Northern Neil

And this I believe is the central purpose of the research. Imagine the PR victory for the west as Osama's turban disintegrates in tatters, to reveal a bald pate or - Allah forbid - a combe over.

It does not surprise me in the least that this half - hearted theme - park restoration of Cutty Sark is taking place. It seems to me that it hasn't even ocurred to the restorers that she might be made into a working ship again. Unfortunately it is the way us Brits do things currently. The Victory lies in dry dock in Portsmouth, a concrete mounting driven through her hull. The SS Great Britain languishes in dry dock in Bristol, a functioning ship no more, but a museum. On our railways, steam trains are restricted to a 30MPH maximum speed because of some misconception that the boilers might explode if they are put under too much strain. There is talk of taking them off the rails altogether, hamstringing them in the same way as our great ships. Contrast this to the American frigate USS Constitution. Old Ironsides is a functioning, floating ship still, manned by a full crew. Just look at this: http://www.ussconstitution.navy.mil/ Wouldn't it be great if us Brits celebrated our maritime history by actually restoring these ships properly? I would sooner see them entering a harbour under sail than to visit them in dry dock, knowing deep down that what I was visiting wasn't really a ship anymore. However, that would probably contravene some health and safety legislation, or be considered politically incorrect for some reason.

What is your very good reason? They smoked a big bong and crashed their VW Van into a tree out in front of the house... the oldest tree in Pottersville, mind you. ...and YOUR kiddie picture, Primus...?

I LIKE it! If I wasn't such a '50's throwback, I'd DEFINITELY be a hippie!! And now, NN aged five, Summer of Love 1967!!! (My mother is only 4ft. 9, so I wasn't that tall really!)

This is true with respect to the acquisition of the Rhine- Danube angle, which reduced by two thirds the length of the frontier in that area. However, the acquisition of Dacia actually lengthened the frontier in that region threefold, as the border was so convoluted. The same can be said of Armenia and Mesopotamia. All these territories, acquired under Trajan, protruded from an otherwise straight frontier, greatly lengthening borders disproportionately to their actual area. Again, true in the case of Gaul, but not so with Britain - even Caesar realised a punitive expedition was the best the resources of the Republic could manage. I believe that Claudius was thinking rather rationally when he set out to annexe Britain. The conquest of the fabled island was indeed a feather in his cap, and badly needed proof that he wasn't the fool he seemed. In any case, I do not believe that becoming a conquest state contributed to Rome's collapse, given that the geographical 'shape' of the Empire was much the same in AD 400 as it was in AD 100. If one goes with current thinking of Heather, Ward-Perkins et al even in 350, 200 years after the frontiers had ossified, there was little to indicate that collapse was on the cards.

Wow! Now this sits well with my often split personality. On the one hand I can float about in a cornfield in a very diaphanous frock, sniffing a buttercup and quoting Shelley - that's the Kloe bit. But my other self, of course, is a mysterious, sultry sort of thing in a clingy purple velvet robe which trails across the stone floor in the moonlight - the Isis and Soulgate bits. I would have been the one in the tent at a rock festival, reading Tarot cards for everyone. Hmm 1967 - I was only 9 years old, and a bridesmaid at my eldest sister's wedding. I may even scan in a pic in the gallery to give you all a laugh! Yes, do this! I will scan one in of me in short pants with chocolate all round my mouth!

Caerwent? (VENTA SILVRVM)

Are there any photographs available, or drawings of these characters? I read somewhere that Chinese characters were influenced by middle eastern cuneiform, but the word 'influenced' is significant - cuneiform probably just inspired development of an already functioning system of writing.

Was there not a Roman protectorate that reached to the estuary of the Elbe in Augustan times? I'm pretty sure there was, for a short time. If so, then Jutland is a stone's throw away from the (admittedly very temporary) Roman frontier. Jet and amber are found in abundance in this area, which was very tradeable indeed in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Thus I see the probability of shipping facilities - with accompanying protection from one or two auxilliary forts with a scattering of signal stations - as not only feasible, but quite unsurprising. I have a very old Penguin book by the British archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler called 'Rome Beyond the Imperial Frontier'. Although published in 1954, I believe much of its content is still valid, although tantalisingly no - one has followed up this work. He describes trading centres in places such as North West India, the Baltic Coast and East Africa, all places a good deal further away from direct Roman rule than Denmark. Although not set up by the state, these enterprises were certainly set up by far-travelling Roman citizens, as attested by various finds and evidence of Roman religious activity.

