Klingan

Oh my bad then, very interesting. I was quite sure that the first real arenas wasn't built until much later in Rome itself. Do you know where I can read about it?

Me and my sister caught four in just a mater or minutes out here just a moment ago! Really beautiful.

Some of the first, in the new arena i guess. Most probably they thought at important peoples funerals, and there were no real arenas as we know them (I believe) at this time it was more of sand covered spot.

Here's another shot on this years shower, taken from Nasa's daily picture (And resized from their almost ridiculously huge resolution) Here's what they say about it: Raining Perseids Credit & Copyright: Fred Bruenjes Explanation: Tonight is a good night to see meteors. Comet dust will rain down on planet Earth, streaking through dark skies in the annual Perseid meteor shower. While enjoying the anticipated space weather, astronomer Fred Bruenjes recorded a series of many 30 second long exposures spanning about six hours on the night of 2004 August 11/12 using a wide angle lens. Combining those frames which captured meteor flashes, he produced this dramatic view of the Perseids of summer. Although the comet dust particles are traveling parallel to each other, the resulting shower meteors clearly seem to radiate from a single point on the sky in the eponymous constellation Perseus. The radiant effect is due to perspective, as the parallel tracks appear to converge at a distance. Bruenjes notes that there are 51 Perseid meteors in the composite image, including one seen nearly head-on. This year, the Perseids Meteor Shower is expected to peak after midnight tonight, in the moonless early morning hours of August 12. From Nasa's daily picture. Full picture here.

Wow now that's a nice find. Looks like a promising site!

Here's another article about the same find including (By some strange reason) a short video about archeology. I've not had time to read them both but it might give some additional information.

Yes, there is some elements that's the same (golden "dot" pattern at the sides) but it's unlike anything I've seen from that period and I get to see quite a deal of that stuff here (at least 2-3 viking markets, days and random celebrations each year not to mention all my fellow students focusing at that period, including the guy who sent me the picture). It could most certainly be related thou. Are there any written sources referring to those masks in the Roman world?

Archaeologists have found an eight-million-year old forest of cypresses, well preserved and not fossilized, in northeastern Hungary. "The discovery is exceptional as the trees kept their wooden structure, they neither turned into coal nor were petrified," said Tamas Pusztai, the deputy director and head of the archaeological department at the local Otto Herman museum, who oversaw the excavation. Archaeologists announced the find last week after uncovering the mysterious forest of taxodiums, a kind of swamp cypress, after a few days of digging. Read more here.

Interesting, but hardly neither archeology or news. Maybe it should have been posted in say Romana Humanitas? Is it part of a longer documentary?

Great post Caldrail. I've read 3 of those quotes before, the last one was new to me. And "Give me another one" must have been a scary type. I think I've read about that one in my Roman Social History book. Is this where you found those quotes? (As the Romans Did, Second Edition: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History by Jo-Ann Shelton) If not it's a very much recommended book, probably the one I enjoy most in my history collection!

I received a photo that a friend of mine took during his recent visit to Germany. From our very basic knowledge in german we believe it's a silver mask embellish with gold. It's been awarded to German warriors after battles and (?) been used in Roman army parades (triumphs?). Could anyone please help me confirm if this is a correct translation and if it is I'd be very interested in anything else that anyone know about this (those) masks and their use. I've never heard that the roman army used anything like this.

I believe we can exclude the water supply from the possibly reasons for LTRDT. Hopefully someone know something about other lead use in the east.

I wonder how extensive the infertility was in the upper classes (Considering their higher material wealth) and how low birthrates there (as we know that all the noble families died out) would effect a society as the Roman empire. Would it lead to more or less struggles for power? (New men trying to grab power?) No heirs could also led to rulers as the adoptive emperors, which undoubtedly was a prosperous period, would it therefor boost the strength of the society? What if Marcus Aurelius never had a son? And of course, if it's related in anyway to the decline/fall of the Roman empire why didn't it effect the eastern provinces in the same manner? Did they have other traditions and ways considering lead objects?

Mexican archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar have detected underground chambers they believe contain the remains of Emperor Ahuizotl, who ruled the Aztecs when Columbus landed in the New World. It would be the first tomb of an Aztec ruler ever found. The find could provide an extraordinary window into Aztec civilization at its apogee. Ahuizotl (ah-WEE-zoh-tuhl), an empire-builder who extended the Aztecs' reach as far as Guatemala, was the last emperor to complete his rule before the Spanish Conquest. Accounts written by Spanish priests suggest the area was used by the Aztecs to cremate and bury their rulers. But no tomb of an Aztec ruler has ever been found, in part because the Spanish conquerors built their own city atop the Aztec's ceremonial center, leaving behind colonial structures too historically valuable to remove for excavations. Read more here.

This should be a time of action not words! The Gauls are roaring their battle cries as we speak at our border as we speak. Choose your general, great Caesar, before it's too late!

Yeah it's still too early to let this thread die, c'mon people!

I've always been under the impression that the law considering buildings heights was more or less only to prevent them to collapse to frequently. Lots of rich people tried to make money out of building high, cheap building, I reckon that this was the way Crassus got rich (richer). I don't think the fires was the main concern when introducing this law.

Oh ouch, that must have been hurting like hell! I guess it did the job thou.

As th lead poisoning subject again and again pop up in the thread concerning "What Made Caligula Cad" (If he was truly crazy). Therefor I though I'd start this thread and try to see this from a more general view. I've always been of the opinion that lead poisoning was most likely not one of the major or even minor factors that led to the empires decline and fall. I would still like to explore the possibility thou. Here's some of the questions and anwsers from that thread to start with:

Somehow I'm not very surprised that discovery news doesn't have very good check on their own news. Very interesting article thou.

This is a really short one. The page also include a short clip from discovery channel where they interview an Egyptologist about her work. An artificial big toe attached to the foot of an Egyptian mummy could be the world's oldest prosthetic body part, British researchers said Friday. The fake toe, which is made of wood and leather and is currently on display at the Cairo Museum in Egypt, dates from between 1000 and 600 B.C. Researchers at Manchester University in north-west England hope to prove it was used to help someone who had lost their original big toe to walk. If they do, it could mean that prosthetic body parts were in use up to 700 years earlier than was previously thought. The oldest known prosthesis is a bronze Roman leg dating from about 300 B.C. which was kept at the Royal College of Surgeons in London but was destroyed during a German bombing raid in the Second World War. A second false big toe, which is on display at the British Museum, will also be tested by scientists in Manchester. "If either one is functional, it may be interesting to manufacture it with modern materials and trial it for use on people with missing toes," said Jacky Finch, a researcher working on the study. She added that the Cairo toe is the most likely to have been a prosthesis, because it shows signs of wear and is attached to a "well-healed" amputation site. The London toe, by contrast, does not bend and is therefore more likely to have been cosmetic, she said. Original page and the video clip

Alexander the Great founded Alexandria to immortalize his name on his way to conquer the world, but his may not have been the first city on the famed site on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. A Smithsonian team has now uncovered first underwater evidence pointing to an urban settlement dating back seven centuries before Alexander showed up in 331 B.C. The city he founded, Alexandria, has long been a source of intrigue and wonder, renowned for its library, once the largest in the world, and the 396-foot lighthouse at the island of Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But little was known about the site in pre-Alexander times, other than that a fishing village by the name of Rhakotis was located there. Coastal geoarchaeologist Jean-Daniel Stanley of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History said the work by him and his colleagues suggested there had been a much larger community than had previously been believed. Read more here.

Researchers in northern Greece have uncovered two massive tusks of a prehistoric mastodon that roamed Europe more than two million years ago

Sounds like great news, it could prove to be most interesting.

I guess that you'll visit the Colosseum with out or advice about it. Remember that when you buy a ticket there, it also allow you access to the Palatine. Many skip this beacuse the entrance isn't even near as impressive as the Colosseum of most of the fora. Here you can find my pictures from my visit there last year. It's the place I was happiest that I visited during all of my trip, maybe even better then the forums!