Gaius Paulinus Maximus

Very nice work Albert, Caracalla is excellent.

I've not seen the Battle of Santiago before, so thanks for that FV, some of those tackles were unbelievable, especially the flying kung fu kick to the head!!!!

Archaeologists have unearthed a hoard of ancient Roman treasures, including a marble head of the Roman emperor Titus, during an excavation outside the southern Italian city of Naples. The long-term digging effort in Rione Terra, a cliff in the port town of Pozzuoli, has yielded remains of 12 ancient statues, columns and fragments bearing inscriptions from what appear to be monuments from the Republican and Imperial periods of ancient Roman history http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/06/24/t...ble-naples.html

Neither did Caesar's handlebar moustache, didn't you know that Freddie Mercury modeled himself on an early picture of Gaius Julius Caesar!!!

Nice video FV, If that's what it takes to get chicks like Carmen Electra dancing for you then I'm never going to shave again!!!!

I think it would be very reasonable to assume that Scipio started a trend. I'm sure there will have been other lesser known Romans who preferred the shaved style too but because Scipio was probably the most famous Roman of his time then I think it's pretty safe to say that people looked up to him and wanted to imitate his style. Scipio probably didn't do it to start a trend it was just a personal preference but as with fashion today however ridiculous something looks you can guarantee that within a couple of weeks you'll see people walking about the streets with the same hairstyle or out fit on and before you know it near enough every one's doing it. Take David Beckham for instance, he's got to be one of the biggest fashion icons of our time, some of the styles he's had have at first looked a bit ridiculous and over the top but after a while you start to see it repeated everywhere. If Beckham likes it then it must be good, right???? Whether it be ancient times or modern, people will always want to be like their hero's.

Nice review Neil. I'm still waiting for my first copy to drop through my letterbox, after reading the review I wish it would bloody hurry up!!!

This is very interesting for me because I do a lot of work on Tesco's especially the new builds so hopefully I might get to spend some time at the Newtown site. I might dust my trowel off and offer my services during my lunch break!!!!!!

The book that really did it for me was "The History of Rome" by Michael Grant a pretty challenging read for a beginner but even so, brilliant for learning about Rome from it's founding all the way through to it's demise in the 5th Century. It's a good book to keep going back to every few years, the more you learn the more the book makes sense and comes together.

The Romans in early times wore long hair and full beards, as did uncivilized peoples. Varro tells us that professional barbers first came to Rome in the year 300 B.C., but we know that the razor and shears were used by the Romans long before history begins. Pliny the Elder says that the Younger Scipio (died 129 B.C.) was the first Roman to shave every day, and the story may be true. People of wealth and position had the hair and beard kept in order by their own slaves; these slaves, if they were skillful barbers, brought high prices in the market. People of the middle class went to public barber shops, and gradually made them places of general resort for the idle and the gossiping. But in all periods the hair and beard were allowed was a sign of sorrow, and were the regular accompaniments of the mourning garb already mentioned. The very poor went usually unshaven and unshorn; this was the cheap and easy fashion. Styles of wearing hair and beard varied with the years of the persons concerned and with the period. The hair of children, boys and girls alike, was allowed to grow long and hang around the neck and shoulders. When the boy assumed the togaof manhood, the long locks were cut off, sometimes with a good deal of formality, and under the Empire they were often made an offering to some deity. In the classical period young men seem to have worn close-clipped beards; at least Cicero jeers at those who followed Catiline for wearing full beards, and on the other hand declares that their companions who could show no signs of beard on their faces were worse than effeminate. Mature men wore the hair cut short and the face shaved clean. Most of the portraits that have come down to us show beardless men until well into the second century of our era, but after the time of Hadrian the full beard became fashionable. (Taken from Johnston's Private Life of the Romans.)

I've just ordered a trial three month subscription, so I'll let you know how good it is when it arrives.

