it happened on the way to the forum: gonzo & camille

Before entering into battle—or committing to any course of action for that matter, the Romans had many rituals that required strict observance. As military maneuvers especially were by and of the polity any breech of custom and reverence was an affront against one's neighbours and directly threatened public security and not just one's survival on the battle-field or the success or failure of any given mission. There are several war stories related about armies on the the march having to make a u-turn or at least pause over the auspices not being properly consulted. The actual ritual is shrouded in mystery, although the Romans were against exclusive cults in the main—including those up-start Christians, as they represented a threat to the State and public order, but seemed to be arm-wrestling the gods to secure a blessing. There are quite a few occasions when otherwise competent, successful and loyalty-inspiring generals were turned public-enemy for transgressing the divination-process, being distracted and tempted by targets of opportunity before the auspices were read and marching could resume.
Another grave transgression took place during the first engagement with Carthage, known as the Punic War (Punic being the Roman exonym for the Phoenicians who founded the north African naval and commercial power). Fearless about taking risky ventures outside of their element, Rome resolved to learn the art of seafaring to counter Carthage's strength and dominance. Such abandon was almost unheard of, but Rome, relying on perhaps the apocryphal tale of Athens countering Sparta in the same manner, was willing to take that risk. Although the first iteration of the wars general proclaim Rome the victor—only affording the chance to address attacks and revolts on other fronts, and more pain was to come, Rome became a tested and certified naval power. This prosperity came about by chance and mostly due to a spectacular failure in their first showing. In order to save time when it came to consulting the oracles, the sacred chickens were carried on board as the flagships made their way across the Mediterranean. The sacred chickens were to be consulted before advancing into enemy-waters (though Carthage had helped Rome over-throw the Greeks just a few years before but now constituted a threat to their trade-routes) and the ritual began—it is imaging this scene that makes me think of Gonzo and his harem of hens. If the chickens ate the feed they were tossed, then it was a sure sign of the gods' support for battle, however if they did not (and I find it rather hard to believe that chickens would not peck at something even if not hungry) then it was a sign to refrain. Having no time for such superstitions, the admiral proceeded to dump the coop overboard, proclaiming that if the sacred chickens were not hungry, maybe they were thirsty instead. That first encounter did not end well for the Romans, but Carthage dismissed Rome's prowess in subsequent engagements and grew over-confident in their own abilities, to their distinct disadvantage.

dig dug

Spotted on the ever-excellent BLDGBlog, here is beautifully crafted nineteenth century German boardgame from the collections of the British Museum called Der Bergbau. This precursor to Minecraft (which also does not have rules, per se) looks like a version of 'Chutes and Ladders' but there are unfortunately no instructions on how to play.

it happened on the way to the forum: metropolitan or pyrrhic victory

As Rome was developing militarily and diplomatically, securing alliances and growth by both strife and agreeable terms of surrender—extending much privilege to tribes that are willing to give up their sovereignty without a fight such as citizenship, protection and a retention of a good degree of autonomy, whereas resistance was inevitably overcome and all sorts of unpleasant punishments were meted out, including enslavement and displacement of the tribe with Roman settlers. Rome, by 304 BC with its victory over Samnium coalition, was in control of most of the Roman peninsula with the exception of the extreme south and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and Corsica, which were known as Magna Græcia.
Long ago, this area was settled by Greek colonists, however, these outposts grew into fiercely independent city-states, having no business with metropolitan (mother-city) Greece, nor Greece (never really a united empire with petty skirmishes among its own capitals) with them—concerned more with maintenance and eastern expansion. Alexander III of Macedonia (better known as Alexander the Great) finally realised a soupçon of unity and security in having forged an empire that stretched from Greece to India. If not for the Persians, this might might have gone westward instead and would have handily defeated the emergent Romans and left a very different legacy for the world to inherit, but affairs beyond the Adriatic were not of much concern for the Greeks. Roman incursions and baiting conflict (since the Rome would not engage in a dishonourable, unprovoked war but were not beyond skirting integrity by proxy) were nothing to rattle the Greeks, until a relative of Alexander the Great concluded that his cousin had already conquered whatever lands east there was to be taken, and this certain Pyrrhus of Epirus thought that holdings in Italy might be worth pursuing. A minor territorial-waters dispute between the Romans and a Greek city gave Pyrrhus the excuse he sought for sending in his armies.
Whereas Roman ascendency had only been heretofore regarded as a local problem and no real threat, the fledgling empire suddenly found itself thrust on the international stage. Pyrrhus did not receive the reception he had expected when he brought his armies into Magna Græcia, the colonies not interested in submitting to home-rule and the Roman fighting force was much more formidable an sophisticated than the hearsay that dismissed Rome as another barbarian tribe. Pyrrhus did manage a few costly gains and is forever embodied as the Pyrrhic Victory, saying that that the could not possibly survive another such win against the Romans. The involvement of this prince only served to delay the inevitable conquest of Magna Græcia and introduced the Romans to Greek fighting styles and battle elephants, which made their later encounters with Hannibal during the Punic Wars to follow not completely new and unexpected. These elephants, incidentally, were initially terrifying apparitions to the superstitious Romans, but they quickly devised a counter-attack, like the Rebels against the AT-ATs on Hoth, of circling the creature from a fast moving chariot and binding them with rope. Rome came to dominate all of Italy—and eventually Greek lands in the eastern Mediterranean, and fundamentally brought about the end of the independent city-state as a form of government, meaning that no nation was to exist without some allegiance, league or territorial expansion.

change-registry oder encyclopedia brown

I remember when, in some date-stamped recollections, when a school assignment required research in actual books and was a tethered affair. Once I was asked to produce a sort of newspaper—not an annual review or compilation of events but an an actual daily covering some chosen date from the Middle Ages. I found the gaps absolutely immense, without a more liberal deadline for creating this anachronism, which I was probably making tougher than it was supposed to be, not content to focus on a single coronation or day on the battlefield. The copy and the images came from a vintage edition of encyclopedias, I remember, with a lot of manual cutting and pasting, aligning images with copy.
I wonder if such tasks were more original, if viewed from above, or resulted in the same degree of copypasta as might such homework deliver today. Books in the Reference Section were those that did not leave the Library. Wikipedia is a very fine thing but there is something to be said for the ability to thumb through a tome whose relevance is arranged according to the editors' plans. Later, we had a contemporary edition of Funk & Wagnall's that somewhat supplanted the older set and I knew classmates had an embarrassment of variety from various publishers and encyclopedists. A 1937 edition of a fine German sits on the shelf of furnished apartment, mostly as decoration I suppose, which I look through from time to time. I never thought of an encyclopedia as propaganda or as a snap-shot in time, even though I always relied on vintage editions myself.
The altas volume had some particular interesting insights concerning the direction of the German Reich, including the migration of the Germans, immigrant saturation and new naming-conventions. Though such compositions exist as chronologies and as the snap-shot I struggled to create, I wonder what it means in terms of research and originality that there's an easy footnote and method to cull a periodical.

sponsored links or it came from the internets

Have you noticed those footer advertising matrices that becoming more and more prevalent at the bottom of news articles? The content, from industries baiting the fears and vanities of white people, seems a little incongruous as how better-quality news outlets are rewarding their readership for actually finishing a story—or less punishing those who retreat too early to the comments to get a synopsis and a skeptical rendering. They’re nearly as irritating as a pop-up ad in so far as they appear like recommended reading. Everyone ought to design their own.

can i haz?

