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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, besides water systems, straight roads and central heating, the discovery of the Tantalus bowl now suggests they were the masters of cracking good jokes.
The function of the Tantalus bowl, which soaks whoever drinks from it in wine, was only fully realized after it was studied by an archaeologist from the British Museum. The bowl was uncovered in Vinkovci, eastern Croatia, in March 2012, and is believed to date back to the 4th century AD.
The silver object is a testimony to how, despite being regarded as one of the most sophisticated societies in the history of human civilization, the Romans were also a total bunch of jokers.
"This is the earliest example of a physical practical joke, certainly for the Romans," said Dr Richard Hobbs, curator of Roman Britain at the British Museum.
Source: https://www.rt.com/uk/414580-romans-tantalus-bowl-joke/
[For those who want to print their own version: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:562790 - Ed]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by aristarchus on Sunday December 31 2017, @06:51AM (5 children)
Actually, as with most funny Roman things, this is Greek in origin! It is called a Pythagorean Cup [wikipedia.org] after its inventor, Pythagoras of Samos. You may have heard of him? They still make them to this day, in clay, on the Isle of Samos, and sell them to tourists.
Romans really have little sense of humor. Even less than Germans. This is why, no doubt, they could be pranked by Vandals, as portrayed in the documentary "Saturday Night Live", where Steve Martin played a Roman officer, and some Vandals knock on the shield outside his tent, and leave a flaming bag of poo, and hilarity ensued. For practical jokes, those Vandals were pretty funny. Sieges were not one of their practical jokes, however.
(Score: 3, Informative) by aristarchus on Sunday December 31 2017, @06:57AM (2 children)
Found the Transcript. http://snltranscripts.jt.org/79/79avandals.phtml [jt.org] Evidently there was no means of recording video in 1979. Interesting trivial, the Vandal delinquent in this skit is played by Al Franken.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 31 2017, @12:44PM (1 child)
You make a unique observation regarding a show called "Saturday Night Live" and expect that the few people that had VHS recorders of the era had taped, kept in working condition, and then later took the effort to pass them through an Amiga 500 or perhaps a modern contraption with a toaster equivalent to tidy it up -- and then post the copyright violation onto youtube without concern for their legal well-being. All this to satisfy your curiosity nearly 40 years later.
At least you don't complain that it isn't in emoji and as a result you are having challenges understanding the intent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aristarchus on Sunday December 31 2017, @09:02PM
In fact, the episode is available on youtube, but ya gotta pay! It's from somebody called "NBC", I guess they had tapes.
This is, however, what the Romans have done to us: the legal doctrine of paterfamilias, the Father as the sole proprietor of the family, and thus its legal owner. Under Roman law, a father could sell his children into slavery, or at least license them out to others (that was more the practice of "Fostering", common in Britannia). And so you can thank the Romans for copyright. Not very funny, if you ask me.
(Score: 4, Informative) by maxwell demon on Sunday December 31 2017, @07:59AM (1 child)
To counter this stereotype, please watch this video [youtube.com] (it's one of those you can understand well even if you don't speak German, although you'll miss out on the final gag).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 31 2017, @11:35AM
Bah. German humor is roughly analogous to British haute cuisine or French chastity.
The Germans are funnier than the Finns, who have biologically evolved to have no laugh reflex, but not as good as the Swedes who don't seem to take anything seriously.