Gaius Paulinus Maximus

What the hell is that??? If that's a Roman then I'm Julius Caesar!!! It looks more like a fireman. WE WANT ROMAN LEGO!!!! WE WANT ROMAN LEGO!!!! WE WANT ROMAN LEGO!!!!

I was in Toronto for 3 weeks visiting relatives, I'd always wanted to see Washington so my uncle suggested that we throw some stuff in a bag, jump in the car and do it, so we did! It took us about 10 hrs to get down to Washington, we went across the border at Buffalo and then down through Pennsylvania. We spent three days there and saw as much as possible. It really hit home just how big the U.S. is and how small the UK is, in 10 hrs I could probably drive from one end of Britain to the other, but in America it took us 10 hrs just to cross one bloody State!! Later on in our holiday we also flew to New York for the week end and what a city it is that you live in Neph, I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life, or spent so much, that Macy's has a lot to answer for!!!

*ahem* Congrats to the Wings...that was a helluva series. And what a finish! Nice prediction Doc! Congrats to the Red Wings (aka Team Sweden), they were just to strong for the Penguins in the end, the best team won. Zetterburg got the Conn Smythe trophy as well and again thoroughly deserved. I think the Penguins will be a force to be reckoned with over the next few years but I think the Leafs will push them all the way (Yeah right!!!)

I visited Washington about 7 yrs ago and I've got to agree with MPC about Georgetown, it really is a fantastic little place, it was one of the highlights of our trip. The Smithsonian, Lincoln Memorial, White House are all musts and if you find time, you should take a visit to Arlington Cemetery, it's a very interesting and humbling place, the changing of the guard ceremony is a very impressive sight.

It doesn't really matter which order you read them in, they are not part of a series where one follows on from the other. I read these books a few years ago in no particular order, but personally if I were to read them again then I would would start with Caesar and then continue in historical sequence. They are mostly written in the first person or from the point of view of an eyewitness to the events taking place. They're definitely worth a read, I think you'll enjoy them G-Man.

Spot on. Like Kosmo says for someone outside the immediate family of the Emperor (sometimes even that wasn't enough) were to achieve that amount of fame and power then they would surely be seen as a threat and disposed of immediately. It just would not have happened, self preservation was ultimate goal of the ruling dynasties of Rome.

What about the Sibylline books?? That's got to be an eyebrow raiser if ever there was one.

I wouldn't mind getting my hands on Caesar's Anti-Cato, It would be good to read in Caesars own words just how much he loathed Cato. I'm sure it would have been a witty and cutting verbal assault on one of his most ardent critics.

I would probably say so. Other skeletons have been found with just the head of his horse next to him, so for the Lombard's to go to so much trouble in burying the whole horse makes you think that he may have been a quite important figure. Maybe a famous warrior and his war horse who were renowned for their courage and bravery in battle (think Alexander and Bucephalus??) and so to honour them they buried them together.???

Italian archaeologists have discovered a perfectly preserved skeleton of a 1400-year-old Lombard warrior, buried with his horse. The skeleton, which was found in a park at Testona, near Turin, is of a 25-year-old Lombard who died of a fever. Unusually, his horse was buried alongside him. "This is a very rare find," said Gabriella Pant

It's either going to be really good, or else really suck. I don't see much of a middle ground here. It seems there's mistakes galore in the new Indy movie....... Most of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" takes place in Peru, but many Peruvians are suffering heartburn after seeing the movie's many clumsy -- and often insulting -- mistakes about their country.Viewers here cringed when the world's most famous fictional archaeologist arrives in Peru and announces that he learned to speak Quechua, the language of indigenous people across the Andes, when he was captured by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. Villa and his revolutionaries raided the US town of Columbus, New Mexico in 1916 -- and in an episode of the 1990s TV show, "The Young Indiana Jones," the young Jones is kidnapped. But Villa's men spoke Spanish, not Quechua, which is spoken by some 10 million people in places like Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. "This is outrageous," said Hugo Neyra, who heads Peru's National Library. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jDLM2N...3NpMxbxKJ0gYmaw

Great interview guy's, I too can't believe that you've never actually met in person. You've spent six years turning this site into what it is today and not once have you met face to face. Some people would say that you should meet up soon but I say NO WAY!!! DON'T DO IT!! You've done well so far Don't spoil it, you might curse UNRV and we'll all spend the rest of our days blogging in Hades!!! You're doing a great job guys, Thanks!

They all worked for me too, and beautiful they are too, I know what you mean about the blue lake, it certainly does look inviting.

Congratulations Wot, I'm sure it will be the first of many!

I've read Iggulden's books and thoroughly enjoyed them, if you take them for what they are, fictional novels loosely based on a famous name from the past, then you'll enjoy them .They're fast paced action adventure stories and that's why I read them. I already know everything about the life of Caesar so I didn't read them to learn anything new about the man, I read them as a break from the academical stuff. Conn Iggulden's new books about Genghis Kahn are also very enjoyable, I've read the first in the series and will be starting the second as soon as I get the chance and from what I can tell they are a bit more accurate with the facts than the Emperor series was.

