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Ancient Rome brought back to life

STEPHEN BROWN

Reuters

Latest comment posted at 9:54 AM EDT 13/06/07

Model on computer depicts imperial capital at its peak in AD 320 ...Read the full article

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  1. Randal Oulton from Toronto, Canada writes: "worshipped the sun and moon"... hmmm that's so simplistic would have been better to leave it out.

    Instead, Reuters might have mentioned there is also a virtual reality rendition of Rome in Second Life that people can walk through from their homes right now before getting on a plane (or Dublin, or Galveston, or Knightsbridge, or St Mark's Square...) I'm surprised Reuters didn't mention that, given that they've just opened an office in Second Life.
  2. James Young from Brantford, Canada writes: "worshipped the sun and moon"...

    It is unfortunate for the human race that the practice wasn't continued.

    Durgan.
  3. The REAL Canadian Patriot (Not the Copy Cat) from Toronto, Canada writes: My how things have changed. Society then worshipped sun and moon. Society today worships CO2 and itself.
  4. al goguen from Victoria, B.C, Canada writes: The two previous comments by Randal and James have summarized exactly what came to my mind when I read about their worship of the sun and the moon. Needless to explain how our society would be in a better situation.
    Wars would have been useless; no more fighting for my god is better and bigger than your god.
    I often wonder if the Roman Empire would have included Canada in their conquest if we would still have all these problems with the First Nations.
    The Roman sure would have taken care of that problem very quickly as they did when they conquered the rest of Europe: either assimilate or shut up.
  5. L I from Canada writes: Now as I recall there were a whole bevy of roman dieties, some even with names that sound a lot like the planets in our solar system... how about it G&M do you think there may be more than "sun and moon" worship to the religions of the Roman Empire? (that's like saying North Americans worship Rael) Wow shaking head
  6. Lemmy Nothor from Barcelona, Spain writes: True, they did have a bevy of deities..............all stolen from the Greeks ........a quick name change, et voila..............

    30 minutes from where I live, they still have a fully functionning aqueduct ( Why a Duck?? ) built by the Romans......2000 years ago.

    I wonder how long the stuff we make today would last.........unattended. Left to it's fate. 50 years ? 100 ?
  7. Terry F from Edmonton, Canada writes: On the subject of Roman gods -

    June 11

    Matralia was a festival held in honor of Mater Matuta. During the festival with statue of the goddess was decorated with garlands and gifts by women who had been married once, and cakes cooked in clay pots were offered to the goddess. Only one female slave was allowed into the temple on this day, the one chosen to be ritually slapped on the head

    Don't forget to slap your slave today!
  8. bj sutherland from Victoria, Canada writes: al from Victoria. Haven't you hears of the Moonies? They sound pretty scary. Then there are the Sun worshippers, as far as I know they only walk around in the buff. Seriously, just how different was the conquest of North and South America by Europeans than your vision of what the ancient Romans would have had in store for indigenous people. The end result has been devastating for over 500 years. I can only hope we will urge our government to make what amends they can by finally providing some justice in this country.
  9. right elbow from BRAMPTONUMUS, Canada writes: Well depiction of ancient civilization. But where are the slaves?
  10. Jan Steinman from Salt Spring Island, Canada writes: Terry F from Edmonton, Canada writes: "Don't forget to slap your slave today!"

    "But I don't have any slaves," you might say.

    Guess again. about 150 slaves take you to work in the morning, and bring you home at night. Flip a switch, and a slave lights a lamp. Turn a tap, and 25 slaves heat water for your shower. If you're viewing this on a typical desktop computer, a slave is working full-time for you to see this message. (Laptop viewers are only using about a third of a slave.)

    Thing is, these "energy slaves" we all take for granted are going away, perhaps in your lifetime, certainly in your grand-childrens' lifetime. Prepare.
  11. Jim Whitney from Kearney ON, Canada writes: I can't recall the answer as I haven't been to the Creation Museum yet. Were there dinosaurs in ancient Rome?
  12. Zorgon Petipnik from writes: By the time of Constantine Sol Invictus - the unconquerable sun became a central figure of worship. Sol may also have been worshipped within the cult of Mithras. The greater pantheon of gods were worshipped to a lesser degree by the 4th century. This preference is illustrated on Constantinian coinage.
  13. Hunter J from Sudbury, Canada writes: 320 AD Rome hits its peak

    325 ??(something important happens) ....

    .....and THEN !!

    .... by 410 AD they are burning the last library in the Empire.

    What ??
  14. D F from Toronto, Canada writes: Don't waste your time at http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/

    This 3-D technology would have been cutting edge 10 years ago.
  15. A Gibson from Calgary, Canada writes: James and al, lots of wars have been fought in the name of religion but very few have truly been fought because of religion. Usually things like power and greed are the true causes of war. Also, the Romans fought plently of wars. Its the sole reason they had an empire.

    Lastly, fascism and communism are both secular ideologies. Those two ideologies lead to more war deaths in the 20th century alone than all previous "religious" wars combined.
  16. Eric Kirkpatrick from Vancouver, B.C., Canada writes: Yes, where are the slaves, and extensive slums and ghettos, the open sewers and hordes of rats, vultures and other scavengers? The smells and garbage on the streets and in the river? A city that size with a life expectancy of probably 40 or so years for the average (not wealthy) meant the funeral fires alone would of given guidance to travellers before the city came into view.
  17. Terry F from Edmonton, Canada writes: Eric Kirkpatrick - your post kinda reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from Monty Python's "Life of Brian":

    REG: All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?



    XERXES: Brought peace.



    REG: Oh. Peace? Shut up
  18. Bob Rollheiser from Canada writes: For the next trick, bring Toronto back to life.
  19. Walt O'Brien from Binghamton, NY, United States writes: Granted this is a work in progress, and that the ray-traced jerky animation you see now will get interstitial (smoothing) work done on the continuity later, but what's missing so far are the architectural details that are catalogued in the artist Giambattista Piranesi's book which he drew of Rome's wonders in the 1720's Rome had been utterly abandoned for hundreds of years owing to the Plague, so only goats and predators roamed its streets.

    Canadian forces and the Polish Division of British forces rescued the copper printing plates of Piranesi's books from the abbey at Monte Cassino during WW II, and the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa has those plates, if you want to get an idea of how bizarre the Romans truly must have been, and how heavily influenced their architecture was by both Asian and African design philosophy.

    If you get a chance, check that out, too. This project at UVa is only about a 1/3 done, if that. They'll ship the master animations to UbiSoft or another Canadian digital animation firm for the final cut, just like the Disney folks do.
  20. Randal Oulton from Toronto, Canada writes: >> in the 1720's Rome had been utterly abandoned for hundreds of years owing to the Plague, so only goats and predators roamed its streets.

    Um. No.
  21. Tough Love from Canada writes: Ahhh...The good old days of The Roman Empire.... racism, brutality, constant wars, slavery, crucifixions, amorality, decadence, fabulous wealth and degrading poverty, throwing the Christians to the lions...It was sort of a cross between The Sopranos and Orwell's "1984". O, the power of the human mind to delude itself into thinking something is good when it's actually evil. Forward, folks. Forward with honesty, compassion, principle, vision and courage.
  22. Frank Enstein from Montreal, Canada writes: Tough love; your description sounds alot like the present- excluding the Christians to the lions part, but then today we do have plenty of pretty violent spectator sports- maybe gladiotors will make a come-back sooner than we think.
  23. Cameron Reid from Toronto, Canada writes: Tough Love- aside from the crucifictions and the lions, that sounds exactly like modern society. And I'm sure if George W. and his buddies managed to spend another term in the White House, they'd instituite crucifictions as well.

    And I think you're missing the point- the Romans were far more moral, compassionate, principled, possessed of vision and courage than any conteporary society, with the possible except the Greeks.

    And it's very easy for us to come down on slavery now that we live in an age when most of our labour is done by machines- find me a developed civilization pre-500 CE that didn't practice slavery.

    You cannot judge the morality of a civilization (or anything else about it for that matter) out of its historical context.
  24. balding geezer from Ottawa, Canada writes: Does this all mean that Rome on HBO is not as authentic and true-to-life as they claim?
  25. balding geezer from Ottawa, Canada writes: This also reminded me of the Monty Python routine in "Life of Brian":"What did the Romans ever do for us?"

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