• Sign up or login, and you'll have full access to opportunities of forum.

Good Documentaries About Ancient Rome

Go to CruxDreams.com
As Nietzsche famously pointed out, both Jesus and Socrates were, in a sense, suicides, they 'wanted to die' and 'bent the hand of human injustice to thrust the sword into his own breast'. In both cases, while the factions that they had annoyed were quite strong and vocal, the final arbiters were only swayed by the accuseds' refusal to defend themselves (Pilate in Jesus' case, the majority of voting citizens in Socrates' - and, yes, it was only by a narrow majority that he was condemned). So (to Nietzsche's despair) the foundation legends of European culture are stories of two men who court death and voluntarily turn humanity's natural injustice against themselves.
 
Apostate said:
Yusebby calls it the"crux simplex."
Click to expand...
A query - we often read these terms for different styles of cross, usefully collected by Yusseby in this visual

1586724627919.png

I don't doubt that they're authentic, but - being the kind of geek I am - I'd be interested to know where they come from, what are the classical sources for them? I don't suppose an 'I-Spy Crucifixions' book has survived from Roman times!
 
Eulalia said:
A query - we often read these terms for different styles of cross, usefully collected by Yusseby in this visual

View attachment 847873

I don't doubt that they're authentic, but - being the kind of geek I am - I'd be interested to know where they come from, what are the classical sources for them? I don't suppose an 'I-Spy Crucifixions' book has survived from Roman times!
Click to expand...
I take it yusseby isn’t around to ask?
Maybe irrelevant but I was very impressed by a recent visit to a medieval farmhouse; the owner and guide talked a lot about the “crucks” (vertical beams, often cut with their “shoulders” (side-branches) still intact to make strong joints with the roof beams, all dendrochronologically dated to the early fifteenth century. I wonder if somewhere there’s a “crucks forum”... :p
 
Indeed, cruck-framed buildings are among the oldest ordinary dwellings and farm buildings
in many English villages (Lowland Scotland too)

1586726016662.png

I think the term 'cruck' refers primarily to the pair of big, bending beams that support the frame.
Curiously the word didn't get into the original OED, it was in the 1928 Supplement,
simply '= crook', in the 'shepherd's crook' sense - Old Norse krókr 'crooked, bent thing'.
It doesn't seem to be related to crux, or only remotely so.
There are evidently forums where you can discuss crucks, but I don't find any Crucks Forums' :)
 
Eulalia said:
Indeed, cruck-framed buildings are among the oldest ordinary dwellings and farm buildings
in many English villages (Lowland Scotland too)

View attachment 847889

I think the term 'cruck' refers primarily to the pair of big, bending beams that support the frame.
Curiously the word didn't get into the original OED, it was in the 1928 Supplement,
simply '= crook', in the 'shepherd's crook' sense - Old Norse krókr 'crooked, bent thing'.
It doesn't seem to be related to crux, or only remotely so.
There are evidently forums where you can discuss crucks, but I don't find any Crucks Forums' :)
Click to expand...
I expect crooked trees must have been in high demand.. especially as they were probably useful in ship building too. Ironically it’s hard to find any straight timbers at my local timber yard... :doh:
 
Quoting Oliver Rackham (for those who don't know, the great authority on the history of English woodlands and forests, died 2015)
'In the western half of England, for unknown reasons, cruck construction prevails. Every 10 to 15 feet a house is spanned by two great curved timbers running from the base of the walls (stone or timber-framed) to the apex of the roof. Often they are of black poplar (which grows into that shape); sometimes they are two halves of one tree. These support a frame made of lesser timbers'

When you think about it, a cruck frame would make (yet) another variation for crucifixion purposes,
you'd nail me with my arms well up towards the top of the cruck-beams, my legs spread, feet nailed wide apart lower down.
 
cynthia the inocent said:
This ought to spark some conversation. I was watching the History Channel . Some biblical scholars were showing ankle bones with nails in them that came from a burriel site in Rome. The way the nails were placed raised the question " possibly crux was done on an X shaped cross as opposed to the traditional Christian crucifix. " Also the scholars believe the X cross was leaned against a stone wall or building . I am no authority on this and the very thought of it might upset Christians who accept the T shaped cross.
Any thoughts ?
Click to expand...
Hey,i think i saw that on Saturday night,on 5Select.
Was quite interesting....
 
Not a documentary, but a fantastic podcast series covering the entire breadth of Roman civilization in a reasonable amount of detail up to the fall of the western Roman Empire. All free on Youtube. Not sure how to link the entire playlist but following the attachment should get you to said playlist.
 
Jumping in late in this discussion…. Having been not raised Catholic, but in the lessons of morals, aspects of Christianity were nevertheless brought up. The basic line was, that likely, Christ was based on a historical person, who must have had some charisma and persuasiveness, enough to worry local authorities, either Jewish or Roman. A person, judging from the scriptures, as our morals teacher said, who was not a calm persuader, as often depicted, but someone with temper, who likely must have shouted, must have had arguments and quarrels. It was almost certain, it was told us, that this person had been crucified. But what the gospels then told about it, was to be interpreted as ‘propaganda’, turning the humiliating death into a higher purpose of salvation. That’s how it was told to us, and I think, it could make sense to a certain extent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom