Humorous Observations

Watching the HBO series "Rome" a couple of humorous thoughts came to mind.

Ancient Romans had shrines in their homes for the guardian spirits of their families. These all had personal names, which are not in the mythologies. Other societies buried their dead with with valuables such as jewely, swords, pottery and so on. Archeologists and anthropologists can only guess at the significance of the burial rituals.

So what will people think hundreds of years into the future when they are excavating and find thousands of homes with little sacred objects set on a shelf in the kitchen, called Mr. Coffee? Will they think it was one of our gods? Will they think that the Barbie Doll on the shelf in another room was one of our goddesses?

Although, no doubt, the writers of this series had to use their imaginations to fill in some of the blanks, probably creating some of the characters, such as the town crier who sort of added his own subtle commentaries on the announcements. The little advertisements he would tack on from the bakeries, etc, were no doubt a modern touch, but graffiti and satirical plays that made fun of politicians are timeless parts of both their civilization and ours.

Whenever we take ourselves too seriously, grab a dose of humor.