Empire in Apocalypse

"General Flavius Belisarius's father once told him, 'In love, we discover who we hope to be; in war, we come to understand who we truly are.'"

The above is an excerpt from Empire in Apocalypse, the newly released book by Robert Bruton.

General Flavius Belisarius - A Biography:… pic.twitter.com/8vxkkIf8tR

— Legend Books (@LegendBooksCo) August 21, 2023

This Could Be Good

Now the sales pitch. If you’re looking for an introduction to the Roman military that takes a bottom-up approach, and which is centred on the perspective of 3 historical Roman soldiers, this might be for you. @WileyHumanities pic.twitter.com/O2Otk5lC7L

— Conor Whately (@ConorWhately) September 15, 2020

Wiley

With the Fires Raging in Greece

it may be a chastisement for the Greeks becoming neo-pagans.

…as an example because at this time we identified as Roman, not Hellenic / Greek because to be Roman was to be a man of God and to be Hellenic / Greek was to be a pagan. This continued all the way into the 1800s until around the time of the birth of modern Greece in 1821…

— Baklava Badman 🏝📿🇬🇷🇨🇴🇵🇸 🇨🇺 (@DIAS) August 8, 2021

Roman Beehive Collecting

How The Romans Collected Beehives In The Wild https://t.co/go1MN5iZLs via @QuintusCurtius

— QuintusCurtius (@QuintusCurtius) February 7, 2021

Solidus of Justin I and Justinian I

https://t.co/LTmm7GyWvl

— The Byzantine Legacy (@ByzantineLegacy) January 26, 2021

Spoiler Alert: This Is a Positive Appraisal of the Constantinian Shift

An Interesting Comment by Francis Ford Coppola on Orthodox Christianityhttps://t.co/C227GJNRib pic.twitter.com/frXcoJI2Ds

— Mystagogy (@mystagogy1) December 1, 2020

Something on the Roman Empire

Controversial?

What have the Romans ever done for us? Harry Sidebottom, author of The Return, considers who benefitted from Roman imperialist expansion - and who didn't. In #Historia now:https://t.co/eERBVcxMaR#AncientRome #histfic #history pic.twitter.com/FKXcWLhW41

— Historia - The HWA (@HistoriaHWA) November 29, 2020

The Fall of Constantinople

Today in History: The Sword of Islam Conquers Ancient Christian Capital - Raymond Ibrahim https://t.co/iGNNG1RekI

— Raymond Ibrahim (@RaymondIbrahim5) May 29, 2020

But Franks are gonna be Franks and promote their fiction...

I know this doesn’t seem terribly relevant to current events, but with the recent anniversary of the fall of Constantinople I just want to clarify that the last Roman Emperor was not Constantine XI. It was Francis II.

Knowing when the Roman Empire fell may be important.

Thanks.

— Rafael de Arízaga (@RafaeldeArizaga) May 29, 2020

This one was better:

As the great Spanish political theorist, Dalmacio Negro, writes, the true theory of government is always a theory of oligarchy. Find them, identify and rank their internal squabbles, and you have your constitution.

— Rafael de Arízaga (@RafaeldeArizaga) May 29, 2020

Rod Dreher Interviews Kyle Harper

The Germs That Destroyed an Empire







The Fate of Rome

[Italian] Re-enactors?

Amazing images from Italy. Since the quarantine began, the Romans have started to return to their natural habitat.

We are the disease. pic.twitter.com/S6af7nd4th

— Fabian (@TweetOfFabian) April 15, 2020

Human Nature Is Constant

Latin...

Latin: Living Language, Ancient Rite by Jerry Salyer
If we seek a restoration, it is necessary to promote a renewed appreciation of the ancient liturgy and a revival of Latin-centered education.

For his part, Professor Owens emphasizes that Catholics seeking an explanation for how and why we have moved so far away from this state of affairs should resist the temptation to hastily scapegoat the councilors of Vatican II, as the rise of the modern, centralized nation-state played a role by displacing Latin in favor of national languages. A vicious cycle ensued, for as fewer teachers were able to teach Latin well, fewer teachers were able to, well, teach Latin well.

Was the rise of nation-states in Europe a problem? Yes. But was the second millenium papacy a solution to that problem? Or an ecclesial monoculture? Could the Germanic tribes have developed a different culture and received their own patriarchate(s) in due time? What could the Church have done to preserve the independence of European polities in the face of nationalism and centralization of power?

