Titus Ultor
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Posts posted by Titus Ultor
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Lol. If we were to add them as a branch of the Greeks, then we historians wouldn't have to do much work on a biography for Dionysios
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This tends to be an issue in freedom of speech. The most common reply I've heard is this: you can think/say whatever hate rhetoric you want, but you cannot act on it.
Personally, however, as a social democrat and thus intellectually the opposite of fascism, I believe that they should be abolished. Any group that threatens the life or limb of any particular group of individuals should be abolished.
Neo-fascists have commited various acts of terrorism here in the U.S., and any party which encourages violence as a means of societal change should be gotten rid of.
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Just as solid and fun to read as all of your articles!
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Greek Syracuse
by Cory McConnaughy (a.k.a. Titus Ultor)
On the eastern edge of Sicily, along the Mediterranean Sea, there lies an old and cultured metropolis: Syracuse. From the forced economic growth of the first tyrant Gelo beginning in 491 B.C. until the end of Mediterranean dominance in the 1500s A.D., Syracuse was a crucial city along the route of some of the most fertile and profitable sea trade routes in the entire Western world.
Its history begins in 734 B.C., when Corinthian colonists created a settlement in the coastal region of western Sicily they called “Sirako” (swamp). The land proved to be quite fertile, and the fishing was rather spectacular; so, the city grew in size. The original settlers and early merchants created an aristocratic government that remained in power for several centuries, until oppression of even citizens started to cause unrest in the city-state.
In 490 B.C., the aristocrats were deposed and exiled from the city (where they remained just outside of, in all probability in villas). They decided to hire the rule of Gela, a city slightly more powerful and affluent, named, ironically, Gelo. He was to recapture the city for them, and then return them to power, take his payment, and go on his way. Syracuse quickly folded to him and his army. However, Gelo had no intention of returning it to the nobility who paid him to: he simply kept it for himself.
Perhaps seeing the great potential of the relatively small town, Gelo abandons Gela for all informal purposes. He spent all of his resources enriching and improving the town; most importantly, he rid Syracuse of all Corinthian political and economic control, allowing the city to grow into a state with almost as much power and debatably more influence in world affairs. Syracusan troops and leaders were instrumental in defeating the Athenians’ “Sicilian Expedition”, and grew considerably in stature as the Athenian empire lost status, land, and power.
As a byproduct of the wealth and position their location brought Syracuse, it seems that the city were under attack by a major power several times from the fifth century B.C. until its capture in the 200s B.C., and brought to a dangerous precipice each time. In 405 B.C., the Carthaginians invaded and, after a debacle of a defense, conquered the once-great city of Gela, which was at that point a Syracusan satellite. Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse who is famous for disagreeing with Plato’s philosophy and then selling Plato into slavery, managed to force the Carthaginians to withdraw from Sicily by destroying several of the southern towns and cities. There were several more Carthaginian incursions, though none of them succeeded in capturing any major settlements, and were beaten off.
Syracuse continued to be wealthy, influential, and powerful, unmolested for nearly two centuries by any notable force. This wealth culminated in the rule of Hiero, the last tyrant and last Greek ruler of Syracuse. Under him, philosophy and science flourished; Syracuse became, in many aspects, one of the greatest Greek city-states. Archidemes, a genius and close relation to Hiero, became the key advisor and scientist in Syracuse until both of their deaths during the Second Punic War.
The war between Carthage and Rome, for obvious reasons, involved the city which lay nearly right between their two capitals, Syracuse. Syracuse decided after much deliberation thatCarthage was the safest to ally with, as Rome seemed to conquer every power it came across, allied or not. It turned out to be a poor decision for Syracuse. Romans, eager to gain such a rich and populated city, besieged the city in 215 B.C., the same year that the (democratically elected) tyrant Hiero died at 90. The city held out for three years, mostly due to Archidemes’ sound military strategy and clever defensive devices, such as Archidemes’ claw. However, Rome’s overwhelming military force and manipular formation defeated the ancient Syracusan phalanx, and the city was sacked in 212 B.C.; in the action, Archidemes was slain by a Roman legionary who did not recognize him.
Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_Italy
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9070768
http://www.bio.vu.nl/home/vwielink/WWW_MGC...p/InfoGela.html
http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/se/~luv20009/Gela.html
http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/hiero-II.htm
http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts...e-18-sicily.asp
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It's been a "grand experiment", but I'm beginning to think we should switch to a parliamentary constitution. This may be a discussion best suited for the HoI, though.
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It's not that deep of an observation: I simply applied political analysis to us. For all of our talk of "freedom" and "liberty" (in fact, dozens of times in any given speech), we fail the basic test of allowing Joe Blow to be voted into power.
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Patton is one of my favorite movies of all time.
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That is an excellent idea. For the Imperial Romans, that would even be quite historical. However, usage for most other civilizations would be difficult to levy with historical data. This may be a case of playability over history.
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Lol. Their explanation was pretty funny. But it's not as lame as something I saw on NBC's Today show the other day.
They used slang I had never seen before, and tried to pass it off as common.
Such as...p0p. Which, apparently, means parents on premises. What the heck?
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Oh. Lol. I didn't even notice that. It's okay, I guess, because I have the little logo thing now. People won't think I'm bushy-tailed.
Edit: By the way. I had 22,093 posts beforehand. I want those back.
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David Bowie - Golden Years
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That sounds incredibly difficult, unfortunately. It would take a team larger and even more dedicated than this one. I wish you the best of luck, thought, because it would be awesome.
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Perhaps. I'm not too good at it. But Paint would work, right?
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I've gotten the patch, and have experienced no adverse effects. Then again, I don't use any high-level programs, beyond some games and Firefox.
I think that I represent a more or less standard Windows user. Sure, there are some difficulties: but it's cheaper (for what I do on it), standard, sufficient, but with easily accessible power (as opposed to Macs, with seem to be a bit more click-and-drag-y than even windows).
For all we know, there may have been a private lawsuit regarding XP that requires them to do this. It's impossible to really know all the reasons.
To call Microsoft "stupid" is a misnomer: only the most educated and brightest work there. This is a matter of them understanding their unstoppable, and being able to exercise it how they wish with only some fringe users becoming angry. It's similiar to a political party with over a 2/3 majority of the vote behind it using its political capital to enact agenda which only those in the minority may disagree or be bothered by, but can just continue their lives.
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The value of formations must be large to maintain historical accuracy. If they're weakened (as in AoK), then it ignores the entire purpose of organized combat. The legions work as well as the phalanx, but quicker. All units are not given proper historical roles, but are only charged in massed groups to counter.
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Oh. I'm very sorry about that. I was afraid they wouldn't come out. At the very least, the thinking involved in creating them helped me organize the essay.
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That's possible without much effort, too have damage carry over like that. Think of the Scorpion from AoK. I think this entire conversation has been done before, but earlier in this very topic, as Dnas pointed out.
Boulder and rock attacks are most useful as a shock weapon, as rocks can only roll over a few people before they can dash out of the way. As a shock weapon, rocks could disrupt formation (which, as I'm told, will have an inherent advantage), perhaps damage a few key units, if you're lucky, and maybe lower the morale of the troops. The last one most likely won't be possible in the first release, and the other two would only lead to chaos and difficulty of play.
Also, historically, employing rocks and such weapons required a great deal of effort and preplanning, both of which would, if properly implemented in 0 A.D. (as Paul would assure), involve such intense micromanagement that the relatively small benefits would leave a weakened defense.
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It's hard not to. But that was also the result of poor strategy, tactics, logistics, and luck. Silly Germans thought the Tiger was an offensive weapon. And they invaded Russia in the first place. However, I believe that the Taiwanese could hold out significantly better than the Germans could, given the nature of technology. Most of the U.S. military equipment is designed to operate against greater numbers, due to the U.S.S.R.'s number of tanks, including over 75,000 T-54/5 variants in service, and thousands of other tanks. Also, I don't think that these companies will be selling such high-level technology as the Eurofighter. Though I can't really think of any other aircraft they'd sell, except for maybe a couple of British s.
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Europe stands to lose very little from any sort of Chinese aggression, especially given the tight economic relations within the EU members. The worst thing that would happen to Europe is the loss of any imports from Taiwan.
Perhaps a stipulation could be placed on any contract signed with China: any aggression on Taiwan will cancel the contract. Also, Taiwan is armed with the most modern U.S. weaponry, in any case. Sorry, Europeans, but your Leclerc and Leopard don't add up against Abrams.
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When I first saw it, all I thought was "those poor Lord of the Rings purists". And then I thought, "Oh. That actually does suck". And then I saw the date.
It's an interesting (and relatively easy, I would think) idea for a mod, nonetheless.
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Not exactly. That's assuming that China has no potential for change, and ignoring the fact that they've come a long way. International pressure from nations selling arms to them would have a greater weight, perhaps forcing the Chinese to lay off their constant civil rights violations.
The more nations become interdependent, the more they can influence one another.
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They seem a bit polished. Almost metallic. Then again, I spent all last semester sketching s of horse, so I may be a bit crazy. And they're all standing in the exact same position, as far as I can tell.
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I don't really understand how your position supports the continuance of the ban. If China is going to invade Taiwan anyway, and if there will eventually be a nuclear war anyway, then what's the point of not making some very good profits by selling conventional weapons (of little use in nuclear war)?
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I've always wanted a bit more transparency, but that's probably because I have an American-sized attention span.
About the poll... There seem to be more people who have joined in the past year than in the year prior. I just felt that I should point that out because the 1-2 year time span is huge compared to the ones before it.
It's a good thing, though. This project is picking up speed!
democracy and anti-democratic groups
in Hall of Intellectuals
Posted
Democracy is not about allowing ideas and ideals to be publically pronounced: that is an addition that the proponents of new/modern/American democracy added to make it even more appealing to a population downtrodden by a semi-repressive monarchy. Athenian democracy was less open-minded, with radical philosophies, if they had no popular base, ostracized from the city.
I do not think fascism should be allowed in any society, and should be eliminated as thoroughly as possible before it gains any sort of popular support. There is no need for such parties or organizations: they create nothing except ignorance, racism, hate, and propaganda, and destroy democracy, human rights, morality and ethics.