ASCLEPIADES

Ctesiphon?

Salve! Please check out this previous related thread The mummy's curse: historical cohort study . In fact, the last part of the study is still waiting for me to upload it.

Hatra?

Salve! I found some statements about auto-bloodletting in the Roman mystery cults of Cybele and Attis, but I haven't been able to verify its sources (supposedly Apuleius, for example). In fact, they are frequently quoted as possible pagan influences on the Christian ritual.

Salve, QS! Apparently, the classic biography would be that from Adolph Schulten (1926?); a more recent work is Quintus Sertorius and the legacy of Sulla by Philip O. Spann, Fayetteville, the University of Arkansas press (1987). There's also Plutarch's Sertorius: a historical commentary by CF Konrad (1994). As you may imagine, books about contemporaries (Sulla, Marius, Caesar, Pompey, etc.) or globally of the late Roman Republic (vg, The Roman Revolution by R Syme) have many references about your homonym. Regarding primary sources, besides the obvious biography by Plutarch, please remember there is another Plutarch's book that made the comparison of Sertorius with the Greek Eumenes, multiple references in the Plutarch's biographies of Sulla, Marius, Pompey and Lucullus, and also in the respective chapters of other Greco-latin historians like Appian or Cassius Dio. Anyway, I sugest you to take advice from the senior members of UNVR. I hope this may be useful.

Salve! The Hunts Post 29 August 2007 WEB EDITORIAL HUMAN remains dating back to the Roman era have been discovered during excavation work in Huntingdon. A skeleton was discovered earlier this month in the car park of Pathfinder House on St Mary's Street - the home of Huntingdonshire District Council. Archaeologists believe the remains date back to the second or third century and have also discovered several near-complete pots. Other discoveries at the site give further evidence to Roman occupation, including evidence of agriculture and small-scale industry, such as gravel quarrying. As well as the Samian pots, which date from 155-200AD, the base of a large storage jar has been found, still in its original position in the ground. The most recent dated Roman find so far is a coin from the reign of the Emperor Probus, who ruled from 276-281AD. Pathfinder House was built in the 1970s. The site is being redeveloped in a multi-million pound scheme to provide HDC with a new home. Dr Steve Malone, of Archaeological Project Services, said: "It is not entirely unusual to find skeleton remains during a dig but it is certainly not an everyday occurrence. "We are able to ascertain that the skeleton was that of a man, aged 45-60 years and approximately 5ft 6in in height - within the normal range for Roman males. The individual was probably quite stocky and muscular. "It seems the skeleton is an isolated burial and not part of a cemetery so we are not expecting to find any more remains - unless the northern part of the site springs a surprise." Archaeological work will continue until mid-October. Sequitur

Salve! By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin Last Updated: 2:06am BST 25/08/2007 Legend has it that the royal tombs of ancient Egypt were sealed with monstrous curses against all those who trespassed into the domain of the afterlife. In the tomb of the boy pharaoh, Tutankhamun, hieroglyphs were said to have spelled out a dreadful end for all those who entered. Howard Carter, the lead archaeologist who opened the tomb in 1923, wrote that "all sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt". But a German man has decided the curse of the mummies is definitely not a myth - and has therefore returned a plundered ancient Egyptian carving which he says has fatally cursed his family. The relic was stolen three years ago from the Valley of Kings, near Luxor, home to the tombs of dozens of Pharaohs and Egyptian nobles who were buried there some three millennia ago. The unnamed man decided to take it home to Germany with him as a souvenir of his trip. It was on his return to Europe that the trouble began, according to an anonymous note that accompanied the carving when it was recently returned to the Egyptian embassy in Berlin. Instead of enjoying his stolen treasure, the thief was struck down with an inexplicable fatigue and fever, progressing to paralysis, and ultimately death Sequitur

Salve! By Malcolm Moore in Sofia Last Updated: 2:54am BST 31/08/2007 Among the paperclips in the bottom drawer of a desk in Bulgaria's National History Museum is a small cardboard box packed with 5,000-year-old gold rings. "A farmer's wife was wearing them as a necklace. Her husband had just dug them up in a field nearby. As you can imagine, we were stunned." Each tiny gold ring is 23-carat gold, but nobody knows how they were crafted. "Modern jewellers cannot make these things without a magnifying glass," said Miss Tsaneva-Dimitrova, adding that similar rings were discovered at Troy. Found at the same time was a small 20-carat gold dagger from 3,000BC that is "still so sharp you can shave with it." Priceless antiques are strewn all over the chaotic laboratory, as restorers are hard at work on a pair of bronze greaves, or leg armour, engraved with the image of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. Bulgaria, which was once part of Ancient Thrace, ranks behind only Italy and Greece in Europe in terms of the numbers of antiquities lying in its soil. The Thracians, who included Spartacus and Orpheus, had a highly advanced civilisation and fought with Alexander the Great on his expedition to Asia. Later, the country was ruled by the Romans, Persians, Byzantines and Turks, all of whom left a rich array of treasure behind. However, since the collapse of the Soviet empire, little attention has been paid to Bulgaria's cultural heritage. Sequitur

