Melvadius

As Caldrail said in musical verse a lot of it is about human perception of individuals. We all to some extent or other wish to or will see something of ourselves either reflected in or absent in others. For which reason I would tend to challenge anyone who truly believed that Caesar or anyone else for that matter was 100% either hero or villain. If pushed they would probable eventually mention that a 'hero' cheated on his wife or left a forlorn hope to protect his retreat while a 'villain' loved his pets, was faithful to his wife or even a passable painter. With that 100% barrier breached where they actually lie on the scale of hero or villain comes down to more personal reasons and in some cases may even slide depending on how an indivudal was feeling on the day. A 'hero' can make mistakes and even a 'villain' due to be tried for war crimes whatever you or I may think of them personally can still be seen as an icon amongst some sectors of his society.

Depending on variety it can in mild cases be more or less over within 24 hours. It is more worrying when it goes on for more than 24 hours and usually advisable to seek medical help at that point because it can go on for several days.

Oh I definitely agree - unfortunately several round here which were operating when we first moved into the area seem to have stopped trading. Before you ask we only used tham a few times before we moved to our present house with its bigger garden and consequently more space for more fruit growing so I don't think the local pick-your-own farms failure is down to us not using them anymore.

I found it interesting from the aspect of one of the contributors who I had come across many years back. I hadn't realised that Professor Archie Roy was still around and not yet contributing from the 'other side'.

Been there, done that, had a similar experience of clenched buttocks but also churning gut due in my case to someone's dirty fingers on one of the French restaurant river boats - you have my sympathy. On the bright side "this too must pass"

I generally don't have to leave home to pick my fill of brambles (AKA blackberries). A few stray briars when we moved in with some judicious 'lack of pruning' have become a rampant series of bushes down one side of the garden providing fruit in abundance for a few pies and desserts in season and at least 15-20 lbs of bramble jelly each August - more than I need for a year's supply. Similarly providing I remember to water them when like now we have had a long period of unseasonably dry weather we have alpine strawberries running rampant in one part of the garden and a few standard old-time favourites growing in raised beds. Suffice to say when the fruit comes in we tend to get a bit bloated

I have heard of this process before and IIRC not just with Roman glass - I believe it may be because some minerals provide 'fugitive' colour in the same way as cloth dye's or else it is because the action of sunlight which affects the perceived colour through long exposure. I suspect the Roman Glassmakers down near Andover may have mentioned it when I spoke to them a few years back during their experiemntal Roman glass kiln reconsrtructions and firings. EDIT - just checked one of our reference books and it mentions that mineralisation can affect buried glass bringing on the irridesent quality you see in much Roman Glass so I presuame that mineralisation could also explain changes to the underlying 'perceived' colour.

At that price he probably has to but I must admit it does look interesting....

I got really lucky last time around and a few of the current crop look interesting - I did wonder about the Peasants and Slaves book for myself and just from the title the Agricola book may also be interesting.

Still over 17.5 stone but only just for those of us not conversant with modern, continental or American weights. I am beginning to wonder if I should give up something myself...but maybe not dieting and exercise seem like too much trouble but good on you for doing so. Mind you if I was in Nothern Germany rather than giving up salad I may well be considering giving up something else like cream cakes. That as oftena s not is the usual vector for E-Coli strains but the local health authorities there don't even seem to have considered it as a possibile source so far.

An interesting idea although the report seems to indicate they don't have that much of either the ship or the attached pipe to make any analysis. As far as keeping fish alive during long distance transportation this idea does have some parallels with other aspects of Roman culture. I remember reading of Roman period fishing boats being found with fish 'tanks' probably intended for short term storage elsewhere so the idea is not totally out of 'left field'. Of more direct application to the idea of keeping marine life alive until needed for eating; at Marcham Frilford we have found evidence for oysters being brought from the south coast, probably around Chichester, due to the type of marine encrustations found on the shells. This means that as they had to be eaten fresh they were brought overland, probably in barrels filled with sea water about 90 miles or so during a trip of several days. I suppose the alternative if the pipe was not linked to a fish tank is that we may have found evidence for an early Roman fire boat - I am not totally serious in that suggestion .... but you never know ....?

Hope you have a great time

Only if the person using it doesn't specify what they mean or don't mean by it

'Technically' or possibly more correctly 'Academically', at least in recent years, 'Romanization' tends to be used in academic publications to describe the whole two-way process of cultural exchange which went on across the Roman Empire. On this basis it is not as simple a description as is often mistenly portrayed in the media and less academically inclined publications.

