Northern Neil

Yes. Caldrail wagers she does, NN wagers that she certainly DOESN'T! NN looks longingly at his original, intended target. She holds court to a group of rich, handsome Patrician men: the moment has passed, irrevocably. The bereft elderly matron talks to Gaius Octavius, who, with a broad grin, points to the column behind which NN is hiding. Caldrail, with a cheesy grin, indicates the same column with both index fingers. Time to run...

(BUMP) C'mon, Pan - Selinunte or Marinella? The two places are only about 1.5km apart, but I think Klingan has it...

Well, yes - the Persians were definitely the 'baddies' in that movie. No one wants their country to be the baddies in a movie, whether it is 300, or Mel Gibson's 'Patriot'. In both movies, there is a naive polarisation of history, and a lack of acknowledgement (in the first instance) that many Greeks fought willingly in the Persian army, and that (in the second) 'American' families of several generations standing fought for the Brits, and that Englishmen resident in America for only a few years fought with the Americans. But, as Horatius says, the Iranians are not the only ones who destroy their history for short - term gain. We Brits happily plough new roads through vulnerable archaeology on a daily basis so we can continue to drive everywhere in this tiny congested island of ours. The Iranians are doing this to produce electricity and irrigation. We do this so wealthy commuters can knock 30 minutes off their driving time to work, whilst living north of London, where larger houses are cheaper. Who are the greater Phillistines?

Sorry to shoot of onto a bit of a tangent, but who or what were the equestrian classes? Would it be equally as fallacious to regard them as a middle class, between the plebs and patricians?

Fantastic stuff. I particularly liked the Assyrian vs. Arab picture; terrific action pic. I also liked the Etruscan/ Roman picture - the contrasting morale of the high and lower class troops is depicted beautifully in their facial expressions!

Its a positive but naive move on the part of the British Library. Most people who would make the effort to get to this probably know what it sets out to say anyway, and are probably already moderate followers of their respective religions.

WOW! That BT one sounds a bit like our very own Augustus Caesar!

Great to see you back and posting new topics already. Happy Birthday!

Yes - the doc martens and the Leeds scarfe will come in useful. Perhaps the knuckledusters can stay at home though...

Actually, I think that Klingan has got it. ...by about 1 km!! (see google earth)

Marching is fun, especially on the bit of the Wall between Carvoran and Housesteads. A lot of unexcavated milecastles and stretches of wall poking up through the turf, and some fine stretches of military way. In fact, lots of stuff which just doesn't make it into the guidebooks! Such as Greatchesters fort...

In additon to the above points, Julian was using a similar army, against a similar foe, at Strasbourg, and scored a victory over the Allemanni and Franks. And this was only 18 years prior to Adrianople.

Marinella, Sicily?

Segesta, Sicily?

I wonder to what extent current events or even popular culture may influence a historian's analysis? When I first read Peter Brown's 'The World of Late Antiquity' I was drawn to the idea that Rome evolved rather than fell, and that the Germans were holding the Western provinces as a sort of 'stewardship'. Then look at the date it was written - 1971. The hippie age was not quite finished. The Germans were now our best friends, the Western bulwark against Warsaw Pact forces we were sure were going to have a crack at us sooner or later. Still, I was quite drawn to this idea until I read Ward Perkins, Peter Heather and David S. Potter, who actually returned to the original 'Catastrophic fall' idea, albeit minus Gibbon's period of protracted decline. Again, look at the time these latter writers published their work - the last five years or so, a time when the some people in West perceive it as under threat from mass terrorism and immigration, and envisage a sudden economic and population crash due to environmental factors. I am not saying I agree with these ideas, just tossing them around...

Your model is looking good, and you seem to work very fast! Regards stonework, I use a 'building paper' made from a photograph of stonework from Hadrian's Wall itself. This works fine with 15mm and 6mm scales where not too much relief is required. Copy the picture, and then import it to a word processor document. Then enlarge or shrink the image so that each stone block is about 1mm in size. You then have the correct stonework for 15mm scale. Because my initial photograph repeats itself in the sample, a little cutting and pasting is required to give the illusion of a continuing and non - repeating stone pattern. Good luck!!

First time I sent a picture in, I left the name of the place at the top of the picture! As a matter of interest, where did you believe this place to be?

Fortunately, the chat - up -line I carefully prepared comes out as a pile of gibberish. I cannot find the right words! Pertinax's brew did the trick, and possibly got me out of a fatal situation - as did Caldrail's shove, which diverted me from my intended target into the arms of an elderly, unaccompanied matron. Coming to my senses, I quickly slope off to hide behind a pillar. Peeping from behind it, I see the elderly lady looking round the room for me. Caldrail notices my sudden retreat and shakes his head, grinning.

WHAAT?? Come round to my place and you will get the best roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, mashed taties and veggies this side of the Pennines! I have decided to 'bump' this thread, because as I type, 'Quo Vadis' is being shown on BBC2. I must confess, the opening moments nearly had me falling off my couch with laughter at the sight of plastic legionary helmets and shields the size and thickness of A3 paper. The story seems pretty good though, and I have just got to the bit where Nero toys with the idea of burning a city. I've got to say, the sets arent bad at all!

Indeed. This reminds me of the 'discovery' about 20 years ago that maggots cleaned out gangrenous wounds far more effectively than de-sloughing agents and excision.

I think what is happening is that undue emphasis is being placed on the status of Washington's slaves, implying that they had a certain status and a degree of emancipation - at least within the household. As Primus says, other free functionaries would have been present also, but they don't get a mention. I must say, I agree with Primus that a somewhat PC agenda is is being followeed here.

Ahh yes - I understand. Until fairly recently, it was trendy in some quarters to refer to 'Black' soldiers on Hadrian's Wall. Since the rise of Al - quaeda and militant Islam in the UK, once more it is now being stressed that these African and Levantine units were Arabs. It is a shame that bona-fide historians sometimes alter or invent information in order to aggrandise ethnic minorities in an attempt at inclusiveness or even appeasement. And I'm pretty sure that the minorities themselves, with a history of their own to be proud of, feel slightly patronised.

I am puzzled, Primus - the political correctness part of this story eludes me.

Welcome aboard! I trust we will be seeing some interesting threads on the dominate, now you're with us?