u/Pavementaled

☺️

Not even a platypus bear...

Porphyrios mere reputation terrified the crews of many ships which often took detours to go around the waters where the whale most commonly swam.

The most accepted theory on how Porphyrios ended up in the waters of Constantinople is that when it was young, it swam through the Dardanelles while hunting and the strong currents of the strait prevented it from returning to the Aegean Sea. It also could not enter the Black Sea, a sea that whales avoid due to the low levels of oxygen in its waters.

Consequently, Porphyrios was trapped in the Sea of Marmara. It is probable that it was the only whale in these waters and as a result had an abundance of prey to feed on.

I Learned A Bunch Of The Chants And Where They Originate From And What Their Meanings Are. I Never Realized How Rich The History Behind, And Just The Chanting & Music Itself Is. Probably My New Favorite Music Genre Ngl.

im Toph nice to meet ya ( no this is not a repost )

I was watching Tunisia vs Japan in the World Cup tonight, and as I usually do, I thought of Rome. What does modern day Tunisia, and the famous city of Carthage, look like today? That led me down a rabbit hole about one of the most famous cities of the ancient world and Rome's greatest rival.

What struck me wasn’t the significant changes over the past two millennia, but the remarkable amount that had stayed the same. The city of Carthage exists today as a coastal district of Tunis, and the name itself survived the Punic Wars, the Roman Empire, the Arab conquest, the Ottoman Empire, French colonial rule and modern Tunisian independence.

The Punic Wars were the great struggle between Rome and Carthage for dominance in the western Mediterranean. The First Punic War, fought from 264 to 241 BC, centered largely on Sicily. Hannibal enters the story in the Second Punic War, which began in 218 BC. Over 2,200 years ago. He led a Carthaginian army from Iberia across southern Europe and over the Alps, bringing the war directly into Roman territory. Throughout that campaign, he became one of history’s most renowned military commanders and Rome’s most formidable adversary.

The final chapter came with the Third Punic War, fought from 149 to 146 BC. That was the war in which Rome destroyed Carthage. However, it’s often overlooked that the Romans later rebuilt the city. Roman Carthage flourished and became one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the Roman Empire, serving as a major hub for trade, government, and culture. At its peak, Carthage may have housed between 300,000 and 500,000 inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities in the Mediterranean region. Today, the modern municipality of Carthage still carries the same name, but its population is just under 20,000.

The city also helped feed Rome itself. North Africa's fertile plains produced enormous quantities of grain and olive oil, much of which was shipped across the Mediterranean to support the population of the capital. Carthage's importance can still be seen today in its archaeological remains, including the famous circular military harbor. Remarkably, parts of that harbor can still be seen on modern maps, allowing visitors to stand in a place where Punic and Roman ships once sailed more than two millennia ago.

It is also difficult not to wonder how different the modern world might be if history had gone another way. Rome ultimately defeated Carthage, but for a time the outcome was far from certain. What if Carthage had emerged victorious in the Punic Wars? How would the languages, laws, governments, trade networks, and cultural foundations of the Western world be different today. Watching Tunisia play today was a reminder that these ancient cities are still here, full of history and modernity, and also putting out world class fútbol teams! 

He seems to be the only one, until Bran, to be more concerned about the country and citizenry than filling his pocket books. But it does seem he desires power and revenge.

As I often do, I was thinking of Rome the other day as I digitally transferred some money to my landlady. And I wondered, did Romans have to physically haul giant boxes of coins around the city, or did they have a smarter system? Did they have a checking style of system? Did they have wax tablets, papyrus records, or some other way to keep track of the money and valuables held by a bank? Who were these bankers? Where did they keep all this money?!?!

Interestingly the Romans had something much closer to a banking system than I expected. Roman bankers, known as argentarii, accepted deposits, exchanged currency, extended credit, maintained account records for their customers, etc, etc. Wealthy Romans did not necessarily need to walk around carrying a fortune in silver denarii. Instead, bankers kept written records and could settle debts or transfer value through entries in their books, reducing the need to physically move large amounts of coin for every transaction.

These bankers were not necessarily Romans from Rome. The Forum was filled with people from across the Empire. Greeks, Jews, Egyptians, North Africans, Syrians, Gauls, Spaniards and countless others. A successful banker might have spoken multiple languages while serving customers from every corner of the known world. Super International!!

They maintained shops and offices known as tabernae argentariae usually located around the Forum and other busy commercial areas. Smaller amounts of coin might be kept in strongboxes, locked chests, or secured rooms as the wealthy often stored valuables in private household safes or trusted temple treasuries. Unlike a modern bank with a giant vault and federal insurance, security depended on locks and guards and trust and reputation and also the physical strength of the building itself!

On the other hand, a successful banker could be responsible for handling a fortune in gold and silver, yet much of that wealth might be represented only by entries on wax tablets and account records rather than piles of coins sitting in a back room.

Rome operated on a metallic currency system and physical money remained important. A large payment might involve chests of coins carried by trusted servants using pack animals that would be loaded onto ships by guards with plenty of risk. Romans were keeping accurate records, establishing trust being able to transfer value between people in attempted to avoid moving heavy loads of money whenever possible. Roman banker sitting behind a bench in the Roman Forum was solving the same financial challenges that banks are solving nearly two thousand years later!

And weirdly today, when we have digital transfers, banks and businesses physically move huge amounts of cash. Financial institutions order and deposit currency through Federal Reserve cash services, and armored carriers still transport physical money. So somewhere between ancient Roman bankers with wax tablets and a modern armored truck, the basic problem has stayed the same and money may be an idea, but sometimes it still has to be carried.

I think I was most surprised to learn that we are currently moving large amounts of cash money daily, even when we could be just using digital scratch mark with safeguards. Crazy!

Cited Sources:

^(World History Encyclopedia – Banking in the Roman World) ^(https://www.worldhistory.org/article/974/banking-in-the-roman-world/)

^(University of Chicago (Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities) – Argentarii) ^(https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Argentarii.html)

^(Encyclopaedia Romana – Roman Banking and Finance) ^(https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/economy/banking/banking.html)

^(Federal Reserve – FedCash Services) ^(https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/cash)

^(Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco – Cash Services) ^(https://www.frbsf.org/about-us/financial-services/cash-services/)

Greek fire was a devastating incendiary weapon developed by the Byzantine Empire in the late 7th century CE, which famously saved Constantinople from multiple naval sieges. Traditionally credited to a Greek-speaking refugee named Kallinikos of Heliopolis, this prehistoric "napalm" could burn on water and became one of history's most fiercely guarded military secrets. That is until GRR Martin showed up and added it to Game of Thrones. /s

https://www.medievalware.com/blog/greek-fire-byzantine-medieval-flamethrower/

Especially in light of Shay sleeping with Tywinn, could she really love anyone enough to kill for them?