caldrail

A bright and early start for Caldrail this morning. My quest to discover the causes of my health issues now leads me on a major expedition into the countryside where Swindons hospital now resides. Of all the daft places to build one it's miles out on the fringe of wilderness. At least there's a footpath all the way there. Someone thought of that. The Great Western Hospital has attracted a poor reputation of late. As far as I could tell, the staff were efficient, courteous, and very helpful, pretty much what we expect the NHS to be. Luckily though I wasn't parking my car there. Now there's a bone of contention, with too few spaces charged enthusiastically, and I noticed the parking attendant eyeing me suspiciously as I walked past the bus stop. His laser rangefinder was locked on to me. Sorry mate, I'm walking.... Yeah yeah, next time, eh? Allow two hours for your appouintment, the letter said. I expected a chat with a doctor and a few simple tests. Instead I was poked, prodded, irradiated, and made to break sweat on a walking machine. "It's going to get faster... In ten seconds..." The nurse told me as I hung on for dear life wheezing and dripping with sweat. I'll bet she has a riding crop in her desk. However, it wasn't all bad news. Having pretty young nurses rub all sorts of exotic gels on my body is not entirely an onerous experience. Help... I'm sweating.... Oh yeah. I'm nearly as fit as a fiddle. Apparently all I'm probably suffering from is aggravated middle age. So a job with NASA is still on then? it's A Hot Day No sooner had I recovered from exertions in the hospital than I had to walk home again, and the sun is extraordinarily warm today. Help... I'm sweating.... It's A Hot Meal A quick pit stop at home before embarking on the next part of my busy day. Haven't got time to cook anything, so it's the left over chilli from the weekend sitting in my fridge. Gulp. Not sure if that's a good idea.... A few minutes in the microwave... Ping!... And now to torture my tase buds with exotic spices the likes of which have ne'er been swallowed before.... Help... I'm sweating... Meanwhile, Back At The Programme Centre Oh heck... I've got jobs to find and so little time left to apply for them before the centre closes for the afternoon. Help... I'm sweating....

I stand by what I said. Half the stuff talked in historical and archaeological circles is speculation, and without that, half the evidence makes no sense or is misinterpreted. It's about ideas man. If all you do is stifle a subject because no-ones got some dusty scroll on the subject then history as a field of study is sterile and dead. You do sound very blinkered. There's nothing wrong with speculation whatsoever provided that it remains such until evidence says yay or nay. Since you tell me there's no evidence, I must speculate. Anyway, I'm not interested in your views on evidence. This a thread about whether homosexuality destroyed the Roman Empire.

On the contrary. There's plenty more to be said. We've only touched on the matter of homosexuality and its significance in the Roman Empire, and simply because no Roman writer conveniently supplied us with an explicit expose does not mean we cannot draw comnclusions. That is after what expertise in history is about. otherwise all you're doing is learning by rote and understanding nothing.

So what? With all due respect to the people concerned, why does their answer necessarily silence mine? That's the entire point. We don't have any evidence of military judgement on this issue, nor as far as I'm aware, any suggestion of it for longer than the period you quote. We know there are written sources we lack, such as the military manuals of the late empire, yet I notice vegetius, even in his moaning about the state of affairs in the legions of his day, does not infer any such activity. Nor does Suetonius - and lets be honest, would he resist any mention of scandal? You cannot ignore the absence of something - it reamins a valid point within history and archaeology. If something crops up later I'll be happy to adjust my opinion. Until then, I'll extraoplate from my understanding of Roman behaviour and military history to my hearts content. I agree. However we're not discissing a permissive regime nor one with any egalitarian principles at all. The Romans are very clear about this - they want toughies who can stick swords in people, and they don't think much of greek practises. I know the latin word for penis is rooted from the same meaning of penetration, but I seriously don't think the Roman's regarded homosexuals as equals. They were blantantly chauvanistic toward women for crying out loud. Homosexuality might have been fine in palaces and back alleys of the big city - not in a camp of fighting men from all sorts of cultural origins. It isn't beyond speculation that a senior man kept a soldier as a pet but bear in mind that such behaviour was normally reastricted to boy slaves. For a serving warrior to allow himself to be treated in that fashion would be contrary to the spirit of the legion. That's not speculation Mel - it's in black and white, available from any good book store or internet site. I agree. There are always deviant cases. however, the Romans were very quick to sneer and pour scorn on such things and yet despite that, there's little or no suggestion of it. Also, the changes over 500 years may or may not be significant, but only in the late empire do we see adverse comment about legions as sign of the times. previosuly, scandal was quickly hushed up, which of itself suggests that deviant behaviour was regarded as dishonourable and unacceptable, a view compatible with current thinking on legionary issues. Further, althoiugh 500 years is indeed a long time, the legions are remarkably bound by tradition, due largely by the success they achieved which removed the need for development. A marker of success which not only covers their military performance, but also the viability of their day to day regime. Although subject to various reforms from Marius onward, the legions quality was unaffected by the re-organisations to any great degree, largely because the tradition of discipline and leadership was maintained by the centurionate, and that same quality declined as the centurionate did. That change might be said to have happened because of Constantines reforms (I've made the same accusation in the past), but undeniably it was also the extent of casualties in the centurionate in the civil wars that shredded the ranks of their experience. It can be plainly seen that one of the real strengths of the legion was the persistence of tradition and standards, something the Romans were able to do for centuries until their own penchant for grabbing power ripped it apart.

The robot was commercially available in high streets a few years ago. And already in a museum, such is the pace of change in technology. As for the Speaking Ball, it usually comes out with Stuwey saying "That was so funny I forgot to laugh"

I knew it was going to happen. My neighbour, Punch, is nothing if not predictable. On the Sunday I had left the house for an early morning hike to take advantage of the glorious good weather. With squeaky floorboards and no sound insulation between our properties, it's impossible to be silent, though in fairness I have no intention of making an unnecessary racket. I am after all required by the letting contract not to do things that upset the neighbours. But my early morning departure was impossible for his slavic masculinity to ignore. Anything I do that impacts on his life in any degree whatsoever is regarded as a challenge to his status as the 'take no crap' member of society he clearly wants to be. So this morning he slammed doors and shelves with total abandon before he left for work. As I say , I knew he would. That was why I had an early night previously. Seeking Something Interesting Yesterday was the televised coverage of the Chines Grand Prix. Shall I watch it? Dunno... It is motor racing after all, and I do like a bit of that, but for me Formula One fails to energise that part of my anatomy that makes me all excitable about it. Sorry, but Formula One is incredibly dull. It really is. Why that should be is hard to figure out. On the one hand the personalities involved don't seem as larger-than-life as they once were. They all seem squeaky clean boy-next-door types. They all make shy smiles and talk quietly like they're uncomfortable with all the attention they're getting. And the cars are so horribly anonymous and ugly these days, like carrion birds daubed in warpaint because you couldn't tell one from the other if they didn't. There's nothing really attractive about them, no real artistry, just a total surrender to computer aided efficiency that leaves me cold. On the other hand, another channel was showing the BTCC event at Donnington. Ginetta Junior and GT, Formula Renault, Touring Cars, and a few other race categories, all jostling for prizes in races where you see competition in a lot less timid fashion than Formula One demands. Sorry Bernie, but Donnington was more fun to watch.

It's not a testudo, but a static shield wall composed of two rows of shields rather than one.

