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Viggen

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  1. Viggen
    A rare find has allowed archaeologists to get to the bottom of everyday life at a Northumberland Roman fort. What is believed to be the only wooden toilet seat to be found in the Roman Empire has been unearthed at Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall. “We are absolutely delighted with the find. The seat has survived because of the fantastic preservation conditions on site,” said Vindolanda director of excavations Dr Andrew Birley.This site has also produced discoveries ranging from the famous Vindolanda wooden writing tablets and socks, to a gold coin and a gladiator drinking glass... ...full article at The Journal
  2. Viggen
    Hello Nyx, first great that you love our map, second, very sorry about the slight damages. Feedback like that is really important and although we never heard before that the lid went off, we will now secure the lid more carefully. Regarding plastic tube we will look into that option... Thanks again!
  3. Viggen
    Josho Brouwers is editor of the Ancient Warfare Magazine, Mediterranean archaeologist and published author. (Henchmen of Ares: Warriors and Warfare in Early Greece) UNRV Hello Josho, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in ancient history? Josho Brouwers:Actually, I started with an interest in palaeontology, back when I was a child. We moved around a bit, and one of the houses we lived in (back in France), in the early 80s, had a driveway with loads of pebbles and other small stones, including fossils. I spent hours looking for fossils there and that probably started me down the path of exploring the past. My interest in invertebrates switched to dinosaurs and reptiles. At some point, though, I decided that humans were perhaps more interesting, and I actually arrived at the ancient world via medieval history and an interest during my earlier teenage years in Arthurian legend (with a heavy focus on medieval Dutch, French, and English literature). It wasn’t until late in high school that I really decided that I wanted to become an archaeologist and study the ancient past, and my first year at university was important in narrowing down my interest to ancient Greece in particular. ....continue to the full interview with Josho Brouwers
  4. Viggen
    Josho Brouwers is editor of the Ancient Warfare Magazine, Mediterranean archaeologist and published author. (Henchmen of Ares: Warriors and Warfare in Early Greece) UNRV Hello Josho, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in ancient history? Josho Brouwers:Actually, I started with an interest in palaeontology, back when I was a child. We moved around a bit, and one of the houses we lived in (back in France), in the early 80s, had a driveway with loads of pebbles and other small stones, including fossils. I spent hours looking for fossils there and that probably started me down the path of exploring the past. My interest in invertebrates switched to dinosaurs and reptiles. At some point, though, I decided that humans were perhaps more interesting, and I actually arrived at the ancient world via medieval history and an interest during my earlier teenage years in Arthurian legend (with a heavy focus on medieval Dutch, French, and English literature). It wasn’t until late in high school that I really decided that I wanted to become an archaeologist and study the ancient past, and my first year at university was important in narrowing down my interest to ancient Greece in particular. ....continue to the full interview with Josho Brouwers
  5. Viggen
    ...glad to have you back here, part of my daily routine to read your entries
  6. Viggen
    Hi Jonwin, do you have some more information about this piece?
  7. Viggen
    If you have visited the spellbinding British Museum exhibition Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum you will have, no doubt, rightly been overawed by the wealth of wonders on display; pristine bronzes, dazzling frescoes, even human remains, all eerily preserved by the ashes spewed from Vesuvius on that fateful day: 24th August 79 CE. A date we have been taught in school, read in textbooks and seen in film & television; truly “a date that will live in infamy”. Or not... ...fascinating reading --> The Inconvenient Coin: Dating the Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum
  8. Viggen
    File Name: Tusculanae Disputationes File Submitter: Viggen File Submitted: 23 Aug 2014 File Category: Free Classic Works in PDF The Tusculanae Disputationes (the Tusculanes or Tusculan Disputations), is a series of books written by Cicero, around 45 BC, attempting to popularise Stoic philosophy in Ancient Rome. It is so called as it was reportedly written at his villa in Tusculum. Click here to download this file
  9. Viggen
    Hi Thurinius, thanks for posting it, we mentioned it briefly in this news piece, http://www.unrv.com/forum/topic/17791-emperor-augustus-stables-in-rome-to-be-reburied-due-to-lack-of-funding/ and now guy posted here the 40 maps (that we posted already on the facebook page) We also have coming up a big review from Goldsworthys Augustus book, thanks to author Lindsay Powell... ....so Thurinius, what is your take on Augustus, do you feel like some that he was not much different from Caesar but with a better PR management?
  10. Viggen
    ...just to give you an update. We ship now from Austria and no longer from the USA so the shipping time to north america is about 3 weeks. We have now also the option that you can buy two, three or five maps with considerable savings on those bulk orders! More at --> http://www.unrv.com/roman-map-for-sale.php
  11. Viggen
    The Roman Empire (Beginner's Guides) by Philip Matyszak Book Review by Alex Johnston Can a book rightly be considered “sprawling” if it is only two hundred pages long? Actually, not even quite two hundred pages if you strip out the back matter? Hmmm. The book ostensibly covers “just” the period of time when Rome was an empire. As the author conveniently elaborates in the Epilogue (saving my overworked brain from doing the math), Rome (from its founding to the fall of the last emperor of the west in 476 CE) lasted 2,206 years (and one month and eight days!), but only 507 years of that is what is generally referred to as the “Roman Empire.” No big deal, right? But don’t believe the author and his title. He’s fibbing. His book covers the whole damn 2,206 years (and one month and eight days). So here we have a book, part of a “Beginner’s Guides” series, in which, if you do the math, the author can more or less devote one page for every ten years of history.... ...read the full review of The Roman Empire (Beginner's Guides) by Philip Matyszak
  12. Viggen
    Welcome Tudor to UNRV, we hope you enjoy your stay here...
