Saturday, January 26, 2008

In search of a brief history

January 2008 is the first month I've had over three thousand visitors. Thank you! I appreciate it. People have found the blog through searches for various guitar chords, story elements, and saint action figures.

One of my favorite posts ever is A Brief History of the British Empire, co-authored by Bede. Sometimes I feel a bit rueful when I discover variations of that search that bring people to the blog. No doubt, they are searching for something scholarly and reliable for their reports. We have a disclaimer at the end of the post but I sometimes wonder-- are they amused? After watching I, Claudius and Rome, I think it time that Bede and I write A Brief History of the Roman Empire. If you'd like to contribute, we will give you full credit for your input. What we need are historical or pseudhistorical tidbits that would contribute to a person's understanding of Roman events based on film and television. For example, after watching Gladiator, one might surmise that republican rule returned to Rome after the fall of Emperor Commodus. I am concerned that Roman history won't be as funny due to all of the violence (despite the guilty pleasure of The Life of Brian). Remember when Xena, Warrior Princess had a liason with young Julius Caesar? It ended badly. Sigh.

3 comments:

Vivian Mahoney said...

Congratulations! 3,000 visitors! Good luck with your Brief History of the Roman Empire. Sadly I'm not a reliable source of information of the Roman Empire. Though I can vouch for how much I loved Gladiator.

Saints and Spinners said...

HWM: Thanks! I'm not a reliable source of information, either. I just cull.

Unknown said...

Commodus is one of my favorite emperors. He invented the commode, finally giving the Roman's something to do with all those aqueducts that grow naturally in the Roman countryside.