Melvadius

There are several other references to the new film on the web. The ASLT article is probably the fullest currently up and notes the obvious pitfalls of the project such as modern research dispelling the Scottish "disappearance" myth - if not completely resolving what actually happened to them later on in Europe. The most recent info is in the Variety article (16/5/08): http://www.variety.com/article/VR111796507...yid=13&cs=1 Association of Latin Teachers article from 2007 has quite a bit on the announcement of the 'McDonald' version: http://blog.arlt.co.uk/blog/_archives/2007/5/13/2945875.html And finally just for completeness, from 2003, an article announcing the initially development of three different versions of the film: http://heritage.scotsman.com/theromans/Fil...lost.2483137.jp Personally I am all for an intelligent version being made that is true to the spirit of the original book, which the McDonald version seems to have the potential to be. Especially if it avoids the slash and gore 'reality' that all too many modern films seem fixated on. I like my entertainment to have a lighter touch and my abidding impression of the book despite the years since i read it are of some risks taken, a degree of danger but also intelligence and awareness of others.

There were no takers on that bet. Probably with good reason as St Trinian were renowned on film as well as in print for treating any and all sports as a full contact combat activity. Actually from the little that I have seen of ice hockey they probably would make even the hardest tackling team in the NHL look positively tame

The answer to GO's question is probably extremely badly - the 'NCO' designation is a modern concept but the function of a non commissioned officer has remained basically the same throughout history a few of the key functions are: To give guidance to the 'rank and file' of any given military unit. Ensure that commands are passed along Ensure they are acted upon even if officers aren't around Be the man on the spot able to react to problems the officers hadn't envisaged. However, possibly the most important, is someone with the ability to take over in an emergency when more senior officers are disabled or out of contact with their unit. As far as Sander's site is concerned I have known his writing for several years on a number of sites and topics always finding that he provides information at an appropriate AND detailed level whihc is often extensively referenced. This can include correcting the 'apparent' faults that Caldrail has pointed out in postings by others. As far as I can remember that particular site is several years old now but is apparently mainly intended as an introduction to the subject of the Roman military. As such it uses 'simpler' concepts and comparisons of particular ranks and functions with their closest modern equivalent. The use of such comparisons has a long tradition in historical writing which has been carried off in a variety of ways - sometimes extremely badly at other times much less so and I include Sander's site in the latter capacity. In comparison, somewhere I've got an old Penguin translation which refers to majors, colonels as well as sergeants and other 'British' military equivalents instead of legates etc. It jars so much that I haven't looked at it for several years but have kept it as remembrance of a moment in time. It was written by an ex-regular military man at a time when a large proportion of the population had just been demobbed from the Second World War while others were still undetaking 'national' military service. As such made a serious although justifiable mistake in not realizing that such obvious comparisons (to him) would quickly slip from international conciousness. The key issue I think with Sander's or any other Web Site does tend to require taking a step back at times to see why it has been written and for which audience it has been intended. I suspect that in the case in question the key concern was to act as a simplified introduction rather than a 'precise' military analysis which would obviously have necessitated at least a full books worth of material.

Don't let it bother you, Caroline -- there were only two people who objected, and I have to admit that it *is* funny to see the difference in attitudes between Americans and Brits. And, yes, sadly, those two negative reviewers did miss the point of the story regarding the learning of a valuable life-lesson. I've posted my own little review of Sirens to the American Amazon site. (I also posted to the UK site, but haven't seen my review show up yet.) It should boost the book another star in the ratings, at the very least. I urge others here to do the same! -- Nephele Nephele, Your review is now on Amazon UK where the book is currently on 4.5 stars with the high scoring reviews generally being well received, while the US site is now up to 3 stars.

