Northern Neil

A golden oppurtunity for us all to contribute to the historical accuracy of a commercial movie, maybe? Let us sieze the moment!

Here's a couple: http://archive.cyark.org/sites.php?p=WRB&a...SNPMAodfE2HLA#1 and http://www.romanbaths.co.uk/ From two famous sites, Weissenburg and Bath.

I have avoided most of his books, mainly on account of the criticisms already stated. I do however, have a GEM of a book written by him and his brother - But I will continue: The 'Dangerous Book for Boys' is an excellent book for parents who, like me, feel exasperated by a generation of children who do not appear to know how to entertain themselves in any way, and who seem wrapped up in cotton wool by a society which has become afraid to take any risks whatsoever whilst simultaneously stunting the healthy development of its children. This book has it all: How to light a fire, how to hunt and prepare game for food, how to make things, latin phrases everyone should know, descriptions of ancient and not so ancient battles. Hats off to him in this respect.

To me this bust looks quite different to the the ones I am used to seeing of Caesar. The two or three others I have seen, as well as some representations on coins, all seem to concur with each other, whereas this chap is clearly someone else altogether. I am no expert on sculpture, but the style to me looks second century. The find is indeed wonderful, and it is easy to see that the person on which this is sculpted was a real individual. But was it neccessary for the archaeologists to announce it as Caesar's bust simply to get a headline?

I have seen that done, and don

Well, closest one to me so far is 'Екатерин' , 24, originally from Dnepropetrovsk, now residing in Preston.. hold on, no - Your revised link says it is 'Lancastrensis' or Lancaster. Fine, thats where I was born!

I clicked on 'Europe'. Then I clicked on the bit on the toolbar at the top of the page, where it said 'postcode, search' etc. thinking that the Roman name of Barrow-in-Furness would appear. To my surprise I was directed to lots of photographs of attractive young women with slavic sounding names! Very odd..

...Well, being a French speaker helps a bit! ...whoa there, my friend! I too am a Western European, and as you will see from some of my posts on other topics, I am very much an admirer of Dawkins et al, far from being religious in any sense. But, all these criticisms can be applied to any political regime with a modicum of power over the last 1500 years - I admire the French culture of my ancestors, for example, but I also acknowledge the bloodshed they caused in Algeria in the 50's and all over Europe a century and a half before. It does not stop me listening to Django Reinhardt, or enjoying fine wines, and giving credit to the French for both those pleasures. Despite the many negative aspects of the Roman Church, I applaud this website and the people who put it together - it is harmless and, for me, fun.

I agree totally with this - hats off to the Church for building this great website. I have not studied Latin in any detail, but I was fascinated as I explored this site. Amazingly, I also felt as if I understood quite a lot of it, which just goes to show how heavily modern languages have borrowed from (and in some cases derived from ) latin.

Happy Birthday for yesterday!

Happy birthday for yesterday!

I might be able to swing things with work to get to this after all.. I know accommodation is all booked, but i've slept in the back of my transit many times before! I will know more in a week or two.

.. which they did, round about 250 - 275. Given recent discussions on what a celt actually was in the ancient world, and the fact that use of cultural items does not neccessarily indicate that people with these items shared the same language and ethnicity, should we be talking instead about 'barbarian' or 'non - Roman' swords? Also I read somewhere that the Gladius was adopted from Spanish tribes - maybe this is the one sword in this debate which actually can categorically be called 'Celtic'? (sorry - in a pedantic mood this morning! NN)

Just out of curiosity, why do you consider Stilicho's army to have been better than Julian's? I dont - my intention was to say that Julian's was better than Stilicho's. I think perhaps I did not convey my meaning very clearly. Regarding current military strategists studying caesar, maybe if generals such as Aurelian and Julian had written comprehensively about their own exploits, modern military strategists would be studying their tactics as well.

That's interesting. I remember spending two years of my childhood in Jordan and seeing the city of Amman decked out like a bride every Christmas. Back to the topic - Muslim scholars in Spain did translate a lot of classical works from Greek to Arabic and these were subsequently learned and transmitted by itinerant European scholars. This spurred the Enlightenment as much as the mass emigration of Byzantine scholars did. The fact that the Arabs transmitted knowledge borrowed from other civilizations cannot be held against them. No one criticizes the Romans for adopting and implementing ideas that rightly belonged to neighboring civilizations. After all the Arabian peninsula was a cultural backwater not too long before Islamic civilization reached its zenith. Considering just this one fact, I think the rise to cultural prominence of the Arabs was rather remarkable. Also, algebra (al jabr - the counting), algorithms (Al Khwarizmi), and alchemy (al keemia - the chemistry) owe their origins to the Arabs. Avicenna discovered the circulation of blood through the body long before Harvey did. This is all true, of course - it would be absurd to say that not a single muslim brought no benefits in learning at all. Some of us are just saying the debate is uneven. Interestingly, some moderate parts of the British muslim community long for the tolerant Islam of, say, the 10th century to return.

I think that the army of Stilicho would struggle against an army of Pompey or Caesar - not because the dominate period field army was inferior, but because the field army itself was in decline. Stilicho was by this time using german tribes he had bought to use against against other germans, the Comitates were not what they used to be and the legions as existed had been run down so that they were little better than a watchtower militia. In addition, many of Stilicho's victories were diplomatic ones, and by neccessity due to dwindling military and financial resources. Against the field army of a ccouple of generations earlier, say, that of Julian, or against an army of Stilicho's time but in the East, then I think this comment would not be absurd. The field army would be successful for the very reasons it replaced the obsolete army in the first place.

I think one thing could be considered here: Europe is indeed indebted to the Arab/islamic world for many things. But, is this because of Islam, or despite Islam? Many areas of the middle east conquered by the muslims in the 7th century already had a scholastic/scientific legacy going back hundreds of years. To say that Islam was responsible for this continuing trend, and subsequent benefits to the West, is a bit like saying Christianity is responsible for many of the industrial and technological advances of the 19th century. I welcome gouganheim's analysis. Here in Europe, probably more than in the US, the 'benefits' of Islam and the evils of the Crusades are trumpeted - I think to appease a highly irrascible and defensive Muslim mindset, rather than to facilitate an even debate. When BBC historians and journalists hammer home - AGAIN - the evils of the crusades and how it is our fault the west is perceived so negatively by the Islamic world, they forget - or omit - several facts. The Crusades happened between 900 and 700 years ago, yet no - one points out that only 400 years before the first crusade, the lands it sought to conquer were actually Christian. In addition, when the crusades were going on, muslim expansionism was in the mid-point of an extremely aggressive phase in which it happily scythed its way through Christian lands for a thousand years, only to be stopped at the gates of Vienna. Muslim expansionism only stopped once the West gained the technological advantage. I believe this was partly due to a Chinese invention...

Here is a website which has an article about how lawns became popular. Sadly for me and some of my models, they seem to have developed as areas to play sports, and as such were a status symbol in post - medieval times. The upkeep of one would indeed be very exhaustive. Prior to the late medieval period I cannot find any reference to lawns, only pastures. The central garden of a house or villa in our period would therefore be flagged, cobbled or intensively planted with useful things like herbs, flowers and fruit trees, or low maintainence but pleasing things such as shrubs and small trees. It seems that lawns, which abound in recontructions of roman structures, are a very modern idea. http://www.allaboutlawns.com/lawn-maintena...ehind-lawns.php

Nephele, this thought of yours has actually made me lose some sleep! My latest 'creation' is a peristyle house with a garden set out thus: This garden layout is based on some existing examples, but the grassed lawn is based on other peoples reconstruction drawings and models. And, it seems, assumptions. Try as I might I cannot find ANY references to, or evidence of, lawns. Apart from wondering if I need to radically rip apart and restructure some of my models, I wonder if maybe in houses like this grass, which can be a nuisance to keep short without a modern mower, was actually kept down with gravel and mulch, or even weeded? In England the interiors of such buildings seem to have been cobbles set in clay, or flagged, from what I have read so far on this subject.

I'm still here!

You are correct on all of these points, Kosmo. But, I believe that the point being made here is that like all these figures, Mother Teresa also has a tremendous case to answer, and that the whiter - than - white public image she has is / was just as much a front and a lie as that of many other public figures and polititians.

Rubicon was great, and I read it cover to cover in two days. I am currently reading his 'Persian Fire'. I must say, in comparison I am finding it quite dull so far...