  13. Viggen
    The Roman Empire (Beginner's Guides) by Philip Matyszak Book Review by Alex Johnston Can a book rightly be considered “sprawling” if it is only two hundred pages long? Actually, not even quite two hundred pages if you strip out the back matter? Hmmm. The book ostensibly covers “just” the period of time when Rome was an empire. As the author conveniently elaborates in the Epilogue (saving my overworked brain from doing the math), Rome (from its founding to the fall of the last emperor of the west in 476 CE) lasted 2,206 years (and one month and eight days!), but only 507 years of that is what is generally referred to as the “Roman Empire.” No big deal, right? But don’t believe the author and his title. He’s fibbing. His book covers the whole damn 2,206 years (and one month and eight days). So here we have a book, part of a “Beginner’s Guides” series, in which, if you do the math, the author can more or less devote one page for every ten years of history.... ...read the full review of The Roman Empire (Beginner's Guides) by Philip Matyszak
  14. Viggen
    ...if you are in London, this might interest you... A fascinating new summer exhibition at the British Museum has recently opened, and consists of eight mummies, all from different periods and Egyptian dynasties, that have been studied with the latest dual energy CT scanners. These scanners have 3D volumetric image acquisitions that reveal the internal secrets of these mummies. Mummies of babies and young children are included, as well as adults. There have been some interesting discoveries already, for example, that dental abscesses were prevalent as well as calcified plaques in peripheral arteries, suggesting vascular disease was present in the population who lived over 3,000 years ago. More detailed analysis of bones, including the pelvis, has been made possible by the scanned images, enabling more accurate estimation of the age of death.... more at OUP Blog
  15. Viggen
    thanks guy for the reminder of your post, highily interesting, and i completetly missed it the first time!
  16. Viggen
    Explanations for the Fall of the Roman Empire are numerous and much debated. The battle of the Cold River exemplifies many of the factors that led its collapse in the West. The battle is seen as the triumph of Christianity over paganism, but the divided empire did not long survive Theodosius’ victory. The reasons were structural and strategic, but also tactical and meteorological. Dr. Matthew Bennett Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Department of Communication and Applied Behavioural Science
  17. Viggen
    ...btw. we will have very soon a review of Matyszaks Beginners Guide online!
  18. Viggen
    ...well maybe Goldsworthy new book on Augustus will mention Raetia?
  19. Viggen
    A bit newer list from USA Today and stonehenge is on again? ...on that list below i only say the Maneken Pis and i must say i indeed was a bit disapointed, he is so tiny and i almost missed him...(other than that Brussels is a pretty cool city) http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2013/01/09/10-most-overrated-tourist-traps-and-what-to-see-instead/1820829/
  20. Viggen
    ...what do you think, will it entertain you?
  21. Viggen
    Important archaeological discovery of stables built by Rome's first emperor to keep horses raced at Circus Maximus to be reburied after plans to restore them for 2000th anniversary scrapped. He was Rome's first and arguably greatest emperor, a fine soldier and wise administrator who boasted that he found Rome built of bricks and left it cloaked in marble. But as the city prepares to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of Augustus's death on Tuesday with a series of events and exhibitions, officials have admitted that extensive stables built by the emperor and recently discovered during excavations are to be reburied due to lack of funding... ...full story at the Telegraph
  22. Viggen
    Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the ancient Persian Empire. Its founder, Zoroaster, or Zarathustra, is thought to have been born in what is now Northeast Iran or Southwest Afghanistan. A 2004 survey by the Zoroastrian Associations of North America put the estimated number of believers worldwide at between 124,000 and 190,000. Now, archaeologists in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have discovered major Zoroastrian tombs, dated to over 2,500 years ago. This unravelling is leading to startling controversial speculation about the religion’s origin... ...read the full article at CNTV
  23. Viggen
    update from the Diva, (she is really impressive) I don't know who was buried in the tomb at Amphipolis but it was not Alexander - every single source in Antiquity says so. And no the theory that his body was taken to Venice instead of St Mark's is unlikely. And even if tonnes of gold is ever found in the tomb, I very much doubt it would be sold off to pay off the national debt - the items found will be housed in a museum for all to see and appreciate. Now to get to the bottom of the matter ... the round wall which surrounded the tomb and supported the mound above it. We tend to take round buildings for granted these days, but when I was studying as an undergrad there were only a dozen round Greek buildings known (to date myself a bit, the last discovered of that dozen was the Ptolemaion at Limyra, which someone is now arguing is not in fact round ...). Round buildings are very rare, and perfect circles really only begin with Deinocrates, hence his association with Amphipolis. full article at http://phdiva.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/hold-your-alexanders-horses.html
  24. Viggen
    ...when i spoke a couple of years ago with Prof. Glaser who was excavating Gothic graves in Globasnitz (southern Austria) he told me that in his opinion the bureaucracy and army was pretty much in very similar shape than before the Goths took over (we talk about end of 5th century) and only the ruling class was replaced by goths. So that would make a lot of sense to me to have what appears to be a late roman empire looking soldier" and end of the 5th century can be anything (in my opinion from 450 to 499). In any case there are obvious very interesting questions, and i promise to keep you up to date. I have lots of faith in Austrian archaeologists, they do this for over hundred years
  25. Viggen
    ...a good start to start would be Matyszaks The Roman Empire (Beginner's Guides) The author is member here and has a gift to write complicated things in a very understandable way...
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