Melvadius

It seems as good a term as any since I don't think we have any written Romans descriptions of saddles. I couldn't find a specific reference to saddles (except saddle-cloths) in my copy of Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook by Humphrey, Oleson & Sherwood and that was a passing mention by Xenophon, Art of Horsemanship 12.1-12 but since I believe he was writing around 400 BC rather than in the Roman period it doesn't really help.

ArchaeoTek is currently seeking students and volunteers who would be interested in becoming a part of the current excavations, taking place on the Roman capital of Dacia (Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa) from July 8 to August 11, 2012. Those interested should visit the website at here. Background article with some video reconstructions of the site can be found in Popular Archaeology

The Guardian is carrying this report on the discovery of a unique coin as part of a hoard suggesting the name of a previously unknown Viking leader living in Lancashire around AD 900.

I'm open for reviewing it

The chosen method of including a link to the beaker manufacturers website in every request does seem a bit like stacking the decks a bit commercially by trying to get their webpage reference placing as high up the charts as possible

If Clarkson 'OK'ed his comments before a 'live' broadcast then obviously the producers need their head examined since he is reknowned for acting and speaking as if 'tact' was the past tense of 'hit with a hammer'.

Good question's but not necessarily ones I have appropriate answers to: TV programme - if we discount the fairly recent 'modern' Rome set series 'Zen' then it probably would be one of the Time Team repeats or else a factual documentary about Roman related archaeology. Radio programme - I caught snippets of one of the Lyndsey Davis 'Falco' series but since I don't really listen to radio I can't remember which one Podcast - I'm with Caldrail here Game - Probably Civilization IV comes the closest to this since it doesd include Romans and Byzantines amongst the 'race' options. Roman reproduction clothing - I still have my full military outfit from my re-enacting days.

I hadn't up to now but from my point of view the author's description is a little concerning citing only 'open source' material from the web. It gives the strong impression that there is little or no academic basis/ oversight to the work so there is no way of telling how historically accurate or otherwise any of it might be. I have had a different author recommended for 'academic' discussion of ancient beliefs and how they all are interrelated or otherwise which is Marija Gimbutas 'The Living Goddesses'. The input on Minerva/ Athena is not massive and the subject area is still on the woolly side of things for my tastes but at least she argues her points of view on the basis of historic and archaeological evidence.

Ah the good old 'Leftist' politics of America raises its head again which most of us in the west tend to look at what is being espoused and have a tendency to say to ourselves who are these dangerously right-wing radicals? It really is a case that views on what is right and proper to be taught and indeed who it is right and proper to teach any given subject is an area that is often called into question - more often than not by those whose particular views, no matter how much of a minority view they may be, are not being taught. It comes down to the fact that there is an awful lot of information that could be taught but not enough time to teach all of it or for students to take it all in. This leads to simplifications, amendments and in all too many cases, as far as historical knowledge is concerned, whole areas being ignored or at best only mentioned in passing. I can well remember wondering what happened in between and after the Roman, Norman, Tudor and Stuart periods, which is about all that we covered in any depth, while I was at school and still being taught historical subjects. This does raise the point that some have raised concerns that David Starkey as someone with an overtly political agenda which often appears to leap out from his lectures is possibly not the best of people to be casting stones about what is or is not proper about what is taught and how it is taught.

It was a happy day when my siblings started producing off-spring that way I could concentrate on things for the kids rather than siblings/in-laws - they could make do with a card. It also meant, since they live a long way away and we don't see them too often, that I could put the onus on them to suggest something suitable for their own kids.

I agree that doubts have been raised about the provenance of of the statue for some time but does look like the Independent has it correct since the description of the Capitoline Wolf currently (2 Dec 2011) reads as follows:

If you are trying to make the point that an upside down right angle triangle could 'very roughly' be drawn to fit inside the easternmost extremities of Wales I could see your reasoning. But in that case surely 'Angle A' should instead be in Anglesey or are you trying to 'pun it' as 'Angle-C'??

If you haven't looked at it already you may find some useful research pointers in the two volume 'Religions of Rome: A sourcebook' (1998) by Mary Beard, John A. North, S. R. F. Price. Possibly too late for your research but there is a new translation of Lucan's Civil War (translated by Matthew Fox) due out in February 2012 from Penguin books and the notes pages it will contain are extensive including several regarding the mythological references within the text.

Kosmo, sorry its now a day late but here's hoping that you had a good Birthday yesterday

Which is?

Definitely congratulations due to you and yours - enjoy the peace and quiet while you may.

Welcome to the forum Erik, we have several aspiring as well as published authors visiting here so you may well find kindred spirits as well as some board members able to help with any specific questions you may have.

Welcome amcroja I'm not sure how much of two of your interests we can cover on a regular basis but ancient Rome and other ancient cultures do come up fairly frequently - hope you enjoy yourself here.

I'm not sure that the general urbanisation or lack thereof in Spain really comes into the question of how 'Italian' Trajan may have felt. Wikipedia opens its description of the town as

Possibly somewhere beggining with C?

They killed Dirty Den???

In this case the pilot ejected and landed safely so finding him wasn't an issue. As the video points out the Irish armourers cobbled together one gun from the best preserved (ie undamaged) bits of the others and then used modern ammunition in a remote firing set-up with the operators hiding in a slit trench behind the weapon as it was test fired. Possibly not quite the image of a gun firing again after 70 years buried in a peat bog but probably the best that could be expected in the circumstances after the plane impacted with the ground at several hundred miles an hour. NB you could see the deterioration to the original ammo belts in the video.

Possibly something for Future OfClayton to consider: We had people who lived up the road from us who had a caravan parked in their front garden behind some fence panels which only seemed to be permanently fixed into the ground. In fact the central post was set into a slot in the ground so it and the adjoining panels could be removed when needed. I believe for security the central post was chained to a staple which in turn was concreted into the ground.

I'll pass on guessing this one for obvious reasons but to answer your question. The siege of Numantia occured over more than a year so required the Romans to build winter quarters. What you see in the image is the stone foundation layer although I believe the upper structure would have been constructed mainly in wood, in the same as was the usual Roman practice in the later Imperial period in Britain when building a new fort. Although some major buildings may have been constructed in stone from the start it was only if occupation continued for several years that the majority of wooden buildings such as barracks would be replaced in stone.

In an interesting addendum to the story discussed here a few month back as the BBC reports Irish military armourers have apparently stripped down the six Browning machine guns recovered from this Spritfire crash and by reassembling the best preserved bits managed to fire one of them again. A real testament to their skill and determination as much as the original quality of the weapons build. NB The BBC article includes video of the test firing.