He actually said “The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.”
which could be inferred to be a reference to the large number of italian americans especially on the east coast and their effect on the US culture and the fact that much of the US political system is inspired by southern european governments. Ancient Rome had a senate too
Also that the Roman legislation principles is the foundation for all modern countries with a court, parlament and executive power. The American fumbling fathers even went so far as to copy many parts of it. Hence the name senate for instance. And much of the architecture was inspired or copied from Palladio. So you get that neoclassical look that is the hallmark of DC
the Roman legislation principles is the foundation for all modern counties with a court, parliament and executive power
The Roman consul and senate are nominatively similar to modern parliaments. But their functions were radically different. You don’t have MPs and Senators obtaining their positions by leading armies of conquest abroad and bringing back slave captives to be tributed to the imperial core. You don’t have civil wars to decide the next President or a pagan faith that places the nation’s political leadership in the pantheon of occupied territories at sword point. You don’t have a single city’s local residents comprising the near-totality of the national body politic.
The American fumbling fathers event went so far as to copy many parts of it.
The iconography. Not the function. The actual political system was based on local colonial government organizations built on the back of the founding compacts of the first settlers. Local assemblies and mayoralities and governorships were features of European colonial rule, not Roman republicanism. State assembles and a national legislature/executives were features of Dutch protestant joint-stock company boards/executives not Roman dictatorships. Courts were based on the English Common-Law system not Roman Codes.
FFS, early American politicians knew jack shit about Roman civilization. They were working off of pseudohistory largely invented during the era of Charlemagne and passed telephone-style through editorialized written and oral histories for the next 1400 years. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison looked at the French Catholic aesthetic, which sought to invoke Roman art and architecture, and cribbed it to appeal to his snobby know-nothing American Protestant peers. Also, a ton of Freemason wink-wink shit. That’s why they were putting pyramids and fasces on all their early works.
And much of the architecture was inspired or copied from Palladio. So toy get that neoclassical look that is the hallmark of DC
That’s absolutely true. Although the real neoclassical look of DC wasn’t really the focus of the city until the 19th century, because that shit was expensive to build and you needed Lincoln’s greenbacks and the industrial revolution machinery to complete big iconic construction projects.
But it was all aesthetics, no substance. A bunch of ionic column toppers does not a Roman political system make.
I made a short and very simple reply. I am not American so I have a cursory knowledge of the history and early culture.
Your reply is far more eloquent than anything I had the patience to write on phone :)
I will not argue your points.
When I made the reference to Palladio it was because especially Jefferson was greatly influenced by himand responsible for much of the early DC buildings like The Capitol and The White House. I don’t know how much Jefferson knew about ancient Rome, but he did own a copy of I quattro libri dell’architettura (among very many other book)
No one can be this stupid, surely?the quote has been deliberately misrepresented
He actually said “The United States and Italy are bound together by a shared cultural and political heritage dating back thousands of years to Ancient Rome.”
which could be inferred to be a reference to the large number of italian americans especially on the east coast and their effect on the US culture and the fact that much of the US political system is inspired by southern european governments. Ancient Rome had a senate too
Also that the Roman legislation principles is the foundation for all modern countries with a court, parlament and executive power. The American fumbling fathers even went so far as to copy many parts of it. Hence the name senate for instance. And much of the architecture was inspired or copied from Palladio. So you get that neoclassical look that is the hallmark of DC
you read my mind, was just editing my previous comment when you sent this
The Roman consul and senate are nominatively similar to modern parliaments. But their functions were radically different. You don’t have MPs and Senators obtaining their positions by leading armies of conquest abroad and bringing back slave captives to be tributed to the imperial core. You don’t have civil wars to decide the next President or a pagan faith that places the nation’s political leadership in the pantheon of occupied territories at sword point. You don’t have a single city’s local residents comprising the near-totality of the national body politic.
The iconography. Not the function. The actual political system was based on local colonial government organizations built on the back of the founding compacts of the first settlers. Local assemblies and mayoralities and governorships were features of European colonial rule, not Roman republicanism. State assembles and a national legislature/executives were features of Dutch protestant joint-stock company boards/executives not Roman dictatorships. Courts were based on the English Common-Law system not Roman Codes.
FFS, early American politicians knew jack shit about Roman civilization. They were working off of pseudohistory largely invented during the era of Charlemagne and passed telephone-style through editorialized written and oral histories for the next 1400 years. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison looked at the French Catholic aesthetic, which sought to invoke Roman art and architecture, and cribbed it to appeal to his snobby know-nothing American Protestant peers. Also, a ton of Freemason wink-wink shit. That’s why they were putting pyramids and fasces on all their early works.
That’s absolutely true. Although the real neoclassical look of DC wasn’t really the focus of the city until the 19th century, because that shit was expensive to build and you needed Lincoln’s greenbacks and the industrial revolution machinery to complete big iconic construction projects.
But it was all aesthetics, no substance. A bunch of ionic column toppers does not a Roman political system make.
I made a short and very simple reply. I am not American so I have a cursory knowledge of the history and early culture. Your reply is far more eloquent than anything I had the patience to write on phone :) I will not argue your points.
When I made the reference to Palladio it was because especially Jefferson was greatly influenced by himand responsible for much of the early DC buildings like The Capitol and The White House. I don’t know how much Jefferson knew about ancient Rome, but he did own a copy of I quattro libri dell’architettura (among very many other book)
Not on Spain?
And he’s still wrong.
Right. Especially the “shared cultural and political heritage” we had with Italy before 1776.