GhostOfClayton

Although I'm sure the American Association for the Advancement of Science are a fine body of people (their name suggest a laudable aim, but you never know), I'm not inclined to squander the sizable OfClayton fortune on them just yet. I'd sooner let my friends have stuff for free. Therefore, Kosmo, I've PMed you with a suggestion as to how you might access the report without the need to resort to putting your hand in your pocket.

Do you have the UNRV wall map. There are a number of unlisted provinces on there. Africa Tripolitana for one, though there appears not be be a main entry on Wikipedia, either.

Try again, Kosmo. I got at it without the need to pay.

Looks very interesting indeed! Good find, Viggen. I've dropped it to my Kindle to read at my leisure.

Nice little quote from HBO Rome: Atia to the young Octavian: "Mark Antony buggers boys like you for a morning snack!"

I recognise all the fears you have there, Paulinus, having shared them 'before'. The only thing Kindle (or any e-reader) doesn't do well is those books with a heavy photo/picture content that you are inclined to flick lovingly through, pausing hither and thither as a picture catches your eye (Guy de la Bedoy

Tend to agree. I think most (if not all) Empires fostered this attitude among its ruling citizenry. Right from the Nazi 'master race' through to the Imperial British, who seemed to take on a more fatherly role (albeit a very strict Victorian father) when dealing with their subjects. Although less extreme than the Nazis, the unquestioned belief in their superiority was still well and truly present. Any subjication was no doubt justified based on the (dubious) conviction that it was "for their own good".

To celebrate a new arrival at the OfClayton Household (I mean a Kindle, obviously - I'm way too old for new offspring), I thought I

Maybe I should start a new thread for this one, but it's slightly related, so "what the hey!" Here in the sleepy little village of Aquis-of-the-Romans, we have a photo competition each year. There are prizes for the top three entires, but the top 12 get included in the village calendar for the following year as the main page photo of the month. As an idea, UNRV contributors could take photos with a Roman theme and submit them, we could get the Triumverate to choose their top 12, and get someone notable to choose their top 3 for prizes. The 2012 calendars could then be sold in the same way as the Wallmaps. Just a thought. What does anyone think?

I think the social infrastructure brought about at the birth of the Republic. It changed very little for Centuries, and allowed the Romans to achieve the physical and military infrastructures that proved so succesful.

Quick update, the OS Map of Roman Britain shows the fort near Bodmin and several major hoardes. I don't think the presence of 3 forts automatically means rebellious locals, there were plenty of forts in peaceful client kingdoms. A fort really signalled the seed of Roman presence in the area, whether they felt threatened or not by the populace. In fact, considering that there were only 3 forts (found so far) and no evidence of roads or other military infrastructure, possibly means the Romans weren't motivated to do anything other than provide a token protection for their mining operations in the area. It's likely that this was an area with a much lesser Roman presence, and so influence, than elsewhere. In that grey area between 'occupied' and 'outside the empire'. Chycauster would have remained standing, as it had done long before the Romans arrived, unaffected by their token presence. The Romans wouldn't have been motivated to knock it down, and the inhabitants wouldn't have been motivated to move out of it.

This one looks entertaining: 'Rome Wasn't Built in a Day' Country: UK Channel: Channel 4 Date: Thursday, 20th January Time: 2100 GMT for 60 mins Episodes: not sure, but it seems more than 1 (to be confirmed) Link: Channel 4 As usual, this one will be on 4OD after broadcast. Not sure how long for, or of international availability. By the way, does anyone recognise the wall behind the men in the photo - I reckon I do. A prize for the first person to correctly identify it!

It might be worth refering to the Pater Familias (head of the household - compare to Pater Patriae) and his legal powers over the familias. The familias wasn't just a family, it was an economic and legal entity incorporating the slaves, daughters-in-law, etc. living there. The Pater Familias had absolute power and responsibility over all in the familias (known as Pater Potestas) which compares with (say) the Imperium of leaders. Have a listen to here (third lecture from 35 minutes in). It may help. Here are some ideas for filler: Some houses had their own bath complexes. Most would have had an impluvium, which I suppose could be compared to the Piscina (feshwater cisterns) which would be used by the city to store excess fresh water brought in by aqueduct. Large urban houses were enclosed by walls for protection.

Have a look at this bad boy! You will need to 'Expand to regular size' to see it in full!

Also, the following can be found on Wikipedia (Am I sufficiently modest to not take credit for it? No way - it's mine!)

Sadly, I haven't got my OS Map of Roman Britain with me at the moment (we will be joyfully reunited later today, so I'll have a look then). There were at least three forts found, including a 1st century near &searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf"]Calstock (north of Plymouth - only just into Cornwall) which has been associated with possible silver mining. The other two are at and Restormel Castle, &searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf"]Lostwithiel, and at &searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf"]Nanstallon, near Bodmin. Both sites are close to mineral deposits in areas associated with tin mining. The only other thing that springs to mind are the remains of a Roman Signal Station on the north coast near to Hunter's Inn, but these are not in Cornwall, but Devon. However, signal stations didn't exist in isolation. To say that the Romans 'constantly' faced revolt is probably quite a pessimistic view. Remember, they held a fixed northern border for 300 years. In all that time, there's evidence for less than half a dozen times when they encountered anything you could call a revolt. And they didn't even feel the urge to establish a fixed border in the southwest (as far as we know). Chysauster sounds interesting, etymologically. At a stretch, the name could have 'Castrum' somewhere in its origin . . . maybe . . . if you squint at it? Is your photo of one of the Romano-British settlements, by the way, Gilius? Romano-British is another term with quite a loose meaning. At its most flexible, it means nothing more than local inhabitants of Britannia during the Roman occupation. Especially away from the South-East, life went on pretty much unchanged for the majority of so-called Romano-British.

