Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deuce Traveler" data-source="post: 5949520" data-attributes="member: 34958">You'll want to detail which time period of Roman culture you are looking towards.  Roman culture changed drastically over the course of time.  Rome started off as one city run by a group of elders and a worship centered around Janus, and had a more Etruscan culture.  Then it turned into a more aggressive state when it took over several surrounding Italian cities, admittedly after some of those same cities pillaged Rome.  With the incorporation of new cities, Rome also had an influx of other localized deities, in a similar fashion as what happened to Greek city-states and their localized deities when they began to trade more extensively between each other after the Mycenaean Collapse.  Also, with the inclusion of other cities, the Senate became more important because they were able to incorporate more people through Senatorial representatives.  The equestrian class also came into its own during this time, giving early Rome a strong cavalry force in contrast to its later Imperial military.  Republican Rome came to be as the city dominated Italy and its surroundings, and really became quite cosmopolitan with a flexible religious system that believed that foreign deities were just incarnations of Roman ones.  They also learned seamanship because of their wars with Carthage, which required them to develop naval tactics quickly.  Their victory over Carthage also brought the seeds of their destruction, for land became important for status and wealth in Republic, leading to Senators using their power to destroy the farming middle class in order to increase their estate holdings, something that led to mini-revolts like those from the Gracchi brothers and eventually crushed by Sulla.  The destruction of Republican law by Sulla for the benefit of the elite eventually led to the further destruction of Republican law by Caesar for the benefit of himself, but in the name of the disenfranchised.  This led to Imperial Rome, and its incredible foot soldiers, military-dominated culture, and the dwindling of the equestrian class and the horse cavalry.  This also led to a more domineering religious control that was connected to the Imperial seat, so that opposition to Roman religious dictates were equated to opposition to the Emperor.  Finally, we have the period of Rome dominated by a failing Imperial government, bankrupted financial accounts, a poorly maintained military, cities impoverished due to continuous sacking by Rome's own armies seeking to seat warring generals on the Imperial throne, and cultural collapse.My whole point is that you should specify which period of Rome you are seeking writers to emulate.</blockquote>

Verification