How do you percieve Romania?

[Cronos Impera]

Vanilla RTW ( original RTW ), Medieval TW and Viking Invasion portray Romania as a rebel faction or a generic barbarian one. People associate Romania with poverty, Nadia Comaneci, Gheorghe Hagi ( sport ), or sometimes hear BBC news about the visit of president Traian Basescu in France.
What is the historical image of Romania you have in mind when it comes to the Medieval Period, the Enlightement Age and the Modern Age? And btw, what do you think about the Romanian language.
Craciun Fericit tuturor = Marry Christmas to you fans

[Keba]

IIRC, during the Middle Ages, Romania was the name of the Byzantine Empire. Not entirely certain of it, but I think one of my professors mentioned something along those lines.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Nadia Comaneci all the way!
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[Danest]

Interesting... the Byzantines didn't call themselves Byzantines? I guess calling themselves Romania actually makes sense. (Assuming this is serious, it's hard to tell with all the spam posts lately) ;)

[Meneldil]

My knowledge about ancient Romania is quite limited. I've heard of the Dacians, of Vlad Tepes and that's about it.
Didn't even know your president visited France

As for the Romanian language, I've been told it's quite similar to latin languages, like spanish, italian, and french (although the sentence you posted would make me think otherwise)

[RandyKapp]

(although the sentence you posted would make me think otherwise)

Acctualy Romanian as far as i know is the closest modern language to ancient latin.

[SIGNIFER,LEGIOVIICLAUDIA]

Interesting... the Byzantines didn't call themselves Byzantines? I guess calling themselves Romania actually makes sense. (Assuming this is serious, it's hard to tell with all the spam posts lately) ;)

The Byzantine state was really called Romani'a(with the stress in 'i').This is natural,as all the Greeks and hellenised of the eastern provinces of the empire had the title of the Roman citizen since 212 A.D.(constitutio Antoniniana).Before this date many Greeks had also the title but not all.
So,in medieval times they perceived themselves as Romans,since their grandfathers were also Romei and the Christian Roman Emperor(Πιστος Εν Χριστω Αυτοκράτωρ και Βασιλευς Ρωμαίων) still ruled in the Εast until 1453 A.D..The word for Romans in Greek is Romei(Romei,from here originates the word that the Turks use for the Christians in Turkey:Rum.The lands of modern Greece,especially Sterea Ellas was called by the Ottomans Rum-Eli=land of the Romans).One of the ethnic names of the Greeks today,except for the Ellinas and Grekos,is Romios(which has to do with the Christian identity and the medieval past).However,the word Romani'a and the Byzantine Empire has nothing to do with the modern Romanians(the citizens of modern Romania).

To Cronos:
why did the Wallachians and the Moldovans name themselves Romanians and their new state Romania?
As far as I know the Wallachians,north of the Danube never used the term Rom^an before the Union of Wallachia and Moldavia,because they had never been subjects of the Byzantine(Roman) Emperor.
Which are the real origins of the Wallachians and Moldovans?How did they get themselves up there?I personally do not believe in the Daco-Romanian continuity.(the province of Dacia was totally evacuated by the legendary pagan Roman Emperor Aurelianus).
Why did not the Wallachians name their state(Romania) Wallachomoldavia or MoldoWallachia?


The Romanian language is very close to Vulgar Latin but has a great slavic influence(this is natural).
It is as close as the Italian in vocabulary,but is closer to Vulgar Latin in grammar than Italian is

[Krusader]

Getai.

Wallachia

Ceausescu and his wife Elina me thinks her name was.

Gheorge Hagi

Some rumour that they considered some Roman soldiers under Trajan part of their ancestors.

Vlad the Impaler.

Romania and WW2.

Girls in Constanta should be avoided (according to sergiu)

[Dromikaites]

To Cronos:
why did the Wallachians and the Moldovans name themselves Romanians and their new state Romania?
As far as I know the Wallachians,north of the Danube never used the term Rom^an before the Union of Wallachia and Moldavia,because they had never been subjects of the Byzantine(Roman) Emperor.
Which are the real origins of the Wallachians and Moldovans?How did they get themselves up there?I personally do not believe in the Daco-Romanian continuity.(the province of Dacia was totally evacuated by the legendary pagan Roman Emperor Aurelianus).
Why did not the Wallachians name their state(Romania) Wallachomoldavia or MoldoWallachia?