For the record, further discussion has been taking place on this topic.

One of the joys of being an early riser is that I get to be the first to wish forum members a happy birthday . . . so here goes. Happy Birthbay, Northern Neil!

Hello, all you out there in Blogland, and welcome to the GhostOfClayton twice-weekly Blog. Are you sitting comfortably? No? Tough! I'm cracking on with this anyway. I haven�t got all day to wait for you to shuffle round and get settled. High-achiever in the family OfClayton Nephew 1 of 3 (I'm sure he has a name, but as I mentioned in a previous blog, it's easier to keep track if I number them) has had his name mentioned in the media. OK, so it's only in his college's newsletter, but at the tender age of . . . 18-ish (?), it's quite a big deal. The National Big Bang Festival is the name they give to the National Science & Engineering Competition in order to make it sound cool for kids. And I can also now confirm that #1 of 3 was successful, and has been entered into the Senior section of the 'Science/Maths: Individuals'. However, the majority of the 28 other competitors are either from private schools (posh kids) or home schooled (posh kids with ambitious parents). Struggling as he is with the albatross of a state education round his neck, we�re very proud he got as far as he did. Let�s hope he isn�t just the token pleb that the organisation is contractually obliged to include, in order to secure government funding. I only hope he has the OfClayton gene that allows him to talk convincingly as if he knows everything about everything! That will stand him in good stead for the future. The Cosmos in all its bejewelled majesty There�s been a bit of talk on the UNRV blogs of late about the BBC�s Stargazing programme. I�ve always had an interest in space, but have never felt rich enough to own an astronomical telescope, so only ever looked at the stars through the naked eye. Wonderful though they were, I couldn�t help but think that they all looked the same as one another � a lot of blue-white points of light exhibiting varying degrees of brightness. However, I returned home last night from the cinema (having seen The King�s Speech � very good film, but that�s a different story) to find the little village of Aquis-of-the-Romans beneath a beautifully cloudless firmament. Inspired by the outstanding intellect that is Prof. Brian �What a guy!� Cox, I rushed into OfClayton Towers and dug out my binoculars. We are fortunate in Aquis-of-the-Romans that, situated as we are far from any kind of civilisation, there is very little light pollution, and so the view of the heavens through the binoculars was stunning. Just with something so optically unambitious as binoculars, so many more stars were visible than with the naked eye � a breathtakingly beautiful sight. I really appreciate now what makes amateur astronomers sit out in the cold all night, huddled over a telescope. Probably the most amazing thing I spotted was The Orion Nebula. Easy to see when you know where to look � here�s how: Most people are familiar with the constellation of Orion. Establish the three stars that constitute his belt. Hanging down some way below the left hand two are three more (quite close) stars in a line (Orion�s sword). The middle one of these is the Orion Nebula, and even through binoculars it resolves itself as a nebula, rather than a star. No longer a dragonhunter - I now qualify as a dragonfinder This dragon hunting lark is a doddle. What better place to look than the little village of Dragonby in north Lincolnshire (I say 'village', it barely qualifies as a hamlet, consisting only of one short street.) The village is named after the adjacent unusual rock formation , which you could easily convince a young and na�ve child (like OfClayton Niece 1 of 1) is a Dragon, sleeping half underground. In actual fact, I would think it is an ancient underground watercourse that has deposited a track of lime scale before becoming totally furred up. The topsoil on the surface of the escarpment beneath which it ran has subsequently eroded by a few feet, leaving this rough dragon�s back visible. Hey presto, my first dragon. Weekly stuff It is now just 30 days until the Eagle of the Ninth is released in the USA, and 76 until it's released in the UK. Asterix book of the week is one that was conspicuous by its absence from the young OfClayton�s collection - �Asterix & The Banquet�

I'm very much with Kosmo here. Unless there was a good reason, I think automatically any Roman considering going to Britain would take the boat from Ostia to (at that time) somewhere like Nice, and then move north through Gaul. If desperate to go by land, I think the kindest route would cross the Maritime Alps (possibly as far as Arles/Arelate) using the Via Julia Augusta. To fine tune the route through Britainnia, the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain would be useful to you.

'Man Lab' was pretty good stuff. That must've taking the edge of your cravings to a small degree?

For completeness, here is the photo of the originally mentioned coin:

I'm with you on this one, Crispina, and not just with names. 99% of Latin words I've come across were written down, rather than spoken. But quite often you hear other people say them, and they don't match the word in my head. Then someone else says it, and, hey presto, a third pronounciation. Can I request Gaius Julius Ceasar as an example? Is the way we all read it, and hear it on the telly, how it should be pronounced?

For a channel that shows more Top Gear, there's always 'Dave'.

Vienna? Lovely city! Say hello to the Karlskirche for me (the columns in front of it are styled after Trajan's Column!) Sadly, that tour has been withdrawn from our brochure, so I don't get to go any more. Enjoy Vienna, Aurelia.