view the world and your position in it  and it's all about control... It didn't disapear after the fall of the roman empire. It changed its shape through the latest technology, as Churchill said "The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."

 

 

[Sandhu]

Fantisizing all the time. BTW I was Achilles in one of my previous lives.

Edited Saturday at 04:41 PM by Sandhu

[AION]

Civilization is a machine. That is why we men think about it while others think about other stuff. Just imagine how depended we are on civilization. Most people don’t contemplate this. 

Edited Saturday at 05:08 PM by AION

[Nemra]

On 1/31/2025 at 9:36 PM, Michael569 said:

What are your "Roman Empires" that you think all the time that would weird others out? 

Psychedelics.

However, I wouldn't base what others think on cringe TikTok videos.

Edited Saturday at 05:50 PM by Nemra

[Oppositionless]

7 hours ago, Michael569 said:

Ancient Greece and Macedonia are still on my to-read list 

@NewKidOnTheBlock haha, good argument! Agreed

That's a pretty fascinating topic to think about. Isn't Ichthyosaurs the one that was discovered in Dorset, UK recently that was also on BBC? There is a museum here called Etches Collection and I think they have quite a few fossilised bodyparts and recently discovered a massive one. Or was that something else?

https://www.theetchescollection.org/

I took this pic in the museum last year 

 

Yes! There were two discoveries recently in Britain . Ichtyotitan severnesis and Aust Collosus. The jury is out as to whether they are the same species, but regardless they're massive. Size estimate for Aust is 175 tonnes. Even if it doesn't reach large baleen whale size (size estimates in paleontology tend to go down rather than up for some reason), it's certainly way bigger than the previous record holder for largest toothed carnivore , the megaladon shark.

if you look at the jaw structure, it's actually remarkably similar to sperm whales, so their prey of choice was probably giant squids. Current depictions, I think, are going to be outdated soon as we discover that they had blubber like modern whales. The current depictions are way too streamlined and bony for a massive animal.

 

Edited Saturday at 06:31 PM by Oppositionless

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Also, there's one major, deep and kinda profound thing I've missed, and that is that the reason why a lot of men are thinking about the Roman Empire, is because it seems like people back then had a clear purpose in their lives. There was seemingly always something to fight for (or fight against), there was also seemingly always something to build and create. If we trust in SD model, Romans were very brutally stage red (almost all states back then were stage red but Romans were particuliarly so) and everyone lived with a very clear purpose in their lives. We are living comparatively much better lives but this strong element of life purpose (having something to fight for or fight against, and even if not that, your role in society is clearly defined) is no longer there. Also it appears that we've become kinda pussified and comfortable

Edited Saturday at 10:35 PM by NewKidOnTheBlock

[Schizophonia]

@Michael569 Invade the United Kingdom to inseminate civilization there 👺.

 

More seriously being able to materialize or manifest things, increasing the level of the maya’s game to this point.

If i understood the question well.

Edited Saturday at 10:48 PM by Schizophonia

[Nemra]

@NewKidOnTheBlock, yes, as a young slave, you would have had a clear purpose because you would have been too busy surviving in one way from the beginning, which most likely wouldn't even have been your choice.

You would have been sold to a master and given no time to complain or consider how you disliked their lifestyle.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

@Nemra Roman population was about 50-60 million at it's peak and the ammount of slaves possibly 5 - 10 million. So that's only 1 in a 5 chance you would've been a slave, I like those odds

[Nemra]

1 hour ago, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

@Nemra Roman population was about 50-60 million at it's peak and the ammount of slaves possibly 5 - 10 million. So that's only 1 in a 5 chance you would've been a slave, I like those odds

Still, you are imagining how things could have been for you from a modern perspective. Also, it's not only about being a slave that could make it worse.

If you don't like modern or post-modern, then you can find some pre-modern places to live in. But I assume you won't like it, or maybe you would.

