The Pont du Gard

Hi friends (or strangers) !
Today it's all about that bass... Sorry all about the that bridge!

The "Pont du Gard" (those damned French, it's unpronounceable!) is an ancient bridge in France that was part of an aqueduct which provided water to the gallo-roman city of Nemausus (current Nîmes).
In the 1st century AD, Nemausus was an important coastal city of 20,000 inhabitants. This impressive (by this time) number of habitants and the opulence of the Roman lifestyle required huge amount of water to fill the fountains, the baths and villas.

Aqueduc of Nemausus

Consequently Romans started to build a 50km (why are they using meters? It's 30 miles!) long aqueduct. However the source was only 15m (50ft) higher than Nemausus! Therefore Roman engineers proved a great accuracy by doing this feat of sustaining a steady flow of water all along the aqueduc with a small gradient (average gradient of 1m high for 3km long).

Representation of the main points of the aqueduct, their altitudes and the inclination

The second big problem met during the construction of the aqueduct was the crossing of the Gardon river and its valley. To achieve this crossing Romans built the highest of all aqueducts bridge! It is 275m long (900ft) for 49m high (160ft). As you can see below, the Pont du Gard is an arch bridge of three tiers of arches, the water flowed on the top of it. To span the river, they built arches with a maximal span of 24m (82ft) and maximal height of 22m (72ft) only with simple materials (stone, wood...), equipment and mathematics.

Pont du Gard in 2014

Romans employed wooden made scaffolding and falsework to support the bridge and the arches during the construction. To lift off the stones, they used human powered treadwheel crane: workers had to spin the wheel like hamsters! "They are crazy, those Romans!"

Reconstitution of an antic roman treadwheel crane

This Bridge also shows that the Roman art and architecture was very developed and refined. Their culture was all about the excessiveness: tall bridge, tall statues, tall tale, tall tall...
The technical prowess they achieved by building this high bridge with equipments from their time is absolutely impressive and demonstrates the ingenuity and the accuracy displayed by Romans.
I introduced you to this marvelous bridge, to show you that Roman are not only good at conquests and destruction but also at construction. Romans didn't conquer territories just for their glory. They brought this glory into the conquered nations and shared knowledge with them. I think this is why Rome succeed to keep a waste Empire for a long time. The relationship they had with most of their provinciae was interdependent, instead of a one way relationship based on domination.


Citations:

images from
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_du_Gard
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane
homemade sketch
informations took from the vidéo "Le Pont du Gard et Arènes de Nîmes" of C'est pas sorcier

How did Rome conquer her Empire?

Hi dear readers!

Today, I'm going to answer the big question that is burning you since my last post: How did Rome manage to conquer her Empire?

I'll sum it up in three points:

• Military strategy:

Romans had an interesting recruitment strategy: Every years, recruiters looked for soldiers by the roman citizens and especially by the landowners. Why so? Because they thought soldiers who had  personal interests in defending Roman territories (or volunteers) where the ones who fight with ardor. Obviously, it turns out to be true!

The strict military discipline and organisation enabled fast mouvements and reactivity during battles.
Soldiers were split into three groups:

- hastati: the youngest soldiers, in first lines
- principes: more experimented, in middle lines
- triarii: the oldest, in last lines or for back up

The management of Roman armies are certainly a good explanation of the Roman conquests but not the only argument...

• Diplomatic strategy: 

The political model of Rome during the Republic, was very attractive for the neighboring nations because it permit a larger part of the population to have power, instead of just a governor.
Romans, aware of the popularity of their Republic, developed a diplomatic strategy to annex more nations without fighting. They came in cities and offered them to be part of their new successful nation. This cities seeing the rising Rome preferred to be part if it, beneficing the protection and political organisation of Rome. The perfect example is Capua witch directly offers her submission to Rome!

