Viggen

Chemical analysis confirms discovery of oldest wine-making equipment ever found Analysis by a UCLA-led team of scientists has confirmed the discovery of the oldest complete wine production facility ever found, including grape seeds, withered grape vines, remains of pressed grapes, a rudimentary wine press, a clay vat apparently used for fermentation, wine-soaked potsherds, and even a cup and drinking bowl. ...via UCLA

Happy Birthday, i hope you have a great year ahead of you.... cheers viggen

Nr. 1 in Austria and across Europe Now a catchy tune indeed, and after some digging i foudn out that the band (Duck Sauce) took Boney M`s Gotta Go from 1979 (R.I.P Bobby Farrel) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EjLWh2150I now as it happend the Boney M songs was a also just a cover, namely from the 1973 German Schlager called "Bimmelbahn" (merry-go-round) hows that for some useless info on a monday evening... cheers viggen

Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires by Walter Scheidel When I first read about Rome and China, I misunderstood its purpose and scope. You remember those essay questions in college undergraduate exams that forced you to compare and contrast two different yet related items? Well, I thought this work was basically going to follow that approach: an expanded essay style comparative look at two great empires, for the general historical audience... ...read the full review of Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires by Walter Scheidel

...ohhhh, very late happy birthday....

....oh i am late... happy birthday aurelia...

Archeologists in Germany have discovered a 2,600-year-old Celtic tomb containing ornate jewellery of gold and amber. They say the grave is unusually well preserved and should provide important insights into early Celtic culture. The subterranean chamber measuring four by five meters was uncovered near the prehistoric Heuneburg hill fort near the town of Herbertingen in south-western Germany. Its contents including the oak floor of the room are unusually well preserved. The find is a "milestone for the reconstruction of the social history of the Celts," archeologist Dirk Krausse, the director of the dig, said on Tuesday... ...read the full article at Der Spiegel

New archaeological discoveries show that Iceland was inhabited around AD 800

This week, the archaeological site of Soknopaiou Nesos in Fayoum was a hive of activity. Workers along with Italian and Egyptian excavators were busy brushing the sand off a large collection of 150 Roman Ostraca (a clay fragment engraved with ancient Egyptian writings) engraved with demotic text. Each ostracon is inscribed with the name of a priest who served in the Soknopaios Temple.

...as this thread turned out to be more informative then i thought, i renamed the topic and moved it to the Humanitas Folder... cheers and thanks for all the answers so far.. viggen

happy birthday to both of you...

....why do they still write books about this, when we have this to our disposal...? The fall of Rome was not from a military siege; it was not from a military defeat; it was over a pay dispute between the young Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and the general of the palatini, the magister militem in praesenti, by the name of Odoacer.... ...via RomanEmpireAmerciaNow

Nice Price... 4. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - $27,500 Published in 1776 in six volumes, the first of these volumes was limited to 1,000 copies in its first printing so complete sets of first editions are very rare. The set is considered a major literary achievement as it was adopted as a model for modern historical methodologies and led Gibbon to be described as the first modern historian of Ancient Rome.... ....the rest of the list at AbeBooks' Most Expensive Sales in 2010

...who can confirm this? The oldest reference anyone has been able to find about fruitcake dates all the way back to the Roman Empire in the first century A.D. (and no, the fruitcake your Aunt Minnie gave you last Christmas was not that old. Be nice). That first recipe included pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins mixed into a barley mash. http://toledoblade.c...IST47/101219397

...the Porcii have now also their own page, thanks again Nephele... http://www.unrv.com/culture/surnames-of-the-porcii.php cheers viggen

...interesting article about The Militarisation of Roman Society, 400 - 700 by Edward James University of Reading from Military Aspects of Scandinavian Society in a European Perspective AD 1 - 1300 Historians and archaeologists have lavished attention on the new kingdoms established by various barbarian peoples in the former western Roman Empire in the fifth and sixth centuries. These peoples are, relatively speaking, visible: their kings issue lawcodes; men such as Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seville and Bede write their histories; they bury their dead with jewellery, vessels, and, of course, weapons. Even if we cannot follow one Anglo-Saxon archaeologist, who seems to argue that because Angles and Saxons buried weapons with the dead their society must necessarily have been very violent,1 we must at least accept that the Germanic barbarians lived in militarised societies. Let me define that term. By a militarised society I mean a society in which there is no clear distinction between soldier and civilian, nor between military officer and government official; where the head of state is also commander-in-chief of the army; where all adult free men have the right to carry weapons; where a certain group or class of people (normally the aristocracy) is expected, by reason of birth, to participate in the army; where the education of the young thus often involves a military element; where the symbolism of warfare and weaponry is prominent in official and private life, and the warlike and heroic virtues are glorified; and where warfare is a predominant government expenditure and/or a major source of economic profit.... full article at Deremilitari

Welcome to our newest "premium member", guy! many thanks for supporting us! ...one of many benefits is that you can now choose your unique title (currently PrimusPilus), let us know what it is going to be... cheers viggen

The Huffington Post on The Importance of Mary's Virginity... The ancient Greeks thought a virgin conception signaled the arrival of a deity, and human beings who possessed divinity were a common occurrence in Jesus' time -- even a garden variety emperor was called a son of god. Emperor Diocletian expected supplicants to refer to him as "Lord and God" and appear before him prostrate. While we think of religion and politics as separate, the opposite was true under Roman rule. Loyalty to the empire included worship of the emperors as divinities. Christians took on the religious hegemony of Rome and challenged its power to intimidate subject populations.... ...read all at Huffington Post have your say...

...first recorded case of congenital syphilis in ancient Rome.... WOW!

...here is Ursus take on it... I was satisfied with Centurion. But then, I didn't have very high expectations for it. I had really wanted nothing but an action-adventure yarn with some great costumes and pretty females. That is exactly what I got, along with some surprisingly breathtaking locales. It is neither brilliant nor especially memorable, but there are certainly worse movies out there. ...read the full review of Centurion

Here is the official website... http://focusfeatures.com/the_eagle cheers viggen

Two years ago, a paper was published in Nature describing the function of the oldest known scientific computer, a device built in Greece around 100 BCE. Recovered in 1901 from a shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, this mechanism had been lost and unknown for 2000 years. It took one century for scientists to understand its purpose: it is an astronomical clock that determines the positions of celestial bodies with extraordinary precision. In 2010, a fully-functional replica was constructed out of Lego... ...read (and watch) the full article at the Guardian