Check out the trailer for this movie if you have the time. It looks very, very cool even though it seems to be more fantasy than history. It’s based around the battle of Thermopylae.
Monthly Archive for December, 2006
The latest addition to the gallery. Hieron was tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily for some six decades. Cicero called Syracuse the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all. He was a general of Pyrrhus, an opponent of Rome in the first Punic war, an ally in the second and a relative of Archimedes.
Click on the thumbnail for a larger image and attribution.
You know you are strange when you are an agnostic but someone gets you a bible for a Christmas present and you are happy with it. Or maybe strange isn’t the right description. My friend who bought it for me usually calls me “a freakin weirdo”. 
I just wanted to make a note about the sizes of the coins in the gallery. In the gallery, the coins all appear the same size, obviously judging from the image above they are not. In the image above I put my largest coin, my smallest one and a U.S. Quarter to give some perspective. In the description of all the coins I have put the size in millimeters.
I am working on a Latin Wiki for AUC. I am hoping some people will find it helpful (and want to help). Unless I change my mind, it should be open in a few days.
*Update* The Latin Wiki is now open. It is pretty empty right now but it should grow steadily. The link for it is on the right under “Also at AUC”.
A few more chapters have been added. I’ll probably speed up the pace in a few weeks when I get more time.
This coin was minted by Carthage, one of the two superpowers of the time in the western Mediterranean, along with Rome, over twenty two centuries ago during the second Punic War. The word “Punic” is from the Latin “Poeni” meaning “Phoenicians”. Carthage, which was located where modern Tunis now stands, was originally a Phoenician colony so the Romans called them Phoenicians.
The Second Punic war was the war of Hannibal and his legendary trip across the Alps with elephants. This was was the war where Hannibal destroyed Roman army after army for fifteen years in Italy and came ever so close to bringing Rome to it’s knees and radically altering the course of history. Finally though, abandoned by his allies, he was recalled to Africa to defend Carthage and was defeated by P. Scipio Africanus at Zama in North Africa. This was the end of the second Punic War and the beginning of the end for Carthage.
Years later, Cato the Elder would finish all his speeches, no matter what the subject with “ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam” (Furthermore, I think that Carthage must be destroyed.) A little over fifty years after the end of the second Punic war, Cato got his wish and Rome completely destroyed Carthage, sold the survivors into slavery, and according to legend salted over the earth there so nothing would grow there ever again.
Click on the image above for a larger picture and attribution.
Visitors to this site are in for a pure adrenalin ride. hehe
Read the first chapter of Caesaris Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War), translated by myself. More to follow (slowly). In Book 1 Chapter 1 Caesar describes the basic layout and people of Gaul.
So fasten your seatbelt and click here. The Latin Version is here.
All the thumbnails are up.
http://www.aburbecondita.com/?page_id=5
The Emperor’s portrait gallery is up too.
http://www.aburbecondita.com/?page_id=13
I will make a link with a larger image and a description after I get all the thumbnails up for the other categories of coins.
