Monday, July 21, 2008

It Merits A Link

Jed commented that the Zeusaphone reminded him of the Pyrophone, then blogged about it. If I understand the Wiki article, the human race had an internal-combustion musical instrument before we had internal-combustion engines. Kewllllllll!

I'm reminded of that triumph of Roman Engineering, the water organ, thanks to which a day at the Colosseum Flavian Ampitheatre* might well have reminded modern folks of Roller Derby....

P.S.
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* The non-crossed out term being the one by which Iulius Kaisar would'a known it, precisely as he would have not so much recognized "Julius" as being any part of his name. Durn furriners! --Er, credit to Anon in comments: that is he would have, if the blame thing hadn't gone and had itself built long after he was safely dead. Where'd Romans go for a day's entertainment during the late Republic/early Empire, then? Double-durn furriners!
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 22, 2008 at 8:34 AM

    Ummmm, Julius Caesar would not have recognized Colosseum or the Flavian Amphitheatre since it was built about 120 years after his death.

    k.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Roberta XJuly 22, 2008 at 9:07 AM

    Aww, rats.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 22, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    Well, Julius Caesar would have attended his own.

    In fact the amphitheatre, and apparently the first to which the name was applied, was built by Julius Caesar himself, during his perpetual dictatorship, in B.C. 46

    Roman Amphitheatre

    And that's enough ROman history for today.

    k.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BobGJuly 22, 2008 at 3:54 PM

    It's refreshing to see Gaius Julius Caesar's name pronounced correctly for a change. One of the more interesting courses I took in high school was three years of Latin.

    ReplyDelete

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