I'm absolutely gutted England failed to Qualify for the Euro's this year, there's nothing better than watching your team compete against the best in the world or in this case Europe, it's going to be a pretty depressing month this time round for England fans, having said that I'll still watch as much of it as I can. I think Spain could win it this year, they've got such a young talented team, they have a history of bottling it in the major tournaments but with the quality they have this year they could well fulfil their potential.

THIS is an excellent site with lots of info on not only Hadrian's Wall but Roman Britain as well.

I'm going to disagree with you Doc, I'm going to stick with my original prediction and go with the penguins. It's going to be a tough series and I reckon it could even go to the final game.

Thanks very much Cecil , We all got made up at the same time.

Bugger!

That's the problem Cecil, it does seem apparent that the Romans did use dogs in battle but when and at what length we don't know. I've searched around and not really come up with anything apart from the quote from Pliny's natural histories but that concerns other nations, not Romans. I'm sure they'll be something out there but as of yet I've still to find it.

Taken from the Eigth book of Pliny's Natural Histories.... Chap XL, Of Dogges There was a king of the Garamants exiled, and recovered his royall state againe by the meanes of 200 dogs that fought for him and against all those that made resistance, and brought him home maugre his enemies. The Colophonians and Castabaleans, maintained certaine squadrons of mastive dogges, for their warre-service: and those were put in the vaward to make head and front of the battaile, and were never known to draw backe and refuse fight. These were their trustiest auxiliaries and aid-souldiers, and never so needie as to call for pay. In a battell when the Cimbrians were defeated and put all to the sword, their dogges defended the baggage, yea, and their houses (such as they were) carried ordinarily upon charriots. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny8.html

Sure ... at first. But if an army can become used to Hellenistic elephant packs charging at them, they can get used to dogs. We're not saying that the dogs are going to win the battle or anything like that, just that the dogs would be another tool used by the Romans to disrupte the enemy's charge and for a short while cause confusion in thier ranks enabling the Romans to maybe gain the upper hand, or like I said in an earlier post, the dogs could be concentrated on targeting the cavalry, how many dogs do you know that given the chance would love nothing more than to chase a horse around and harrass it all day long, now if these dogs have been starved to the point of madness and then pointed towards horses or other warriors then these animals will be a formidable weapon, maybe only for a short time until enemy regroups and gets wise to the situation but for those few moments the dogs will have served thier purpose. I'm just speculating here but does it really seem that ridiculous?? But like Nephele say's I too would be interested in reading a first hand account.

Nephele it's lucky for you I don't live anywhere near New York because if I did then you'd be in for a damn good thrashing !!!! Here it is again!!!!! Neph, I totally agree, whole companies composed entirely of dogs is completely absurd, this is clearly an over exaggeration by the author of the site, he even goes on to say that "they wore spiked collars around their neck and ankles, made more dangerous by the large curved knives protruding from its ring." It was a probably a mistake on my part to post the first section of the article because like you I wasn't convinced of the truth in it, it was the latter part of the article that I found interesting and although he doesn't supply any sources I found it quite believable. Although the ancient sources are pretty scarce on this subject I don't think it's so totally ridiculous that dogs were used to some effect by the Romans when engaged in battle. As we all know, dogs are very clever animals and can be trained to perform numerous tasks, so I don't think that it's so unbelievable that a dog couldn't be trained to provide some kind of assistance during war. For instance I've read in another article that dogs were trained to target horses and therefore could be used quite effectively to upset and cause confusion within the cavalry ranks. This alone would be a massive help in itself. On a lighter note I came across this while sniffing around for info. I't called the Roman Cane Corso ,apparently the Cane Corso is a large working dog who descends from the ancient Roman Molossus. Native to Italy they now represent a modern day continuation of war dogs that were sometimes pitted against lions and other wild beasts in ancient Roman arenas. These Molossian Mastiffs were in great demand as war dogs and household guardians for generations to come. The website has lots of pictures and videos of cute puppies too!

Quite possibly Cecil. It seems that when the Romans invaded Britain they brought the Molossian hounds with them, but because Britain was then unconquered territory they were unaware that the Britons also used dogs in battle and it appears that the British Mastiffs were far superior than the Molossian hound, in which way I cant really tell, from what Gratius says it seems that they were braver and worked better, maybe the Molossian fought individually and the British mastiff fought as a pack, I don't really know. Gratius Falsius' writings about dogs were mostly based on the dog fights that were staged in the arena as a warm up to the main event, so his statement is more than likely based on his observations in the arena and most probably not the battlefield. Whether these dogs ever fought each other on the battlefield.......Who knows???