Melvadius

I don't think there is anything specifically on anything called a 'line relief system' although Vegetius does provide suggestions on how an army should be formed up before a battle, the depth of formations and the need to keep a reserve from which counter-attack can be formed. Mads Brevik has put an etext version of an old translation of Vegetius on the web here whic you may find of interest.

Actually they do seem to have bars of (I believe a form of) lye soap as well, although admittedly probably mainly used by fullers in the cloth making process

The problem with any statistics to do with the mobility or otherwise of humans is they don't generally allow for those who stayed in one place and only intermarried with others in the same area. Even without the interbreeding habits of our 'landed gentry' or those who may have practiced droit de signeur legally or otherwise you can build up a lot of families at all stratas of society effectively all intermarried and so related to each other in a very short period of time. Mind you speaking of statistics this reminds me of the old Tommy Cooper joke about family and racial relationships which keeps cropping up in different guises on different forums: "Apparently, 1 in 5 people in the world are Chinese. And there are 5 people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mum or my dad. Or my older brother Colin. Or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu. But I think it's Colin."

Scientific analysis can provide new insights into the past but occasionally things go slightly wrong in the lab, as this report by the BBC based on an article accepted by the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry shows:

I suspect the latest Journal of Cellular Biochemistry findings, reported on by the BBC and others on the lab mix-up between horse and donkey DNA six years ago, creating a non-existent 'hybrid' horse, may be to blame

All moved as requested This wouldn't be another indepth report by that highly regarded totally UN-scientific rag the Daily Star by any chance would it. These are the same people renowned for printing pictures of a B27 bomber on the moon along with other composite and otherwise totally out of scale images in its early days. I presume they are still in the business of printing totally fabricated non-stories - enough said

I understand that the traditional order in English, when it comes to archery, is 'loose' which in its context makes perfect sense. Possibly the Romans had a similar spoken command although as GoC has mentioned in general they also made use of musical instruments and visual commands.

I would agree with Russ that a desire to beat heads against walls because of the vehemence of a few individuals who take every opportunity to defend their misperceptions of history based on innacurate films does not mean that we on the UNVR forum can't find something to enjoy in those same programmes. I won't go so far as to day that 'any' historical programme is a good thing - I have seen all too many badly scripted and/or acted efforts which even if not actively irritating are often simply boring. However we do need something to appear on the screens on a fairly regular basis to help draw people into an interest in history. Personally I could wish that the History Channel hadn't gone down the route they have as it has the potential to help spread several quite contentious fallicies about this particular period in history but at lest it was made and has given people something to discuss on a history forum. Now where is my rubber brick for when I get around to watching it myself

It is a bit small but in the article at the enclosed link there is a photograph of the model of the Second Great Forum and Basilica in Roman London laid out with stalls across it. Part of the problem is probably the dual function of Roman fori and the need to show the projected structure from physical remains so artists may tend to 'shy away' from trying to put in stalls when there is no real evidence how they would have been laid out. There is also the issue that there were administrative buildings and sometimes small shops or businesses as well as temples usually located at the edge of the forum in any town and a specialist macellum for animal produce could eventually develop elsewhere in a Roman town - although at some I have seen this was close to or even adjoining the original forum.

The Fitzwilliam have it listed in their online catalogue The Daily Mail carried an article back in January 2010 in which it noted that this particular tool is supposed to have been However as indicated in Simon Moore's 'Penknives and other Folding Knives' Roman folding tools as a group are not unknown, a more common form appears to be simple 'penknives' which are sometimes coupled with a spoon. In fact several museums I have visited over the years include examples of Roman penknives although admittedly many are in a poor condition having generally been buried in areas with 'soggy' climates. If as was indicated in the Daily Mail report this particular knife was found in the area of the Mediterranean then a relatively arid area may well explain its good survival - especially as it is made of silver as well as iron.

You obviously never saw the episode of Yes Prime Minister entitled The Key BTW why did you include a group of musicians in your list?

Professor Roger Crisp from St. Anne's College, Oxford has suggested that Sent. Vat. (Vatican Sayings) 58, along with Diogenes Laertius 10.119 might provide the source for this Epicurean quote.

Caldrail, I also would like to know your sources for your earlier statment regarding deforestation. As far as the Bronze Age is concerned in every reference book I have read rather than linking this to the effects of climate change it usually attributes it to the spread of farming for which there is good archaeological evidence. Regarding a possible drop in population in Ireland on this issue the 'History Planet' blog quoting from Barry Cunliffe has some interesting suggestions regarding this though note the comments about woodland regeneration in the five centuries after about 600BCE.