Unfortunately we do know the recruitmnent policy of the Roman legions. Now whilst I take on board the concept of active and passive parts in the act and the manner in which this would be viewed, clearly the Romans would take a dim view of anything they considered less than a typical masculine individual. However, as you rightly point out, that doesn't exclude the act or those prone to committing it. In answer to that I would point out that the conturberniae were set up to avoid such circumstance. Never forget the prevailing regime prior to the late empire was one we would describe as macho and even loutish. It was the duty of the lead man in a barracks room of eight 'close friends' to keep misanthropic behaviour at bay. Whilst some regard him as no more than a junior NCO, that's merely foisting our own modern world on the Romans which is an assumption I find indefensible. In fact, it seems his role was more of a social nature, since the Roman's clearly had no use for small unit tactics, nor did they assign small units to duty, preferring to assign individuals regardless of which contubernium they belonged to. Remember that service for the average legionary was a bleak prospect. Certainly it was regularly paid, with the prospect of additional rewards and some other perks, but that soldier could not expect promotion, had signed for a twenty five year term, and would be expected (unless an exemption was found) to take part in heavy manual labour. It was therefore important that the legion addressed their esprit-de-corps, which originally was little more than patriotism and aggression harnessed by tradtion and leadership. Later, in imperial times, the focus had changed to money thus we see a distinct lack of the earlier zeal in performing their role for Senate and People of Rome. Not suprising then that the legion was adapted to provide other means of achieving loyalty from disparate recruits, few of whom had signed on for anything like a sense of duty to the state. The order pf barracking was therefore one means of achieving it. The grouping of soldiers into eight man contuberniae has immediate benefits. It allows the development of 'family', a concept far more wide ranging in Roman minds than the narrow nucleated ideal of today (It was also used in gladiatorial circles to achieve the same standards of lotyalty and behaviour). In that respect then the idea that one member of their 'family' at least was effectively behaving as a woman would be disagreeable to the majority. I don't believe for a moment that sort of activity escaped the attention of the others considering the closeness they developed betweeen themselves, which is, as I m entioned previously, one of the reasons for establishing such a structure. That isn't to say legionaries didn't indulge their variant passions away from the group. There was little other than rumour to dissuade men once off duty and away from the camp, something they did frequently. What we cannot dismiss however is the nature of the legion and the propensity for bullying exhibited by it's soldiers. If a man accepts the standards of the regime and his place in the pecking order, there's a good chance he'll be left alone. Should he exhibit variant behaviour disapproved by the majority, he would be fair game for insults or worse. Given the larcenous nature of the legionaries that our sources describe, it wouldn't be hard to imagine a homosexual warned that All that is well and good. The fact remains the centurion was responsible for leading and disciplining his century. Senior commanders generally didn't get involved unless they saw something they didn't like, but even then, they would have the centurion deal with it. We know centurions meted out the punishment themselves as often as not. Should he discover one of his men was effectively a woman, it reflects on his leadership and career prospects, and understandably the situation would require immediate attention to bring his men back to conformance with the legionary ideal. In fairness it must be said that some centurions were probably somewhat lacklustre as leaders. It certainly holds true that many senior officers were more concerned with luxury and lifestyle than actually running a military formation. I don't doubt there were occaisions when patricians proved to be less than the masculine ideal, though in their case their status preculded attention from the centurions, the men responsible for discipline and good order within the legion. Instead, considering their reputation would affect their political career and the loyalty of the men, such indulgencies would be likely something committed in secret, and without the observation of 'close friends', it would be easier for them to hide it.

The Roman legion is different from the confines of a sailing ship of later centuries because they werren't confined in the same way. Whilst their living conditions were tight, claustrophobic, and men only, they were at liberty to avail themselves of prostitutes without much difficulty, and despite the official pressure to remain umarried, many found permanent partners nonetheless. The lack of any mention of a ban might refer to the lack of interest in the affairs of lwer ranks, even in warfare. How iften do you read mentions of individuals beneath the rank of centurion? Very few, and the only cases I can think of are where indifivudals cause trouble on a scale that affects the patricians interests. In any case I doubt the there was any official line about homosexuality in the ranks. That was a matter for the centurion to eradicate. After all, what officer wanted men under his command that were considered effeminate? He would be a laughing stock. It then follows the issue was self regulated by the men running the centuries as a matter of personal expediency. No evidence? Then notice hiow effeminancy only becomes a legionary issue in the late empire when the centurionate had withered as a military institution.

Try the editorial in British Archaeology 111, March-April 2010. It mentions some useful texts, weighing them up somewhat. Or my post on Mons Badonicus, which includes descriptions of armed forces from welsh poetry of the later period. http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=10750&st=0#entry102417

I want my house to be like that! With a televisirium and computorium of course, but I'm assuming space is no problem.