Salve! The New York Times By WENDY MOONAN Published: August 31, 2007 Archaeologists are all abuzz about some enormous, newly reinstalled ninth-century B.C. Assyrian sculptures at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Me. They say they can

Salve! 01 September 2007 The oldest Roman frontier system produces another twist in Scotland

Salve! By Michael Futch Published on Friday, August 31, 2007 "This is the sort of thing being smuggled out of Iraq. This is the sort of thing that is nasty," said Margaret Schroeder of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Sequitur

Sabratha?

First find some examples of common soldiers being charged or convicted of high treason. Also see if there examples of common soldiery being proscribed. How about twelve thousand of them to begin with? Here comes Plutarch, Parallel Lives; Sulla; Ch. XXXII, sec. I: "Meanwhile Marius the younger, at the point of being captured, slew himself; and Sulla, coming to Praeneste, at first gave each man there a separate trial before he executed him, but afterwards, since time failed him, gathered them all together in one place

For the record: Roman slaves were not Roman citizens; they didn't have patriotic duties. It is evident manumission didn't transform that unlucky ex-slave into a Roman citizen; Sulla wouldn't have been able to make his little joke if that were the case. That said, Sulla was a real scoundrel; not even Caesar made ever something like that.

First. this thread is about Caesar's soldiers motivations. It's clear (at least for me, and I would think for everybody else here) that they knew the Senate and the Roman state could and would punish them (vg, butchering them) for following their rebel commander, with or without any kind of oath. The precise legal background was a technicality, at best. Second, I haven't read about any legal exception protecting Roman soldiers from treason charges.There is certainly no one on the Lex Duodecim Tabularum . I would find it really amazing if Roman soldiers were excused from constitutional laws applied to Roman generals and intended to all Roman citizens. Third, let me get this straight; you claim Roman (or any other country's) soldiers were not liable to treason's indictment for taking arms against their country just because they were following orders from their commander. From where I am, that is an extraordinary claim, and if it's verifiable, it might considerably change my global vision of ancient Rome's world. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Excuse me, but the extraordinary claim is not mine. Until I have firm evidence to believe otherwise, I think Roman soldiers that follow a treacherous general were liable of treason, just like those of any other country or society I have information of. And lastly, thanks for the Sulpicius' slave story; it's pretty enlightening about the legal and social situation of slaves at ancient Rome.

by Mark Rose "While it pretty much comes down to a tooth in a box, Discovery Channel's "Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen" (airs Sunday, July 15, at 9:00pm EST) tries to cover a lot of ground: who was Hatshepsut, the early 18th Dynasty queen and pharaoh, where's her mummy, and who obliterated many of her images and inscriptions? That's a lot, even for a two-hour program. I've watched the film twice, consulted with a couple of Egyptologists who know the subject, interviewed Egypt's archaeo-honcho Zahi Hawass, and talked with the producer, Brando Quilici (who did last year's Tut special and, before that, a documentary on the Iceman). As an archaeologist, journalist, and some-time docu consultant, I have mixed feelings about "Lost Queen." Overall, I do think it's better than many shows out there (but is that good enough?) and unlike some past offerings from Discovery it isn't larded with superfluous re-enactments. The science is pretty neat, but I have some questions about its applications here, and there are some gaps and things that are not really explained adequately. So, it is worth watching, but although I have some criticisms. Does it matter if we find, or identify, Hatshepsut's mummy?" Sequitur Besides, there are no less than 3 previous threads on the same issue here at UNRV: Primus, Secundus, Tertius.

Modena (Mutina)?

Torino (Turin)? (Augusta Taurinorum)

As you can see, the critical region between Carthage and Alexandria was the Cyrenaica, which itself was sometimes part of Egypt, sometimes an associated kingdom. Here comes once again Jona Lendering: "...He (Ptolemy) sent his general Ophellas, who restored order and united all towns in one single province (322). From now on, Cyrene and the Cyrenaica were part of the Ptolemaean empire, although there were periods of independence. At this time, there were five important towns, which were called the pentapolis. Cyrene (Shahhat) Barca (Al-Marj) Euesperides (Bangh

