DecimusCaesar

It seems like a large obstacle to the Arabs if they refused to have coins with human faces shown on them. How did they trade with Byzantium and Europe? Were these problems overlooked by them on some occassions?

I found mine on a numatist website involving ancient Roman coins. I agree with Gaius Octavius, a good place to start would be Google or Yahoo image search. I'm a great fan of JJ Norwich's Byzantium trilogy as well. Among the finest history books I've read.

Strange! The Later Roman Empire by Averil Cameron has been published in Britain since the early nineties, I brought a copy a year or two ago. Is this its first publishing in the USA or is it a re-print?

Thanks for posting the link Ursus. It cleared up some confusion I've had over the emergence of the Hallstat culture. It seems the Celts that emerged in 1100 BC, were pre-Hallstat and not of the Hallstat culture of c.600-300 BC. The articles on Celtic religion were also very interesting.

ancient object that were linked to heroes were reviered, such as Alexander and his panoply that belonged to Achilles. Then again the Achilles panoply was almost certainly a fake added to the collection at Illios. It's strange considering how the Greeks and Romans turned many old sites to toursit attractions. I believe that Troy, the Pyramids and other sites remained as tourist attractions throughout the Roman era. I've heard how the Greeks or Romans built a staircase on Illion, leading up to a courtyard where tourists could touch a building or stone that dated back to the Trojan Wars. That would probably not be allowed in modern museums.

Thanks for that Nephele. I also notice that they are selling Byzantium: The Lost Empire by John Romer. I wish I could get these, but I'm not sure my DVD player would run them. It is multi region, but it fell on the floor and now it doesn't work as well as it once did. Byzantium: The Lost Empire

I never seen an animal being rescued with rotor blades before. That's definately a first.

I haven't been watching this series, although I have seen the news reports about racist bullying in the show. I had to laugh when she said: "Hows comes eskimos haven't turned into icey-cubes? like...ice...ice people." That is strange enough, but the end part where she asks if eskimos will ever become extinct and "where do they live?" is even bizzarer. Yet the one that tops that is when she asks if Eskimos talk like dolphins. She's like a female version of Karl Pilkington from the Ricky Gervais Show.

Glad to have you back with us! Hopefully those builders won't be causing any more trouble.

The battle of Strasbourg in AD 357 was a massive victory for Rome. Julian had an army of about 12,000 men while the Alamanni had around 35,000. The Romans lost around 200 men, while the Alamanni suffered casualties in excess of 6,000. Even the leader of the Germanic warbands, Chnodomar was captured by the Romans.

Could Hero of Alexandria be considered the greatest engineer of the Classical World? Many inventions have been attributed to him from primative steam engine style devices, to automatic doors, slot machines and various automata. When I was reading Terry Jones' book a while back he mentioned that Hero wasn't an exception and that engineering had been an important part of Hellenistic science for the last few centuries before Hero's day. As a matter of fact, he even claims that by Hero's time, there was a decline in engineering and science and that Hero himself was not an inventor. He writes: He later says: This brings into question was Hero a great inventor or just a man who recorded the inventions of times past? What does this signify about engineering in the late Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire?

If you'd want to check out first hand accounts about Belisarius a good place to start would be the work of Procopius. You'd better take a lot of what he says with a pinch of salt though. In one chapter of his secret history he says that Justinian was responsible for killing a billion people in Africa. He really didn't like Justinian and Theodora.

Welcome to the Boards Kieronus! Your right about that. I've checked several websites, and despite the fact that they have no definate airing-dates, all of them point towards a March showing on the BBC. I also hope that they won't be heavily editing this series. If they do it will probably be until september/october till it's released on DVD, so we can see it uncut.

Thanks for the clarification Doc! I was unsure about the use of Gaulish and Gallic as well.

The New series is airing in the US at this very moment no doubt. Anyone know the release date for us here in the UK?

The film is scheduled to be released in the USA on the 27th of April. The probable release date for the UK is also around Easter, but it was originally suppose to be released sometime this month. I don't know the reasons behind the delay though.

Here are some more Cataphratc/Clibinarii pictures I got hold of: From Fabrizio Calldarelli.net : From Cais-soas.com: Here is one I posted from my own gallery. It's from Parthians and Sassanid Persians by Peter Wilcox. The illustration is by Angus McBride. Published by Osprey Publishing: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...si&img=1513

According to what i've read Brythonic or Brittonic was a direct descendant of the Gaulish language. Is there any truth to this? Considering that there is very little linguistic evidence to provide for Gaulish (considering that Breton is a Brythonic language) then It seems to me to be a guess on the behalf of some scholars. The Brittonic-Gaulish link becomes murkier when you consider that some archaeologists and historians consider that the ancient Britons were not the descendants of Gaulish immigrants from the continent. It is therefore likely that the Gallic tounge might have had only a small influence on the languages of Britain. According to other sources Gaulish, Hispano-Celtic and Lepontic are placed seperately in a larger Celtic section, which is just one part of the Indo-European languages.

Interesting Info! Didn't soldiers (perhaps in the eastern Empire) subsist on a diet that included onions, bread and perhaps cheese? Or was this for the Byzantine Era. I'm sure I've read it somewhere before. Either way, all hail the announcer!

Perhaps it's this Clibanarius that you mean: There is an excellent reconstructive drawing of this cataphract to be had in Parthian and Sassanid armies, published by Osprey and illustrated by Angus McBride.

Happy Birthday Neil! Hope you enjoy yourself! :drunk: :punk:

Excellent News! It would have been a real shame if Agrippa had been kept out of the series. I was seriously beginning to think that the second series would lose it's air of authenticity if key characters wouldn't be making an apperance.

I used to have one or two of these Asterix comics when I was younger. I have been searching for them for years but I've never been able to find them. I also remember the Asterix game my friend used to have when we were younger, it was more of an edutainment one rather than a pure adventure game.

The whole Ireland thing sounds strange. Chester seems much to far away to launch an invasion of Ireland. Considering the Romans built a small fort in Holyhead in the fourth century, wouldn't that be a better place to launch an invasion? After all Holyhead is and has been one of the main ports to sail to Ireland throughout it's history. Even Jonathon Swift used to take the ships there. As for the invasion, I think that Tacitus mentions that Ireland would be fairly easy to conquer. I think he suggests a legion and some Auxillaries would do the job.

What about Pythagoras' philosophical religion? I believe his followers were not allowed to eat beans or touch chickens. That might not have been popular with the Romans seeing how much they revered their sacred chickens.