Melvadius

BBC news is carrying a video report that

I'm afraid that my Latin is insufficient to identify the requisite word but courtesy of Bill Thayer's invaluable Lacus Curtius site I do now have a translation of the relevant passage (footnotes etc removed from copy below):

I rather suspect that given the number of donkey/ mule or small horse bones that are found on many Roman sites the Romans may have made extensive use of pack animals rather than wheelbarrows per se. Wiki and a few other web sites although claiming a Greek prototype can only cite a single 4th century Roman reference for one-wheeled vehicle in Scriptores Historiae Augustae Heliogabalus 29. so far I have been unable to track a copy of the original to cross-check precisely what it says. BTW I actually got to see the second episode and it was a joy to watch the culture shock as the building crew were whisked off to see Ephesus, as one of the best examples of standing Roman architecture in the world, although with so much of the later build dependent on him like the rest of his team I really do have a few concerns about the skill level of their 'chippy'. That said the English Heritage website is indicating that the replica town house will be opening to the public on 19 February so someone must have finished off the job if they didn't manage themselves - 'all will be revealed' by episode 6...

I didn't watch all of the programme but the report I had of this 'hacks' comments indicated his automatic assumption was that everyone is conspiring to 'hide the truth'. The fact that what was being sought by the FOI requests was not the reasonably available raw climate data but the commercially written software to collate it - which is specifically not covered by FOI rules seems to have gotten lost in the furore. Irrespective of what that 'truth' may be has anyone stopped to consider how long it takes to read through umpteen thousand emails thoroughly and ask your (mummy/daddy/ non-expert of choice) what the difficult words actually mean? Can I join the cake queue?

Definitely on the right track

Right on Britannia - wrong on Pompeii.

Point of information: The earliest evidence for human occupation of Ireland comes from Mount Sandel and is dated in the Mesolithic period to around 7,000BC.

A few more mainly on the lighter side of Rome: Carry on Cleo 1964 Asterix and Obelix Take on Caesar 1999 Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra 2002 Asterix at the Olympic Games 2008 Monty Python

My warning currently applies to the website listed under the 'contact details' at the general site cited above.

Unreported Heritage News has an interesting report following 10 years of research into a series of post-Roman Civil War watchtowers in Portugal.

Currently there does not appear to be an active website for the York Roman Festival. If you search for it you may find the 2010 website but the YorkRomanFestival.com" website seems to be written in Japanese and not specifically linked to any planned events at York in 2011 so one to avoid.

Well to give people something to be working on until Marcus Silanus can track down his 'hints' you can try this one. [Edit] Sorry folks I seem to have accidently loaded an internal view with little evidence for the location rather than the external one I had meant to include, hopefully this corrected image will give you a few more hints to the location.

If anybody wishes to spend time browsing further on this subject the CART website has quite a bit of interesting material although necessarily incomplete in some instances due to the secrecy of the groups operations and lack of surviving information.

If you thought it was only the Japanese who fought on after WW2 finished - think again. Some members may be interested to read this item, although at the moment rather than being 'news' as such this is simply a press release/ announcement, about research being undertaken at Coleshill House on the Oxfordshire/ Wiltshire border. Coleshill House was the base for an ultra secret last ditch resistance group set up in Britian during WW2 to be activiated in the event of a successful German invasion. BTW This organisation was so secret that men joined by invitation only into small 5 or 6 man teamss. No one has full records of who was involved or where all of their bases were located and their story only came to light when one of them contacted the police a few years back asking them to help make safe the explosives and sundry ordnance that he was still caretaking when he thought he may have to go into hospital some 50 years or so after WW2 ended. Under the byline: Churchill

Whyere that site is concerned, I cannot tell a lie. The number of times I have seen images of the basilica wall from Wroxeter (not to forget the couple of times) I have stood under the gap in the mwall myself have combined to burn it into my memory.

Several of them apparently come from his 1911 book The Last Galley: Impressions and Tales which is available ot read online at Project Gutenberg Australia.

Which came first people looking for more information on what I'd posted or by chance have I accidently entered another set of key words for a school project? If so it may have created a circular reference to and from the forum Either way it will probably give us another page with those 'very specific' search parameters which I suppose means that UNVR will be climbing the ranks even further for those terms

Chrisdq, We had a thread recently about Roman Prisons in the Republican period which you may find at least partly answers your question. I suspect the answer is that in most instances people would not remain in the prisons for very long before a decision was made to either execute them or else in the case of prisoner's of war to sell them as slaves or gladiators at which point they would become someone else's problem.

You've asked quite a few related questions here but they really boil down to the status of freed slaves within Roman society and much of what we know about this AFAIK comes from the grave memorials set up by the freedmen (and women) themselves mainly in the first and second centuries. The fact that many of these take part of their former master's names is an indication of close ties between ex-master and freed, while the fact that being able to afford lavish memorials is a strong indication that such freedmen could often be commercially successful. I would point you at Sons, Slaves and Freedmen in Roman Commerce By Aaron Kirschenbaum as possibly a book to provide most of your answers. However one caveat I tried to read this book and found it one of the most turgid (even if 'worthy') books I have come across in a long time so wa never able to finish it. There are also numerous Roman laws which specify in what circumstances slaves could be freed and the restrictions that were imposed on them IIRC one of which was that freedwomen could not marry without their ex-masters permission. You may find it useful to check the Theodosian Code (Codex Theodosianus) and the Justinian Code (Corpus Iurus Civilis)there are several volumes in these based on the translations by Theodor Mommsen available in good Classics Libraries.

That's slightly worrying because on 10 January I included the phrase 'Ethiopians closed the Red Sea to Roman trade' in a post onto the Did Rome ever go to war with the Aksumite Empire thread

I definately do but as you have unfairly banned me from entering I'm not saying But for everyone else it looks like the tallest piece of freestanding Roman wall left in the country. Do I get the prize? BTW it seems to be six episodes.

Unfair, I didn't see that much of it but anyone with half an eye should know where that photo was taken - hint it looks like the tallest piece of freestanding Roman wall left in the country. Do I get the prize?

Strikes me that Russell Brand is another one that thinks he's dog's gift to creation

This possibility seems to have originally been suggested in a 1977 article 'Is the Supernova of A.D. 185 recorded in Ancient Roman Literature' written by Richard Stothers a full copy of which is available here From a quick browse the author suggested there were two possible Roman mentions of the event (page 444) in 'History of Herodian' and from the Vita Commodi in 'Historia Augusta'.

I was up to my eyes with an urgent task so only saw part of it but from what I saw it was an interesting premise and more in line with what Peter Reynolds tried to do at Butser Farm before his untimely death than what the TV company who got involved afterwards did instead. I particularly liked the 'townies' builders confusion about what to do to check on the augaries especially the one who didn't seem to know that sheep don't come flat-packed from his local supermarket. BTW for those not in the know the Vale Pet! title above is a reference to a UK TV programme from a good few years back ago chronicalling the misadventures of a bunch of Geordie (North-east English) builders working in Germany - followed up a few years back with a one-off special set partly in the USA.