Great essay! I think the Romans have got a free pass for far too long, they were brillant propagandists, but were a thoroughly nasty bunch. The Scots warrior who said 'they make a desert and call it peace' was absolutely right.
We have imo built our civilisation on some very shaky foundations, Christianity infused with the Roman sensibilities, and now that we have drained civilisation of Christianity we are left with just the very nasty substrate. The Romans would be right at home in our society with its worship of money and power. (And Blessed Be the Cheesemakers)
Indeed, folk often say we are in a post-Christian society, but I think we have actually gone pre-Christian, back to Rome, so I guess the saying is right, roads and all that.
Ah now, at least the Romans did good roads! More than can be said of us….
The pre Christian one is interesting, Facism had its origins in the fasces the symbol of Roman authority. Are we just looking at its latest manifestation?
This came across my emails in a timely way as I published an essay on the industrialized sexuality and the need to reunify sex with fertility this morning and a reader commented on how what I was naming and critiquing isn’t just a problem of technology, as I inferred, but a problem that goes back to the Roman Empire. I admittedly am not well versed at all in this history and am curious, so reading this was timed well. Do you recommend Holland’s book as a good place to begin?
Hi Emily, Holland has a trilogy on ancient Rome, Rubicon, Dynasty and Pax, he also has written Dominion, a good chunk of which deals with Christianity's impact on Rome. While none of the above are books about the sexuality of the Romans or their awful practices, all are shot through with it. Dominion is particularly sensitive to the change that came about in society with the spread of Christianity and the curbing of some of Rome excesses.
Thank you so much for the summary! I have heard a lot of discussion about Dominion and was curious about his work but never got around to reading it or delving into any of the other things he has written. And so the list of things to read grows!
Great essay! I think the Romans have got a free pass for far too long, they were brillant propagandists, but were a thoroughly nasty bunch. The Scots warrior who said 'they make a desert and call it peace' was absolutely right.
We have imo built our civilisation on some very shaky foundations, Christianity infused with the Roman sensibilities, and now that we have drained civilisation of Christianity we are left with just the very nasty substrate. The Romans would be right at home in our society with its worship of money and power. (And Blessed Be the Cheesemakers)
Indeed, folk often say we are in a post-Christian society, but I think we have actually gone pre-Christian, back to Rome, so I guess the saying is right, roads and all that.
https://youtu.be/ExWfh6sGyso
Ah now, at least the Romans did good roads! More than can be said of us….
The pre Christian one is interesting, Facism had its origins in the fasces the symbol of Roman authority. Are we just looking at its latest manifestation?
This came across my emails in a timely way as I published an essay on the industrialized sexuality and the need to reunify sex with fertility this morning and a reader commented on how what I was naming and critiquing isn’t just a problem of technology, as I inferred, but a problem that goes back to the Roman Empire. I admittedly am not well versed at all in this history and am curious, so reading this was timed well. Do you recommend Holland’s book as a good place to begin?
Hi Emily, Holland has a trilogy on ancient Rome, Rubicon, Dynasty and Pax, he also has written Dominion, a good chunk of which deals with Christianity's impact on Rome. While none of the above are books about the sexuality of the Romans or their awful practices, all are shot through with it. Dominion is particularly sensitive to the change that came about in society with the spread of Christianity and the curbing of some of Rome excesses.
Thank you so much for the summary! I have heard a lot of discussion about Dominion and was curious about his work but never got around to reading it or delving into any of the other things he has written. And so the list of things to read grows!
Paganism is jewish, so the pagans will naturally adopt jewish practices, including boy rape.
This is so incredibly gay, lame, and self-serious that I can see why some people fall for the retarded BAP shtick
The behaviour of the Romans or my article? 😄😄
Yes.
Not to mention the Greeks.
Maybe when we are building the next civilization, we could maybe model it on something else?