Melvadius

Although there are probably more recent writings on the topic and possibly different interpreatations for later periods the LacusCurtius site has this item on adultery from the William Smith 1875 dictionary which may be helpful if you haven't seen it already. I did find a this articles on the web which may also be of interest: As to the Julian law concerning Adultery and seduction

I find it somewhat amusing reading this Conservative diatrabe that, if you take the indigenous populations point of view, America was effectively founded by illegal imigrants and on some levels isn't the worse for that. However; as Caldrail has pointed out immigration was one factor but IMO what was probably a larger factor in the Roman Empires collapse was the series of internecine wars as competing Emperors in the later Empire made increasingly destructive forays for control. Personally looking from the outside of the campaigns are being run, in the what looks like being an even more expensive US presidential election than usual, the destructive 'internecine' attitude to each other being taken by the competing candidates campaigns is probably more of a concern.

Past Horizons has a retrospective piece here on this seasons' excavations at Maryport one of the highlights of which is the new altar stone but evidence for continued occupation into the 5th and 6th centuries and the possibility of additional dating evidence from textile and bone finds are also something to look forward to.

OK slightly higher than happen chance but effectively it was all of a piece. Judea was where the Flavians made their name so the obvious thing was for their supporters or those promoting the legitimacy of the 'current' Emperor to use Judean references IN RETROSPECT supporting legitimate descent/rights of succession. IF the Flavians had made their name suppressing the Boudiccan rebellion in Britain then there would probably have been a lot more both written AND surviving about Boudicca than we have through Tacitus.

You already effectively have the answer in your posting: . The only area where there were more men under arms was along the Rhine frontier and the legions there had already raised Vitellus as their own favoured contender for the 'purple'. The fact he then went on a killing rampage and let the Rhine frontier descend into open rebellion had not endeared him to Rome it had also tied up most of his military supporters back on the frontier leaving the way open for Vespasian to control the grain supply as part of his own 'reluctant' drive for power to relieve Rome of its suffering under Vitellus. The 'signs and portents' you referred to were all written into the historical record a long time after Vespasian had come to power and actually followed a long Roman tradition of 20/20 hindsight. After you have achieved power look for something to confirm that you have been favoured by the gods in coming to power. During Augustus long reign he supported poets like Horace and Ovid who in turn wrote panegyric poetry praising his wisdom and right to rule. More or less each succeeding emperor who had the chance ensured that similar works were written in their praise and supporting their 'Right to Rule'. Such propoganda was nothing new with the Flavians. Simply put Vespasian had risen to power through the support of the Eastern legions and had established his military credentials by defeating the Jews for which reason take the prophesies of your enemies and turn them to your own advantage QED. The full quote from Tacitus 2.78 as posted on Lacus Curtis site highlights the importance attached to signs and portents:

The BBC is carrying a similar version of this story here.

For which reason the post has been removed for its offensive content - keep it polite folks otherwise we will have to consider taking further action - Legati

Well there is this book I found by a fairly obscure [not] member of the fora which may be worth a look: Roman Conquests: Macedonia and Greece Philip Matyszak Then there is Graecia Capta: The Landscapes of Roman Greece by Susan E. Alcock who was also involved in editing Pausanias: Travel and Memory in Roman Greece Since Pausanias was a Roman traveller in Greece this is really a contemporary view of Greece under the Romans.

And the BBC now have a video report here

No more from my available sources - I was probably mixing up 'Bol' with 'Col' and thinking of Colonia Baelo Claudia - Bolonia

Well far be it usual for me to totally agree with Caldrail in this case he is supported by no better an 'authority' than Encyclopedea Britannica. Mind you even they may not always get things 100% right so maybe some of our numismatisticly inclined members have alternative views???

Under the title Soldiers injured in Afghanistan make surprise find on UK archaeology dig the Guardian is carrying this story of some really stunning finds by these injured servicemen. I met one of the archaeologists in charge a couple of months ago so it is really pleasing to see some very good results both archaeologically and medically for the servicemen involved.

Lincoln and Colchester are perchance the ones you were thinking of? There may be more but I will need to do some research to check.

The BBC is carrying this report on the discovery of an apprently very well preserved Roman era ship.

I wouldn't say that they had no rights as such but rather the law increasingly restricted how they could be given rights. For instance there were restrictions impossed on how old a slave owner could be before they could manumit their slaves and I believe the age of the slaves involved, similarly laws were brought in regarding how many slaves could be freed under a will. I believe another law was brought in regarding the timing of remarriage for an ex-female slave who had initally been freed so they could marry their owner and subsequently divorced. To quote from Dixon The Roman Family (pg 91) 'The Augustan Lex Aelia Sentia placed limitations on the number and type of slaves who could be manumitted by an owner. Slaves manumitted in contravention of the rules were deemed Junian Latins, whose free status ended with their death. Junian Latins could, however gain Roman citizenship by producing a child and presenting the child at the end of its first year for official registration as Roman.'

No the 'Gruniad' stated the olive stone was found in what was 'claimed' to be a securely dated 150BC layer within a well. That is what Klingan and I find astonishing given how material can travel up and down in the semi-liquid gloop that tends to be at the bottom of a well. Even if the well had been dug in 150BC a single olive stone could easily have drifted down to the bottom due to natural movement of worms or with the mud drying out and cracking when the well was no longer in use.

Surely not, I would have thought that sling stones had to be no more than a couple of ounces at most. At the least the ones I used were no more than an inch or two across pretty much small peeble size rather than 'cob'.

Personally I am somewhat surprised by the conflation of the writings of Josephus, which were definitely post 70AD, with those of the early Apostiles. So far as I am aware none of the apprently earlier writings make any mention of the fulfilment of the major prophecy concerning the destruction of the 'temple' in 70AD. BTW where do you get the idea that the Cruciform Tropaeum is a symbol tied to Julius Ceasar and therefore (sic) Christianity - the only site I have seen that promulgated is David Icke's who as several in Britain are all too aware has an unfortunate medical history.

Roman cavalry has cropped up in discussions on the site a few times although usually only in general terms. We did have a discussion a few years back here on 'Horse size in the Roman cavalry' you may find interesting. Although I don't think anyone put forward evidence regarding the presumed weight of horses one site mentioned indicated the average size of British horses increased from around 12 to 13 hands during the Roman occupation. Larger horses in the period apparently came in around 15 hands however I am uncertain that any 'cavalry' horses as such have been identified or if they have that any statistics have been created showing how large they were. From memory there is also some useful information in a book called Feeding the Roman Army by Stallybrass and Thomas. This contains a series of essays providing archaeological evidence of changes in agricultural practices on the Roman frontier. At least one article talks about changes in horse breeding on the Rhine frontier with a strong suggestion that they were probably being bred for use by the army.

Past Horizons is carrying this article about this suprising survivial of usually transient material in Austria which has pushed back the boundaries of knowledge in the usually personal sphere of clothing.

I'm not a great one for biographies anyway but I'd probably run a mile from any more iterations of Boudicca's 'life' that were much longer than the two sections in Tacitus.

The relevant items are currently at the bottom of the page the first is an advert for a talk called the Telephus Roof Project - presentation dated 3 May 2012 and the second entitled Roman Roof at Herculaneum, dated 8 May 2012. The house is named after a marble relief which apparently shows 'Achilles consulting the oracle at Delphi before going to heal the wound of Telephus'.

The Guardian is carrying an intriguing article about the recent discovery at Herculaneum of the remains of the roof from the House of the Telephus Relief buried in the beach below Herculaneum. Although I found an image of how the House of the Telephus Relief looked in a 2010 edition of the Friends of Herculaneum newsletter here I believe this is a 'temporary' roof which was not necessarily based on the recent archaeological discoveries although these seem to have provided strong evidence on how it was originally constructed.

Good call Maty that does sound much more likely than my suggestion. In which case we are into the territory of Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War and the conflicts between the Greek States and the Persian Empire.

It is not something I have ever seen written down but in addition to specifically or conveniently shaped sling shot stones/ ammunition I would presume that they may have carried a small pot of oil or grease to keep the material of the sling supple or dry in wet weather. Where there was no central supply from a fabricae then one or two may even have carried their own small crucible and mould for making lead shot. Depending on their skill level and more importantly what the sling was made from (I have seen references to both leather and woven hemp slings) then some of them may have carried basic tools such as a knife so they could make or repair slings in the field. Otherwise their pouches will probably have been used like everyone elses to contain odds and ends that people on campaign collect such as spare food or valuables.