Edited Sunday at 09:37 AM by Nemra

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

14 minutes ago, Nemra said:

Still, you are imagining how things could have been for you from a modern perspective. Also, it's not only about being a slave that could make it worse.

If you don't like modern or post-modern, then you can find some pre-modern places to live in. But I assume you won't like it, or maybe you would.

I never said I would want to live in that era, I'm just pointing out what our era is lacking in a bit that people in the past didn't even have to think about cause it wasn't a problem for them. Of course I would never deny that we have it much better overall (althought technically medieval peasants may have had more free time than us, but that's besides the point. Idk about Roman peasant tho, especially towards the end of the empire, they had it very very rough)

[Michael569]

On 01/02/2025 at 10:47 PM, Schizophonia said:

More seriously being able to materialize or manifest things, increasing the level of the maya’s game to this point.

If i understood the question well.

as usual, I don't follow

On 01/02/2025 at 10:33 PM, NewKidOnTheBlock said:

Also, there's one major, deep and kinda profound thing I've missed, and that is that the reason why a lot of men are thinking about the Roman Empire, is because it seems like people back then had a clear purpose in their lives. There was seemingly always something to fight for (or fight against), there was also seemingly always something to build and create. If we trust in SD model, Romans were very brutally stage red (almost all states back then were stage red but Romans were particuliarly so) and everyone lived with a very clear purpose in their lives. We are living comparatively much better lives but this strong element of life purpose (having something to fight for or fight against, and even if not that, your role in society is clearly defined) is no longer there. Also it appears that we've become kinda pussified and comfortable

This is a great comment and there is something to it. I was reflecting on this topic a bit deeper over weekend (because why not, right). 

I suppose it also depends on where we are looking. Say, we are talking 50 AD around the time when Britannia was invaded. Some civilisations like Parthia were already significantly advanced yet many would have been still fairly underdeveloped compared to the might of Rome. 

I don't know about purpose , the way we see it today, as something that is desirable and worth following. Ina  way you have to be a bit fortunate in the first place to even think about something as your life purpose today. This forum can be a bit of an echo chamber but its not a common thing today for people to even think about something as life purpose or passion. 

Back then even more so. People were just doing their best to survive. I'd say, life was definitely less distracted back then but people still had things that worried them: large cities were collecting taxes which people had to pay, you had to pay rent just like today, cooking daily meals, bringing up kids, dealing with sicknesses, attending religious ceremonies,  the hassle and bussle of daily life. People still needed to have jobs alebeit jobs were different, mostly manual labour but people still had to earn money. Maybe if you joined the legions as a young man, the life became simpler as your whole life revolved around the army pretty much but then you had the risk of death in battle, disease or disabling injury. Not to mention army life was brutal, constant practice drills, exposure to elements, lack of food, lack of money, you had to fund the purchase of your equipment, had to serve 25 years to be given a land to retire etc. 

We often associate heroism and stoicism with Rome and strong values of advanced society but true is many people still lived in poverty, hardship, squalor and disease. Even in Rome itself, the amount of murder, rape and filth that was happening in back alleys on a daily basis must have been overwhelming. There was a reason the urban cohorts were patrolling the streets at night with torches and full body armour. There was also a reason armies were generally prevented from bringing weapons inside, even the roman legions because they were untrustful and there were histories of civil wars in Rome when armies turned against eachother. Rich folk used armed guard to move around the city. 

People were tougher because they had to be. Nowadays we are not because we don't have to be. You don't need to be strong today to survive and life has got safe and comfortable. Its not all bad but I agree that being too weak and complacent can lead to becoming sick and ageing prematurely. 

So there is still much we can learn from them, lessons to apply but a lot of it is being romanticized today. I'm glad I didn't live in that part of human history although I am very fascinated by it and lucky to live in country that preserved tons of roman sites and history, last month I bought a roman coin in the antique shop but for all I know it might be fake

 

Edited Monday at 10:52 AM by Michael569