Given the masculine regime of the legions I doubt homosexulaity was tolerated in the legions. The situation you describe above would lead to two possible scenarios - one being a mutiny against the officer concerned (and believe me, the typical legionary was not as loyal or obedient as people usually imagine. It took hard discipline and strong leadership to get them behind you and in fairness, this was often achieved during periods of activity. The worst problem time was peaceful idleness when up to half the legion might be on leave at any time on the frontier). The second possibility is the social isolation of the soldier, either from the instigation of a centurion who wants to curry favour with his seniors, or perhaps among the men, who are harbouring suspicions about their room-brother. In this latter case either a desertion or persistent punishment and menial duties are probable. Does that sound hard? The problem with seperate masculine regimes is the cruel nature of them, as bullying becomes endemic if not institutional, with members of that regime required to conform to the pecking order or suffer the consequence.

For some strange reason the museum sells plastic balls that play voices from Family Guy. Only one on the premises actually works. We know, because we conducted a quality test this morning. I guess you had to be there. Missed Call My mentor at the programme centre is getting a little anxious. She's keen to get me a job before I finish the course and the frequency of her emails has gone up an order of magnitude. What makes it worse is that she doesn't seem to understand I have no internet connection at home, thus she sends an email containing some vacancy specs, followed by an email asking me to contact her, then an email telling me she's applied on my behalf anyway. Anything else? No, that seems to be it. By now she's probably suffering from stress and anxiety attacks in the futile hope that I'll answer my mobile phone too. So this morning I left the programme centre having left a job application untouched for twenty four hours completely unaware. I am going to get soooo slapped next week... In Other News The museum's robot was fired up this morning. It worked too. It was really spooky watching the thing flex its fingers menacingly. After performing what resembled a stiff legged dance it started complaining in a monotone distorted voice. I am not making this up. The destruction of Mankind begins here.

Must be an EU directive then. No-one else would have thought of it.

Just in case you all thought I was going to do something impulsive or inspirational, fear not, for today is just another day in the life of a dedicated jobseeker. So once again it's another fifteen minute stroll to the programme centre and delve into the myriad advertisements on the internet. On the local high street I spotted an articulated lorry parked on the side of the road, with a van parked the wrong way round on a one way street, with goods being transferred from one to the other. I noticed the lorry had german license plates. Nothing unusual these days. We get more foreign lorries than our own what with fuel prices and competition. I regularly see a dutch lorry at the bottom of the hill offloading supplies of foliage to the local flower shop. Quite what happens to the foliage afterward is another matter, because I never see anyone buying any. Then I noticed the van was displaying italian license plates. Eh? Now I've always thought I was a little clued up about logistics, but a german lorry offloading to an italian van on a british high street? How is that profitable? Me no understandee... Record Breaking Burgers I see Burger King have totally ignored the latest health advice and created a product oozing with calories. Currently it's only available in Japan, but if British people decide that consuming curries is old hat, or poisonous, considering one takeaway down the hill from me has been fined for rat infestations, how long will it be before television adverts for burgers show government health warnings? I imagine that soon we'll be banned from eating them in pubs. Like somkers, there'll be small crowds huddling in the cold evenings under street lamps enjoying their distasteful habit. Or worse, will people be banned from eating burgers in public entirely because it's not nice to maltreated cows to be devoured in the sight of the law abiding majority? Death Rehearsal What a horrible headline. Apparently someone has said that the upcoming royal wedding will also be a dress rehearsal for the Queens funeral. She isn't dead yet, you know. Oh well. Practice makes perfect I suppose.

it begs the question of why exactly homosexuality was treated with such diatribes. Was it loathsome to virile macho Romans? Or seen as an effeminancy that weakened Roman virtue? Zosimus clearly demonstrates the latter view. Suetonius smirks and relates gleefully how deviants get treated to Roman decree, but in his case, it's merely an excuse to write more scandalous tales for the delight of his 'conventional' readers. Our image of Roman society often concentrates on their sophistication and achievements, but we mustn't forget the chauvanism inherent in their culture, never mind the callousness and readiness to tolerate violence in their midst. Youths of good family were prone to wandering the streets at night getting up to all sorts of bullying and whoring - it's considered part of growing up rather than a social problem. The Roman attitude toward sex then appears to be somewhat gratuitous. It was freely available after all, either from slaves, cheap prostitutes, or illicit affairs. Since they had such a strong image of masculinity, it probably isn't suprising that not every Roman felt able or willing to meet this ideal, and sought alternative social groupings that involved homosexuality.

I used England as a regional description, not historical, but your observation is correct. As regards Britannia Prima, bear in mind that although the Roman control over Britain was strongest in the southeast, the political manipulation of british tribes included those in other areas, not forgetting those north of the border Also, in the sub-Roman era, the overall strategy of Roman politics was no longer present, and we have a peculiar situation where a balkanised Britain is divided into petty warlords who still pay lip service to Roman authority even though it collapsed soon after the withdrawal of the legions. The evidence we have is that at least two tribes in the north of england retained latin titles. This practice may well have continued further had the Saxons not ignored it. I note the practice persisted longer on the continent by hundreds of years. Since the Saxons were already resident in the Thames Valley and grabbed much of southeast england for themselves early on, the practice of Roman titles might well have died out in Britannia Prima much quicker than outlying regions. It's hard to figure out exactly what the political balance was in sub-roman Britain. On the one hand, Gildas writes about tyrants and features four of them in his sermon on the decay of Britain. On the other, we keep seeing hints in sources that individuals were assigned Roman governmental positions even after the government has gone and that these people had authority that exceeded, or at least influenced, those very same warlords who by their natire probably weren't inclined to listen to anyone else. Our biggest problem here is the lack of information. The germanic settlers weren't bothered with histories (The Saxons for instance never wrote anything down until they became more sophisticated after the Settlement Period bagins, and seem more content with listing either that they'd been in a battle or had won it), and much of the monastic record kept might have been destroyed by foreign raiders up until the Norman Conquest. Folklore is a persistent source of information, even if somewhat unreliable, but the fantasies of the middle ages have distorted what we know about the era.

It's not entirely the fault of antiquarians. Roman titles had a cachet all of their own in the early medieval period. Roman authority was still still respected in those times even if the empire had long gone. We see Dark Age tribeal leaders in England with Roman ranks. Even if Arthur wasn't actually made Dux Bellorum (Duke of Battles) as one source claims, the idea was valid in that a man could be rewarded with Roman rank for service etc. It also appears this practice was applied to cement treaties between factions, though oddly enough there seems little self aggrandisement involved. Perhaps that was a little too assuming?

I'm reminded of the famous quote that "The Holy Roman Empire wasn't holy, wasn't Roman, and wasn't an empire". The west after 476 might have claimed Roman inheritance but the Holy Roman Empire was a later invention, a realm that based its credibility on association with roman ideals. Charlemagne for instance was crowned Emperor of the Romans not because he was, but because none else was and the title suited his reputation.

