DecimusCaesar

The Paenula was popular as well, among the civilians and the military. They were especially popular in colder or wetter climes, considering that the cloak had a leather hood. This illustration shows reenactors wearing the military cloak. Here's some more info on cloaks: Roman Military Cloaks

That's rather interesting considering that around the time Vespasian and Titus, German auxilia from the Rhine were transferred to Britain. Men from Germanic tribes like those of the Batavian and Tungrian, were uprooted to places like Vindolanda and some even served on Hadrain's Wall later on. All the while we have British Auxillia serving in German territory. According to the Notitia Dignitatum there was an Auxilia band called the 'Seguntiensis' serving in Illyricum, near Aquileia. I have heard it mention that the 'Seguntiensis' was made up of British troops. Is there any truth to this? Afterall by the fourth and fifth centuries' we can be pretty sure that British troops would have become reliable.

I saw this show on the BBC a couple of nights ago. It really is unbelivable, considering that they don't show any remorse for what they do - they have no compassion whatsoever. One of the most telling scenes of the show is when Louis Theroux asks the girl if she likes the fact that everyone is going to burn in hell except for her and her congregation, and she simply tells him that he's going to burn in hell.

An interesting discovery. Hopefully the archaeologists will start publishing photographs of the tomb finds. I see that they haven't dated the finds yet, considering that the rough dates given stretch from the Republic to the Late Empire.

Good Luck Doc!

If we must rely on coal based energy, will we be seeing a return to Victorian styles of living, with smog shrouded cities? What host of other alternative fules have scientists being considering? According to some stuff I've read, windfarms might have to be constructed in coastal areas; although these won't provide a fraction of the energy provided by a nuclear power plant. We might even have to depend on Nuclear energy to provide most of the energy to a small country, even if we do use wind and coal energy. Is this true or is it biased by the nuclear lobby or anti-enviromentalists?

According to Tacitus, The Silures defeated the XXth 'Valeria Victrix' Legion. Afterwards they were subdued by the Legions and became non-citizen 'Civitate Peregrine'. According to one source I have seen it referred to as 'Rome's greatest defeat in Britain' by Tacitus; although I can not find this quote myself in his works. Is this true or has it been made up? It seems strange that the defeat of one legion is 'the greatest disaster' considering the Legions of Rome had suffered worst at the hands of the Boudican Rebels.

Thanks for posting the links Cato! You can also see the original BBC version of the Caesar episode if you type 'Ancient Rome BBC' into the Youtube search engine. By the way, there's a small segment from the episode about Tiberius Gracchus. Unfortunately it has no dialouge, considering that's it a music video.

According to Connolly in 'Pompeii': "Large stepping stones were set in the roads at intervals so that people could cross without getting dirty". He also mentions how dirty the streets would have been as people hurled their rubbish into the gutters that flanked thr roads. Looking at the photographs displayed by GPM, you can clearly see the ruts left in the road by the passing vehicles. The dents were at their largest at the base of the stepping stone where the wheels of the vehicle have crushed the pavement stones.

Happy Birthday Zeke, It's nice to see you back here again!

This is true, the differences between the Roman West and the Roman East would eventually lead to 'Hellenization' of the Eastern Empire under Heraclius in the seventh century. This was invetiably going to happen, even when you take into consideration that the Western Empire had collapsed in the fifth century. The entire make up of the Eastern Empire was diffirent to the West. Socially, the Eastern Empire was Greek. The main language of the East had been Greek since the conquests of Alexander. Politically and militarily it was adminstrated in a different method to the West. The Eastern Empire also had an efficiently run bureaucracy led by a middle class that paid higher taxes, while the West had more nobles, who contributed less to military funds. Militarily the Eastern Empire was administrated differantly from the West. While the West had armies commanded by a Master of Infantry in Italy and a Master of Cavalry in Gaul - plus Counts in command of other armies in the West; the Eastern Emperor commanded armies led by a Master of soldiers in all provinces - including two legions of 'Soldiers of the Praesentalis' - soldiers in the Emperor's presence. The Eatsern's provinces were also better populated, and they only had to worry about Germanic incursions from the Danube provinces - leaving its wealthiest and most valuable provinces out of the reach of Barbarian settlers and federates. Religiously, there were differances between the East and West. According to Brown, the Eastern provinces had been 'Christianized' at a much earlier time than the West, which obviously led to much more ecclesiastical divison and religious divison, than that the West suffered.

I think the individualism of the Gauls was their downfall, rather than their 'softening' through wine and easy life - although that was a large contributor. Consider the Britons, who, at the time of Caesar's invasion in 55/54 BC had none of the luxuries of the mediterranean thrust on them. They were still defeated by Caesar's Legions becuase they shared the Gauls 'warrior' attitude of individual glory rather than the superior tactics of the Romans. Interestingly, Caesar says that the Gauls were easily defeated by the Germanic tribes because they had been softened by luxury, while the Germans had not. The Romans conquered the Gauls because they had a reason to - revenge for past injustices as well as thirst for the Gauls' wealth. The Germans on the other hand had none of these, and so a a war of conquest waged against them would have been undesirable, as it would have yeilded little. Perhaps it was the Roman attitude towards the Gauls that became their downfall. Afterall, the Romans had more of a desire to pursue a war with them rather than the Germans and Britons - which might explain why the Gauls were defeated so quickly.

