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Amphipolis

Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2014 4:45 am
by sikander
Greetings,

I do not know if this has already been shared, but if not, enjoy:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGyfu2rZ5uo

Regards,

Sikander

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Sun May 01, 2016 9:18 pm
by Nicator
Appreciate the post. It seems most of us former regulars are now on facebook? I was surprised by the general lack of activity here...but I guess I shouldn't be.

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Wed May 04, 2016 10:16 pm
by sean_m
I think that the decline in posting had something to do with all the arguments and very long threads. Some people enjoy that but its not my cup of tea.

As that other place became uncomfortable to people who were more interested in Greeks than Romans, I moved to chats with my academic colleagues, and my blog.

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 3:31 am
by Xenophon
sean_m wrote:I think that the decline in posting had something to do with all the arguments and very long threads. Some people enjoy that but its not my cup of tea.

As that other place became uncomfortable to people who were more interested in Greeks than Romans, I moved to chats with my academic colleagues, and my blog.
I fully agree, Sean! I have suggested a number of times that threads that digressed into a number of subjects were hard to follow and a bad idea, not least because sometimes interesting stuff was 'buried' in a long thread.

I'm all for single-topic, shorter threads......

As someone who does not wish to participate in 'Facebook', and I believe that may be a significant minority, I hope that "Pothos' will continue to thrive as a place for interested amateurs and professionals to discuss all things "Alexander" and related subjects, exchanging ideas, and maybe even coming up with an occasional 'breakthrough' , factual gem etc

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 3:52 am
by Paralus
sean_m wrote:As that other place became uncomfortable to people who were more interested in Greeks than Romans.
Oh yes, they are the last province of the Roman Empire over there Sean!

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 3:54 am
by Paralus
Welcome back Mr Christakes. Nice to have you back after a hiatus. The place isn't quite dead yet. Perhaps we've moved into a home for old forum participants though...

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 4:48 am
by amyntoros
Xenophon wrote:
I fully agree, Sean! I have suggested a number of times that threads that digressed into a number of subjects were hard to follow and a bad idea, not least because sometimes interesting stuff was 'buried' in a long thread.

I'm all for single-topic, shorter threads......
Then all that people who feel the same as you need to do is copy/edit and take the digressions to a new thread. Suggesting that a post has digressed from the subject matter has no impact here because we have never dictated how debates should progress. If a member wants to reply to a perceived digression and would prefer it to be part of a new thread then they are free to copy the relevant points and begin a new thread. No one is preventing that. On the other hand, it is up to the original poster as to whether he/she chooses to follow accordingly with a response, because there will always be those who believe that their "digressions" are relevant to a discussion which they feel has developed organically. On Pothos it is entirely their right to debate as they wish as long as it is proper and not offensive. Sean has chosen not to read certain long threads and this is, of course, completely up to him as a member. Believe me, there are some threads which even I would have stopped reading were I not a moderator. The back and forth debate can be confusing when the topic is not one of personal interest. However the threads clearly generated much interest from the parties involved and as such will always have a place on Pothos.

As for "single-topic, shorter threads", Pothos, in all its years of existence, has never insisted on such. The way of the debate has never been dictated, unlike other forums (one of which is under discussion here) where the mods have authoritatively controlled the subject and direction of the debates. And I should point out, single topic threads don't necessarily generate much interest either, even when an individual tries to revive them as is happening right now.

Best Regards,

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 7:58 am
by Xenophon
Amyntoros, I'm not being critical of the way the forum has traditionally gone, merely expressing a preference with Sean, for the reasons I indicated.

A good example of how a long rambling thread can make finding stuff hard is the "Sphinxes" thread......have you tried reading the whole thing, covering many subjects other than "Sphinxes"?

I'm all for flexibility too........ some subjects, with their digressions make more sense when bundled together into a longish thread, to be sure. The tricky part is fitting format to subject..... :)

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 11:24 am
by sean_m
Yes, and balancing the wishes of the posters who prefer a concise, scientific style of discussion and the posters who prefer to have a long chat with lots of rhetorical flourishes, nudges at conversation mates, and fun spotting and avoiding the rhetorical traps set by other posters. Threads which go too far in the second direction often look very active, but some posters (and lurkers) decide that its too hard to pick the useful bits out from the gab and give up. Threads which go too far in the first direction can intimidate people into not posting.

I am lucky to be working at a university with a healthy intellectual environment right now, so I don't have the lust for long arguments about history which a younger self had.

