Northern Neil

http://www.flashgames247.com/play/934.html

Hmm. A coca - cola advert probably has much to teach us unenlightened folk. Does he have a message about solstices and pagan worship, by any chance?

Indeed - is there any way to avoid this? like omitting to carry the final item?

I agree with you totally on all points. I would also add a couple more: 1) Italy would have fallen back into the Roman orbit anyway - it was still technically part of the Empire, and the Ostrogoths were fast adopting Latin and Roman ways. And as you say, it would have been better equipped to oppose the Lombard invasion, which destroyed Roman material culture for good. 2) He closed the Philosophical schools in Athens, which to me was the penultimate nail in the coffin of Classical culture (the final one being the adoption of Greek as the official language of the Empire a century later - in part driven by territorial loss due to Justinian's over stretching, as the Roman orbit increasingly contracted around Greece and Asia Minor.) http://www.bede.org.uk/justinian.htm

On the other hand... http://www.simaqianstudio.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=6025

Quite right. A mere ten minutes drive from my home there is place called Dolphinholme. Going the other way, again about ten minutes, one passes through Arkholme, Holme, Milnthorpe and Nateby. When travelling through Norway and Sweden last year, I passed through many 'Holms', 'Bys' and 'Torps'. ( Then I ended up in Finland. Different story altogether!)

Particularly Norse place names in the English Lake District, near which I live, include: Skirwith, Keswick, Threlkeld and Thorlby.

I found all 8 of his Macro - Cato books enthralling and read them fom cover to cover very quickly indeed. Very enjoyable, and he certainly tells a good, adventurous yarn, and I find his characters and his settings authentic enough. That said I understand to a point what Augusta means, and I think these stories would be just as entertaining in any time slot. His main characters remind me very much of C.S.Forester's Hornblower and Bush.

What, you dont like that?

North - eastern English dialect - or 'Geordie' - has many words which are almost identical to modern Norwegian. The Geordie term for 'Going home' is 'Gan yem'. Modern Norwegian is 'Gaan Hjem'. Again, Geordie/Lowland Scots for child is 'Bairn'. Norwegian is 'Barn'. Just a handful of cognates amongst many, and in modern day use.

Some floor mosaics undoubtedly had meaning. Here is one of several in Pompeii, where the meaning was even written underneath in latin:

Indeed - Hans Lippershey of Holland is said to be the inventor, round about 1590, although it is thought to have been around before that.

It often puzzles me that Pink Floyd say 'We dont need no education'.They obviously do, because they just used a double negative...

I'm still here! Even though the house move is over, there are still lots of loose ends to tie up, so I haven't been posting quite as regularly. Here is a quote from a post on that particular thread: Interestingly enough, a group of Christians sometime in the third century approached the governor of Bithynia et Pontus, stating that, as they were Christians, they begged to be put to death to effect their martyrdom. The governor replied that he was too busy, but there were cliffs and ropes in abundance throughout the province if they wanted to do it themselves. It seems that, among literalist Christians in The second and third centuries, there was a desire to 'out martyr' ones friends and co-religionists ( the sin of pride, perchance?). Often crimes such as despoiling of temples and monuments were committed in order to effect that martyrdom. If that were not the case, the Romans would not have undergone the trouble of sporadically outlawing them and treating them as criminals. I am away at friends at present, once reunited with my books I will be happy to provide references, if required. I find the whole subject of the Christian Persecutions interesting, especially the religious propaganda which was woven around the subject in late Roman times, and which persists today.

Here is a good one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-Antiquity-Li...8842&sr=8-1 Peter Brown is quite good, although he does follow the 'Evolution, not fall' argument which is currently out of vogue. Peter Heather's 'Fall of the Roman Empire' is quite good, too.

I dont know about flowers, but I have seen material on cats. Here is a selection of cats from mosaics, and they clearly show that the Romans had cats in their houses, and that they were used as pets. The first mosaic I have always liked and has a startling realism. The second one shows a child playing with a cat. I suppose they found a cats liking for playing with twigs / sticks and dangly things just as entertaining as we do now.

Hello Donnaarises - and welcome aboard! This is a subject which is very popular, and frequently gets discussed. If you look here: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1104 you will see a lively discussion on the subject, and will, I am sure, feel compelled to comment! Have fun.

The scriptures were certainly 'tidied up' to appeal to Roman tastes. Take for example the only prominent Roman character in the Bible, Pilate. He is portrayed as a reluctant player in the whole crucifixion affair, verging on merciful. Later christian accounts of him remorsefully commiting suicide and his wife converting are plain baloney. Conversely, the skewing of the crucifixion story to blame the jews came in very handy round about 325, when once again the jews were awkwardly resisting the Roman authorities.

...I know!!!

Indeed - in fact they have never struck me as even looking particularly negroid. It could be said, on exactly the same evidence, that these statues represent morbidly obese people. To me the faces are Native American morphologically, the heavy chunky style being an artistic affectation rather than a realistic representation of a face. I agree with Antiochus though that many anomalies brought to our attention by the likes of Hancock etc deserve closer scrutiny, and it is a shame that the flambuoyant style, sensationalism and poor research of such people renders legitimate studies into these areas off - limits.

Vig - have you had a response to this yet? If not I can PM you with my address.

The same as other commentators. Whereas the infantry was the primary arm in earlier periods, it certainly wasn't toward the end. It had reduced in scale, in effectiveness, in equipment, in training, in capability, and status. That isn't conducive to esprit-de-corps. Are we talking late here (as in 4th century) or late - late as in Aetius / Marjorian et al? because once again I must bring us back to Ammianus Marcellinus, whose description of late - ish legions suggests tremendous esprit-de-corps, and high morale. He refers to a Gaulish legion which was told to rest because it had sustained too many casualties. The legion in question ignored this, and still demanded to be in the thick of the action.

Ammianus Marcellinus writes about the Persian campaign of Julian in 360. In his work, he describes legions made up of Roman citizens from Gaul and Pannonia, and the legions he describes appear to be just as disciplined and adept at siege engineering as any from earlier periods. I go along with heather's hypothesis that things deteriorated rather quickly from about 400 onwards. The setbacks of the 3rd century underlined a need to modernise the legions, and I believe this was done perfectly adequately.

Hmm.. Until recently I lived in a town populated almost entirely by chavs (for our American friends, a 'chav' is the latest manifestation of widespread working class fasion. They dress in sportswear, hooded tops and baseball caps and take delight in being coarse and vulgar). Even in a place such as this, where one is subjected to the constant presence of unruly, uneducated teenagers and their children, I hear phrases such as 'et cetera' (usually pronounced 'Exsettrer'), vise versa and 'ergo', which actually seems to have become a bit of a teen - speak word locally. Evidence of elitism?

I believe there is a stone carving showing a Pictish warrior using a crossbow. Also, the Osprey book 'Late Roman Infantryman' shows a a germanic infantryman carrying one (my books are still in boxes following recent house move, otherwise I would include pictures). In both instances these crossbows appear to be lighter weight ones than the high - medieval arbalests.