Offence has not been taken here BUT it is the job of the legatii to ensure that posts do not devolve down to flame wars for which we have a standard response We are therefore grateful when people provide factual information and/or reasoned discussions of topics but keep a light touch by considering how what they post may come across to others.

I have just done a quick search and this link may be of interest as it shows a mural depicting what is described as a Roman 'drop curtain' from the Paleastra at Herculaneum.

I may have missed it in the links above but I would point out that glass is only one of a number of different covering materials used by the Romans and probably was restricted in use to only the better off households. Poorer households would have had to make do with simple wooden shutters over a metal or wooden grill. There is some evidence for suggestions that animal based material such as a sheep stomach or even very thin stretched horn were used as these could provide a semi-translucent covering. The Channel 4 series Rome Wasn't Built in a Day did try out several of the different construction methods in the Roman Villa they constructed at Wroxeter the wooden grill covering can be seen in the virtual tour here. BTW I should have also mentioned that recent research from Pompeii suggests that the Romans seem to have made use of curtains at least to cover alcoves and doorways so presumably would have had the option of hanging curtains or similar material across windows if they wished a room darkened and the window didn't have shutters.

With a quick search just for the phrase I got the impression that it was a term possibly used on coinage by Diocletian and some of the other Emperors. If it was hopefully one of the forum interested in numismatics may be able to provide more information.

This has been touched on in a previous thread elsewhere on this forum from a few years back. I must admit that I don't know much about Diocletian but long before him Seutonius credits Domitian with using a similar phrase 'Dominus et Deus noster hoc fieri iubet' (Our Master ands our God bids that this be done) when sending out circular letters in the name of his procurators (Domitian XIII, 2). BTW Don't worry about starting new threads, there is only a restriction on the first three posts by new members needing to be moderated before appearing on the main fora not whether they are new threads or simply responses to existing threads.

To expand on what Caldrail has already said. This is actually a complex question and the answer depends on the period you are asking about. In early Roman law there were several different forms of marriage depending partly on class and whether the wife passed fom her fathers control into that of her husband or stayed under her fathers tutelage. I would point you to Women and the law in the Roman Empire: a sourcebook on marriage, divorce and Widowhood By Judith Evans Grubbs for further reading on this although also partially available on Google Books. Put simply; whichever form of marriage was undertaken, even if her husband died, the widow would remain under the control of the appropriate senior male family member to be remarried or not as they decided. The only exemption from this was if she had three living children in which case again depending on the form of marriage undertaken AND the period we are talking about, she could gain control of her own inheritance and set up home for herself if she wished.

:D Jackie Chan in plate mail? I don't think so. The upper class of medieval society bore arms in a fashion particular to themselves. Whilst it was sometimes viewed a sign of competence to employ lower class weapons (such as a knight demonstrating his ability with a bow and arrow), to fight like a common peasant in a bar room brawl is completely foreign to their mindset. I do agree that a real melee might be less than chivalrous, but that doesn't change the nature of beast - or the culture that breeds them. I would agree on this point. Having fought for several years under full contact Medieval Tourney rules I would only add that anyone trying to kick an oppenent while in full armour probably needs their head examined. If the ground is at all uneven or boggy you need to keep your feet firmly planted while swinging your weapons or defending yourself. Lose your footing and you literally are dead meat in the face of an armed and still firmly upright opponent. BTW given how complete the protection was around the eye's on some medieval knights combat helmets eye-gouging would seem an activity with very limited currency - enough said

I'm not sure how references to Rennaissance fighting manuals or speculation about the medieval combat really helps identify Gallic fighting techniques in the time of Casear?

ParatrooperLirelou, this is factually incorrect especially if you are considering 'medieval' armies as your baseline for comparison. It is well recorded as a common practice from at least the Anglo-Saxon/ Viking period onward well into the later medieval period for individuals to go forward and call out champions from the opposing side to individual, usually hand to hand or mounted, combat. In the Medieval period I would suspect that 'kicking' or general wrestling would have been considered unchivalrous I would suggest you look to Caesar's Gallic Wars for the few known details of how the Gauls fought.

BBC News is currently carrying a report on the discovery of several pyramids in Egypt including some at Saggara. The article includes a short video clip from a BBC documentary Egypts Lost cities due to be broadcast on Monday, 30 May at 20:30 on BBC One.