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 6:07 pm
by amyntoros
I do see your point, especially about the Amphipolis tomb thread. The problem there is, had we broken off to a new thread each time there was a new discovery, item, etc., then we could have ended up with close to a hundred separate threads before the debate finally reached the end! Okay, maybe not that many, :) but I'm sure you get the picture. And as the discussion on each individual subject ended, the separate thread would move down the forum pages while new threads (not just about Amphipolis) take the top. With the passage of sufficient time it would be just as difficult to locate something of particular interest as it is now, especially as no item in the tomb is discussed in complete isolation.

Still, I've been musing on this thread for some time. I'm thinking that when (if????) I have the time I will label each post at the top. I could use different font colors as well, so that someone could quite easily scan the pages for their particular interest. I.e., at the beginning of a post which discusses the rosettes and the ceiling there would be headings thus:

Rosettes, Ceiling

Unfortunately there aren't that many obvious color variations and I would probably have to use underline and italics also in order to better distinguish the topics. Or, if that becomes too much, I could simply do all subject headings in one bold color and people would just have to browse. I'm afraid also that some things would still be "grouped" together, as in "Discussions re Olympias". It's a bit of a daunting task and I would first have to read through the whole thread and take notes before I know if it will work. But we'll see, we'll see. :)

Best Regards,

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 6:30 pm
by Alexias
Amyntoros, that seems like an awful lot of work to undertake.

Sean, I'm curious. Why have you chosen now to voice your complaints about this forum?
I think that the decline in posting had something to do with all the arguments and very long threads. Some people enjoy that but its not my cup of tea.
Yes, and balancing the wishes of the posters who prefer a concise, scientific style of discussion and the posters who prefer to have a long chat with lots of rhetorical flourishes, nudges at conversation mates, and fun spotting and avoiding the rhetorical traps set by other posters. Threads which go too far in the second direction often look very active, but some posters (and lurkers) decide that its too hard to pick the useful bits out from the gab and give up. Threads which go too far in the first direction can intimidate people into not posting.
We had this discussion a year ago http://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5498 and nothing really changed. It's good that you want to reactivate discussions, but your comments seem rather unfair given that you haven't been a particularly active poster and that the principal poster over the last few years is no longer here to defend himself. Or is it just me misunderstanding?

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Thu May 05, 2016 9:17 pm
by sean_m
Alexias wrote:Amyntoros, that seems like an awful lot of work to undertake.

Sean, I'm curious. Why have you chosen now to voice your complaints about this forum?
Because a series of events in my personal and family life have hurt me very, very deeply and that has struck off the chains of politeness from my tongue and sent me to the Internet to distract myself. The past few years have taught me that I do some of my best writing and analysis when I am in pain, although I am not grateful for the lesson.

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 7:12 pm
by Nicator
Paralus wrote:Welcome back Mr Christakes. Nice to have you back after a hiatus. The place isn't quite dead yet. Perhaps we've moved into a home for old forum participants though...
Thanks for the warm welcome Mr. Parks. It's always fun to check in on pothos ;)

I've certainly been guilty of spending an inordinate amount of time on facebook and youtube (as some of the greatest information portals ever made available to the public). For me, the world has changed within the last several years. Though, this change is certainly tangible and apparent in the decisions of government leaders and policies, it is also a change in my awareness level of the absolute controllers of planet earth. My awareness led to my fight to end the tyranny. And my epic has taken a backseat to this much more important ideal.

But, alas, we are returning to the epic...but with a new sense of politic that has provided an entirely different perspective on Philip, Alexander, and the Alexandrian epoch.

Information is a resource, which has shown itself more powerful than all the military and bank vaults on earth combined. Militarism is, and has always been, just a tool of the elite. "Alexander the icon" presents a problem for these elites. He provided that shining example of what one man, properly motivated, could do. That is why they so fear the discovery of his last resting place, that they send agents (Israeli agents particularly) to shut down archaeological work, which might expose such evidence.

And such it is, with that precept in mind, that The "Epic of Alexander" must begin anew.

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 8:02 pm
by system1988
" Israeli agents '???? why ? who ? When? ( seems Israel hasnt other significant problems.The problem is a King dead 2000 years ago )

Re: Amphipolis

Posted: Sun May 08, 2016 9:28 pm
by Alexias
Equally baffled, Pauline, but I think Nicator is referring to the plot of his fictional epic.

Is it time to start a new thread that is Alexander-related? Does anyone have any suggestions? A read-through and discussion of one of the sources? A read-through of one of the recognised text books? It's years since I read Robin Lane-Fox.