• Roman culture:

The Roman culture was completely inspired by the Greeks, after the first struggle with them in the Pyrrhic War. The Roman lifestyle was very opulent and distracting, with lots of fountains, thermae (baths), games and villa. This was appealing for neighboring which wanted to access this rich culture. 

Reconstitution of a Gallo-Roman Amphitheater

Even if in our minds Romans get their Empire by winning wars and battles, their diplomatic strategy and cultural charisma played huge roles especially in the first conquests. 

Citations:

image www.parisculture.fr

The Roman Republic: the Territorial Expansion

Hi Bros!

Still wearing that suit from last time. So without any further talk, here comes the territorial expansion of Rome during the public period.

The territorial expansion : 

Since its foundation, Rome has always been just a city stuck between the other tribes of the Italian peninsula and sometimes under their control: the Etruscans ruled and/or influenced Rome during the Kingdom era. But when the Republic arrived this tendency changed...

In the early Republic, Rome struggled with its direct neighbor from the region of Latium. And in the beginning of the 4th century BC, Rome finally ended up with the leadership of the Latin League (a confederation of the tribes of the Latium). By that time, Romans were rather pacifists and didn't conquered their neighbors.

However, in 390 BC, a drastic change in this policy happened with the sack of Rome by Gauls. I think this episode was a traumatic event for the Romans and probably persuaded them to attack other nations as a defense mechanism. This policy, which continued till the end of Roman Empire, is called defensive imperialism. It can be sum up with the well known Latin adage: "Si vis pacem, para bellum" (If you want peace, prepare for war).




Because the Roman expansion is quite impressive, I will only give you a list of the major conquests

- 338 BC: conquest of the Latium
- 290 BC: Samnites and Umbrians territories
- 272 BC: Pyrrhic war, led to the conquest of the Great  Greece (Greek colony in South Italy)
- 264 to 146 BC: Punic Wars, led to the conquest of North Italia (Cisalpine Gaul), Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, the Iberian Peninsula (actual Spain and Portugal) and parts of the North Africa.
- 111 to 104 BC: Jugurthine Wars: conquest of Numidia (North Africa)
- 89 to 63 BC: Mithridatic Wars: conquest of Pontus, a kingdom in Asia Minor (actual Turquey)
- 59 to 49 BC: Gallic Wars: conquest of Gaul

Step by step, Rome is merging an incredibly vast Empire on the Mediterranean Sea witch will dominate the western world for half a millenium. From a little insignificant city to a prosperous Empire, Rome achieved real improvements during the Republic period.

Here are a maps of the major civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea at different moments, to make you an idea of the geopolitical situation around Rome.

Rome and the major Mediterranean Civilizations in 306 BC

In red Rome, in blue the Etruscans, in yellow the Greeks and in green the Carthaginian Empire

Mediterranean civilizations in 220 BC

Rome at the end of the Republic : 44 BC

How did Rome manage to get there in such a (relatively) short time? How did it surpass the surrounding major civilizations and became the only major civilization of the Mediterranean Sea? Subject of my next post!

Citations : 
Images from Wikipedia in French and English

The Roman Republic: The Political History

Hi bros! Today, as I said, I'm wearing the history teacher's suit. (Well I'm actually just wearing a suit, because I don't really know what an history teacher's suit looks like...)

Anyway, Today's lesson is about the Roman Republic, a very important part the Roman history. It marks the beginning of the huge changes in Rome: political, cultural, economical and obviously territorial changes. The Republic lasted about half a millennium, so I'll just draw an overview as short as I can. Firstly, I'll speak about the Republic in a political aspect and then in a next article the territorial expansion.

Political history: 

After the expulsion of the last King of Rome (509 BC), the Republic was founded and a struggle for the control of power began between the two Roman social classes: the patricians and the plebeians.

- the patricians are members of a ruling class family group, called gens. 
- the plebeians are the other free citizens of Rome, the ordinary people, such as artisans and traders.

