[nickcarraway]

ping

[GeronL]

Has anyone seen the ads for the 'rock opera' HERO?? Set in the futuristic NYC or something?? really interesting...

[Plutarch]

Ancient Rome bump:

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

You know, I have never understood why "historians" are so often inclined to dismiss ancient history! Granted, the part about being suckled by a wolf is a little out there, but why didn't they believe that there were actual brothers named Romulus and Remus, one became king and one got axed? There are so many instances of ancient history being "disproved" by historians and then being proved true after all -- the discovery of Troy being a rather spectacular instance of that. This snobbish and elitist idea that historians of the ancient world couldn't be trusted on anything at all presupposes that people of the ancient world were stupid. Well, they weren't stupid. Often ignorant, yes, but their brains were as good as ours, and oral traditions are often quite accurate. After all, think about how the ancients transmitted information. Until writing became common, they just plain memorized things and gave them back verbally. Apprenticed storytellers were required to memorize Homer -- all of it! -- and be able to spout it back accurately before they became masters. So I don't at all see why modern historians are so quick to dismiss ancient stories as being rubbish.

Getting off my soapbox now ....

[UCANSEE2]

Ah, Deimos and Phobos. Were they born from the collision that left a giant scrape across the face of Mars?

[Independent_Libertarian]

All myth has a base in reality. I’m surprised, and hadn’t realized, that historians didn’t think the story was true. I agree with Hetty_Fauxvert about the ‘wolf’ part being a little questionable; but I’ve always thought that the brothers were real.

[Mariposaman]

Rumor has it that the ancient, past it's prime channel: CNN, was founded by Bevis and Butthead.

[sully777]

It is written by Reuters, which is allowed in full text.

---

Ruins may support tale of Rome's origin

By Rachel Sanderson
REUTERS NEWS AGENCY February 19, 2005

ROME — Italian archaeologists digging in the Forum have unearthed the ruins of a palace they say confirms the legend of Rome's birth -- a discovery that may force the rewriting of Western history.
    Most contemporary historians dismiss as fable the tale that Romulus founded Rome in 753 B.C. and built a walled city on the slopes of the Palatine hill where he and his twin brother, Remus, were suckled by a wolf in their infancy.
    Andrea Carandini of Rome's La Sapienza University has spent 20 years trying to prove the skeptics wrong and last month he and his team hit on the final piece of a puzzle he believes shows the myth has root in fact.

    "Archaeology and legend appear to go better together than contemporary historians thought," Mr. Carandini said in an interview before presentation of his findings this weekend.
    "We now have all the elements to show that part of the legend may very well be true."
    The source of Mr. Carandini's confidence is the discovery of traces of an 8th century B.C. house of regal proportions on the edge of the Forum that dates from the period of the Eternal City's legendary founding.
    Found 10 yards or so beneath pines growing on the surface of the Palatine and under centuries of construction from classical to Renaissance times, the palace had a courtyard and covered inner area spanning an estimated 3,800 square feet.
    Wooden columns marked its entrances, ceramics decorated it and seats were located against the walls of a grand central hall.
    It is located by the Sanctuary of Vesta, the Roman goddess of the hearth, close to the slopes of the Palatine, the site of the earliest traces of Roman civilization and where legend has it Romulus killed Remus before building Rome.
    Most historians have always dismissed Rome's founding myth because they argued the Eternal City was just a huddle of wattle huts at the time Roman historian Livy described Romulus fortifying the Palatine and showing "outward symbols of power."
    Mr. Carandini, who has also found traces of sanctuaries, a defensive wall and a shingle Forum floor dating from the same period, said that view will now have to change.
    "It is exceptional, a find of maximum importance," he said. "It could only be a palace fit for a king." Scholars elsewhere, when asked for their reaction to the finds, tended to be more cautious.
    "The palace is completely convincing. In the 8th century B.C. people tended to live in tiny, sub-oval huts. This structure is much larger and rectangular. But this does not have a direct link to the Romulus myth," said Elizabeth Fentress, an archaeology research fellow at the British School in Rome.
    "The tradition is based on royalty and an orderly community, but that does not mean that Romulus killed Remus."

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks nick.

Ruins Support Myth of Rome's Founding
	Posted by Unam Sanctam On News/Activism 02/15/2005 5:44:26 AM PST · 41 replies · 1,025+ views AP | Feb. 14, 2005 | Sarah Barden ROME - Legend has it that Rome was founded in 753 B.C. by Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars, the god of war, who were suckled as infants by a she-wolf in the woods. Now, archaeologists believe they have found evidence that at least part of that tale may be true: Traces of a royal palace discovered in the Roman Forum have been dated to roughly the period of the eternal city's legendary foundation. Andrea Carandini, a professor of archaeology at Rome's Sapienza University who has been conducting excavations at the Forum for more than 20 years, said...

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[Kevin OMalley]

bump for later reading

[ozzymandus]

I always figured the Romulus and Remus version was a fable like King Arthur. There was probably an ancient barbarian king named Arthur, from whom the legend began, and there was probably an early Roman king or warlord named Romulus. OTOH, the historians didn't believe the Etruscans existed for centuries, either.

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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