Klingan

Not to mention the (probably) obvious temptation to kill an easily visible enemy leader in the front lines - a good way not only to win personal glory but also to disrupt the efficiency of the legions. Further on, I quote my own summary of Caesars report from the battle of Gergovia: A very high casualty rate in comparison, considering that there was only one centurion on roughly 80 men (should have been less than 10 by if killed at random). Then again, the legions might very well have been weakened at this stage of the campaign (fall), meaning that the pre-battle ratio between men and centurions might have been somewhat, but still far from, more even.

Running the risk of opening a political debate, I must say that I am incredibly happy to see that the EU received the price. I cannot think of any other organization that has done so much for peace in our continent - one only need to compare the first fifty years of the 20th century with the last fifty to appreciate the difference - and even more so after the fall of the iron curtain and the early 21st century. In the end, at least I know that I am so very happy that I live in Europe now and not before the union was formed, economic crisis or not.

Haven't read it myself, but... Review Trailer Comment

The Oxford handbooks are always ridiculously expensive.

There are convenient trains leaving at regular intervals too, but I can't remember which one.

This is still one of my absolute favorite books on Roman history after all these years!

I can't believe that nobody has dived there since Cousteau! Cannot really empathize how excited I am about this.

Great post G. I absolutely love this small numismatic excursions

Well, you need to realize that Mettius was developed, spelled and pronounced in Sabine, not Latin which is a completely different language - it has even been argued that the Sabelinne languages were parted from Latin already after the PIE (proto indoeuropean) stage. Very early that is. It is therefore impossible to connect to Latin in the way you do. Further on, there is no relationship, as far as I know between, between the names Mettius and Matthias- - the latter comes from Mattitjahu (hebreic) and was transferred to latin by the Greek transcription ???????. It's thus simply a coincidence that they look similar to us today. On the matter of DIVI: DIVO IVLI is simply a an abbreviation form (to fit easily in inscriptions and coins)of divo julio which is Divus Julius, Caesars post mortem title, in the dative or ablative case. Nothing strange at all. I guess that Theos could be used for divus, but ???????? (Sebastos) was, in my experience, much more common as the emperors title in the Greek world.

Happy birthday!

Caesar divorced his wife Pompeia on the (very dubious) suspicion of adultery: Plutarch - Life of Caesar, X. 8-10

Yes, the -us would always be there (and properly pronounced) when the name was used in the nominative (subject) form. Vocatives (e.g.) normally ends with an -o (from which names like Marco etc. have evolved). Same goes for genitive, ablative, accusative and dative. All these forms exist in plural as well, each with a new suffix. The abbreviation form is simply to make inscriptions shorter. Regarding Mettius, I'm not even sure that it is a Roman name. Where did you find it?

Still looks very over-saturated!

I had a quick look in the OCD and at jStore and couldn't find anything of great use - but I'm sure that someone here knows more about the matter!

May I point out that this is our first book that is not available in English and we are therefore extra proud to be able to present the review!

Topic moved by moderator. I hope that you will find the board helpful and good luck with your essay!

These statements seems to contradict each other? Do you really mean south of the Po Melvadius? Not north? Why would they not be recruited from Italy herself? But the Spanish emperors of the early 2nd century AD we all Romans by birth right? They just so happened to live in wealthy roman families living in the provinces? And the Syrians were all after Caracalla's reforms. I'll try to get some time to look at those books!

Does anyone get what they mean by Pyramid in this case? I mean, the chamber might be somewhat pyramidal in shape, but look at the pictures... it's just a crudely cut chamber. This is almost as bad as Mickey and the Hobbit.

Thank you both very much! This does, however, leads me to another question: for how long did the legions consist of more or less Italians only? By non citizens, do you also mean, say barbarians proper (e.g. gauls, brittons?) or just romanized subjects in the core empire? It would seems like I need to read up on Roman military history, I am completely lost here.

Forgive me if I'm wrong here, but were not all legionaries in the Roman army given good proper Latin names? Or was this just the practice at some point in time? I have always thought (and accepted) it so without reflection. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

CN would you be interested in turning this to a real review? It seems like you've done most of the work anyways.

That is interesting, I don't think I've ever seen anything like that myself - then again, I shun that sort of museums. But to be honest, if something like that ever would happen, it would be here in Sweden; we are one of the most secular countries in the world (80% or so are atheists), especially in the south if my personal experience is correct.

You should have sen the comments in the news papers here... It's absolutely ridiculous.

Really really cool! The video is somewhat dull though.

The first ever Etruscan pyramids have been located underneath a wine cellar in the city of Orvieto in central Italy, according to a team of U.S. and Italian archaeologists. Carved into the rock of the tufa plateau --a sedimentary area that is a result of volcanic activity -- on which the city stands, the subterranean structures were largely filled. Read more here.