Social Hierarchy in the Roman Republic

Little explanations on this picture: senators are assimilated to patricians, and equites are middle class people, who have a big impact in the military life of Rome (they are like wealthy plebeians who ride horses at war and have a high military grade). I'm not talking about them because they are not playing a huge role in those conflicts.

In the early Republic, patricians took power and founded an oligarchy (power to an elite) ruled by the Senate, a council of patricians. None of the plebeians were represented in this presumed republic. After a multitude of conflicts and civil wars, plebeians obtained the right to be represented in a special council: the Plebeian Tribune, which had the power of veto over the acts of the Senate and the magistrates. The consul magistrates were the most powerful people in the Republic; they take care of the budget, the defense and other administration business and are two at sharing the title.

Take a look at this fantastic organization chart (with lots of arrows in many directions), which explains the institutions of the Republic.

In 133 BC, after a long time and many conflicts, all the free citizens of Rome were finally represented and had a real impact in the Roman political life, and thus Rome became one of the first Republic in World history (after Vaishali in India and Athens in Greece).

Nevertheless, this relatively fair political system got threatened in late Republic by internal unrest. In 1st Century BC, at least twelve civil wars and rebellions occured. Involving the slaves and the citizens of Rome (the Servile Wars), Rome and its Italian allies (the Social Wars) and the citizens of Rome themselves. 

All these troubles led to the ascension of Octavian and the foundation of the Roman Empire (27 BC).

Next time the territorial expansion of Rome and its explanation. 

Citations : 

images from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_Roman_Republic) and google images 

Today's Rome

Hi Guys! Here's your favorite blogger (it's probably not me, but let's be positive).

As promised, I won't talk about grammar today. But about Rome and why you should go there for your next travel... No, you can't wait. You have to go right now!

Last summer, I was in this amazing city with my family and my girlfriend for four days and three nights. And I can tell you that it's not enough to take even half the famous tours!
That's right. Rome has more than two and a half thousand years of existence. You can imagine all the possible visits. It's like a citywide museum:

Rome offers one of the greatest concentrations of ancient vestiges in the world. If you are a fan of the Roman civilization, you would love to walk in the Forum and fell like being transported back in time, when the city was the capital of the world: caput mundi.

Roman Forum

Colosseum

The Ancient heart of the city is located next to the Capitol Hill. It's called a Forum and was the center of the political, cultural and religious life of Rome. Todays it's just a bunch of old stones for some people. However, when I walked between those stones, I could really imagine what it was like in its glory days: a magnificent place full of people and colors. The impression of smallness is reinforced by the surrounding arches and temples.





The Colosseum is the most famous of the ancient monuments of Rome. Mainly because it's the best conserved and the tallest one.
I understand that all this vestiges can be really annoying eventually. I actually escaped a guide tour because I was bored of stones (and also because I wanted an ice-cream but that's not the point).

Even if you're not an history fan, you could appreciate its renaissance and baroque architecture at every street corner. The most popular are the Trevi Fountain, Piazza di Spagna and Piazza Barberini.

Trevi Fountain

Vatican City, a city (and also a state) within a city (and also a state), is a very attractive place, mostly because it's the capital of the christian religion, but also because of its huge art collection and impressive monuments, such as St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

Still not convinced? Well, I'm sure the Italian food will! Obviously, Rome is the best place to eat pizza at sunset on an terrasse or enjoy an homemade ice-cream in the ancient Roman park : La Villa Borghese.
Furthermore, Rome is a great romantic town (not as Paris, Paris is the best!). You should come with your lover(s not judging) for the great restaurants in the capital of La Dolce Vita (the sweet life).

How can I talk about Rome and not speak about the Vespa rides? Yes, the Vespa scoter is surely the best way to discover the city from the Hills and admire a splendid overview of this timeless city. At some point in this ride, I think I fell in love with it. See for yourself:

Panoramic of Rome

The only drawback is that there is a lot of tourists (those damned people) all year long. As a result, you can easy spend most of the day in the line and in invaded places where you can't take a single picture without an unknown on it. But pictures aren't the point of travel, and if you plan it you can make reservations or go in charming, not touristy, neighborhoods. For this, I recommend the East Side of the Tiber river, with Trastevere and the Janiculum Hill.


