GhostOfClayton

I may not know much about art, but I can see why the thieves thought it might be a bit of old scrap they found in a warehouse.

Interesting, but no mention of the first century AD. My money's on Aurelia's 'Penguin Companion to Food' for the original secondary source, but what was the primary? PS 'original secondary source'. Is that an oxymoron?

Not really sure what the contributor was trying to achieve with that, but I've fixed it, anyway.

I blame this 'Twitter' thingie!

Wikipedia now updated! Interestingly enough, the Yoplait article states First Century AD, which the Wiki doesn't. It's as if they have both found the same source.

I noticed the Dictionary.com citation, and that particular source's lack of quoted facts (something which I shall endevour to put right at lunch time), however I read that as relating to the second sentence, rather than the first (which was the 'Roman' one.) In summary - neither Wikipedia nor Dictionary.com are of any use to us in this respect.

Couple of birthdays today: Centurion Marco and Tindareo. Happy Birthday to you two guys. You share your birthday with Thomas Beckett (Archbishop of Cantebury). Interestingly enough, the knights who murdered Mr Becket were sent to rebuild the church here at Aquis-of-the-Romans as a penance. A stone was found in the chancel, bearing the inscription: Richardus Bruto Necnon Menonius Hugo Willelmus Trajo templum hoc lapidus altum Condebant patria gloria dignia Deo Which can be translated as Richard Brito as well as Hugh Morville and William Tracy, built with stones this lofty temple, a worthy glory to God

And Gibbon prattled on for six volumes . . . what an amateur!

A little bit later than we're after, but in 1453 a lunar eclipse was witnessed during the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. This was was considered to be fulfilling a prophecy of the city's demise.

Wikipedia backs Viggen's find: However, it doesn't cite a source.

I can sympathise, Lord Caldrail. No cold water in the East wing at OfClayton Towers this morning (hopefully due to the -10 Celsius, and not something more permanent). Had to brush my teeth in the kitchen this morning. No sign yet of a part of the British Isles that shows as anything but blue on the BBC weather map.

Have you aired your grievances yet? You see, this is why I love it here. In my (very) ordinary, every day life, when I bestow those around me with an "Io, Saturnalia!", they exchange glances with one another, as if to say, "he's off again with the usual babble and gibberish!" At best, they humour me with a condescending smile. Here, I not only get the greeting right back at me, I also learn a shed-load of new stuff about the world. Thanks for being brilliant, all of you. Really!

Quite honestly, there are more suitable ladies and gentlemen than myself here to answer that question (strong hint: help me out here, please). My belief is that you've pretty much nailed it. "A seeker of all things strange and interesting," is what I tell my clients. Apparently it was how Tertullian described Hadrian. I chose it because I seem to have itchy-feet and and an enquiring mind.

Have a look at this short Audio Book which can be downloaded from Amazon. Quite a good general overview.

Wrong again. C'est la vie! Best of luck with the Latin.

I had a bit of a stab at learning Latin by using various little free courses on iTunes, YouTube, etc. I found it really hard going, and now I just try to pick up a bit here and there. However, I did think I was at a distinct disadvantage not having the benefit of a Tutor (or indeed anyone I know) who knew Latin. I can get by in French and German, and was taught in the old fashioned way using proper grammar and cases, etc. That helped with Latin. Also, I do find languages hard work. Even though my sister is a professional translator into (and out of) more languages than you've had hot dinners, I clearly didn't inherit that gene. I'm sort of guessing from your screen name and avatar that English isn't your first Language. Is that right? if that's the case, I reckon you did inherit the gene, because your English is indestinguishable from that of a native English speaker. A very high standard to reach! So you have the ability and the opportunity - go for it! You may regret it if you don't, you won't if you do.

Having served their terms as Consuls, the Patricians used to chose a nicely anarchic and rebellious province to govern, in order to make a fat pile of cash. They used to say that the first year would pay back what they borrowed to be elected Consul, the second year was to make that fat pile of cash, and the third year was to pay off the Senators involved in their trials when they were hauled up for the various shady practices they'd used to make the cash in the second year. In short, it was relatively easy to buy your way off a charge if you had sufficiently high status. As for the monumentally rich Crassus. I hadn't read that he started fires, but there certainly were a lot of them in Rome, so he probably didn't need to. He'd just wait for nature to take its course, offer a riduculously low sum to someone whose property was in imminent danger but not yet aflame, and then (having become owner of the at-risk property) have his professional fire team put out the fire. He became very rich off this 'scam'.

PM me, Threthiwr. I'll send you a DVD.

I know the kind of chap you mean. They would have me believe that the CIA poisoned my chicken curry the other day! Utter rubbish! It's clear to the most meagre of intelects that it was poisoned by MI5!

I obviously can't comment on the rest of the series, but the Pompeii episode (which seemingly we saw over here as a one-off) was OK. The others, I'm sure, will back me up in my recomendation that you give (that particular episode) a go.

Steady on, Northern Neil. Children read this, you know!

I feel I can

I'd like to say a hearty "Io, Saturnalia" to all contributors and readers of UNRV. Saturnalia, (17th to 23rd December) was one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places, much like the Lord of Misrule in later Christian celebrations. However, I did notice that despite the switching of roles, Mrs OfClayton didn't bring me a cup of coffee in bed this morning!

I'll tell you what, Doc, if it wasn't for the rain, I'd love to see the sights and sites of the City by the Bay. I'm not too keen on the rain though. Lord Caldrail's weather report hasn't got as far as the forecast for Saturday yet, but it looks like snow everywhere here, including Swindon and Aquis-of-the-Romans. I've seen a lot of snow this past few weeks, but I still prefer it to heavy rain. We do do a holiday that includes San Francisco, but sadly we're a bit of a meritocracy, and the Leaders with the experience seem to have the long-haul tours pretty much stitched up between them. Maybe one day!

Just checked up on Amazon. Region 2 of 'Blood & Sand' isn't released until May 2011 !