GhostOfClayton

I wondered if it was possible (with the shipbuilding technology of the time) to build larger ships to cope with tidal conditions.

Top tip: Mail a PDF to your Kindle account with the word 'convert' in the subject line, and it will convert it to Kindle format. Much easier than reading a PDF, especially when using a smartphone.

Hmm, I'm aware that we're still in "East West split" territory, but Maximian was still a Ceasar to Diocletian for a while.

Interesting areas to expand this discussion into: First, the use of the navies to provide manpower for non-maritime military duties (e.g. Use of the Classis Britannica to build the granaries at Arbeia and other structures associated with Hadrian's Wall) Second, the adaptations that the Classis Britannica (and other non-mediterranian fleets) must have made to cope with tidal sea conditions. It seemed that this was fairly alien to them on Ceasar's crossing of the English Channel, and was still reported as somewhat of an issue on Hadrian's visit 175 years later. Was this an ongoing issue right through to the end of the western empire, being inherent with the type and size of ships used?

. . . or perhaps you could chose a book as a gift for Frau Viggen?

I shall look forward to that, Aurelia.

Ah . . the photo's back now. Nice one!

Yeah - belated happy birthday, GPM. Aurelia's cake seems to have disappeared. You must've eaten it.

To paint yourself with dusty mud, and then wander around in the highlands of Scotland of all places . . . well, it wouldn't last very long is what I'm saying.

. . . and they tended to water that down, seeing drinking it neat as 'barbarian'. Of course, it wouldn't have been quite as strong as the stuff we're used to today, even before it was watered down.

Hmm. Precious few of the Western Emperors with a 'I' seemed to sport beards, and he doesn't have that Western Roman Emperor look about him. Can we assume that he was not part of that body of men?

Before you draw a final close to this thread, we must remember, of course, that Imperial Stormtroopers carry devastating beam weapons, but can't seem to hit anyone with them.

I was aiming to report the 'score', as opposed to the casualty report. So, for a casualty report, merely reverse the numbers. Does that make sense? PS I carry those figures about in my head and never once looked on Wikipedia.

When will part 2 come along? PS I'll admit to indulging in a little Europhilia, as well.

It would seem, on the face of it to all boil down to guns and artillery. And it would be easy to point to the Battle of Rourke's Drift to see how devastating even the primitive guns held by the British Colonial Army were against leather shields and iron stabbing weapons. But, that would be hiding the far less well known Battle of Iasandlwana. You rarely hear of that one. Why? Because history is written by the victors. But if you haven't already guessed who won, allow me to read the results: British: 1000 - Zulu Nation: 1300 a stunning victory for our bear-footed friends. OK, so the plucky Brits were massively outnumbered (little nod to Melvadius), but the waters are certainly muddied, especially when you start adding arrows and balistas into the equation - how would the Zulus have faired at Rourke's Drift given those? Maybe the British at Iasandlwana didn't wait to see the whites of their eyes!

Well, I've been to see it, and it most certainly gets the GhostOfClayton 'thumbs up'. Other than that, I'll withhold comment until everyone who's going to go and see it, has done so.

Then there's only one other it could be: Silchester!