Ark in Space has an interesting feature on a species of wild cat of the steppes of central Asia that has essential remained unchanged for some twelve-million years, with the branching off of modern felines. The Manul (Otocolobis manul) is also known as Pallas’ Cat for the German zoologist working in Russia that was the first to scientifically study the animal.
Though the size of a house-cat, Pallas’ Cat has a stockier build and heavy coat for the cold environment. Due to human encroachment and poaching for its pelt, the animal is becoming more and more threatened. Despite size and appearance, it is also not one to be tamed and adopted as a pet—plus because it lives in a very isolated place and does not come into proximity with members of its own kind or any others for that matter very often, the cats don’t seem to have a very well-developed immune-system and does not do well in captivity. Be sure to discover out more animal curiosities at the link.

it happened on the way to the forum: caput mundi or manifest destiny

The fledging republic of Rome was one of many Italian tribes with aspirations of expansion, security and trade—and probably would have been remained just another ambitious but obscure and forgettable clan without very original stories, had not they suffered a crushing defeat early on that tested their mettle and resilience and will for rebuilding and reform. The Roman Republic and Empire endured in the West for nearly a thousand years before the Gothic invasion, which precipitated its ultimate collapse. Imperium and trade were vehicles of culture—as the Latin language spread to ends of the earth, so too did the customs and beliefs that Romans adopted, with cults and dedications to Egyptian Ra and Osiris translated to Britain. We have the Gauls—specifically the Senones who crossed the Alps and occupied lands in northern Italy under the leadership of Brennus—to thank for kicking sand at the Romans. Some believe that the attack on Rome was a conspiracy between the Greek leaders of Syracuse in Sicily and Sparta—using the Gauls as a proxy force, to defeat Rome and gain control of the rest of the Italian peninsula. That is not how the Romans tell it—however, and as all records were destroyed it the siege, we’ll have to rely on the version of the vanquished. 
The Senones had crossed the Apennines and began raiding the Etruscan cities, including Siena. The Etruscan were former enemies of Rome but were now under an uneasy yoke of allegiance after surrendering to Rome. Those former battles probably made this flank of Roman territory vulnerable to incursion. In any case, Rome sent an embassy to negotiate a peace. When talks broke down, however, fighting resumed and the diplomats (against the standards of statecraft and the unwritten ius gentium, the Law of Nations, which addressed such conduct) joined in the scuffle. Outraged, Brennus demanded justice for this transgression and the citizens of Rome responded by appointing the diplomats as Military Tribunes. For this further insult, the Senones resolved to march south towards Rome. The Roman defensive lines fell rather quickly and panicked, the Romans retreated to the citadel—leaving the gates open and the city vulnerable. Not quite believing that success came so easily, the Senones waited a full day before entering the city—unconvinced that it was not a trap of some sort. With all the population holed-up, the invaders decided that they would starve the Romans out and prevail by attrition. The city was looted and with no one to respond, blazes engulfed much of the city. The Senones, however, were not well equipped for this waiting-game either and not accustomed to the hot weather and probably just wanted to go home at this point. Eventually a deal was struck, allowing the Romans to purchase peace at the high price of one thousand pounds (libra or libra pondo—a pound by weight, and hence the abbreviation lb and symbol £) of gold. As the Romans were emptying out there coffers, they noticed that the balance was weighted in Brennus’ favour—taking more gold to make a pound than it should have. When the Romans objected, Brennus slammed down his belt and sword, tipping the scales even more to his advantage, saying “Woe to the vanquished”—“Vae victis.” Dishonoured and their city in ruins, the Romans thought about disbanding and abandoning their capital and starting over, but the Senate rallied the people to rebuild—which gave us the jumbled, crowded Eternal City of today, being that there was little time for civic-planning as opposed to the orderly garrisons and outposts that the legions built as exhibitions began again almost immediately, and adopted new policies towards expansion and empire, having learnt from this experience—also adopting the fighting style and weapons of the Gauls. Of course, Rome would come to one day rule over Gaul and much of the broader expanses influenced by Celtic peoples, rebuilt and refurbished for conquest.