All of a sudden my car is desirable. In the last four weeks I've had four people knocking on the door asking if I'm willing to sell it. Not, as you might imagine, young tearaways out to secure the chance of impressing their mates with sporty japanese road-going hardware, but office girls, up and coming managers, and old chaps looking for the project to keep them busy until that final heart attack. But why my car? To look at ithe vehicle askance it's nothing special. Okay, it's got a neat body kit that offsets the effete styling of the original Eunos, but the car is grimy,unloved, missing a steering wheel, lacking the drivers side window, seats that are currently decomposing, and a softtop renovated by Jack the Ripper. Why is everyone interested all of a sudden? Meanwhile, Back At The Park It was a nice day yesterday so after finishing my daily business I decided to enjoy a spot of sunshine in the local park. Other people usually get the same idea by the afternoon so I wasn't suprised to see a bunch of guys lounging around on the row of benches looking out across the lake. As people they were the usual collection of working class, and unremarkable. The two dogs with them however were another matter. Both were, as you might expect, thick set mongrels with short legs and powerful shoulders, broad flattened snouts, and sleek short fur. Rover was a black dog. Fido was white. In fact, Fido was a feisty playful animal that wanted everyone to know what a brilliant wooden branch he'd discovered. Just don't touch, okay? Unless you mean to throw it back in the lake in which case.... There he goes again. Despite the amused owner trying his best to stop his dog retrieving what was a minor tree trunk in its own right from the lake, the dog insisted on mounting a major expedition to haul it back to shore, and having done that, dragged it into the bushes. I could hear snarls and crunching noises as the bushes quivered occaisionally. Rover wanted to join in. Clearly this game looked like fun. Sadly Fido was in no mood to share his treasured branch. Fido snarled, Rover barked, and they both decided to not play any more. Luckily the owners were experienced in the handling of their dogs and called them both away, leaving the branch to rot gently in peace and quiet. A happy ending to todays Story From The Park. Permanently Parked Too Can you believe it? For the last two or three years there's a bloke in an anonymous grey saloon who's been parking at the back of the old college site. he's alway's there, doing nothing but sat at the wheel with his engine running. How does his car never run out of petrol?

I think it's possibly a requirement of auntiehood. These secret societies among our midst must be identified and studied, so future generations can learn how to keep phone calls down to a sensible minimum.

From where I sit the problem seems to be - as it often is - the modern interpretation of celticness. It is interesting that the Romans regarded germanic tribes as 'true celts' (that's what the word means) and those tribes peripheral to the germans such as the gauls were not all that well regarded, partly because of earlier conflict with Rome, partly because of their eroding warrior virtue. The problem with the Romans of course is their lack of objectivity and insight when describing the barbarian world. They drew associations based almost completely on appearance thus tacitus wonders if the Silures were Spanish in origin. Despite his arrogance and dismissal of people on the fringe of the Roman world, he also shows a lack of any distinct racism, which again appears to be a phomenon of the modern age. Halstatt and La Tene celts may not have been ethically different from many of the tribes in western europe before their grasp of iron working turned them into explorers and conquerors, but there is a distinct cultural difference that definitely impacts on Iron Age Britain when they arrived there between 700 and 500BC. I've long argued that that the white horses carved in chalk uplands of southern england were not just religious symbols, they were also territorial markers. How then do we reconcile the Roman view with our own? They saw tribal divisions that mean very little to us, and we now recategorise celts in a way that would baffle the Romans. What we need to do is establish the differences between ethnic and cultural grouping. Do we regard the celts as a distinct tribe or as a distinct culture?

They were gladiators?

Oh hang a minute, my mobile phone is ringing. That doesn't happen very often these days. Hopefully it'll be an employer begging me to save their company from bankruptcy.... Nope... It's my aunt. You've never met her have you? No, I thought not. You'd know if you had because bless her cotton socks, she cannot stop talking. "I've not used my mobile very often" She explained, "And I found your phone number on it. So I thought I'd give you a ring." You see, this is how my family is. Anyway, it's too late, I've answered the call, so I'd better sit back, put the kettle on, and wait for oxygen starvation to make her pause for breath in fifteen minutes or so. It's like listening to a soap opera update. Somebody has dumped her boyfriend, someone's been trying t contact me, and the major news this time is an up and coming marriage for one of my relations down under. What? Another one? How many relations do I have down there? Good grief, they're breeding like rabbits... My aunt wants to go there and celebrate but in fairness her health is not what it was. She's been asked to report any pain and suffering following a short spell in hospital, so she's not keen to be on the other side of the world when it happens. Maybe it's just me but I was under the impression that healthcare is indeed available in the Antipodes. In any case, all she has to do is tell them she's the aunt of Lord Caldrail. They'll send her home by private jet, surely? I mean, it's the only way they'll avoid a seventy two hour lecture. Low Low Prices On my way to the programme centre (What? Again? Oh yes - The Job Centre like it when you do something about your jobless status) I passed a billboard outside a fast food outlet. A burger for only

Slightly more horses than the Romans used I'm afraid