Tobias

I suppose it was quick though, you wouldn't have to endure some more painful executions that are being discussed in the Worst Roman Punishment thread lol Perhaps the chap did something to make him seem motivated against the system in France. This was mainly what it was used for in France from the beginning;getting those trouble makers out of the way.

Great Essay Ursus:) With sources thinking that the Celts thought that Kings were archaic, i believe this may have been more of a wish of generals, mainly Caesar, that they were making real headway in romanizing these tribes. Some tribes did, i believe, elect what were known as vergobrets did they not? Is this just a roman name for an "elected king", or is it a different title, made more to represent the election of consuls?

Ah, thanks for that Ursus. The book i was reading it in was relatively old, being published sometimes in the 1940's

I just hope you admin have throrough defenses in place to protect from usurpers; just because we are of an "enlightened" age doesn't mean there aren't ambitious individuals out there looking to take control of sites like this

With Rome's beginning of the end, the increasing sense of insecurity came strong. Around the third century, the villa life in Britannia, upon which the edifice of roman occupation was built, was in jeopardy. Records and archaeologists find the signs of fear spreading through Britannia, such as new forts and systems of galleys to protect the east coast coming into being, the walls of London being furnished with towers built from evacuated stone houses from the dwindling town-population, broad Roman gateways of towns narrowed to half their previous size with masonry, and hoards of roman coins (almost none of which are later then 400 A.D.) were observed and found. The pages of history reveal the reported efforts made by the romans to protect Britannia. Again and again, in spite of revolts and ingratitude, officers and troops such as Theodosius, Stilicho etc were sent to protect them from the invading sea barbarians and the Picts and Scots. The British caused Constantine to become ruler of the Romans, although he felt obliged to protect the continent rather then Britannia, whilst still draining it of troops. However, it had to come that by the fifth century, all the legions had gone from Britannia, and it had been stripped of all it's defenders by various rulers. Honorius made his reply in 410 to desperate pleas for help that "The Cantons should take steps to defend themselves." However, after this, the famous St Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, came to Britannia, and reported Britain as being a land of wealth; there being treasure, flocks and herds, abundant food, functioning civil and religious institutions, and being generally prosperous, but at war. After his great victory at what had become known as the "Alleluia" battle, Britain was restored to peace, and Germanus returned to Auxerre. Around twelve years later (441 or 442 a.d.), i believe a Gallic historian said "The Britons these days, by all kinds of calamities and disasters, are falling into the powers of the Saxons." This was around the time of the beginning of the Mass Migration from the north. From here onwards, darkness and fog closes in, with only such persons as Gildas, Bede and the documents such as the Ango-Saxon Chronicle and some archaeological finds are all we have to guide us of this time. I believe that the complete ending of the use of coinage probably come from a lot of this; the failure of institutions, constant war and invasion, the loss of their greatest ally and defender.

G'day everyone What was the religion of Mithraism? I read about it in a book that didn't elaborate into it apart from saying that some troops from Asia Minor posted in Britannia during the Roman Empire preserved it, and it was a strong rival to Christianity in the third century A.D. I don't recall having heard to much about it, so i'd appreciate some enlightenment

Wow. That's quite interesting. What was it for? How did the poor person earn that punishment?

What did you original fellows do for christmas '04 and the new year? Did you have any great online christmas meets etc.?

Err, might i ask how that ties in with the thread?

Yeah, same with at the bombardment of Copenhagen. He was given orders to withdraw, and placed his telescope to his blind eye, saying "I really cannot see that signal"

Ok, fair enough, i just wanted to clarify that.

I was wondering whether it would be at all possible for the Romans to have taken a more subtle approach with Parthia. If they could have inserted clever individuals, loyal to Rome, to have them gain high positions in Parthian Government, perhaps even become a ruler of the Parthians, then Parthia may have slipped downwards to become another puppet state of Rome's. However, i answer my own thoughts with the realisation that the deadly hierarchy of the Parthians would have caused the death of any but the most incredibly ingenuious roman to become anywhere near a high authority. Even then should a secretly loyal Roman or even pro-roman Parthian gain the throne, then the army or some ruling family would depose him. But, i believe it could have been possible, especially if there was something of an influx of pro-romans. On the point of Hadrian, i can only suppose that he or the people had expressed the want for peace. Rome was a nation made rich by war, constant war. Hadrian was perhaps totally persuaded or convinced that it was the right thing to do to create a total Pax Romana throughout the empire. Unfortunately, as was mentioned above, this was really an unworkable policy. It's like what has been said about communism; it's a good idea, but it won't work

Here you go: http://miljokes.com/lqote.html It has an A-Z of amusing and historical latin quotations and sayings.

