Gaius Paulinus Maximus

Your first link dosn't seem to be working Capt Blackadder??

I've read that centurions wore different greaves than the regular soldier. Different in what way? Were they more ornate, just another little touch to make them stand out from the legionaries like carrying the gladius on the left rather than the right?

The great Tommy Cooper http://www.justlikethat.homestead.com/

That flame thrower looked like a pretty mean weapon, wouldn't have fancied coming up against that! But I wouldn't have turned down a cruise on Caligula's royal barge, well as long as he wasn't on it at the same time

Wow, you've submitted it already!!! Now that's impressive, they only opened the competition yesterday, I'm looking forward to reading it Skarr Good luck

Hoorah finally the long awaited review is upon us, as I've said before I'm a big fan of the eagle series so am looking forward to reading it.

"Don't worry lads, it's only a bit of turbulence" - Buddy Holly

Excellent site's Ludovicus and PNS, very interesting.

I've seen these pro grammes before and would definitely recommend them, especially the Colosseum one.

Nice one GO , nice one UNRV Although I wont be entering myself due to a lack of litrerary talent, I will most certainly be looking forward to reading the eventual winners essays. I was very impressed with the work of the previous writing contest, there were some excellent short stories but my paticular favorite was the poem by Matt Galivan, I thought it was a great piece of work.

That damn woman should be burned at the stake for making you an hour and 35minutes late for UNRV, you should instigate the first Michigan witch hunt!

This is a genuine list of soldiers who served in the Second Augustan Legion, it lists each soldier in ascending order of precedence to the legion and gives a brief history of their lives. I think it's fascinating that we still have records of men who lived and died in the Roman Army thousands of years ago. Here's a look at one particular soldier Take a look at the full list http://www.legiiavg.org.uk/articles/article_names2.html

I've found a couple of maps of pompeii one shows the eight gates named by DC the other shows seven gates, the Capuan Gate is not listed Eight gates http://users.ipa.net/~tanker/pompeii.htm Seven gates http://www.archaeology.co.uk/cwa/issues/cw...pompeii-map.htm On the second map you can clearly see the opening where the Capuan gate is shown on the other map, maybe this is just an oversight or maybe the Capuan Gate had been closed for some reason?? Unfortunately my knowledge of Pompeii is pretty limited so I can't give you any sort of definate answer....sorry.

Ahhh very clever Augusta, you could be onto something there. It certainly seems more plausible than actually doing the math on your fingers, I'm not saying that it can't be done because PP and MPC have almost proved it possible. Didn't some Romans (more than likely moneylenders) carry some sort of portable pocket abacus, I think I may have seen a picture somewhere in Perinax's gallery?? Surely if anyone had speedy fingers than it would have been these guys.

Thanks guys, but I can assure that I wasn't having much fun the following morning whn i woke up with the mother of all hangovers :bash: , this is just what it felt like!

In two contemporary Greek historians, we find a very different account of the customs and conduct of the Franks. The first from Agathias, Lib.i.p.13 extols them as models of uncorrupted virtue; he praises their strict execution of the precepts, and their orthodox adherence to the tenents, of the Catholic Church. The second from Procopius.Goth.lib.i.c.25 holds them forth as brutal savages, who, with the profession of Christianity, clung to many of their heathen rites, and who showed at once their cruelty and superstition, by the sacrifice of children to the idols. Two very different descriptions from two very respected historians, Which one is closer to the truth? I know Procopius is considered by many to be a Byzantine version of Suetonius (i.e. likes to stretch the truth a bit) but his many writings can't all be considered as merely ancient forms of storytelling.

Happy birthday DC Hope you have a good one, with plent of this :beer: a little of bit more of this and hopefully none of this :stretcher: Cheers

That's an easy one, Ozzy is a rock legend a great frontman and an even better showman or at least he was before he turned into a stuttering gibbering wreck :sp_ike:

I believe the full name given to the act of rationing salt as part of legionary pay was 'salarium argentum' Even more notable is that the Romans not only believed that the head was filled with salt but that it also could make dangerous or tainted food safe. It was Pliny the Elder who first prescribed to take anything suspicious with a grain of salt." A grain of salt is in fact a rendition of the Latin phrase cum grano salis. In this case it may have been an antidote to poison. The origins of this expression could refer to Pliny's commentary in Natural History where he mentions the first century BC King of Pontus, Mithradates the Great. He tells how Mithradates made himself immune to poison by swallowing small amounts of it with a grain of salt.

A big welcome to the world of the blog from a fellow newbie. I also second everything you say about UNRV it really is a quality site. It must get pretty boring on the Chelsea site though just talking about how mant tens of millions your going to spend on the next superstar , you want to try out the Leeds forum and see how the other half live. :sadwalk:

On Friday I went to a charity boxing event in the beautiful coastal town( not!) of Hull, me and a group of friends did our best James Bond impressions and got fully tuxedoed up and descended upon the Hull Arena for an evening of merriment. The night began with a three course meal which was OK (nothing special really) then there were three kick-boxing bouts, one of which was for the British Championship, there was a stand-up comedian who was very funny, and a group of singers who were like ' IL Divo' (four good looking blokes with operatic voices singing Pavarotti.....not really my cup of tea!). Then it was time for the main event, since the charity night was in aid of, Steve Prescott a former Rugby League player who has cancer, the final fight of the night was between two current Great Britain players, Stuart Fielden of Wigan Warriors and Lee Radford of Hull fc and the fight was billed as.........The Rumble In The Humber !!! Radford won the fight quite easily by stopping Fielden in the second round. The whole night managed to raise

I too will recommend the book that I'm currently reading: The Life Of Belisarius - The Last Great General Of Rome by Lord Mahon. Originally published in 1829, it's a fascinating insight into the life of a late Byzantine general and his turbulent relationship with the Emperor Justinian. For those like myself with a limited knowledge of the Byzantine era it's very informative and i would highly recommend it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belisarius-Great-G...TF8&s=books

Happy birthday Ram and FVC. Hope you both have a fantastic day! :beer:

As it happens I'm currently reading The Life Of Belisarius- The last great general of Rome by Lord Mahon so he gets my vote. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belisarius-Great-G...TF8&s=books

GPM requests permisson to join the forthcoming battle with those dastardly cat worshipping Egyptians, I am a Primus Pilus with years of experience and I'm 100% dedicated to the cause and will not be open to bribery! (unless it's more than one thousand sesterius.......pm me later and we'll talk figures )