Recent content by doorofnight

I agree, I think the Night's Watch series are his best, at least in terms of drama(the Death and Witch's series are, I think, funnier on the whole) with Night Watch in particularly I think being, dramatically at least, the best in the series and that series has quite an array of well rounded...

Check used bookstores, since they often get overstock of things, I found a Complete Works of William Shakespeare, very nicely printed and bound with a case and something like 750 color illustrations for $25 at a Half-Price Books. Keep checking and I am sure you'll get similarly lucky. At...

I have several 'that books' that I just keep coming back to and every time I read I find it meaningful and interesting as the first time I read it. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman The Sandman by Gaiman(I've read the series 4 times in 2 years, and I have...

In my general experience most people who criticize Doctor Who haven't actually seen it, or just watched part of an episode or two and didn't get it(since you kind of have to watch it from at least the beginning of a season to get what is going on). I am rather more understanding of people who...

Who have you been talking to that criticizes Doctor Who? I won't argue that it is perfect but it has been critically and popularly acclaimed for quite a long time and in recent years even in the United States.

And they influenced Rome. But yes, Rome's importance is undeniable, perhaps overstated by some western historians, but that isn't the same thing as overrated.

Impossible to say really, the relationship between the early christians and the Roman Empire was. . .complicated. One the one hand, the very existence of the Roman Empire allowed easy travel and the relative peace that existed at the time allowed them to move easily and spread the new religion...

Having a common language is useful, but Arabic and Chinese are also widely used languages of the trade of ideas that conferred the same advantage. Ironically, Europe's advantage was more that it had a common language to communicate in but was politically divided, which meant that all states were...

I think we might be arguing at slightly cross purposes. I am not arguing that the Roman Empire is overrated, I am arguing that the ideas and innovations developed by the Romans(or the greeks for that matter) aren't the reason Europe succeeded, they are a defining part of our cultural heritage...

I am quite far from being religious myself, but I would respectfully point out that the Bible itself has a lot of really good messages in it about love and being accepting and understanding(so does the Qur'an, and most other religious texts, for that matter, and before someone tries to...

The Chinese invented quite a bit more than just laquerwear dude, they invented paper, the printing press, and gunpowder, just to name a few things, and they developed the idea of paper currency centuries before Europe(which is a sign of a VERY good economy) although it didn't last long, there is...

You are correct about the Etruscans controlling Rome for a time, but I would debate the question of them sacking it, since they might well have founded it(it is a point of quite a lot of debate) or at least dominated it for a time. An Etruscan family did rule Rome for a while(the family cast out...

Of course I can name more important figures from the Roman Empire, a)I am of European descent and b)I have a master in Roman History but I have taken enough classes in World History to know that it really isn't that simple. The true culmination of ancient history, including the things developed...

Yes and no One the one hand, the reason the influence of some Roman practices can be found around the world is that is of course because of the several centuries of European domination and having forced these practices on other people. And, in truth, part of the reason for Roman influence...

You are conflating two people together The Roman general and politician who fought Pompey and became dictator was Gaius Julius Caesar and would have often been referred to simply as Caesar and if you see or hear a historian use Caesar and don't qualify it they are probably talking about this...