Basically every time this topic raises its head on any website I have this strong urge to batter my head against the table. It is one of the most common no-win situations in history (Cleopatra is another) as there are so many 'modern' vested interests who will ignore histrical evidence as twisted by those who disagree with them. I have seen some posters, on other sites, who rather than touting Hannibal as a Black sub-Saharan African instead claim him as a White Arayan. Both sides have very little concept of the natural barriers to the spread of particular racial groups and the consequent slow mixing of races throughout much of history. I would agree however that portraying Hannibal Barca as they have done makes a mockery of any claims the History Channel may make for 'objective' research in making this programme - apart from anything else the 'garb' he is wearing looks more like something one of Spartacus's relatively poorly equipped men would have worn into a fight than someone who apparently led from the front in several major battles

I did a quick search and found numerous online references to this but not one of them referenced, however in The Lives of the Philosophers, by Diogenes Laertius there is a reference in the section about Epicurius that: Diogenes also lists a treatise on Choice and Avoidance as being written by Epicureas. I have a copy of Marcello Gigante's 'Philodemus in Italy' which I can best describe as a very dense technical treatise which as far as I've read seems more concerned with referencing other authors comments than citing specific original sources although it does provide some quotes and there is one very relevant passage on page 32 which mentions a few possible sources or at least cross references when it describes the involvement in politics of Philiodemus a pupil of Epicurius. In part it reads: The passage goes on to mention tensions betwen Cicero and the Epicureans such as Philodemus whose On Rhetoric seems to have 'alarmed' Cicero when he was writing De Oratore, Brutus, and Orator going on to transmit This book also has a very long bibliographical list at the back citing all of the various books and fragments from Herculaneum most of which deal with the various Philosophic writings found there. From the above I suspect that Epicurius 'On Nature' or 'On Rhetoric' if both are available may be the most likely original sources for the quote although it may have been copied in other works I just cannot track it down from my references to hand.

I suspect that given there were elephants apparently readily available in Northern Africa at the time these are the most likely to have been used. At best transportation of elelphants from India would have required either carriage by sea for several weeks then an overland journey and another journey by sea of several weeks or alternatively a very long overland journey. While the Romans did transport elephants to Italy from North Africa and some were brought to Britain by Claudius for the even longer journey from India there are other considerations. There would be obvious risks involved of elephants dying on a long land journey through a limited ability to forage for food or water in some desert or semi-arid areas. Even if a relatively young elephant was being transported by sea and they could surmount the forage problem it is still a very heavy animal which could damage a relativley fragile wooden ship if it got loose or simply fell overboard and was lost if the ship got caught in a storm. On a personal note as mentioned above several sources claim that there was a sub-species of elephants in North Africa which were slightly smaller than African elephants and slightly more docile I would like to see the scientific evidence for these claims - does anyone know where it mught be printed?.

After viewing the obvious features someone has to worry about the other details

Hope you don't mind I had a sneak look too and although the splashes of mud and blood are all very artful - having done some re-enactment in the past - I do wonder how the gladii could have remained in such relatively pristine condition, apparantly at the end of a combat, without a single blemish in the form of cuts or metal burrs on their edges

The original Ptolomy was one of Alexander the Great's generals who gained control of Egypt when Alexander's empire broke up at his death (in 323BC?) Alexander's various generals all carved out their own realms from the remnants of the lands he had conquered but in Ptolomey's case he possibley got the most fertile and by bringing Alexander's body to Egypt for burial probably gave himself a better claim to power. So on that basis then yes the Ptolomies really did rule Egypt for around 3 centuries.

I get the impression that the WSJ article has been written by the author of the new book, so strictly speaking it isn't really an 'independent' review while the NYT article seems to combine an author interview with similar 'press material' on the new book. On that basis both articles seem more like extended adverts than anything else and I do wonder precisely what the subtext is of the NYT comment that

The Romans used several different forms of writing throughout their history and as with modern writers individuals tended to have their own writing styles including sometimes making errors or using variants of shorthand. For the purpose of this query some examples of the more general variations in writing style can be seen at this site.

I have just found this interesting 'personal' take of the excavation of this BA hoard by Ian Richardson a member of the Portable Antiquities Scheme Central Unit.

A somewhat confused story has been published in the Scotsman (copied from the Edinburgh Evening News). The article is citing some significant finds at the site of a new Health Centre in Musselburgh from at least 5,000 years ago up to the Roamn period. The finds are not clearly sorted into period in the reports but include flints, some decapitated skeletal remains (only mentioned in passing) as well as Roman material including a possible fortlet ditch. The confusion is not helped by the linked press release by NHS lothian claiming that "Roman remains dating from 140AD, including human skeletons with decapitated skulls have been found north of the Border for the first time". If they exist it is unclear what period the 'decapitated skulls' come from but a Roman presence including a fort in the Musselburgh area has long been known about although this site seems to be some distance from the known fort. There are a couple of good pictures with the Scotsman article including what seems to be a 'cist' burial but in a circular pit which I believe is a relaticvely rare form. N.B. Unfortunately CFA Archaeology, who have done the excavation, don't seem to update their own sites 'news' page very often - the latest news is from 2007 so it wasn't worth linking into this story.

In another instance of close cooperation betweeen local landowners and metal detectorists with archaeologists through the Portable Antiquities Scheme BBC reports on the recovery of an intact Bronze Age hoard.