Rome's underground Christian, Jewish and pagan burial sites, the Catacombs, date back to the 2nd Century AD. There are more than 40 of them stretching over 170km (105 miles). But, until now, they have never been fully documented, their vast scale only recorded with handmade maps. That is now changing, following a three-year project to create the first fully comprehensive three-dimensional image using laser scanners. READ MORE......

Believe me I do want to play but the only thing stopping me is that I'm totally crap at it!!

Also you'd have to look at the mind set of many of the soldiers, there was a very high percentage that you wouldn't even live to see your retirement or enjoy the money you'd been saving so what was the point?? Carpe Diem, seize the day, live for the moment etc. It safe to say that many of the soldiers had come from nothing and were enjoying it while they could, I'm sure that saving it for a rainy day would have been the last thing on your mind when the next day you could be going into battle and never coming back.

November 07??? Bloody hell has it been that long since we played this game??? Go on then K, it's your turn!

I'm sure I can russell up a few baby pics too. I'll just have to work out how to use the scanner first

Thanks a lot for this Vig. It's been a great help. I've near enough got all my music back into my iTunes now, it's a bit of a farce doing it, god knows why Apple wont let you do it direct, it would make things much easier, instead I've had to download some other software, copy my iPod to that and then from that copy my music to my computer and then from my computer to my iPod library Talk about a backward way of doing it!! Thanks again Vig, much appreciated.

Ok then, seen as though everyone else is chipping in then, here I am, with my wife and her best friend, it's the most recent picture I could find (p.s. I'm the one on the left! )

Thanks for the tip Aurelia. Have no fear I'll stay well clear of Homolulu and it's receivers of swollen goods

Anybody clued up and up to speed with iTunes?? As some of you may know, a few months back my computer decided to blow up on me taking everything I had on it with it, files, photo's, music etc...... I've finally just got round to setting my iTunes up again which wasn't a problem until I tried to put all the music that I have on my iPod back into my iTunes library, it just won't let me do it, When I try, a screen comes up saying ....... "The iPod is synced with another iTunes library. An iPod can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. What would you like to do? 1. "Erase and Sync" replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of this Itunes library. Which is no good because there's nothing in library to start with. 2. "Transfer Purchases" copies iTunes store purchase this computer is authorized to play from this iPod to this itunes library. This I've tried but the majority of the music I've put on has been from my own personal CD's and it won't transfer them across. The thing I can't get my head round is how can I sync my iPod with this new library if I can't un-sync it first with the old one which is floating around somewhere in cyberspace??? It won't even let me transfer the albums I've recently bought from the iStore to the iPod because it's not bloody synced!!! Am I being a bit thick here and missing something completely obvious? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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.

Funny you should say that Caldrail because I depart for sunny Spain on Tuesday for two weeks of all inclusive sun, sea, sand and sangria. While it may not be your cup of tea and if I'm perfectly honest it's not at the top of my holiday destinations either but when you've got two young children, and all they want to do is play in the pool or go to the beach or the kids club and make new friends, and don't want to be sat on a plane or in a car for hours on end then Spain is a pretty ideal destination. We always tend to stay clear of the stereotypical Spain you mentioned with high rise run down hotels and streets full of English bars selling the "full Monty" English breakfast. We're going to an holiday village on the coast which is totally family orientated so there's no lager louts( apart from me ) with union jack shorts and British Bulldog tattoo's etc Just swimming pools, water slides, good food, drink and entertainment, just perfect for a two week break in the sun. Plus there's a couple of Roman watch towers spread out along the coast with in walking distance of our resort so at least I might get a little bit of culture during my stay.

Thank you, G. I have finished it all now, and even handed it in! I shall post Chapter Two when I can bare to look at my dissertation again. OK, thanks and good luck mate.

Maybe Sullafelix won't be able to provide us with a reference but some of our newer members might have heard this statement before and just possibly know of a source to back it up. But I'm not holding my breath

You just can't help yourself can you????