. . . so stop reading now if you're likely to be offended or are under 18. I haven't been this cross since my "I'll stick to buying only one cake" blog entry. Here's the story: The Ghostmobile is due for its annual MOT test by the end of the month (for anyone not familiar, the MOT is a sort of safety inspection that all UK motor vehicles must undergo each year, otherwise, they�re not allowed to travel on the country�s road network). Most motor vehicle owners dread this time of the year, due to the sizable repair bills that are inevitably involved before a certificate is issued. Mrs OfClayton has just had to part company with �425 to get her car through! My dread was increased slightly by the fact that I knew the Ghostmobile would fail. The previous owner (some of the sharper blog readers may remember that the Ghostmobile�s previous owner was none other than OfClayton Senior) had neglected to fix the small (on the face of it) problem of the windscreen wiper blade slipping slightly down the mounting, leaving the extreme end of the wiper arm exposed. This metal end had scratched, and subsequently worn a groove into, the windscreen. Oh well � windscreen problems = insurance claim = �65 excess . . . you may think. Swiftcover.com would disagree. Why should they be responsible for poor vehicle maintenance? I grudgingly agree, but by this time, I had booked an appointment with their authorised glass repairer, Autoglass. So, I contacted Autoglass to let them know that I would be paying for the new windscreen myself. They quoted me . . . wait for it . . . �530!!! The young lady at the other end must�ve sensed me swallowing down the little bit of sick that I had done in my mouth, and was quick to point out that, if I booked the job on the spot, she would be happy to reduce that cost to �445. How joyously benevolent of her. She had done her company out of �85 in a matter of seconds! Still . . . �445 is well in excess of the (coincidentally) �85 I had managed to put aside throughout the year, purely to cover the cost of MOT repairs. By now, my mouth was quite dry, and although I�m sure noises were coming out of it, it would�ve been optimistic to call them words. So, bless her heart, she decided to help me further by offering to reduce the price to �390 if I booked and paid there and then. Wow! This is now �140 (remember that figure!) less than the original quote. I had no idea that Autoglass were a charity assisting struggling motorists. Surely they should have Princess Ann as their Patron. But, �390 is still �305 more than I had, so I had to reluctantly sob my goodbyes to the generous young lady, promising to myself that I would organise a beetle drive among the residents of the sleepy little village of Aquis-of-the-Romans, to raise funds for the work of this wonderful organisation. I bet this heart-warming tale has brought a tear to your eye, too! So, wondering if there were any other charitable organisations to help me, I got onto Google, and phoned round. I found a very helpful little company called �Screensaver UK� who offered to do the job for �140 + VAT. Allow me to summarise. Autoglass, a national windscreen company that is the preferred repairer for the vast, vast majority of UK motor insurers, with all the purchasing power that entails, would have been happy to fit my windscreen for �530, had I said "yes" at the time. Even if they had incurred the same costs as Screensaver UK, they would have made �362 more profit. They have no conscience! And yet if I have them all killed, I would be the criminal! What kind of crazy society do we live in? Why do we tolerate organisations that would anally rape their own grandmothers for the chance at getting an extra penny out of us? That�s why I�m quite cross!

There's no doubt that the source of this kind of portrayal is the loss of Varus' 3 legions in the Teutoberg Forest, and there is also no doubt that the Legions were at their most effective (certainly up to around the fourth century) in formation on an open plane. Having said that, though, plenty of people will point at Varus and list all the terrible mistakes he made, not scouting properly, and trusting Arminius, not heeding warnings, and so on. Still, Legions must, from time to time, have had to pass through terrain where ambush was possible. Surely, given all that extra forest and swamp that was about the place at the time, these situations could only be minimised. So, a wiser General than Varus, or one that needed to learn from his mistakes, would surely have: a - Where possible, chosen routes that minimised the possibility of ambush b - Used cavalry and scouts to reccie c - Used intelligence to guage the probability of attack It's also worth pointing out that the Pax Romana was very effective, and the barbarian hoardes weren't continually out for Roman blood, as the movies may have you believe. One question remains, and it's really at the nub of what you asked. How would the Roman military have changed their battle tactics to react to this type of situation? Over to the rest of you . . . I've done my bit.

Has anyone been watching the truly excellent series "Bible's Buried Secrets" on BBC2 at 2100 on Tuesdays? I was tempted to put this into the 'Coming Up Next . . .' thread, but it doesn't fall into the 'Roman' category. I was spurred into action by last Tuesday's offering Did God Have a Wife?". The website says: but that really doesn't do justice to this very inteligent, extensively researched, and (no doubt) controversial piece of television. And where did Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou suddenly appear from? She really is bloody good (excuse my French), not only at presenting the historical arguments and contexts, but also much of the content is clearly derived from her own personal research and ideas. I do hope we'll being seeing more of her in the future. This particular episode is still available on the BBC iPlayer. Not sure if you poor souls out there in 'non-uk' land will be able to see this, though, but I'll be recording the rest of the series if anyone would like to have a copy.

Tonight's the night! Can't wait. I'm dragging Mrs. OfClayton along as well, so I'll also get the view of a 'lay person'. (Did that sound just a tad pejorative?)

From the weather and the construction of the wall core, I'd guess Caistor?

Well done Ummidia! Ab-sol-ute-ly spot on! Over to you to set the next one. PS Would love to know if Maladict had the answer. PPS You should've said you were visiting Lincoln. I do guided tours of the City, and I have an open offer to all UNRV contributors of a freebie!

I sort of agree with Caldrail. Not specifically about the curvacious amazon (however . . . . ) but to say that, although blogging should be strongly encouraged, maybe not quite to the tune of a Kindle.

I feel I robbed Ummidia Quadratilla of what would've been a well deserved victory. very un-gentlemanly of me! Therefore, I'll post a reasonably easy one, and request that the other contributors to this thread allow her the first guess. Over to you with this one, Ummidia: