Cripple. History Major. Vaguely left-wing.
Roman standards on sexuality were very weird to modern eyes. A lot of it is tied up in power dynamics, which the Romans were obsessed with.
At the same time, Romans were a very sexual culture, especially in contrast to later Christian European cultures. A large penis was comical - but also was considered a symbol of good luck! So you get things like penis pendants and furniture with legs made to look like dicks. This little bit in particular is a VERY NSFW bell-holder. Brothels would advertise themselves with big ol’ dicks outside, or in the stone streets. Graffiti includes both crudely drawn pornography as well as such gems as “Don’t perform oral sex on women against the city wall like a dog!” and “So-and-so is an excellent dick-sucker”. Wealthy Roman houses are positively covered in pornographic drawings - including ‘emasculating’ sex positions - and the same with vases, mosaics, bas-relief, even coins.
It’s a strange dynamic!
[cackling in ‘anyone-but-shithead-worshiper’]
Explanation: Romans, unlike some Greek sources, did not find a small penis to be attractive - but an overly large penis was considered comical and barbaric. I suppose the “I’m perfectly average!” was the real mating call of the Roman man.
Also, going down on a woman was considered emasculating. Nonetheless; it was acknowledged as often happening (and used as an insult), and male prostitutes are recorded advertising their prices for cunnilingus.
TERF island is at it again, huh?
Very brave people.
Holy fucking shit, I need to eat my shoe
Don’t worry, I’m sure they were all secret CIA agents /s
Explanation: The survivors of the Roman defeat at Cannae were shamed by having been crushed by a numerically inferior force and bringing the outcome of the entire Second Punic War in question in one disgraceful stroke. It wasn’t really their fault, but the shaken Roman Republic desired some scapegoats, and “These guys who survived because they were in the camp didn’t fight hard, like REAL Rough Romans!” was an easy one. As such, the survivors of Cannae were sent to garrison duty in Sicily - tedious and hardly glorious! They were forbidden from returning to Italy until the war was over - the great Roman general Scipio Africanus took these defeated men with him on his expeditions against Carthage, and returned them their honor by decisively ending the war on Carthaginian soil.
The thing is that when all this went down, there was speculation that he was fired by corporate drones wanting to make Line Go Up, because a large percentage of the company’s employees signed a letter demanding he return.
Weird. It still shows up incognito on mine. I’ll see if I can fiddle with it.
Try clicking on it. We’ve been having some federation issues.
In another life I was digging ditches for the Legions o7
Explanation: Most would regard the Principate period of the Empire to be the height of Rome’s power and prestige (here simply labeled as ‘Roman Empire’), with the Eastern and Western Empires of the Dominate and Byzantine periods being in various states of decay.
The ‘Holy Roman Empire’, despite its name, was a MUCH later Medieval confederation of German states which often quarreled with the remnant state of the Byzantine Empire over who was the ‘true’ Rome. Despite my disgust for the Byzies, the Holy Roman Empire ain’t even in the same ballpark as the Empire of old.
Sadly unsurprising. Israel doesn’t interact with international institutions in good faith.
Explanation: As the Roman Empire was an absolute juggernaut who reshaped the face of history, and especially European history, the number of countries who have claimed to be the TRUE successor of the Empire of old is… extensive.
Von Steuben was much-beloved by the troops - in part because he was a big, imposing, proper military fellow who swept in to teach them how to fight a real war at the Continental Army’s darkest hour, and in part because he made a great effort to understand and communicate with the American enlisted men. But also because he, a German fresh from Europe, spoke some French but no English, but very quickly made it a priority to add English profanity to his vocabulary so he could curse in three languages. Soldiery never changes, it seems!
The lively and rough Von Steuben would continue drilling American forces for the rest of the war, writing the first and longest-lasting US military manual, establishing traditions of the US Army, and eventually retiring to a peaceful existence in the new US with his two (ahem) ‘adopted sons’; both officers who he met during the Revolutionary War.