GhostOfClayton

It's not Andy Hamilton actually reading them, it's a guy called Christian Rodska - he sounds just like Andy Hamilton (who's quite famous over here), but isn't half as well known. Off topic, but do you work in a library?

The Antonine Wall Map is winging it's way towards OfClayton Towers as we speak, if Amazon can be relied upon. Looking forward to that one. I must admit to being a trifle disappointed with the HW 1:25 000. The only thing it offers over the OS 1:25 000 is the indicator of features being extant or otherwise, and in reality that can be quite a subjective decision. I've been having to research the German-Raetian Limes (see my blog on Monday for why), and am yet to find the kind of detailed maps we're used to in the UK (though I've only just started looking.) I wouldn't lose sleep over the map you can't get to work, Melvadius - it's very much an overview of the line of the Limes, in the context of the whole country. There are no sites listed. This is the best website to use for the individual sites, though not much of it is in English.

Unfortunately, they're not all available on Audiobook. The later ones seem to be the easiest to find. If you don't have any luck with your library, the cheapest way to get hold of them is via Audible.com. The scheme is that you join, and pay $7.49 a month. In return for this you get one audiobook a month - which is quite a good deal (they charge a higher monthly fee to folk this side of the Atlantic). Good library system, by the way. We have to pay for audiobooks at our library. . . . and you are, of course, always welcome to have a borrow of my copies of the dramatised CDs.

Me too. De Imperatoribus Romanis is pretty specific about five.

Not yet, but I've imported the CDs onto iTunes, so they're just cluttering my desk now . . . and they're far from alone in that respect.

Of course. Museums with good Roman exhibits are positively encouraged on this thread.

By "dramatisations", do you mean video? Where did you find them? They're radio plays that the BBC did some time ago. They were pretty cheap on eBay so, being a thrifty Yorkshireman, I bought them in preference to the actual audiobook. If you'd like to borrow one to see what you think, let me know.

Hopefully Melvadius will find something in Tacitus, but you might find there isn't a primary source, and that Dusanic, Vasic and Jones got their information from people who'd been digging up bits of Romania, and making assumptions based on what they found.

Ah, the good old Wikigod. They should change their tagline Wikipedia: Allowing uneducated hiking guides to undeservedly impress clients, since 2003. I would be nothing without it!

I figured it was a long shot. I was really hoping you'd read a snippet of information about the Trajan account that didn't differentiate between the two Battles of Tapae. Given that it wasn't, my next area of research was De Imperatoribus Romanis. This agrees with there being 5 legions in Pannonia, and cites the following: Dusanic, S. and Vasic, M. R. "An Upper Moesian Diploma of AD 96," Chiron 7 (1977): 291-304; Jones, The Emperor Domitian, 153-155.

There was also a battle at Tapae under Trajan (101AD). He had at least four legions at his disposal, (Legio II Traiana Fortis, X Gemina, XI Claudia and XXX Ulpia Victrix). He also had the Danube legions to draw on (nine according to WP, but that sounds like a hell of a lot of 'em). Five legions doesn't seem to appear as a magic number anywhere, though.

Try Cassius Dio 67 (or possibly 68). It might just have what you're looking for.

I'm about three quarters of the way through the first one (The Silver Pigs) on Audiobook, so no spoilers, please. I can see why you're all hooked! I bought the BBC dramatisations for the next three (Shadow's in Bronze, Venus in Copper and The Iron Hand of Mars). Good move? Bad move? PS The guy who reads the audiobook sounds just like Andy Hamilton (the comedian). I'm not sure overseas readers will know him, but I'm sure he will be familiar to the Brits.

Would love to know which version of the Hadrian book you're reading. The UNRV map is superb - got one on the wall next to my as I type. If you want (much) more detail of Britannia, there's only one to consider, which is the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain.

A stunning collection, Ludovicus. Thanks for sharing them. I love mosaic floors - it's the area Mrs OfClayton usually has to drag me away from when we visit the British Museum. The one with Neptune was my particular favourite from your collection. I only wish I could persuade the "powers that be" to replace the floor in reception with something similar. You know, give the place a bit of class!

He probably went 'pop' as in the 'old' nursery rhyme A picture paints 1000 words. Seriously though, Wikipedia didn't go into too much detail about the format of notches on the Split Tally. I admit to filling in some of the gaps with my own assumptions.

This is a shame, I was quite getting into the character of my Medieval ne'er-do-well. I'd given him a back-story and everything. You've unearthed a very interesting (albeit a tad graphic) little article from JSTOR, which has put the cat well and truly among the pigeons. And to make things worse you only have to google "short end of the stick" to find any number of proposed origins we hadn't found yet. Good topic!

The arrival on UNRV of news of, (I lost count of how many), new books, highlighted a problem to me. I'm 46 (or am I 47 now? I can't remember) and it already seems like I have enough books backed up to last me the pitiful few decades I (hopefully) have left before my last ever ride in a big car. To ease this problem, I�ve been experimenting with "multimedia sensory input", as follows: Medium 1: Good Old 'Ink and Paper' Having had to call a temporary hiatus to Adrian Goldworthy's "Ceasar" before I suffered from brain overload, I started to read "Richard Herring: How not to grow up". I fear that, with yours truly, he's teaching his Grandmother to suck eggs ! Medium 2: Virtual Ink on Virtual Paper I am the proud owner of an iPod Touch, and I�ve been using the �iBooks� App to read yet more books. I used to be quite the sceptic about not being able to feel/smell the printed page, and leaf lovingly through an actual bound volume, but to be honest you quickly get used to reading from a small screen. And to my joy, many of the usual sources (e.g. Tactitus, Plutarch et al) are available, and free. Would I move up to the next level and buy a Kindle? Sadly, I�m not yet rich enough, but if lady lottery smiled . . . then why not? And an iPad? It would have to be a pretty big win. Medium 3: Audiobooks Thanks once again to the iPod, Marcus Didius Falco is currently giving me an ear-bashing in my car. Having made the decision to embark on Falco�s adventures, I�m just about at the end of The Silver Pigs (to the uninitiated, this is the first book), and I can see why people rave about him. . . . and the Audiobook medium allows me to segue almost seamlessly to . . . Medium 4: Radio The next 4 Sunday nights, like yesterday, should be a delight, thanks to BBC Radio 3's new series "Becoming Roman". The story of how the 'Britunculi' were or in most cases, were not, Romanised. Medium 5: The Telly Not much Roman related telly last week. Time Team were trying to find a villa in a field, and by the end, they thought they had. They�ve had better digs. Medium 6: DVDs I finished a second viewing of the complete "I, Claudius". If someone had made it all up, it would be dismissed by critics as being barely credible. Next, I�m about to embark on the 6-DVD epic that is "Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire" (not to be confused with "Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire", which coincidentally dropped through the letterbox at 'OfClayton Towers' this weekend.) The winters are long, dark and cold around these parts. Medium 7: Cinema Only 90 more shopping days until "The Eagle of the Ninth" is released. Medium 8: T'Internet Having rid my PC of what it called 'Trojans', I was now able to pick up once more on a little Project-ette that the Trojans had put a spanner in the works of. Now, don�t judge me on this, but I am a Wikipedian. . . I did ask you NOT to judge me! Anyway, I had been systematically been creating separate Wikis for each of the 81 Milecastles along Hadrian's Wall. I can now start them again . . . hooray! Medium 9: Telly Streamed Via T'Internet I was de-light-ed to discover that "Chelmsford 123" (both series) are available on 4OD (Channel 4's free On Demand service). It's been about 25 years since I saw it (it was never repeated). I remember missing one episode because, back when I was a young heart-breaking lothario, I broke up with a girlfriend. She rang me up during Chelmsford 123 in order to berate me, and cry. It took her the full half hour to do this! Medium 10: Cartography � Simulating the World Visitors continue to be mightily impressed with the new addition to my wall, viz, the UNRV Roman Empire map. I�ve lost hours of my life looking at it, and it�s barely been up a fortnight. Medium 11: Simulating Real Life Using Real Life Living, as I do, just off Ermine Street, I sent an e-mail to the Ermine Street Guard (a reenactment group) the other day. I was hoping to gain associate membership (I like the idea of wearing the Roman armour and playing with swords, but can�t justify the expense to Mrs OfClayton), in order to get the newsletter and see where they�re performing. They didn't get back to me. Have they got so much money and so many members that they can ignore new requests? Wow! There must be a heck of a LOT of men out there going through mid-life crises! Medium 12: Actual Real Life. The company I lead tours for have started to hand out assignments for next year. Having been told in no uncertain terms by Mrs OfClayton, that I am having Christmas and New Year off this year (the first time in I can�t remember how long), my season doesn�t start until April. It kicks off with one of my favourites - a lovely tour entitled "Avignon & Roman Provence". Anyone fancy a holiday?

Come on, Nephele. You know I always use Wikipedia to make me sound cleverer than I actually am! Sadly, there are no individual citations on that page for that particular fact, just general references. And you're right, it would seem too easy for my Medieval alter ego to just drop his half in the cess pit, and deny any knowlege of the transaction when Crispina's heavily-built brothers come knocking. Perhaps his motivation to keep his half is to prove he only owed a penny. After all, Crispina still has her half and she could claim the debt was tuppence. With no proof, Crispina's brothers could extract money from the poor wretch with impunity.

We've had a similar conversation before, but do you think Angelina Jolie is the best for the Cleo part (out of the current crop - we all know that Amanda Barrie was the perfect Cleopatra, and can never be beaten!) If AJ fell ill, who would be the best actress to take on the role?

Good news. I must admit, I have a link via a Swiss provider that never used to allow me to use the iPlayer, but now it seems to be letting me through. Maybe the BBC have grown more magnanimous towards our friends overseas. In that case, you should also be able to listen to "Becoming Roman" at the link given here. (For the next few days, at least).

The BBC site H2G2 (Hitch-Hikers' Guide to the Galaxy) has this to say. "As long ago as 5000 BC the Egyptians were making a tooth powder consisting of powdered ashes of ox hooves, myrrh, powdered and burnt eggshells, and pumice. Directions are given about relative quantities that should be mixed, but no instructions are available about how this powder was used. It is assumed that it was rubbed onto the teeth using the fingers, as the toothstick - the forerunner to the toothbrush - was not in use at that time. The Greeks, and then the Romans, improved the recipes for toothpaste by adding abrasives such as crushed bones and oyster shells, which were used to clean debris from teeth. The Romans added powdered charcoal, powdered bark and more flavouring agents to improve the breath."

OK, so if I buy, say, half a pound of tuppenny rice off you, and you, as a keen and competitive merchant extend credit to me (there are no coins to be had this side of the Low Countries, so you'd be daft not to.) In order to log that transaction in some kind of unique way, we take a stick of hazelwood, and notch random notches all the way across it. We then split it in two. Each of us has a proof of the transaction that matches only the other half. But what's to stop me coming back to you and saying, "hi Crispina, have you got that penny you owe me?" As a succesful, busy and prosperous merchant, you can't keep track of all your transactions. We match tally sticks, and you say, "oh . . . I suppose I must owe you a penny, Mr OfClayton, the sticks match." I'm lauging all the way to the treacle shop, having stitched you up good and propper. So, to prevent disreputable types like me defrauding good people like you, some kind of fraud prevention measure is called for. Chip & Pin is yet to be invented, so they settled for shortening the ower's stick. Does that make sense? Got to go, my weasel is looking worried!

"Short End of the Stick" comes from the split tally. They never had enough coins in medieval Europe, so parties involved in a transaction would take a stick, mark it with notches, and then split it lengthways. This way the two halves both record the same notches and each party to the transaction received one half of the marked stick as proof. One half (the half belonging to the owing party) would be dilberately shortened. QED. RPTE. (Robertus Patrua Tuus Est).

Have a quick look at Now, Al Murray studied History at Oxford, and it's generally considered to be his strong subject. But is he right with this oral hygiene practice? And if so, where did he get that one from? Anyone read it in Pliny, or somewhere like that?