The Romanian language is very close to Vulgar Latin but has a great slavic influence(this is natural).
It is as close as the Italian in vocabulary,but is closer to Vulgar Latin in grammar than Italian is

The Romanians allways called themselves Romani (= Romans, in Latin language) because. They were called by the other people around them Wallachians or Moldavians.

But the name ment different things at different times. In order to understand what I mean, I'll use first the example of the Turks. Initially they were calling themselves Turk. Then whe one of their states in Western Anatolia became an empire (the Ottoman) they changed the way to call themselves into Osmanli (Ottomans) and Turk started to mean peasant or not-so-educated person. Then it was a revival of the name and they started to call themselves Turks, like they do today.

Romanians probaly kept calling themselves Romani after Aurelian withdrew the army, administration and took away those inhabitants of Dacia who afforded to leave (the rich ones). Archeological evidence shows the places continued to be inhabited after the Aurelian retreat. Then the Goths and all the other nomadic peoples kept comming and they became the masters of the place. So Roman started to mean serf or low-ranked person. In 1320, when Wallachia was unified as a state, the ruling family (Basarab) was of Cuman origin and most of the nobility was probably Cuman and Slavic in origin, but long since assimilated into the Romanian population. We know that both because of the names and because of a funny situation with written documents: the offical ones were written in Slavonic while the private letters were written in Old Romanian (Romance language).

From the 14th to the 17th century most of the people were free men so Roman had the meaning of "serf", inherited form the "Barbarian Invasions" period. However after the middle of the 17th century most of the population was turned into serfs so if one would go around and ask "What are you?" the most likely answer would have been "I am Roman" :) :) :)

In the 19th century, when serfdom was abolished not only the majority of the population would be used to be called Romani, but the intelligentsia was also proud of the name, knowing where it was comming from (the same with the Tukish intelligentsia). Therefore the moment there was a good opportunity to change the official name of the country (the union between Wallachia and Moldova on January 24th 1856) the country was baptised Romania (the country of the Romani/Romans).

[Marinakis]

IIRC, during the Middle Ages, Romania was the name of the Byzantine Empire. Not entirely certain of it, but I think one of my professors mentioned something along those lines.

No, the heart of the eastern roman empire (greeks) called themselfs Romaioi which simply ment Romans in greek. The greeks did this because after the rise of christianity the term Hellenes (what greeks traditionally called themslefs) became taboo for its association with paganism.

[O_Stratigos]

No, the heart of the eastern roman empire (greeks) called themselfs Romaioi which simply ment Romans in greek.

The Greeks never called themselves "Romaioi".. maybe what you mean is that they did use the term "Rome-ee" - Ρωμιοι and also "Graek-ee" -Γραικοι..

O Stratigos

[Simetrical]

What I know about Romania:

1. It's a country, probably somewhere in Europe.
2. My old superintendent Mike was Romanian.
3. I liked Mike, he was a cool guy.

[ScionTheWorm]

I know they are awesome musicians, they never disappoint in european Melody Grand Prix

[Shigawire]

I haven't made up any opinion on Romania that matters, since I've never been there or studied it much.

My only associations are not very nice things. :
The gruesome Triballi (Thracian tribe), Vlad Tepes, Ceaucescou hanging himself, Vlad Tepes again..

Also that 23 year old nun who was crucified in an excorcism in June 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4107524.stm

I can't really make an opinion based on the historic associations. The balkan region (does that include Hungary?) has had a history of spawning monsters of one or another kind.. Triballi, Vlad, Erszebeth Bathory, the henchmen of Milosevic, etc..

The only thing I feel I can make an opinion about is the exorcism story, which surprised me a lot. We rarely see anything approaching that in any other european country. It's like Romanians have their own amish subgroup who still live in the 16th century or something.

[maskoolin]

I ve one friend from Romania and he told me : Never go to Bucarest in your life !! if they know your not from there, even some bad bad taxi driver could make you

[the_handsome_viking]

I think of vlad the impaler.