Perhaps the sculptor was trying to depict legionaries in the field who had probably left non essentials like razors back at the fortress. Certainly, all it takes for me to grow a fairly luxurient beard is a prolonged period of night shifts, or a weekend 'travelling light' on the motorbike.

Well, all Cato did in the first instance was to draw our attention to an interesting peice of research, sharing it with like minded people on this forum. If the slightly pedantic ripping apart of this thread and rigerous intellectual treatment of minor points and semantics on a popular forum has exasperated him, then good luck to him for responding likewise. As a non - academic myself, even I was capable of making the distinction between the significance of concrete found inside the pyramid, and concrete (no doubt of varying grades and mix) used to repair the exterior. EDIT: By gum, I have just read the dates on these posts and found I have jumped in on an old thread! Anyway, thanks Pan for giving us an update on this.

ITS TRUE!!!!! I'm telling you, at the start of the time period initially mentioned, the Lake District mountains near where I live had a light covering of snow. Now there isn't any at all, and my outdoor thermometer suggests that the average daytime temperature has risen by nearly eight degrees.

I think such terms were obsolete by this stage. By the time of Gallienus (mid 3rd century) the old legions had undergone many of the changes officially attributed to Diocletian, who merely ratified what had been evolving throughout the 3rd century and even earlier. Standard bearers in the late empire carried wind - sock type standards. These had an animals head with an open mouth at the front, and a silk or linen 'body' which was tubular with a hole to the rear - hence the wind sock term. Here is a picture of soldier from the LEGIO QVINTA MACEDONIA, 5th - 6th centuries. The fact that his unit is so named shows that the legion was still a tactical battle unit, although it was by now a 1'000 strong unit. That the East still had these units until the seventh centuries leads me to suppose, tentatively, that the West still had them too. This soldier, although quite different from the legionaries of Trajan's time, still looks like a soldier from the classical world. Moreover, Ammianus Marcellinus, writing 75 or so years prior to the time under discussion, discusses the use of legions in Julian's Persian campaign, and in the Roman victory against the Allemanni at Strasbourg. At Chalons there probably were units called 'Legions' comprising of pressed provincial peasents, but as the West at this stage was poorer than the East, they probably weren't as well equipped as this fellow.

Kurt Vonnegut, in Galapagos, suggests that a large brain and intelligence/consciousness are by no means a permanent feature of a species. He suggests, via his novel, that evolutionary forces may in the future see fit to reduce human brain size and intelligence, as an adaptation to a world in which it is no longer needed.

I have many books with his illustrations and I am saddened by his passing.

Yes, Happy Birthday to our very own Augustus Caesar, with many a bottle of Newcastle Brown and whatever you eat up there. For non - British members, Augustus is a 'Geordie', or a native of PONS AELIVS (Newcastle), the last but one fort on the course of Hadrian's Wall. Geordies speak with a very distinctive accent, which contains many slang words derived from old Norse. Winter wear for a Geordie consists of a pair of shorts and a capped sleeve teeshirt/Newcastle United shirt. Here's a link to Augustus' excellent website relating to Hadrian's Wall. It even has a little forum one can join to dicuss matters relating to the Wall and its forts. http://hadrians-wall.info/hadrianswall/segedunum/

This building looks very complex indeed. Is there more than one phase of building?

Here's mine: 1) Eagle of the Ninth (Rosemary Sutcliffe) Great exciting story for children, this book also describes Romans as people just like us. Not always an obvious concept to a young reader! 2) Atlas of the Roman World (Tim Cornell and John Matthews) This 'coffee table book' combines excellent illustrations with a narrative that has more depth than similar books, and does a good job with respect to informing the casual reader that the Empire went on after Augustus, Nero and Hadrian. 3) The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180 - 395 (Davis S. Potter) An excellent book looking in depth at the Empire from its high point at the end of Marcus Aurelius' reign to the eve of collapse on the accession of Honorius.

