History Challenge & Journal

[dtaai-maai]

Never mind the jokes, Fishman, put your thinking cap on, coz this challenge is right up your street!

[Jimbob]

Kazakhstan? home of Borat? now this a challenge.

[STEVE G]

Is it something to do with railways and when they were first built?

[STEVE G]

Now I've had a bit more time,

Liverpool 1830 is the first railway station with the opening of the Liverpool Manchester railway, although presumably they built one in Manchester as well so there was somewhere to get off!
Bishop's Stortford in 1890 apparently had the first bus stop where you could get a bus to Colchester.
I'm not so sure about Hounslow in 1916, but I assume it's related to the start of Heathrow airport?
Kazakhstan in the 50's was the home of Baikonur Cosmodrome which was the first space port.

[PeteC]

If the above is all correct, hats off not only to Steve, but to DTM as well for the grey matter needed to think all that up! Pete

[dtaai-maai]

Well done, Steve!

Hounslow Heath Aerodrome was the first airport to have scheduled international flights.

It may be slightly open to question whether or not Broad Green Station, Liverpool was the first railway station, but it is definitely the earliest to still be running now.

[sandman67]

OK..... now its on to our quickfire Roman History round. Lets go back to the last days of the Roman Republic....

Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis aka Cato The Younger
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus aka Pompey The Great
Marcus Licinius Crassus aka Crassus Divites
Gaius Julius Caesar (The Younger) aka Julius Ceasar

Now

Each one of the above can arguably be called the Odd Man Out, and there are reasons for each one.

See how many you can name. One point for each reason.

[dtaai-maai]

The most obvious odd man out (to me anyway) is Cato, as he opposed the triumvirate formed by the other three.

[STEVE G]

I have a couple of books about the period but they're in Thailand and I'm not!

The first thing that comes off the top of my head is Cato was the only one who wasn't a military man.

[dtaai-maai]

Is there a connection to do with their wives and family connections? I seem to remember Pompey was married to Caesar's daughter, and there were a lot of complicated relationships...

And was Cato the only one not to make consul?

[sandman67]

Well, lets look at the scores on the doors.

So far its only 1 point for team HHAD.....

DM was right when he said that Cato was an odd man out as he opposed the Triumvirate comprising of the other three. After the formation of the Triumvirate Cato took to wearing a black "mourning" toga as he said that it would be the death of the Republic. He was right.

Steve missed with his shot. Cato was a military man... he served as a military governor in his mid career and then commanded the anti-Ceasarian forces at the last battle/ last stand of the Julian Civil War at Utica after Pompey's death, loosing to Octavius's pro-Ceaserian forces. Thats where the "Uticensis" cognomen part of his name came from to differentiate between him and his father.

Keep trying guys....

a clue for one answer..... how did each die?

[dtaai-maai]

Hmm, was Caesar the only one not to top himself?

[dtaai-maai]

Hang on, that can't be right - Pompey was killed in Egypt...

EDIT: So, was Cato the only one to commit suicide?

[sandman67]

Yup.... DM scores the second point for Team HHAD. Ill give you the answers I came up with other than those:-

Cato can be called the odd man out as he is the only one to have taken his own life. Rather than be taken prisoner by Octavian's forces and then presumably paraded through Rome in chains he fell on his own sword. All the others died by others hands.....Pompey was assassinated in Egypt, Ceaser in Rome, and poor old Crassus was killed after loosing a battle to the Parthians who after humiliating him poured molten gold down his throat (as a joke at his greed for gold) and lopped off his head. Cato can also be called the odd man out as he never held the military title of Imperator whereas the other three did.

Ceasar can be called the odd man out as he is the only one of the four to have been made Dictator of Rome for life. Pompey held the post of Dictator twice but in each case only for a strictly limted time set by the Senate (6 months). Ceasar is also the odd man out because he was the only one of the three to have fallen foul of Sulla and his proscriptions after the first Civil War - he was exiled by Sulla wheras Cato was too young to matter and Pompey and Crassus were both on Sullas side, whch is where Pompey started his path to military glory and Crassus to being a mega rich property tycoon. Ceasar is also the only one of the four to have been called a traitor against the Republic and made an official "Enemy of Rome" by the Senate for marching hs legions across the Rubicon, which is where two famous sayings come from - "Crossing the Rubicon" and "The die are cast" (Alea Iacta Est) which is what Ceasar is supposed to have said when he rode across the river.

Pompey can be called the odd man out as he was the only one of the three to be awarded the parade glory of a Triumph, which happened several times in his case. Although it was Crassus who actually put down the Spartacus slave revolt Pompey stole the glory and so poor Crassus only got a second grade parade called an Ovation which meant instead of a chariot ride he had to walk. Ceasar gave up the right to a Triumph so he could enter Rome to fight an election. Cato despised Triumphs and always voted against them in the Senate. Pompey was also the odd man out of the four as he didnt come from an aristocratic Roman Patrician family like the other three. He was what was called a Homo Novuum in Senate politcs... literally a "new man"... a hick from the sticks of rural Italy. It was a label he hated, and the Patricians used to make fun of his accent which is why he was never much good at public speaking to the Senate and masses. It would have been like the comedian Jethro making a speech at Eton.

Crassus is the odd man out as he is the only one to have died in battle. Cato killed himself rather than being taken prisoner after loosing a battle but that was a few days after he lost. Crassus is also the only one to have made himself hideously rich from business holdings - one of his main interests was property and he was the original "slum landlord". Cato, as a hardline Stoic, was notoriously stingy and spartan in his tastes and by aristocratic standards a relative pauper himself (it was his aunt who was the one with the purse strings), and Ceasar and Pompey made their stacks of money from war booty. Crassus was called the richest man in Rome hence his congomen "Divites" which means "rich".

Four fascinating characters..... I heartily recommend Tom Holland's excellent and easy to read narratve history book RUBICON if you are interested in the Roman Republic. He also wrote an equally excellent one on the Greco-Persian wars called PERSIAN FIRE. I have both in ebook form .... PM me if you fancy a copy for your E-Reader.


S P Q R

[dtaai-maai]

There are also a lot of very well written and researched historical novels covering the period. There may be some artistic license, but I confess I like my history with a bit of spice and intrigue. And most of it doesn't need to be fabricated!