Salve, RG! Well, to begin with, here comes an article on Ophellas by Jona Lendering: "(c.355-308): Macedonian officer, served under Alexander the Great... After the death of Alexander, Ophellas sided with Ptolemy, the new satrap of Egypt ... In 323/322, a Spartan mercenary leader named Thibron had arrived in Cyrenaica, a group of five Greek towns in Libya. He carried with him a large treasure: all Babylonian taxes of the years 330-325. This was sufficient to start a small kingdom, and he had some success. However, the native Libyans appealed to Ptolemy, who recognized an opportunity when he was offered one: he immediately sent Ophellas with a small army to the west, to support the Libyans and occupy Cyrenaica. It was (probably) Ophellas' first independent command, but he was successful: in the winter of 322/321, Thibron was executed, and Cyrenaica and the Libyan tribes allied themselves to Ptolemy. Moreover, the treasure was sent to Egypt... Ophellas remained in Cyrenaica as Ptolemy's viceroy... He was certainly independent in 309, when he allied himself to Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse... In the summer of 311, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar, had won such a complete victory over Agathocles, that he was able to proceed to the siege of Syracuse. Although this city was strongly fortified, Agathocles had no effective army, and he had decided upon a desperate gamble: in August 310, he had sailed away from Sicily, and had invaded the Carthaginian homeland, Africa (modern Tunisia). Here, he won a brilliant victory, and he proceeded against Carthage itself. At this stage, he concluded the treaty with Ophellas. The ruler of Cyrenaica was to bring new soldiers, and in return would be made Agathocles' governor at Carthage... Ophellas recruited many mercenaries, especially from Athens, and started his march to Carthage in the late summer of 308. Two months later, he arrived in Africa. Almost immediately, the two commanders started to quarrel, and Ophellas was assassinated in November... However this may be, Ophellas' mercenaries had little choice and sided with Agathocles, who left them behind, returned to Sicily, and concluded a peace treaty with Carthage that left him in control of Sicily east of the Halycus. The mercenaries, left alone, were killed by the Carthaginians." Sequitur I hope this stuff may be useful.

Both Sullan and Triumviral proscriptions were aimed to punish the enemies of the state (Marian and Republican supporters, respectively); both made a lot of money by pure abuse of their unrestricted authority for selecting the "enemies", specifically defined by the Lex Duodecim Tabularum as anyone who "should stir up war against his country" (vg, soldiers). This definition is hardly surprising; almost all nations and societies at any time have thought and acted in the same way; in fact, it would be really amazing to find any well-attested exception. I think you haven't found yet any single example of a Roman soldier or official acquitted of a charge of high treason (for stirring war against Rome) simply by the "following orders under his oath" excuse. BTW, you're right; Roman generals were frequently accused (and convicted) of perduellio for offenses far lesser than open rebellion, as you rightly mentioned. If defeated soldiers were butchered (out of the battlefield) without any trial, it would be little more than a technicality for the topic of this thread (Caesar's soldiers motivations). If you loose, you might very well die. Literally. If the butchering soldiers were not tried for their actions, we may reasonably infer they were legal.

Salve! BTW, checking out the title of this thread, I think any language is "obscure" only for the people that don't speak it fluently. If we should trust in Ethnologue database, there are like six thousand "obscure" languages for each one of us thriving around the world.

Nice thread indeed. For the history of the use of the term "Byzantine", I found explicit and well documented this little pearl from Wikipedia: "The term Byzantine Empire is an invention of historians and was never used during the Empire's lifetime. The Empire's name in Greek was Basileia tōn Rōmaiōn or just Rōmania (Greek: Βασιλεία Ρωμαίων

Here comes Lex Duodecim Tabularum (tabula IX, Lex VII): "If anyone should stir up war against his country, or delivers a Roman citizen into the hands of the enemy, he shall be punished with death." I haven't been able so far to find any evidence of exceptions for soldiers under Sacramentum or any other oath. Au contraire, perduelles were specifically public enemies who bore arms against the state. At a later period, several leges maiestatis dealed with crimes against the Roman people or state. The lex Cornelia (or Valeria?) de proscriptione et proscriptis, sanctioned at 82 BC was the main legal basis for thousands of proscriptions and executions against real or purported Marian soldiers by the men of Sulla. At 43 BC, a law carried by the tribune P. Titius appointed Octavius, Antonius and Lepidus as Triumviri Res Publica Constituenda and let them proscribe an even greater number of Roman citizens. One of their main legal supports was presumably the lex Julia majestatis (circa 48 BC).

Salve! Guess what... even if as its name sugests, this website's area of expertise is the Lowlands varieties of Germanic languages (with no less than 20 of Low Saxon alone, plus 15 of English), Romance languages are well represented: Latin itself, 14 natural varieties (mostly "minor"), 4 contact varieties ("creoles"), 2 amerindian (romance influenced) and 1 constructed variety.