In York, you can pay to go into all the museums, the Jorvic Centre and the Minster individually at a range of different prices, whereas one can also buy a ticket to see all the attractions, but at half price. Perhaps a scheme such as this in Rome would provide the neccessary revenue, whilst still offering tourists a discount? I believe this would actually boost overall revenue, because I would rather spend 30 euros on a ticket for everything, rather than five or ten euros apiece to see perhaps two monuments.

I'm beginning to think there may be something in this climate change after all. Four months ago it was very cold indeed, whereas now its actually quite warm.

You are correct. Somewhere in my bookshelves (as usual, I forget which book) I have a photograph of just such a semi -circular razor. I seem to remember it was made of bronze, which takes a better edge than iron. EDIT: Here we go: http://razorland55.free.fr/lune04.htm

Looking at the cast list and the characters they will be playing, it would seem that the basic elements of the story are being kept to. A movie in which the producer sees fit not to meddle with an already good story will indeed be a novelty in itself! I must say, when I read the book as a child I thought it had many of the ingredients of a western. As Primus says, pity about the myth of both the disappearing legion and the Picts being so hard that not even the Romans could defeat them, especially as this is almost written as fact in the Independent article. Surprising, for a newspaper that usually knows better. But on the whole I am looking forward to the project - lets hope that they do not do brilliant reconstructions of Hadrians Wall forts, then put silly porticos at the gatehouses for effect, like they did in King Arthur. Good luck to them!

This was on BBC TV news the other day. The reporter was stood beside the Aurelian Walls, a portion of which have apparantly fallen down recently, and also the basements of Nero's Golden House, which are suffering from water seepage. I would have thought that the revenue Rome receives from tourists visiting these monuments would be sufficient to fund their upkeep. Unless there is simply too much to keep in good repair.

When Augustus recommended that the Empire had reached its maximum manageable size, he did this for several reasons. The Rhine and Danube were not only relatively easy to defend (as opposed to having an arbitrary border requiring an expensive frontier wall) but they were also at the furthest distance with which a Mediterranean based culture could feasibly exert its influence. As overland travel was far more arduous than sea travel, extending the Empire and importing Mediterranean civilisation beyond these limits would have been virtually impossible - it only really got going in Gaul, Raetia and Pannonia by the early second century, a good 150 years after these places had been pacified. This statement is partly true. Civilised society in the ancient world developed because of a combination of proximity to the sea, trade routes, and productive farmland. The German tribes of the 4th century were 'uncivilised' because their initial geographic location did not allow civilisation to happen. It did not stop them from trying - many of the Germans who infiltrated the Empire in the 4th - 5th centuries were Latin speakers who in some cases were educated men. They did not initially want to destroy and plunder the Empire, they wanted to participate in it. Had the Emperor Valens treated them better than he did, the chain of events which led to the demise of the Western Roman empire might never have occurred. The Germans were allowed to be 'associate' members of the Roman world, but never fully accepted. The dangerous combination of partly Romanised but excluded Barbarian thus began to emerge, along with the 'super tribes' of Allemanni, Goth and Frank. Modern immigrants to Western democracies do not steal jobs; they accept jobs which citizens of those countries consider beneath them, or consider to be too low paid. Much as the Germans accepted jobs with the Roman military because comfortable Roman provincials no longer volunteered themselves. And just as then, harmony in our own societies depends on how we reward these people for relieving us of the neccessity of taking these low paid, dull, in some cases dangerous jobs. The contrary is true. The fact is, the Visigoths - the first barbarians to gain a fully independent kingdom in a Roman province - were by then civilised, and as I said above, their partial Romanisation made them more dangerous, as they demanded more participation in a Roman world whose privileges they believed they were entitled to. Many thousands of barbarians had, remember, defended the Empire with their lives. Prior to the 'reconquest' by the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian in the 540's, the Ostrogoths were governing a still very Roman Italy, were starting to speak Latin, adopting Roman offices, and may have come round to the idea of being 'Romans' a lot earlier than Charlemagne belatedly did, and when there were still 'proper' Romans and proper Roman towns around.