I would agree that there is inherently no such thing as a bad dog, just a badly trained dog which has led to a lot of the bad press that some dog breeds receive - generally that means they have been illtreated or left untrained for too long leading to the obvious consequences especilly if they meet unusual circumstances and become frightened. However as far as the early history of the various mastiff breeds is concerned most of the 'histories' in my view appear to have been built up from coincidental appearances of particular modern breeds with ancient models and/or statues coupled with reading of a very few ancient texts being interpreted as providing positive proof for those same breeds. However often the ancient texts are fundamentally unclear on the most basic of topics including whether a particular 'type' (rather than 'breed') of dog was good for either hunting game or alternatively for guarding flocks from predators (and then whether from wild animals or humans). The obvious exception is Tacitus' statement about Britain being a source of swift hunting dogs, although here the Scottish Deer Hound and/or Irish Setter can probably lay a better claim to being direct descendents of a particular 'type' of dog than the Naeopolitan Mastiff. BTW Some of the Neapolitan Mastiff sites acknowledge that as a recognized breed it has only been in existence for at most 70 years while the Rottweiller ancient history as a 'breed' is probably similarily suspect.

Oh dear GO you really have no idea what 'properly dressed for the times meant do you? http://www.jamd.com/search?assettype=g&amp...n+bakewell%2522 Now from my perspective all I can say is

Oh mercy! But, somehow, I just can't picture our intense Indiana Jones putting his hand on a lady interviewer's knee... Unless she had a small golden Aztec idol tucked in her panties. -- Nephele Sorry I was posting on two messages one after the other and didn't double check the link The correct one, which unfortunately only really gives a brief summary and dates when the programme was aired, is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0084l02 As to Joan's experiences with Sir M in the pre-PC era I suspect from things I have heard elsewhere that they may not have been that uncommon an experience for any female in close contact with him (or indeed many aged 'experts' of his era).

Indiana Jones may not be the 'real' thing although there was a programme on here recently claiming to have identified the genesis of the character I think that a 'truer' genesis would be in any number of archaeologists who worked in remote parts of the world during the 1920s and 30s be they British, German American or any other nationality. Often working in remorte areas with limited back-uip and in some cases with one hand permanenetly near a gun in case of local bandit attacks. We had another programme on, about a month ago, under the Timeshift stream called "Digging the Past". Amongst the clips they showed were several featuring the late great Sir Mortimer Wheeler who very much fit the bill of a rakish, devil may care, adventurous, although by then not so young, archaeologist in the early days of TV. "http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/14/2244618.htm?section=entertainment"

Agreed, the former would seem to be the case. The artist at least seems to have been among the more accurate with the representation of Caesar's hair line. Most of his busts give him a rather healthy head of it, while this presents a rather thin layer. The Australian ABC news version of this story finishes with the following comment that possibly make things clearer: "I suspect the bust was thrown in the river after he was assassinated because it would not have been good at that time to be considered a follower of his," said French archaeologist Luc Long, who directed excavations at the underwater site. "In Rome you don't find any statues of Caesar dating from the time he lived. They were all posthumous," he added. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05...n=entertainment

I think several important points have been skipped over or lost in this discussion up to now so to try and summarize the main points: Firstly the majority of Celtic warriors were probably armed with poorer quality weapons rather than elite quality swords which by their very nature would only have been owned by a few nobles. The rest would have used a variety of spears, axes and slings but very few if any would have had swords. Secondly however the quality of metalwork of any given weapon is down to the technique and even the type of wood/fuel used by the smith/armourer in making the weapon as some fuels release more carbon leading to the posibility of 'accidently' producing steel. Once a smith knew that a particular combination of fuel and metal produced more efficecient weapons he would be likely to repeat the process. Thirdly the Romans did change over to the longer spartha type of sword by the 2nd/3rd century as their style of fighting and organization changed, although initially in the early Principate period the spartha seem to have only been used by cavalry and auxilliary units. Fourthly, by the fourth century there were real problems with the quality of Roman equipment both in general and the specifics of items like the 'cheaper' mass produced Internissia / Spangelhlem style helmets. Fifthly, the Romans copied successful designs of equipment extensively from their opponents - notably the ring or if you prefer 'chainmail' lorica hamata armour from their Celtic opponents as well as the gladius which was developed from the Gladius Hispaniensis (or Spanish sword) used by their Spanish/ Iberian opponents.

