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Post by aubrey on Sept 19, 2010 11:07:34 GMT
Mine is Heliogabalus (or Elagabalus) Wiki entry (which is likely to be more accurate than many official histories are when writing about Heliogabalus).He seems, even in the stories told against him, to have been like a benign Caligula: mischievous rather than nasty. There are surprisingly few books etc. that mention him: which is a shame, as he seems like a good character to write about. One novel, from the 50s, is Family Favourites by Alfred Duggan, which treats most of the more lurid stories about him as just that: stories; and Heliogabalus himself as pretty much doomed from the start, whatever he did. Here are the words of a song about him (not on youtube): Heliogabalus
The deaths he caused were accidents He committed no murder Oh yes, some died of fright when they woke up in the night To find a leopard in the room Where they'd been lain after the feast They should have known, those silly fools, the beast was tame Heliogabalus wasn't to blame
For the deaths I'm illustrating in this quilt Heliogabalus cannot share any guilt Cannot share any guilt
Some lived to suffocate under the suffocating weight Of a thousand fresh-cut blooms He sent cascading from the ceiling of his room Upon a crowd of his admirers How was he to know some sybarites Would drown beneath the flowers? If a parasite can't swim should we blame him?
He was blond, he had blue eyes, he was completely without guilt As I intend to demonstrate in my Heliogabalus quilt
Heliogabalus
They condemn his four year reign His naked chariot team The deadly snakes released in the forum at the climax of the games His nights of gay debauchery Rushing through the slums Disguised as tavern potboys, perfume sellers, barbers Such exaggeration, such slanders!
If you'd been emperor of Rome At the age of just 15 Wouldn't you have done the same? So why then does his name Retain the mantle of the evil Always claimed by joyless vultures To explain the strange allure other cultures? Heliogabalus wasn't to blame
He was beautiful and sexy and completely without guilt As I intend to demonstrate right here in this quilt
Condemn me freely if you wish but when my quilt is finished I intend to sleep as soundly and as well as Heliogabalus In hell
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Post by gabriel on Sept 19, 2010 11:12:10 GMT
Clau Clau Claudius. I didn't watch all those series for nothing.
But the one who probably was most useful was Augustus. Until he went paranoid. As they all did.
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Post by aubrey on Sept 19, 2010 11:14:31 GMT
I'm going to watch the Claudius series again soon. But a similiar series about Heliogabalus would have been great.
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Post by beth on Sept 19, 2010 11:43:12 GMT
Julian
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♫anna♫
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Sept 19, 2010 13:58:06 GMT
I'm going to watch the Claudius series again soon. But a similiar series about Heliogabalus would have been great. Curious! Heliogabalus was an eccentric sun worshipping Emperor. Became emporer at age 14. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus
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Post by aubrey on Sept 19, 2010 18:23:09 GMT
That's not all he worshipped, either.
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Post by june on Sept 19, 2010 20:38:36 GMT
;DI don't have one - am I missing out?
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Post by mikemarshall on Sept 19, 2010 21:48:10 GMT
Hm, most of them were hardly worthy of admiration.
I suppose Julian has his merits in that he did at least try to stop religious persecution.
In spite of the fact that he persecuted Christians, Marcus Aurelius also has a lot to be said in his favour.
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Sept 21, 2010 1:48:15 GMT
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Post by aubrey on Sept 21, 2010 17:20:56 GMT
It's not the best ones. It's your favourite.
And best in what way? The people of Gaul wouldn't have thought Julius was best in any way:
He brought a lot of wealth from Gaul, which might have been good for Rome but it wasn't for Gaul.
The best Roman Emperors always seem to be the ones who conquored a lot. That's why I said favourite - meaning, the one who you would maybe most like to have had a drink with. Not the one who's killed most people.
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♫anna♫
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Sept 21, 2010 21:44:06 GMT
Aww BA you just wanna conquer Iran, Persia that is, and maybe one of those guys could have done that! ;D
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Post by DAS (formerly BushAdmirer) on Sept 22, 2010 0:41:22 GMT
True enough Anna. You've got me with that post. I do think Iran is a smoldering time bomb better dealt with sooner rather than later. Reminds me of Nazi Germany when Hitler was just getting started.
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♫anna♫
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Sept 22, 2010 2:25:14 GMT
True enough Anna. You've got me with that post. I do think Iran is a smoldering time bomb better dealt with sooner rather than later. Reminds me of Nazi Germany when Hitler was just getting started. I knew i'd get you Das! Mao and Stalin and their movements lasted a generation! If Hitler held his Reich he would have faded like Franco too! Ahmadinejad is no different and Khomeni is hardly mentioned anymore. All this fanatical mass movement stuff fizzles nowadays! I have no problem with bumping off criminals like bin Laden in the most humilatihng manner, but the spirit of the times doesn't support world conquerors in this modern era!
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Post by mouse on Sept 22, 2010 9:52:09 GMT
It's not the best ones. It's your favourite. . my fav is a toss up betwen caligula and nero....now they are truely interesting
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Post by june on Sept 22, 2010 16:04:21 GMT
It's not the best ones. It's your favourite. . my fav is a toss up betwen caligula and nero....now they are truely interesting *sniggers childishly
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Post by Ben Lomond on Sept 22, 2010 16:14:39 GMT
Antoninus Pius; for no other reason that he had a long, and PEACEFUL reign. And in the calendar of Roman Emperors, that is a rarity!
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♫anna♫
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The Federal Reserve Act is the Betrayal of the American Revolution!
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Sept 22, 2010 16:39:45 GMT
The Roman emperor i despise the most was Domitian. A creepy serial killer, who liked to bury vestial virgins alive. Nero and Caligula were just narcisstic goofs by comparison.
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Post by aubrey on Sept 22, 2010 19:05:17 GMT
Julius (and Romans in general) only went for weaker countries, didn't they? Where they could be pretty sure of winning.
The thing I like about Heliogabalus, Anna, is that he seemed to mean no harm to anyone. There is a story about him going to a brothel one night and sending all the women there home. I hope he compensated them for lost earnings: the story doesn't say, as if it's not important: but it was the first thing I thought of. Anyway, he then said he'd take on all the customers for the rest of the night - and that was the next thing I thought of, the poor customers.
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Post by jollyroger on Sept 22, 2010 19:18:22 GMT
The Roman emperor i despise the most was Domitian. A creepy serial killer, who liked to bury vestial virgins alive. Nero and Caligula were just narcisstic goofs by comparison. I agree. They were all so inbred some sort of homicidal reaction and inability to form rational thought was inevitable.
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♫anna♫
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The Federal Reserve Act is the Betrayal of the American Revolution!
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Post by ♫anna♫ on Sept 23, 2010 0:24:09 GMT
Julius (and Romans in general) only went for weaker countries, didn't they? Where they could be pretty sure of winning. The thing I like about Heliogabalus, Anna, is that he seemed to mean no harm to anyone. There is a story about him going to a brothel one night and sending all the women there home. I hope he compensated them for lost earnings: the story doesn't say, as if it's not important: but it was the first thing I thought of. Anyway, he then said he'd take on all the customers for the rest of the night - and that was the next thing I thought of, the poor customers. I guess he was for the large part a teenager looking for a good time.
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