Klingan

I could do that as well, but I would have to get home to Sweden first, I didn't pack my baby-myself-collection

Haha too bad that so many have revealed themselves already!

Ha! I got it now! Bloody hell! Lambaesis!

And I thought dreaming about being stuck in an atrium was scary

So they all say

Gods! It's surely a good think that I have never used iTunes. I hope that you can solve your problem GPM!

It's a double edged sword though isn't it, Yes retirement must have been an attractive thought but when you've spent your whole life in the legions surrounded by soldiers (obviously) following strict rules and regulations, the thought of going it alone would also have been an extremely terrifying thought too. Plus if you've reached the ripe old age of 50+ then you would expect to have reached a pretty decent rank which would excuse you from the majority of the hardships related to life in the legions, so life may not be as tough as you think. You'd have the power and authority that goes with your rank plus you'd have the respect of the younger and lesser soldiers. Where as if you left the legions you'd just be another civilian just like the rest. That was my main point from the beginning, retiring might not be easy when you were used to one way of living,with the respect that came from your experience. At the same time, I believe that most soldiers that survived their service did retire at some point. I wish I had time to read it, but for my I focus on visiting as many museums and sites as possible, there will b time to read soon enough. Anyway about the pay, surly there was some surplus? I have a difficult time believing that the soldiers came out +/- 0.

Wow how could I miss this thread. Anyway there have always been my picture (And real name I believe) in my profile, but I might just as well post it here too. It's updated as lately as two weeks ago actually!

I believe that retirement was one of the really sought awards for long service and I doubt that any soldier could really use his pay in a constructive way (in effect, not gamble it away) while serving. There is also the factor of how difficult the life of a soldier would be, especially for a old (as in 50+) man, retirement must have been attractive.

Happy birthday mate! I hope that you're having a great day!

I noticed today as I strolled by the Forum that some new areas had been opened and I decided to take a closer look at it. It would seem as the Basilica Aemelia and a small part of the forum of Nerva now is open to the public, something that have been planned for a long time. Unfortunately is there hardly anything new to see along the small path that have been laid out and the practical value of the expansion is thus small, but it raises hope that other areas may be opened as well in the near future.

When talking about dedication to the army, I believe that we must take into consideration that many of the men who had served for 20 years probably had great difficulties rejoining the civilian life and thus preferred to stay in the army. It's probably not as much a question of dedication as a lifestyle. I'm being such a bore now ain't I?

Interesting. I must take a look at one of those diplomas.

@ Bryaxis Hecatee: I'll put on my to do list I managed to forget the epigraphy today as I saw a nearby aqueduct Are we even sure that 25 years was the time of service (Even as this is what I've always been taught) and what source do we have confirm it?

Yes it should be that one. I though the date of the find was feb 19th but 18th is close enough. This was also the only very recent find at the exhibition. Any thoughts on the interpretation?

I found this at the National museum in Naples and this is one of the absolutely latest finds from Herculaneum, it's only been unearthed for 2 months. I can unfortunately not give you much further information as I forgot to take notes on the sign next to it, but it might be interesting anyway. Enjoy.

Out of curiosity, what kind of information are you looking for?

A very interesting inscription, not uncommonly used as an example. I'd also like to say thanks for a very usefull comment Sylla! I'll be going to the epigraphy museum in Rome rather soon, the chance of finding anything that match this is slim (As I suspect that we would find most elderly soldiers in the provinces), but I'll keep my eyes open.

Can a non member view the albums to begin with? And something is wrong with the albums as most of my pictures average one viewer per month ish.

It means his term of office will be twice blessed. A wise interpretation, no doubt.

Would that be considered a good or bad omen for our new moderator?

Well I have a 10 mpx camera, the problem is the light. Filming works fairly well at a cloudy day, not so much when the sun shines though, I actually took 5 short clips (the longest being 2 minutes). But I might add that I value quality in both my pictures and films, that might be what prevents me, as stated before, I would never post anything unless I was satisfied with it. I will howevere try again next time to see the effect, so thanks for the input! Thanks a lot! It's much appreciated! Thanks to you too! I'm glad that the album come to good use! I guess that you've already noticed but if you're interested in seeing what I'm up to right now you can look at my blog (http://ancientandold.blogspot.com/) where I post a few pictures from Rome every day.

A good choice no doubt. Congratulations NN!

Perfect for further research how? And a blurry video will hardly make me more nostalgic than a good, clear photo. Knowing my way around Pompeii is no big problem either I zoom in all the time. Most of the photos uploaded at my blog are cropped, some rather much. We are clearly not using pictures for the same cause - I don't see them as nostalgia but educational material. I have no such problems, but I have a good memory when it comes to pictures. Trust me, good shots of sites can be very, very difficult to find when you need to use them at lectures. Pompeii is a well exploited site but try to find photos of say the elephant frescoes and it'll take a great deal of time - this is not even mentioning shots from obscure parts of the city as Porta di Nola. Now imagine less well known sites as the tombs of Blera? What problem would you have against sharing your videos online? You shared your photos, right? It would to begin with add another site to upload things too, I don't have the time to run around and upload things everywhere. Secondly, I would never upload a video from my camera as the quality is not to my satisfaction.

Yes video is nice but you lose the details as the resolution is lower and the compression rate far higher. Not to mention how expensive a decent video camera is. There is also the problem of uploading videos, the only place I could imagine for that is youtube and I'm not quite sure about if that is where I want to share my Pompeii material. Thanks a lot! It's always good to see that they are appreciated as it takes a lot of time to upload them.