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Comment by mbg721 | Hacker News Reader

But apart from all that, what have the Romans ever done for us??

There's definitely a lens of "the history of the world as it's presented in high-school" that makes the Life of Brian so funny.

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That joke is very complex. Let's not forget that it's about people that lost a war not long before it, that had plenty of them killed by the Romans, and are forced to support the empire with taxes (that go mostly to Rome, not to local improvements).

The way people represent the joke, as if they had no reason to oppose the Romans is a joke by itself.

Nah, the joke is more self-centered than that--it's the answer to a British adolescent's exam question "Name x benefits of Roman rule." No actual Romans would sit around saying "Wait...this is the same word either way, but is it dative or ablative??" either.

High school historian perspective: I don't know; compare their conquest to the greek's. Greek civilians thought of Rome as "the light of the world," even though their wealth was used in much the same way.

That's the complexity. The Roman invasion did enrich their society (as did the Greek before), yet all none of the dead people got any of it and many individual lives were completely destroyed even if not literally terminated.

It is a joke the filmmakers may not be fully in on - the Romans in Python are analogues for the British, managing an empire and bringing the "benefits of civilization" to "quarrelsome and backwards natives".

And the joke applies almost exactly to the British rule of their colonies. Or do you think Monty Python wouldn't make an anti-nationalist joke?

(The "let's interrupt our program because the Queen has just started watching" is the best.)

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