Good for the Nephews?

Sandro Magister: How To Be a "Creative Minority" Today. The Example of the Christians of the First Three Centuries

But does he overstate the difference between the Christians and non-Christians living in the same society? Was secession a possibility for them in the Roman Empire?

Related: Saint Benedict in the 21st Century. But "La Civiltà Cattolica" Condemns Him to the Stake

Roman Legions

One Day Late

Caesar Augustus Died 2000 Years Ago
40 Maps That Explain the Roman Empire

The Glory that is Rome

You get a glimpse of Roman soldiers in Pompeii and Son of God, both of which were released recently. Funny that the makers of Pompeii thought it was necessary to include a black African slave/gladiator as a character, even though it's been done repeatedly in recent depictions of the Roman Empire (Gladiator, Spartacus, what else?) Pompeii, with all of its CGI effects and lame Hollywood disaster movie plot, probably deserves its low freshness rating.



Is there any chance that for the sword and sandal movie, the Hollywood historical epic to get away from Political Correctness?

King Arthur, Centurion, The Last Legion, and The Eagle were disappointing though not all equally bad. What is Mel Gibson up to? His planned movies on the Vikings and the Maccabees don't seem to be going anywhere. Is there a movie about the Roman republic or the Empire that he would be willing to do, in Latin? (The Punic Wars? Caesar's campaign in Gaul?) Or maybe something on the Eastern Roman Empire, in Latin and Greek?

East of Byzantium and a movie on the Council of Nicaea


They may be inspiring to some and a must-see for history buffs but will they be too cheesy for the rest of the potential audience (much like Son of God appeals to pious Christians who do not have high standards for film-making)?



More episodes of Byzantium the Lost Empire.
Complete.

Plus, Byzantium - A Tale of Three Cities.

National Geographic did a documentary on Armenia.


The Rebirth of Armenia

A FB friend posted the following from Tim Stanley:
"I've reached the conclusion that traditionalists should reject politics and focus on art. We should take back control of the cultural institutions—universities, academies, churches, periodicals—and use them to promote beauty. We should try to live charitably, fully and well—to be examples and trend setters. We mustn't turn our backs on the people we disagree with, but embrace and cherish them (please, do not conflate traditionalism with snobbery—Yukio [Mishima] wrote, “The highest point at which human life and art meet is in the ordinary. To look down on the ordinary is to despise what you can’t have.”) And we should not accept our fate as mere critics of civilisation (the figurative version of Mishima’s suicide) but instead become the architects of a new one. For we traditionalists don’t contribute nearly enough to our society. Helping to improve it could mean anything from blogging to writing a symphony. My favourite way to keep the flame burning is to attend the Old Rite Catholic Mass. There is the real synergy of art and action: an ancient ritual, unchanged, unchanging that represents a communion with the past. And, of course, to God."
--Timothy Randolph Stanley
Telegraph. See also Daniel McCarthy.

Can't "take control" without numbers, and Christianity is not about numbers - it's about bringing Christ to others. Besides, the heavy use of print and electronic mass media in a system that is not sustainable may lead to their curtailment in the future - if we want to restore beauty we need to do so in a local context, in our communities and our temples.

SPQR

The Independent: Roman eagle rises again in London after 2,000 years
Sculpture probably adorned the tomb of an important figure

The UK is home to a lot of Roman military re-enactment/re-creation groups.


LEGIO VIII AUGUSTA MGV - Roman Living History Society
LEG II AVG


The Ermine Street Guard
Comitatus

The Roman Military Research Society
National Roman Legion Museum
Lost City of the Legion
The Roman Army in Britain
Roman Britain: The Best Sites

More links after the jump.

Roman Concrete

Fr. V told us while we were visiting Pompey (a decade ago?) that we had not yet learned the Roman recipe to concrete. I think it was also claimed that their mortar was superior, too, as they needed less of it to hold their bricks together.

Secrets of Ancient Roman concrete revealed

Roma v. Sina

Sort of...

Warner Bros preps epic Roman Empire vs. Han Dynasty flick THE LOST LEGION

I'd like to see a movie made for adults, with good combat sequences and characters, and not another comic book action movie. Guess which we will get?