If you mean they were all Roman forts lying to the north of Hadrians Wall then yes they are - BUT before you ask they also are a long way to the south of the Antonine Wall.

Nope GO.... Both forts actually lie ON Hadrian's Wall, although you may have been confused as Chesters is a cavalry fort and unusually it was shifted forward to straddle the line of the wall rather than being joined on its southern side like Housteads so has 3 of its gates to the North. The thought is that having 3 of its gates north of the main wall line allowed the cavalry to maximise its mobility and get as many mounted men out of the forth at a time.

This article relating to findings from recent excavations at Gloucester may be of interest: 'A study into a mass Roman grave excavated in Gloucester appears to show the dead had been killed by plague. The remains of around 91 individuals, uncovered in 2005, are part of Wooton cemetery which was the burial ground for the fortress at nearby Kingsholm. The bodies appear to have been thrown in haphazardly during the second half of the 2nd Century. Oxford Archaeology who analysed the remains say they are the victims of an epidemic, perhaps the Antonine Plague. This outbreak of smallpox swept across the Roman Empire between AD 165 and 189. ......' Continued on BBC newspage at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glouces...ire/7374836.stm

I may have missed mention of it but within Rome, the Romans had a number of sacred animals (ie geese), which also do a fair job of croping grass, or anything remotely like grass as an cereal farmer will tell you, given half a chance. The Romans also had sheep as well as goats so letting a few animals loose to crop grass around a villa would be a simple answer although probably either a series of sickle (or more likely a scythe fior use with putative lawns) and possibly poop shovel armed slaves may have been the alternative weapon of choice for anything you wanted to walk on afterwards. I would however observe that there is plenty of evidence for small enclosed courtyards in town villa's either being paved or else having topiaried gardens (as NN mentions above). Evidence for gardens containing a large number of hedges comes from root remains notably found at both Pompeii and Herculaneum but also at sites like Fishbourne Palace where efforts have been made to fully excavate the garden area. BTW I recently found an article referring to a particularily long scythe blade being used in Gaul by the 4th century AD which may be of general interest as a possibly related topic: http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cb...32/03202011.pdf - start of article (at page 61) http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cb...32/03202012.pdf - 2nd page with dimensions

I don't have a definitive source myself but my edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, under commercium, cites secondary sources of: A. N. Sherwin-White, The Roman Citizenship (2nd edn. 1993); P.A. Brunt, Italian Manpower (1971, 1987) Possibly of more interest is that under ius Latii (the Latin rights of conubium and commercium) it cites sources of: Asc. Pis 3 Clark (Asconius Commentary on Cicero In Pisonem - I think this reference is from Asconius, ed A, C, Clark (Oct 1907)) Gai Inst I.22ff, 96 (Gaius Institutiones) H Galsterer, Herrschaft und Verwaltung im republikanischen Italien (1976) Millar ERW app. 4.

I'm having difficulty telling. I compared this one with a few images found online and, while they all appear to have pretty much the same bearded features, the eyes seem different on this one. Wish we had a resident art history expert, but I think that's consistent with the idea that all the surviving Lucius Verus portraits were marble copies of the same bronze original. Because the bronze original would have had hollow eyes, the copyist would have had to improvise to drill pupils into the marble. (I think that earlier copyists didn't even bother with the drill--thus, not only are there no drilled pupils, but even the hair is rendered as shallower and thus looking less full and luxurious.) I lay no claims to expertise in the field of art but there is another 'claimed' bust of Lucius Verus in the Bardo which to my eyes seems to have similar characteristics to the recovered bust c/f: http://www.africamie.com/tun_photos/bardo19.jpg

Haverfields book (itself now somewhat ancient) Ancient Town-planning (1913) as it includes mention of several Roman period towns, even if the maps are incomplete, may be of some comparitive if not historical interest. It is available online at this link: http://socserv2.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll...ownplanning.pdf

Perhaps, for the Americans, it would be helpful to explain that Cider isn't some kind of fruit juice... I believe that rather than "Hard Cider" as the Wikipedia reference claims the more common name for cider in the US is "Apple Jack" or at least it was a few years back when I last visited with "cider" instead being used in some US states to refer to apple juice! It does tend to make for interesting experiences for teetotal visitors from the mid-West who may innocently order cider in British pubs.

