Did Roddenberry Have a Fixation With Ancient Rome?

[jayrath]

I think a big part of why it may seem unusual now is because ancient history is no longer a mainstay of the public school curriculum. Roman (and Greek) history used to be taught extensively. At the college level, a "classical" education was top notch. Who even teaches Latin these days? My high school did -- but I'm old

 

[scotpens]

^Uhh, what does Camelot have to do with Greco-Roman mythology? It's based on Anglo-French mythology.

Not to mention being more than a thousand years after the classical Greek myths were first written down.

Who even teaches Latin these days? My high school did -- but I'm old

My brother, who attended a traditional, conservative prep school, studied Latin. It's of some value in helping to understand the roots of much of modern English, but it's not a very practical language today -- unless you want to talk about farming, ancient warfare, building roads and aqueducts, and dividing Gaul into three parts.

 

[Christopher]

My high school had a Latin program and still does. It's very much worth teaching because it's good training for the mind, helps you improve your memory, understanding of rules, analytical thinking, and the like. Knowing the language itself is useful for understanding the meaning, spelling, and relationships of many English words, but moreover, the mental skills you develop will be useful for a lifetime. It's like working out on exercise machines in the gym. It's not something you'll encounter in everyday life, but it'll give you abilities that can be useful elsewhere in life.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

My brother, who attended a traditional, conservative prep school, studied Latin. It's of some value in helping to understand the roots of much of modern English, but it's not a very practical language today -- unless you want to talk about farming, ancient warfare, building roads and aqueducts, and dividing Gaul into three parts.

That's going to be 95% of my conversation at the Halloween party I'm going to on Saturday. And I think we all know how aqueduct talk makes the chicks go wild.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Gerrold was the first to write an episode (TAS: "Bem") in which Kirk gave his middle name onscreen as Tiberius, but the idea presumably came from Roddenberry, given that the title character in Roddenberry's first series, The Lieutenant, was Marine Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice.

The story I'd heard was that it grew out of a convention joke of Gerrold's. The miniseries I, Claudius was on TV at the time, and Gerrold made a joking reference to Emperor Tiberius when he was asked what the "T" in James T. Kirk stood for. I can't recall where I read this, though.

I just checked Wikipedia, and it says that although the book was published in 1934, the miniseries debuted in 1976, well after TAS was on TV in 73-74. So I guess that's another TOS myth busted.

 

[FormerLurker]

Indeed, "Vulcan" was the proposed name for a hypothetical planet that was suspected to exist within Mercury's orbit (it was thought to be the reason for Mercurian orbital anomalies that were eventually explained by General Relativity). The planet was proposed in 1840 and wasn't disproven until 1915, so the idea was part of the culture for some time and continued to be remembered even after 1915. Various SF authors used the cis-Mercurian Vulcan in stories in the 1930s and after. So it was around in the popular culture as a name for an alien planet during Roddenberry's youth. (And Doctor Who independently had a planet Vulcan in a 1966 episode, after ST premiered but before England would've seen it.)

An interesting side-note; James Blish's adaptation of "Tomorrow is Yesterday" had Captain Christopher ask if Spock came from this planet, rather than realizing he came from 'out there.'

 

[Doug Otte]

My brother, who attended a traditional, conservative prep school, studied Latin. It's of some value in helping to understand the roots of much of modern English, but it's not a very practical language today -- unless you want to talk about farming, ancient warfare, building roads and aqueducts, and dividing Gaul into three parts.

I would think Latin is helpful if you're going into science or medicine.

Doug

 

[scotpens]

^^ Or if you want to pick up a satin doll.

 

[Shatnertage]

^^ Or if you want to pick up a satin doll.

 

[Doug Otte]

^^ Or if you want to pick up a satin doll.

I don't get it. Are you referring to the Ellington song? Those lyrics are all in English.

I have the feeling I'm about to be made a (bigger) fool of in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Doug

 

[Christopher]

Baby, shall we go out skippin?
Careful, amigo, you're flippin',
Speaks Latin that satin doll.

http://www.actionext.com/names_n/nancy_wilson_lyrics/satin_doll.html

 

[plynch]

As Emperor Nixonus might have said, "Omnes sumus Romani nunc."