User:Mark K. Passehl

Everything people do, they do at the oldest and most developed point in their lives. And the most childish things.

I enjoy reading and studying philosophy and ancient history. Cogito ergo sum bachelor: not wishing to suffer as Sokrates did. I believe in the doctrine of the eternal return of the same. I believe that history encompasses unique occurrences, and that science only acknowledges what is repetitious. Ergo my faith in the return doctrine makes me a scientist.

I do odd jobs, but did once a minor degree in Ancient History, B.A.Hons. level, University of Adelaide, 1981-85. Thesis on ancient sources for Roman political history, 91-79 BC.

Nothing formally published to date, per peer review, although working on several projects, e. g. annotated translations of a couple of short Latin texts, revision of Roman chronology and magisterial fasti 509-49 BC. Genealogies and prosopographic database of the office holding families of the Roman Republic. Revision of chronologies and genealogies of Iranian, Bactrian, Saka and North Indic dynasties 4th century BC - 1st century CE. Revision of Roman history advocating removal of superfluous intrusions motivated by Cold War Zeitgeist, and Schlachting.

I believe that history should be written to be read and that the unreadable variety is not worth the writing. Also, however, that the readable ought to be underpinned by a modicum of responsible research and awareness of the qualities and uses of a range of evidential remains. I believe in a multiplicity of Caesars, that historical biographies and novels are not history.

I run two small yahoogroups discussing Hellenistic/Canaanite and Roman Republican history, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hellenistica http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Romanfederation (yahoo ID: vanitasappietatis)