Germany: * see EndNotes<A>

warfare between the Romans & Germanic tribes between 113 BC- 596 AD proved inconclusive for the Romans.  Caesar described the Germanic tribesmen as nomadic, with no out settlements or culture.  They were far more savage then the Gauls & a threat to Roman Gaul & Rome itself.  This is his justifications for why they had to be conquered.  Under Augustus plans for the conquest & defeat the German tribes were made in 12 BC,  but this to incorporate Magna Germania into the Empire was frustrated when 3 Roman legions were annihilated by the German tribesmen in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD).  Augustus ordered Roman withdrawal from Magna Germania (completed by AD 16) and established the boundary of the Roman Empire as being the Rhine and the Danube.  In the 5th century AD conflicts between the Empire & the Germanic tribes led to the downfall of the Western Empire.

 

Mesopotamia: * see EndNotes<B>

The Roman–Parthian Wars (54 BC – 217 AD) were a series of conflicts between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic & Empire.  Rome was beaten several times (Battle of Carrhae 53 BC) but also inflicted defeats- the capital of Parthia, Ctesiphon, was sacked 3 times by Roman armies.  These conflicts were inconclusive: Parthia was never annexed into the Empire

 

tragedy (perspective):

radically different from Apollonian tragedy, in Faustian tragedy (character drama) the protagonist (never the passive anvil on which fate strikes) goes forth & acts, is victorious or defeated; the characters make their own fate; the play presents a system of spiritual coordinates giving a value particular to the character, we feel & hear will manifest in the character’s decisions, development & action on stage (not off stage); it is their WILL not FATE which is the focus of the story; the drama is a biography & not a single “screen shot” or posture.  The audience sees into the depths of the protagonist, his interior & not the surface.  The play excites the audience, thrills them & they respond emotionally, it appeals to their imagination not senses. The playwright provides the audience with a biography, a character, who has a deep history, a portrait; the play is unbroken movement in place & thru time

 

Faustian soul myth:

the psychological dimension, immaterial & abstract, of the Faustian Prime Symbol is expressed thru the ideas of WILL (free will- Aquinas v. predestination- Calvin, the general Will –Rouseau), FORCE (Physics: influence tending to change the motion of a body or produce motion or stress in a stationary body), & DEED (an act as opposed to deliberation)