I hope I made you wanna go there. Next time I won't be the tourist guide but the history teacher!

Citations :
Photos from my trip
More informations on http://www.rome-passion.com

Latin grammatical rules

Hello guys!

Today's article will be about Latin grammatical rules (so much informations so far).

"Oh no! Not that. I'm so bored already!" I hear you yelling in front of your screen.
But wait...
Uhm no don't... I hate those things too!

Yes that's right, I love Roman civilisation and yet I can't stand the idea of writing and reading in Latin. When I studied Latin in high-school, I've never opened my books to learned grammatical rules. The things that interested me back then, were Mythology and History. However our teacher never really spoke about this and our exams were only about translations and vocables. So I quite it before the twelfth grade.
In spite of all my bad marks, I truly regret quitting. And now I feel like a jerk not being able to translate a simple sentence after 5 years of Latin.

I know I'm French and it is difficult to learn it because of all the exceptions. But, it's easy to say you don't have exceptions when you have so many rules!
For instance, the declensions... There are like thousands of them. NO JOKES!

Quick overview of Latin declensions :

• They obviously depend on the TWO grammatical genders: singular and plural
• FOUR types of words have their own ones: adjectives, nouns, verbs and pronouns
• There are FIVE declensions for nouns, grouped by ending and gender
• And SIX cases of declension : Nominative, Vocative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative and Ablative

Take a look at these declensions lists. And, imagine you have to memorize all of it. That's insane!

Latin Pronouns Declensions

Latin Nouns Declensions

Moreover, in the conjugation, each verb is described by FIVE forms and are affected by the person, the gender, the number, the tense, the mood and the voice. 

All this cases make the latin translations very hard. 

To sum up, Latin grammar is tough to learn and why the hell do we care about this when it's a dead language and translators can do all the work?! ;) 

Post Scriptum : Next time, I promise I won't bother you with this nerdy language. 

Citations :

Book Latin for dummies, Daniel ROBERT and my old latin lessons

Photos from Wikipedia

History of Rome

The History of Rome begins in 753 BC with its foundation by Romulus and ends in 476 AD with the fall of the western Roman Empire. It can be split in three parts: the Kingdom, the Republic and the Empire.

Timeline of the Roman Civilization

During the Kingdom area, seven kings ruled Rome, from 753 BC to 509 BC. The first and the most famous is Romulus. According to legend, he killed his twin brother Remus, with whom he had been raised by a wolf, to became king.

The legendary wolf which had raised the twins Remus and Romulus

After a revolution against the last king, the Roman Republic was created. The government was ruled by the Senate indirectly elected by the plebeians and the patricians (like our current aristocraty) and the consuls, who were controlled by the Senate. During this period, Rome started to conquer countries, such as Italy, Greece and Carthage (with the Punic Wars).

Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the Roman people) 

The apogee of the Roman civilisation was in the third era: the Roman Empire. After a period of civil war, Octavius became, in 27 BC, the first Emperor of Rome, with the name of Auguste. From this moment, the expansion of Rome is unstoppable and the limits even include the whole Mediterranean Sea.

The Roman territories (510 BC-530 AD)

However, the frontiers are too large to be correctly defended from the tentative of invasion of the barbarian people and inner problems are growing. In 300 AD, the Roman Empire is cut in half: the western Empire, with Rome as capital, and the eastern Empire, with Constantinople. Some barbarian invasions succeed, like the Goths and the Huns. The Roman legions aren't able to protect the Empire anymore. This leads to the fall of the western Empire in 476 BC.



Citations :
Homemade Timeline
http://www.rome-roma.net/frise-chronologique-rome-antique.html
http://www.rome-roma.net/histoire_rome.html
Photos from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Rome