I suspect that the small circles on the altar are meant to represent dots, although these marks can also be small crosses indicating an abbreviation and are part of a standard tag line used on altars throughout the Roman world. In this case: - votum solvit libens laetus merito - commonly abbreviated as V. S .L. L. M. - "willingly, gladly and deservedly fulfilled a vow". An altenative version that is fairly common if not more so than VSLLM dispenses with laetus and is abbreviated as V.S.L.M (for votum solvit libens merito) - "willingly and deservedly fulfilled a vow". For a large number of common abbreviations in Roman inscriptions c/f http://www.roman-britain.org/latin.htm BTW I would need to see the altar myself to be certain but I suspect that the colours may well be surving traces of the original roman period colouring which could well seem somewhat garish to modern eyes.

No, black pudding good, cider bad... This is really turning into quite a privative discussion. I hate to dsagree but while both can be good (especially with cider when of the scrumpy variety) equally both can be bad - it really depends who made them and how you are eating or drinking. The best hit every criteria as soul food, while the worst ....I don't try let alone buy if I can possibly help it .

I don't know Phang's work but a couple of years ago I read a fair bit around the subject including an article by Hoffmann B. (1995) 'The Quarters of Legionary Centurions off the Principate', Britannia, Vol 26 which is possibly relevant. In the article she stated the view that centurions' family arrangements are more difficult to assess [than ordinary soldiers], for whilst the relevant legal texts refer exclusively to milites being banned from marriage they did not specifically mention centurions or other more senior ranks . In my view by implication this legal phraseology indicates that centurions in some units may have been allowed to marry, or at the very least establish a

The status of Roman citizens (and indeed anyone serving in the military) in the provinces was covered by several laws which were compiled in the later legal texts, including those compiled in the sixth century AD in the Digest of Justinian (Digest). These include: D.23.2.63 (Papian) which declared invalid the marriage of senior officers with women from provinces in which they were serving, comparing it to someone marrying his female ward. D.23.2.38 (Paulus) placed a similar restriction on administrators although they could marry a woman from the province 'providing' they were betrothed to her prior to being sent to the province. D.23.2.63 (Papian) declared that if a woman had been married in defiance of these restrictions she or her heirs, were entitled to the return of their dowry. In fact, as has already been indicated in earlier postings, several of the laws collated in the Digest regarding the rights of citizens to marry and produce

From BBC news item: "Swedish archaeologists have discovered a rare hoard of Viking-age silver Arab coins near Stockholm's Arlanda airport. About 470 coins were found on 1 April at an early Iron Age burial site. They date from the 7th to 9th Century, when Viking traders travelled widely. There has been no similar find in that part of Sweden since the 1880s. Most of the coins were minted in Baghdad and Damascus, but some came from Persia and North Africa, said archaeologist Karin Beckman-Thoor....." c/f http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7330540.stm

Personally I am more concerned that most definitions of Viking in Britian doesn't really start until the Ninth Century at the earliest. Given the date and the later reference to the Roman fort is it possible they actually meant Roman or was it an April Fools joke that went wrong?

"The first excavation inside the ring at Stonehenge in more than four decades gets under way on Monday. The two-week dig will try to establish, once and for all, some precise dating for the creation of the monument. It is also targeting the significance of the smaller bluestones that stand inside the giant sarsen pillars. Researchers believe these rocks, brought all the way from Wales, hold the secret to the real purpose of Stonehenge as a place of healing. The excavation at the 4,500-year-old UK landmark is being funded by the BBC. The work will be filmed for a special Timewatch programme to be broadcast in the autumn. ..." c/f http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7322134.stm