I am not sure I agree with the idea of Rome becoming more autocratic as it had always been autocratic. But I can support the idea that Constantine may have seen the growing popularity of monotheism as an opportunity to secure himself more firmly. By moving the seat of divinity away from Rome (i.e. onto a supreme god) he could secure himself as the divine appointee.




I thought to include Constantine on the list but in the end decided, since I wanted to limit the list to 20 items, I felt it would be potentially problemmatic to include too many events from the history of world religion. Besides, there are a lot of other important events that fell off the list as well.

-V

Hells angles as security guards? duh ... I think the dead recommended them to the stones.

Yeah this event after the death of jimmy, janis and jim. People started seeing the downside to the drug use.

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August 6, 1945 hiroshima

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what is the current state of the list?

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November 1985
The release of windows.

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I can't make up my mind about Alexander. The Macedonian defeat of the Persians and the subsequent Macedonian expansion into the Middle East gave new life to Greek culture, but it also obliterated Greek democracy. Still, the Hellenistic civilisation he founded did carry the torch of Greek culture until the Romans came.

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July 4th 1776 US independence

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In the OP already

Also in the OP.

I think the death of Alexander made the expansion of Rome possible, while demonstrating that the strength of the empire was borne upon his shoulders alone. Remarkably it was not self-sustaining.

Nevertheless, the contribution of greek culture to the world is immeasureable in my opinion. By forcing the Hellenization of the empire, they inadvertantly(was it inadvertant?) preserved some of the great literary treasures of many subservient cultures. Had these documents not been so widely copied and circulated in greek, probabaly most would have been obliterated in the 391 under the decree of Theophilus and various regional conflicts.

Microsoft introduced the Blue Screen of Death followed not long afterward by Vista. Soon users will just sit and stare at the screen as the programs decide what they can and can not do.

Large empires conquered over a short period of time are rarely if ever sustainable. They tend to fragment as soon as the strong figurehead who created them leaves. There are many examples throughout history. All in all, the Hellenistic world is almost an exception to this rule, though. Though split into a couple of kingdoms, it held up pretty well until the Roman conquest -- and even afterwards.

But to me the decisive event which opened the way to Rome was the defeat of Carthage. Those early Romans knew exactly what they were doing.

Not only that, but the Hellenistic period was culturally rich in itself. The library of Alexandria was founded at that time. Aristarchus, Hipparchus, Euclid, Eratosthenes, and Archimedes all lived in this age.

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I wonder. I have often seen the Roman legions as somewhat impotent against Hannibal as he managed to a keep a presence at their doorsteps for many years in spite of the logistic hardships of doing so. It was finally the war of attrition which wore Hannibal down. When recalled to Carthage, I am sure he probably had enough, after having received very limited aid from home. In the end, it seems the best strategy was to avoid fighting him.

When Spain capitulated, Carthage was doomed.

Jimi? But anyway, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison all died after Altamont.

Hannibal was a remarkable man, but he was only one man. In the big picture, Rome had been beating Carthage for a long time before Hannibal's big gamble, and so it continued after he lost it.

Here's an intriguing idea I read somewhere: in the days when Rome was on the rise, there was a faction in Carthage that wanted to institute democratic rule; but they lost. It's interesting to speculate on how things would have turned out if Carthage had embraced democracy. Would it have changed the course of the war with Rome? It might well have been a breath of fresh air. In those final centuries Carthage seemed to be a petty society, closed upon itself. Certainly, the way the Carthaginian authorities treated poor Hannibal was shameful and self-defeating.

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Yes. I agree with you.

Fresh air? The greeks were a democratic society. The U.S. is not a democratic form of government. The U.S. is a republic very much like Rome.

Not by the time of the Punic Wars.

Anyway, I meant "a breath of fresh air" for Carthage...

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6th century India
Zero is used as a placeholder in numerals

11th century Europe
The concept of zero as a placeholder reaches Italy

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A word or more is/are missing from that sentence.

Can you tell me a bit about the event? I know nothing of it.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

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