I'm surprised that Robert Bittlestone has managed to win support from other academics. Since the days of Schliemman, scholars and academics have criticised those who take Homer's text literally as romantics and mad men. Maybe Mr. Bittlestone will prove them wrong, so who knows. Here's a five minute interview with Michael Wood on the subject of the Trojan Wars, Homer and the Mycenaean age: In Search of the Trojan War

It is difficult to say what the army of 476 would look like. DF is corret when he says that the late army of the fifth century would have consisted of Foederati - the Germanic mercenaries. By this time the Romans could not afford to pay for their armies, and after the last victory of the Western Empire at Chalons in 451, the Roman army had drifted away - destroyed by heavy losses, deserting soldiers and lack of pay. Even at Chalons, Flavius Aetius relied heavily on his Germanic allies for victory, as most of Gaul and Western Europe had already fallen to the Barabarian tribes by this period; therefore drying up the Empire's recruting pools. As for Italy, most of the armed men around AD 476 would have been armed soldiers working on the behalf of rich nobles, rather than the Imperial Government. The last known conscriptions for the army in Italy occured around 440 and 443 and by then they were only for local urban militias. These could only deal with the Barbarian threat on a local level, and any chance of a organized strategic strike at the Barbarian foe would have been out of the question. Most of the work for these local conscripts would have been bandit control rather than battling Germanic invaders.

I haven't seen the film although I did read a review that mentioned "what looked like female ninjas in burkhas hurling grenades". I don't know if they are in the film, but they certainly weren't in the comic book. As for Orcs, I'm not sure if these are the mutant warriors that the Persians bring with them, but they might be.

Information on the Romano-Indian trade links is increasing rapidly. It wasn't so long ago that I read some articles about the subject, unfortunately I forgot to save them and I don't know which site I came across that had them. The discovery of these finds opens up a whole new perspective on Roman trade. According to some sources, mercantile activities didn't reach Roman levels again in Europe till the 18th Century.

Happy Birthday to you GPM!!! Are you heading out to the town tonight, dressed in your finest tux - Bond style? :drunk:

I've tried getting Europa Barbarorum to work many times in the past and I haven't been successful. Yet I'm glad that the modding community is dedicated enough to carry on releasing these mods, especially in the wake of Medieval 2: Total War. There were a couple of excellent Later period Roman mods in the work, with a set of finely detailed and historically correct units. Unfortunately most of these projects were never completed. It's a shame really as the Republican and Principate eras were covered extensively and accurately by modders, yet it was the Dominate that deserved the modders work, considering that the accuracy and design of 'Barbarian Invasion' took a step backwards ( i.e Mythological units and poor unit skins).

I've heard that the film diverts a lot from the comic book as well. According to what I've read, the film contains grenade throwing ninja girls, Goat-men, monster Immortals and Orcs. I've read Miller's version of '300' and the only 'monster' that appears in his version is Ephialtes, the Greek traitor. I've seen the Orcs, but I haven't seen the greande throwers. Is it true that they appear in it?

Congratulations to the Augusta, Publius Nonius Severus and Aurelius!! They are Excellently written and meticulously researched work. A testament to your skills as writers! Well done! And like Lost Warrior, I'd like to extend my congratulations to the other entrants as well!

Here's some more additions to the list, concerning Emperor's of the Dominate era- Galerius - Romulianum, Serdica Severus II - Illyricum Maxentius - Syria ? Maximinus Daia - Illyricum Licinius - Dacia Nova I'll try finding more on the Later Emperors in other sources.

Did the farm land size decrease in Imperial times, or did they stay constant- considering that the Empire expanded? We often hear of Legionaires being alloted lands in provinces outside of Italy as a privilege of military service, as well as a way of encouraging the settlement of conquered territories with Roman Citizens. Another thing to take to consideration is that farm land in Italy was destroyed during the Punic Wars, usually by the Roman legions themselves. Although rather vague, Livy mentions the case of a soldier called Spurius Ligustinus: "I Spurius Lingustinus of the Tribe of Crustumina, am of Sabine family. My father left me a tiny patch of land and a little hut..." The problem with Spurius words is that he lived in the Middle Republican era (not the Principate), he was a poor man (not well to do) and that he wasn't making much money out of his land; rather he was making it through plunder during his military campaigns. Would these middle Republican circumstances be true of the early Imperial era too?

What a shame. If it really was disgruntled employees then would'nt it have been better to show their feelings in another manner? From the Article: At least this is some good news, although it will never be in the same condition again.

That was truly bizzare. Only the Japanese could combine college pranks, foliage, the Taj Mahal, Koala Bears, and economic recession all into one song. And only they would have dancing half naked men telling us 'dogs are cute!'. As for "All your base are belong to us" it reminds me of this website Engrish. According to the website maker, the Japanese have their very own webpage making fun of English into Japanese translations, so it works both ways I suppose.