ext_262787 ([identity profile] abomvubuso.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] talkpolitics2011-02-02 12:52 am
  • Add Memory
  • Share This Entry
Entry tags:

Monthly topic

Time to announce the new monthly topic! Its that thing we sometimes resort to when we wonder what else to talk about! :D[Poll #1675790]
(Feel free to suggest more).

 
Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
For his writings, maybe. For anything he actually did as Emperor? Not at all. The man was a mediocre war leader and was a political disaster.

[identity profile] meus-ovatio.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] meet [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]. Everyone sucks. It's how we feel good.

[identity profile] telemann.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I LOVE the Meditations ;)

[identity profile] meus-ovatio.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Pffft. The Meditations are like the Book of Thinking by the Slovenian Emperor Joe, and we all know how that turned out.

[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I think that the Meditations are pretty good writing insofar as a Roman Emperor is concerned. His political record, OTOH, includes the Marcomannic Wars and bequeathing to the Roman Empire Commodus, after which it turned to shit.

[identity profile] meus-ovatio.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I am surprisingly lacking any sort of value attachments to the issue of Roman governance.

[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com 2011-02-01 11:59 pm (UTC)(link)
You just know that Sophia_Sadek is going to be all over a Marcus Aurelius thread like a moth to a flame. ;P.

[identity profile] meus-ovatio.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
She's too busy getting her soul-bonding on with the Truth.

[identity profile] abomvubuso.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, but did Image vote?

[identity profile] dv8nation.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, he also sold royal property to pay for wars and asked the Senate for permission on spending which he didn't have to do. IMO his main flaw was his shitty wife.

[identity profile] htpcl.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
LOL seems this will be an interesting monthly topic. :-D

[identity profile] telemann.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
Do you watch Spartacus? They get a lot of Roman day-to-day history worked into that show ;)

[identity profile] htpcl.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 07:21 am (UTC)(link)
Spartacus: Mucus And Dicks.

[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
Actually his main flaw was the idiot who came after him because he felt his son should succeed him just because he was in fact his son. Letting Commodus take control of the Empire like that pretty much soured anything of his actual legacy.

[identity profile] dv8nation.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
Seeing as how he came to be known as one of the Five Good Emperors I'd say he did okay despite that.

[identity profile] mrsilence.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
While I confess I've read much more of his philosophical works than about his actual imperial rule, I'd confess I would be surprised if you could demonstrate that claim.

[identity profile] underlankers.livejournal.com 2011-02-02 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
The Meditations were a great writing of Stoic philosophy. Even his critics should give him that much. Before the discovery of germ theory plagues were unexplainable and impossible for anyone to handle. However with the Marcomannic Wars he failed to defeat a people who were just organized enough that a competent leader could have pulled it off. His decision to go to hereditary monarchy instead of adoptive/appointive left the Emperor with an assclown not too different from today's ruler of Uzbekistan. And after Commodus took over the Empire went to shit.
Flat | Top-Level Comments Only