Just going back to the replacement of troops, i understand that Caesar usually had an "oddments box" legion; that is, a legion that was usually made up of raw recruits, and as his soldiers in his other legions died off, the recruits that had gained more experience or had been "blooded" in the oddments box legion were removed to bolster the numbers of the more expert or reliable legions, such as the Xth or some of the other legions. In that list, when it says "Moved onto gaul", does that mean Caesar's flight to stop the migration of the Helvetii?

G'day everyone As well as being a Roman History buff, i have great interest in the Napoleonic Wars. So, as tomorrow, October the 21st, is the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, the turning point at sea of Britain's war against Napoleon, i thought i'd start a thread to inform those who don't know about it. i'm sure most of the Britons on this site will know about it, and it may be a bit galling to have a mere colonial australian ("Australians, what next?" To quote Prince Charles) lecture you Britons on your own history, and it may not be appropriate on a site for Roman discussion, but i'm going to do it anyway. So, happy Trafalgar Day to everyone, and may Nelson's great victory be celebrated for evermore, even after Britannia no longer rules the waves http://www.voodoo.cz/victory/pic/bboard.jpg

I was reading a book the other day concerning the Fall of Constantinople to Mehmet II. This book shows the battle from the point of view of the Byzantines intially and then the Ottomans later. I was surprised in this book how high Byzantine enthusiasm was during the siege. They were convinced that they were in the right, and that the barbaric heretic Turk was in the very worst of the wrong side. Some of the people say that the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders did not "count", as it had been treachery that had led to the fall, and had not lasted. It was this book that has made me wonder whether to start a thread on if the Byzantines could have recovered and rebuilt had they beaten Mehmet or at least caused him to withdraw. It really was a lot closer than most think Thank you John Norwich Julius for that !

Certainly. There have been few australian films (apart perhaps from "Rabbit Proof Fence") that cover these issues. I like that it's set more from that policeman's perspective, because it portrays these problems from a group who perhaps did most of the damage. But i still loved the film, and it certainly is good for some i suppose "romantic" notions of Australia in that age to be dispelled. It sounds like i'm reviewing, but i'd give it a 9 out of 10

Sorry for taking so long to reply I don't know too much about the kind of horses the Byzantines had, but the horses bred in Anatolia were generally huge in size and very strong. As well, the Byzantines probably had access to Arabian horses which were generally considered to be very strong and fast, and are too this day considered to be some of the best horse breeds in existence. It's safe to say that the Byzantines would have had very large and strong horses more ready at hand then perhaps some of the Western European countries, however.

I think that punishment for the Vestal Virgins who, well, weren't virgin , of sealing them alive inside underground vaults would be pretty awful. Imagine being sealed in the pitch black without food or water. You'd take a while to die, and your last moments would probably be full of agony and terror. Not very nice at all, but at the time the Vestal Virgins were highly sacred, and for any sort of deflowering on the part of the Vestals this was probably considered heresy and thus was just.

G'day Germanicus, yes i have seen it! I think it's a very good look at the times and how tough it must have been, and how people were forced into bushranging etc, as well as the racial disputes.

Yep, that's what i thought. That's pretty much correct. it's where Caesar and his men rushed to stop them during their migration, just north of Cisalpine Gaul as you said. I suppose it's pretty lucky that they did migrate, or Caesar may never have started his famous Gallic Campaign eh?

I was reading the other day of some of the hybrid gods that existed in Alexandria around the late Ptolemy dynasty onwards, those mixtures of Macedonian, Egyptian, Greek etc. gods to make things like your Zeus-Osiris-etc. etc. gods. It really is indicative of the crossroads of religion there eh? Does anyone else know of any of the other hybrid gods?

Yes, it doesn't matter that it's not live, the pictures are still spectacular. I wanted to look for some sites that i have pictures of in my National Geographic Book called "Orbit", that has spectacular pics from space. I also found the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, and some other great sites of antiquity, it's all good

That's true. I believe the great Aetius himself, famed for his victory over Attila the Hun, had a Germanic father and an Italian mother... But it is true that some peoples lost the faith they had in the Roman Empire and felt less loyalty or sense of purpose; that was fairly widespread in the last years.

lol, some of my mates here think All Saints day is a celebration of the National Rugby League team, the St George Illawarra Dragons I don't know very much about holidays descending from pagans though. I do know that in Greece and some other areas of Eastern Europe, tuesday is too this day considered an unlucky day, because that was the day Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire.